Islanders coach Patrick Roy demands swagger from his team
Islanders head coach Patrick Roy against the New York Rangers at UBS Arena on Tuesday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Patrick Roy did what good coaches do. He (loudly) challenged his Islanders at practice on Wednesday, stopping a drill for almost five minutes, gathering the players at center ice and dropping some expletives. He questioned their intensity. He admonished them for turnovers. He tried to push this slumping team to regain any swagger it can to snap a four-game losing streak and keep their slim playoff hopes alive.
He used the respect he’s earned as a Hall of Fame goalie to get the Islanders’ attention.
Whether the message got through will become clear in the Islanders’ latest must-win game on Thursday night against the similarly struggling Bruins at TD Garden.
The Islanders (25-25-7) lost 5-1 to the rival Rangers on Tuesday night at UBS Arena to fall seven points out of an Eastern Conference wild-card spot.
“I wasn’t displeased,” Roy said after the practice session at Northwell Health Ice Center in East Meadow. “I understand when things are not necessarily going your way, you could lose a bit of your confidence. I want us to keep practicing the right way. When you’re losing games like we did for the last four, you want to make sure you keep working hard in the practice.
“The hockey gods were not on our side last game. There were screened tip-ins and stuff like this. But you can’t feel sorry for yourself in this game. At the end what I said was very simple, we need to show some swagger.”
Roy was hands-on from start to finish. Even before practice started, he came over to give goalie Ilya Sorokin some one-on-one instruction. That almost never happens as Roy deliberately leaves that type of work to goalie coach Piero Greco.
Sorokin suffered through a miserable outing against the Rangers, allowing five goals on 11 shots in two periods while constantly being screened. At least three goals came on redirections.
“He said good words about how I should play in traffic and try to do these things in practice and in games,” Sorokin said.
“I just want him to trust his instinct,” Roy said. “I’m not going to tell him how to play, how to make a save. He’s a great goalie. Just trust yourself. It’s too easy when things are not going the way you want, you let that affect you. And he should not let that affect him. Trust what he does and play with that swagger.”
Roy told an anecdote about the 1999 Western Conference semifinals between his Avalanche and the Red Wings, their hated rival.
The Red Wings came into Colorado and won the first two games, 3-2 in overtime and then 4-0 before the series shifted to Detroit.
“My teammates had their heads between their legs and I came out singing,” Roy said. “Deep inside, I was afraid. But I felt I had to show some swagger.”
P.S.: The Avalanche won the next four games and advanced.
“It was one of those things that was needed, maybe a little bit of a sloppy practice at the beginning,” Bo Horvat said. “If we want to come out of this, all the details matter. I thought we were a lot better after that talk. He’s a positive guy but he also demands a lot from us and holds us to a higher standard. We have to hold ourselves to a high standard, too.”
Roy is doing what good coaches do.
Notes & quotes: Roy said defenseman Noah Dobson (lower body) will be activated off long-term injured reserve and play against the Bruins after missing 11 games since Jan. 24. Scott Perunovich is likely to come out of the lineup. The Islanders will likely need to move Mathew Barzal (lower body) from injured reserve to LTIR to create room under the salary cap for Dobson . . . Hudson Fasching is expected to replace Pierre Engvall on the fourth line and play for the first time since Jan. 5 . . . Scott Mayfield is expected to remain a healthy scratch for the second straight game. Roy said not having the 6-5 defenseman’s size at the net was not a factor in the Rangers creating traffic and getting multiple deflection goals. “You just want to be in playing,” said Mayfield, who dressed for just one match after returning from a four-game absence for a lower-body injury. “It’s tough but I know the way I need to play. I didn’t like that first game back.” Mayfield logged just 10:36 and was a minus-1 in Sunday night’s 4-3 loss to the visiting Stars.
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.
