Patrick Roy would like to see the Islanders add a little more grease to their game.
After Saturday’s 4-3 overtime loss to the Senators for the third straight year, the Islanders’ head coach said, not for the first time, that his team was overpassing the puck instead of throwing it at the net. Told.
“I felt we were a little too clean offensively,” Roy said. “The third goal was a screen in front of the net. The second goal was a great shot by a player.” [Jean-Gabriel Pageau], oblique shot. It wasn’t a slot or a clean play, but it doesn’t always have to be clean.
“Sometimes you have to do that to score goals, and I felt like we were looking for the perfect play. That doesn’t work. We have to simplify some of those things. ”
The Islanders have at least broken out of their two-game offensive morass against the Senators — Matt Martin’s goal 126 minutes, 15 seconds into the first period ended the scoreless streak — but they certainly still have unfinished business. It felt like there was.
Despite finishing the game with 63 shot attempts, the Islanders only had seven dangerous chances. This shows that Ottawa was keeping them on the outside and away from the net and slot area.
The overpassing that Roy mentioned has been noticeable in the last few games in a row.
“There was a time and a portion of the game.” [where] “Maybe we were looking for an extra pass or a better play when one of the secrets to our success is to just get to the net and cause havoc,” Kyle Palmieri said. Ta.
These elements, not coincidentally, were absent during the three-game losing streak. And if the Islanders are going to get back to the level of offense they want, they’re going to have to go back.
“We’re looking for that shooting mentality,” Roy said. “If I can get the puck to the net more, I feel like I’m going to be dangerous.”
Bo Horvat appeared to disagree with the ruling in overtime when he was sent into the box off Tim Stutzle, leading to the winning goal.
“I was just trying to win my fight,” Horvat said. “My arm got stuck in his body. He obviously thought I had a free hand and hugged me a little bit, but I just tried to win that fight and get the stick in the puck. And maybe that’s why he called it that.”
On Saturday, NHL media sites listed Robert Bortuzzo as an active player, but Roy declined to confirm that the defenseman is no longer on long-term injured reserve.
