A year ago, when Maxim Tsyplakov was playing for Spartak Moscow in the KHL, his coach had a rule about taking risks with the puck.
Players could try whatever they wanted once. But if they turned the puck over, they couldn’t do the same thing the next game. If they pulled it off successfully, go for it again.
Here, it’s different. Seventy games into his NHL career, nearly done with his first full season, there are bits and pieces of muscle memory that Tsyplakov is still relearning. That’s one of them.
“It’s a mentality,” Tsyplakov told The Post before the Islanders faced Minnesota on Friday. “In Russia, probably can cheat the game. Here it’s a lot [tougher]. Just need mindset.”