The Islanders look at the Toronto Maple Leafs win as the blueprint for success going forward, even after their disappointing loss to the Buffalo Sabres.
The Islanders look at the Toronto Maple Leafs win as the blueprint for success going forward, even after their disappointing loss to the Buffalo Sabres.
EAST MEADOW, NY -- As New York Islanders forward Mathew Barzal shared with The Hockey News, there was a "sour "taste" left in the team's mouth after their 7-1 loss on Monday to the Buffalo Sabres:
"We all know we have to be better," Bo Horvat said following Friday's morning skate. "We all know that wasn't our best. That was probably our worst game of the year. Sometimes, you are going to have those nights, but, I mean, at this part of the season, we're chasing a playoff spot, and we want to keep ourselves relevant.
"We can't have games like that. We all know that."
Others in the room said the same.
But how do they make their actions speak louder than the words the fans have repeatedly heard this season?
The answer: Roll the tape from Toronto, the game before the Buffalo onslaught where the Islanders stormed out to a 2-0 lead before ultimately winning 6-3 for their best win of the season.
"We definitely can all be better in this room. I think it's just playing how we played in Toronto, really," Horvat added. "We look back at that game, & we were all hungry. We were all doing the right things & playing our game. The result took care of itself."
Although Roy didn't say this to us directly, it's clear from the lines he ran against Buffalo, and the fact that he's keeping the exact same lineup again on Saturday night against the Pittsburgh Penguins backs up the team's claim about Toronto:
That game was the first with a fully healthy forward group since Oct. 19, and the results showed just how good this team could have been had it not been plagued by injuries.
"That was who we are. That's at least who we want to be," Barzal said. "If we can find that level of consistency...can't just have it one game once in a while. It's gotta be consistent, and hopefully that starts tomorrow."
Yes, the Leafs were not at full strength in that game, playing the second of a back-to-back with Auston Matthews, one of the league's most prolific goal-scorers, out of the lineup.
The Islanders clearly took advantage of their situation, but that doesn't mean they didn't deserve the win.
Their recipe was successful, beginning with the first ingredient.
"We had a really good start, and it seems to me that when we have good starts, we have good games," Roy said. "It's when we don't have good starts that I want to see us bring that game to a higher level in the second or somewhere midway in that first period.
"Against Buffalo, we didn't have a good start. And I wish we could come back at least in the second period and turn it around and then turn it into a good game. Mike Keane, one of my teammates, when I was in Montreal, always said that just because you're playing a bad game, that doesn't mean you have to lose. You have to find ways to win. So that's what I wish."
Roy echoed his players' sentiments about Toronto and said that what he saw was what he wanted to see going forward.
"We were really good in Toronto, and that's the way we want to play," Roy said. "We want to see that consistency, and we want to play like this at home. I mean, we're .500 on the road. We're two games below .500 at home. That's hard to understand. And I think deep inside, we know we need to be better in our own building."
The Islanders' biggest rival this season has been themselves, with injuries being an excuse because of how they lost most of the games with key players out.
Two points will be common as the season progresses if they play the way they played in Toronto.
But because of the state of the team, five points back of a wild-card spot with two pending unrestricted free agents that hold tremendous value on the trade market, time is of the essence for Roy and the players to win at more than a 50% clip if they want to climb the standings.