Around the rinks: Dermott shares an Erie connection with former teammates

OTTER BE GOOD

Leafs defenceman Travis Dermott was busy texting two of his former Erie Otter friends this week: Dylan Strome and Alex DeBrincat. The Blackhawks acquired Strome in a trade this week, in large part because of what the two were able to do together as Otters. “The best duo I’ve seen on any team, closeness-wise,” Dermott said. “They’re going to have a lot of fun together. I know that for sure. The Facetimes they’ve had already. It’s going to be really cool. How good they were. How many assists did Strome have just giving him the puck? They had good chemistry.” DeBrincat surpassed 50 goals and 100 points in each of his three seasons in Erie. Strome surpassed 100 points in his first two seasons with DeBrincat, and managed 75 in just 35 games in his last with DeBrincat.

PAN-PACIFIC TRAVEL

While the NHL talks in “What ifs” about possibly placing teams in Europe, the CWHL is already a trans-ocean hockey league. Rookie forward Demi Crossman of the Worcester Blades spoke about how she prepared for the trans-Pacific travel to play in China against Shenzhen KRS Vanke Rays. “The majority of the team met at a teammate’s house for an all- nighter the night before we left, so we could sleep on the plane and get a head start on the time change. Other than that, I just made sure I drank an excessive amount of water and had all my Netflix shows downloaded. Throughout the flight, the team claimed a section of the plane where we would meet up and stretch and have a mental debrief.”

GOALIES CATCH UP

Tortorella is not surprised that scoring is often up in the early part of the season, because he believes goalies take a little longer than shooters to get into game shape. “I think it takes goaltenders a little time to get themselves situated,” he said. “In the off-season, they’re working on their conditioning, their skating, their hands. They need to see traffic.”

TROTZ TALKS

The Islanders have won three of their last four, and five of their last seven, sitting just outside a playoff position. “We’re headed in the right direction,” coach Barry Trotz said. “We’re trending in the right direction from a total hockey standpoint, from the people running it, such as Lou (Lamoriello), and the infrastructure behind that. There’s some good things happening for us but it’s not going to be easy. Winning is not easy. There’s an investment that has to be made night in and night out.”

STATS AND FACTS

The NHL has seen 36 games with at least 10 goals scored (including shootout-deciding goals), the most through the first 366 games of a season since 1995-96, when there were 49. . . . And 52 times this season a team has won after trailing by more than one goal, the highest total through the first 366 games of a season in NHL history. . . . Columbus forward Cam Atkinson and Pittsburgh winger Phil Kessel have the longest active points streak at eight games.