Mathew Barzal’s grueling path back to Islanders after knee inflammation was ‘hardest journey of my life’

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The Islanders had planned for Mathew Barzal to be back in their lineup Tuesday at home against the Blue Jackets.

ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Islanders had planned for Mathew Barzal to be back in their lineup Tuesday at home against the Blue Jackets.

Then Barzal woke up Saturday, got to the Honda Center in Anaheim and decided he didn’t want to wait three more days before playing for the first time this season. It was so abrupt that his family couldn’t catch flights to watch him, thanks to the nationwide ground stop Friday that made it impossible to book something last minute the next day.

When he spoke to reporters at around noon Pacific time, he said he’d decided to play against the Ducks later that night “about 45 minutes ago.” Had it been any later, the Islanders might have been unable to make the necessary roster moves to activate Barzal in time, as they needed to waive Kyle MacLean by 2 p.m. on the East Coast.

“I’ve been so hungry for a while,” Barzal said before the Islanders’ 6-2 win over the Ducks. “It’s been, not tiptoeing around, but I had Tuesday in mind. I just got here today and was like, I want to play.”

The inflammation in his left kneecap, which required surgery two years ago when Barzal broke it, had done more than keep him out for the first 18 games of the season.

Barzal called the past six months “probably the hardest journey of my life,” and said there were moments he felt his career was at risk.

“I think when you take away something that you love, that you’ve been doing since you were 4 years old and you’re unable to get on the ice and skate and play, feel like you don’t know what the future looks like, a lot of moments in the summer when things aren’t getting better, you don’t know if they’re ever gonna get better,” Barzal said. “This has been the hardest struggle of my life, but every single day I attacked it. Put so much work to get back into this today.”

Barzal, last season, was managing his knee every day in order to play, but stayed healthy throughout and, he said, played at “about 80 percent.” A few weeks after the season when he got back on the ice, his knee…

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