When the Islanders next play Tuesday in Pittsburgh, it will have been exactly one month since coach Lou Lamoriello fired Lane Lambert and hired Patrick Roy, which will be the end of the season. This is a move intended to change the course of events and their subsequent direction.
Nine games into Roy’s tenure, it feels like the Islanders need to start making decisions about whether to focus more on this season or beyond.
Sunday’s 6-5 overtime loss to the Rangers at MetLife Stadium closely resembled many of this team’s most painful losses under Lambert, and that’s a big deal.
The Islanders held leads of 4-1 and 5-3, the latter lasting until late in the third period.
And instead of keeping the Rangers in the game, they started making the Rangers do the opposite.
They received a terrible penalty.
Their penalty kill was exposed.
The Rangers tied the game and won in overtime.
A microcosm of the past four months in front of a crowd of nearly 80,000 people.
Roy then defended the Islanders’ play, saying they did a lot of good things, and he wasn’t wrong.
The first period was great.
But that and Noah Dobson’s three assists meant little when Dobson gave the puck to Artemi Panarin in overtime, stopping the game 10 seconds into overtime.
“Whether we agreed with some of our guys or not, we got in penalty trouble and couldn’t get any kills,” Nelson said, referring to the penalty call that has been in the Isles’ room since October. He continued to complain. . “I found that to be the difference.”
Rangers coach Peter Laviolette, who had struggled on the power play last month, felt comfortable enough against the historically bad Isles’ penalties, pulling the goalie on a 4-on-3 and then scoring again on a 5-on-4. , and the Blueshirts scored both goals late in the third with an empty net.
Laviolette made the decision mathematically: Even with nearly six minutes left, the Rangers would have been in dire straits if they couldn’t use the cannons on the ice to score 4-on-3. – but he definitely knew the Islanders weren’t scoring and he needed to get more comfortable going into an empty net all year.
“Our main objective is to get kills in this situation,” Casey Cizikas said. “When you take the puck on your stick and drop it on the ice, take it when you get the chance. Your first objective as a hitman is to go out and get the job done. Try when you can, When it’s not there, we drop it under the ice.”
The past month, which was supposed to be a fresh start to the season, has felt like any other, with the Islanders currently four points out of a playoff spot.
By the way, their 22 wins are about the same number as Montreal and Ottawa, which no one expects to make the playoffs.
Roy spent the four days off until Sunday holding something of a Training Camp 2.0, working on building culture and working on the fundamentals.
The Islanders are close enough to the playoffs in terms of points to make the playoffs before the trade deadline.
But a new head coach who feels he needs to preach the fundamentals, and whose team quickly reverts to old habits when the first opportunity presents itself, has no idea how close they actually are, as much as the standings. It tells you what you are doing.
With less than three weeks until the trade deadline, Lamoriello and Roy are struggling to decide which direction to take this season.
But if something doesn’t change soon, the team might give them a call.
