Patrick Roy is demanding a higher compete level from the Islanders
Islanders head coach Patrick Roy talks to the media after a 2-1 shootout loss to the Kraken in an NHL game at UBS Arena on Tuesday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Patrick Roy pushed the Islanders, quickly slipping uncomfortably to the periphery of the playoff race, through a physically-challenging, hour-long practice on Wednesday. It ended with the tired players doing repeated rink-length laps — “suicides” in hockey parlance.
The coach, who ardently believes teams play the way they practice, wants the Islanders to push harder during games.
“Today was about fundamentals,” Roy said at Northwell Health Ice Center in East Meadow. “There’s one part in our game that I think needs to improve. It’s the compete level.”
The Islanders next face the Rangers in their Stadium Series match on Sunday afternoon at MetLife Stadium. They have lost two straight after Tuesday night’s 2-1 shootout loss to the Kraken at UBS Arena, dropping the Islanders to 3-3-2 under Roy.
“It’s a big part of the game how you go into those battles and how you compete in every area,” Roy said. “There’s things that numbers cannot show and that’s one of them, the compete level.
“That’s the culture we want to have. We want a team that works hard. That’s what I said to our guys, ‘Every time we’re going to put our skates on the ice, we’re going to work hard. We’re going to be ready to out-compete whoever we’re going to play. That’s the DNA you want to have as a team.”
Asked how close the Islanders are to that culture, Roy responded, “Time will tell. This is a good group. This is a group that wants to do well.”
The Islanders (22-18-13) are seven points behind the Flyers for third place — and a playoff spot — in the Metropolitan Division. They are three points back of the Red Wings for the second wild-card spot. But the other Eastern Conference playoff contenders all play multiple games while the Islanders are idle.
The thing is, this iteration of Islanders have always considered their identity to be a hard-working team with a high compete level. Having a new coach saying otherwise as he works on the team’s culture could be considered somewhat jarring.
But the players, still sweating after the hard skate, said they enjoyed being pushed and understand more physicality can help them maintain the puck in the offensive zone.
“At the end of a difficult practice, when you tack on something like that it’s more of a mental-strength test than it is anything else,” Cal Clutterbuck said. “The game is sometimes going to throw you something when you feel like you can’t go any further. Those drills are meant to teach your mind you definitely can go further than that.”
Notes & quotes: Leading scorer Mathew Barzal (maintenance), on a six-game point streak, did not practice and is day to day . . . The Islanders will practice at MetLife Stadium on Thursday. “A distraction,” Roy said of practicing outdoors. “It’s not about the practice. Practice is going to be 10, 15 minutes. We’re going to give them time to, ‘OK, look at what you have to look at.’ And that’s for our focus for our game on Sunday.”
Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.
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