NHL

Islanders could count on teenagers

The two teenagers weaved back and forth on the ice, both clad in yellow Islanders practice jerseys and trying to think one step ahead.

It was in the middle of rookie camp on Wednesday, and there was not a single fan in the Nassau Coliseum. The seats normally against the glass were pushed back, and the exposed concrete acted as an echo chamber for each shot the slammed against the boards.

So Nino Niederreiter passed the puck to Ryan Strome, who then made a quick deke and fired a wrist shot. The goalie had to make a brilliant save, and when he did there were no gasps or awes.

“It’s obviously great,” Strome told The Post afterward, speaking of playing with Niederreiter. “A player of his caliber makes the game so much easier, and I think we’re finding a bit a chemistry now. It’s a lot of fun to play with all these players in here, but especially him with his talent level.”

Strome, 18, was the Islanders first-round pick this year, taken No. 5 overall. The year before, it was Niederreiter taken by the Islanders at No. 5, and now at 19 and with nine NHL games under his belt, he is the elder statesman.

“It definitely feels different from last year,” Niederreiter said. “I’m way more comfortable over here, and now I kind of know what’s going on, what’s coming, and I’m very prepared for it this year.”

That’s not to say he wasn’t prepared last season. Starting his first year as a professional with his NHL team, Niederreiter turned some heads in the nine games he played. Averaging just over 13 minutes a game, he scored a goal and had an assist and did his best to acclimate himself to the increased speed of everything.

General manager Garth Snow decided that his development would be better moved along with his junior club for the rest of the season — once he played game No. 10 he would have had to stay with the Islanders — so Niederreiter went back to Portland of WHL to finish out the year.

“I personally don’t believe going back to junior [this year] will help him on the development side,” Snow said about Niederreiter in June. “He’s a big body, has hockey sense, can skate, is powerful. A character is there.”

Then Snow was asked what he sees come opening night, Oct. 8 at home against the Panthers.

“I can envision him being in an Islander uniform,” he said.

That process started Friday, when Niederreiter showed up for his physical and the beginning of training camp. Strome was there with him, as the two went through the motions and are doing everything to make the team.

“If they’re going to send me back, that’s fine, but I want to try and not give them many reasons to,” Strome said. “It’s hopefully going to be a long career and I want to become a better player after this camp.”

Niederreiter clearly is penciled into the team’s plans for this year, but is taking nothing for granted.

“I don’t really want to think about that right now,” he said about making the team. “At the end, it’s the coaches and Garth’s decision and who knows –it’s hard to talk about if I’m going to make it or not, but at the end I’m just going to try everyday my best and we’ll see how it goes.”

bcyrgalis@nypost.com