DALLAS — Patrick Roy maintained a largely optimistic tone after the Islanders lost their first two games.
But he also noted that turnovers from the defensive zone are a persistent problem. It's an issue that directly led to the Stars' goal on Saturday, and one that was prominent in each of the first two games this season.
“I think the more I play, the better I get,” Roy said. “Sometimes we just need to push our stick a little bit more and maybe simplify some of our decisions.”
The second of Dallas' three goals on Saturday came shortly after the puck came off Max Tsyplakov's stick as the Islanders tried to get out of the zone.
Kyle Palmieri blamed himself, saying the puck was on his stick first, and later said he was responsible for Jamie Benn's goal.
“In my opinion, it was just bad luck,” Roy said. “Palmsey hit the puck and I think Max missed the puck as well. It stayed in the zone and it was a 2-0 game.”
According to Natural Stat Trick, the Islanders outscored the Stars in the 3-0 loss and outperformed them in most analytical measures of scoring chances.
However, the Islanders struggled to get on the same page when passing the puck in the first two periods and appeared to suffer from miscommunication on defense for the opening goal where no one could pick up Tyler Seguin. Therefore, it did not match the eye test.
“First of all, you have to cover the ‘D’ on the rush,” Roy said. “And sometimes when you have a forward coming back as a defenseman, it can cause a little bit of chaos. But they made a great play on this one. We just missed that pass, and the ball [Horvat] We were very close to winning it. ”
The Islanders were 2-0 against Utah the night before, but were 2-2 on the penalty kill.
“I thought it was more aggressive,” Roy said. “I thought I did a good job of putting my stick in the lane and pushing at the right time.”
Horvat had an uncharacteristically bad night at the dot, winning only three of 13 faceoffs.
According to Natural Stat Trick, the second line of Brock Nelson, Tsyplakov and Palmieri had excellent analytical numbers, outscoring opponents 8-2 in 11 minutes, 55 seconds.
