Patrick Roy was hired as head coach with the hope that he would turn the New York Islanders’ season around. However, the team’s Feb. 13 game against the Seattle Kraken was further proof that he can’t do it – a 2-1 loss in a shootout. Roy has brought new energy to the Islanders, but his presence behind the bench won’t improve things, at least not this season.
Eight games into Roy’s tenure, the Islanders have a 3-3-2 record to move to 22-18-13 on the season. Even with a different system and style of play, the fact remains that the isn’t good and changes might be necessary.
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Roy has improved the Islanders in some areas and deserves credit for them playing better. That said, they will stumble into their Feb. 18 Stadium Series game against the New York Rangers with two losses in a row. They look far from a playoff team.
Islanders’ Offense Looks Hapless
The 6-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Feb. 8 is an outlier for an otherwise awful offense. Take away that game and the Islanders have only scored 16 goals in seven contests, and the Lightning victory was the only time they eclipsed the four-goal threshold under Roy.
Outside of the top line, specifically, Mathew Barzal and Bo Horvat, the Islanders lack chemistry, and the drop in production is noticeable. Likewise, aside from Noah Dobson, who is having a career-best season, there’s no playmaking presence from the point. These roster issues aren’t new ones, but how the offense looks, notably in the offensive zone, under Roy is. There’s minimal puck movement and not a lot of action near the net. The Islanders tend to control the puck and then fail to generate many scoring chances, and it’s why the offense has gone from bad to worse.
The irony is that former head coach Lane Lambert’s aggressive style, while understandably criticized for its flaws, was the duct tape for the offense. It made a mess of the defense at the cost of having an offense look respectable, as defensemen would play deep in the offensive zone and join rushes to help create more scoring chances. It leads to one of the positives under Roy, something the team can hang their hat on.
Sorokin’s Return To Elite Form
Ilya Sorokin has started five games since the coaching change and has only allowed three goals in one start, the Jan. 23 game against the Vegas Golden Knights. On top of that, he’s willed the Islanders to victory and helped them earn points in games they should have easily lost. The shootout loss to the Kraken was his best performance since Roy was hired and arguably the best of the season, saving 29 of 30 shots to allow the Islanders to earn a point in a shootout loss.
The new system has helped. The Islanders playing a more disciplined, gap-sound, and tighter style of defense has allowed Sorokin to face fewer shots and look like an elite goaltender. He was overwhelmed under Lambert, and the shot volume caused a dropoff and made his stats on the season look deceiving. A .911 save percentage (SV%) is considered respectable, and a 3.04 goals-against average (GAA) doesn’t look great, but he’s doing this while facing a league-leading 1288 shots.
The lighter workload within games has made a difference, and Roy’s understanding of when to start and rest Sorokin has allowed him to return to the elite form fans saw last season. Semyon Varlamov has started three games since Roy took over, including the two games before the All-Star Break. The extra rest went a long way for Sorokin, as he now looks fresh and sharp. If the Islanders turn the season around and end up making the playoffs, it will be on the back of their goaltender, a Vezina Trophy finalist a season ago.
Palmieri’s Resurgence
The other bright spot has been Kyle Palmieri’s impact on the wing. He’s scored four goals and three assists since Roy took over and has a six-game point streak. While he’s established himself as a shooter on the wing, Palmieri’s started to impact the game in multiple ways. He’s playing closer to the net and finishing scoring chances while setting up skaters on his line for scoring opportunities. He scored the only goal for the Islanders in the loss to the Kraken, skating to the net to find a Barzal centering pass on the power play, proving he’ll search for scoring chances instead of just waiting for them in the offensive zone.
It’s possible that Palmieri would have turned a corner regardless of the coach behind the bench. However, Roy’s ability to adapt as games progressed has played into Palmieri’s strengths. He’s a veteran skater who finds ways to beat opponents and can adapt to make a difference in the offensive zone. While the rest of the offense has struggled, he’s stepped up and will have to continue to do so if the Islanders hope to make a push for the playoffs.
Penalties & Miscues Continue To Hurt The Islanders
The hope was that when the Islanders fired Lambert, the mistakes would disappear. They haven’t. The team continues to make costly errors that leave them a step behind. From the outlet passes that are intercepted and become quick scoring chances the other way to the penalties that leave them shorthanded, the Islanders are not only making mistakes but allowing them to be their undoing. Roy can implement a new system, but ultimately, the roster has to step up and avoid those errors, and so far, that hasn’t been the case.
Roy Can Still Make This Team Playoff-Caliber
The offense must improve, but more importantly, Roy has to find the right line combinations. That starts with finding a place for Pierre Engvall, who was a reliable scorer on the wing after he was acquired at the trade deadline last season but has struggled this season. Engvall was moved from the Brock Nelson-led line to the top line late in the Feb. 10 loss to the Calgary Flames but hasn’t made a significant impact in that role. He has a great shot and needs a center, who can provide him open looks on the net, and Roy has to move him accordingly.
Additionally, the Islanders must figure out what the bottom six looks like since the offense is non-existent on those two lines. Oliver Wahlstrom, Hudson Fasching, and Julien Gauthier have all been in and out of the lineup, and all three skaters hope to find a steady place on the third and fourth lines.
The Islanders also need another reliable forward in the lineup who will make an impact offensively, and similarly, the defense needs a two-way player to help out Dobson. The problem is the moves can only happen if this team proves it can compete first. So far, the Islanders have proven they are a good team but not good enough to compete for the Stanley Cup or even a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
A loss in the Stadium Series will show that the Islanders aren’t capable of competing. The team doesn’t play until Sunday afternoon, and that extra rest will allow them to prepare for the big game. Roy should have his team ready from the opening puck drop.