Islanders Need To Get Back To A Certain Aspect Of Their Game To Right The Ship

EAST MEADOW, NY -- When the New York Islanders were having success on their six-game road trip, their 5-on-5 play was the best it's been all season. 

The passing was crisp, and the breakouts were clean, but they were also generating a ton of offensive zone time off the forecheck.

That was not the case over these last two losses, a 3-0 shutout defeat against the Los Angeles Kings and a 4-0 shutout loss against.

"We've been doing a very good job off the forecheck. We score goals, actually. We generate some offense off our forecheck," Islanders head coach Patrick Roy said after Friday's practice. "I think in the last two games, we got a little bit away from that. And what I mean away from that is the support. The first guy goes hard, but the second guy sometimes passes by instead of staying inside of the battle. And we did the same thing on our offensive zone pressure.

"I feel like we just need to go back to this. We got away from that. And I think that's the reason why it's been tougher for us to score goals. And we have to make sure we have always someone in front of the net. We call that the anchor. We need to make sure that someone is there to bring the puck behind the net to generate off of our puck possession or even try to find ways to screen the goalie on the point shots. So we need to go back to this. We were doing it so well. We just need to do this again."

While forechecking was an issue in both losses, the reasons the Islanders couldn't get on the forecheck in those games were a bit different. 

"It was hard against LA because they skate a lot like they did a lot of hold-ups," Roy said. "Last night was a different story. That's what I said to the guys this morning. When I was playing, if I had a so-so game, I wanted to go back to what I used to do, you know, go back to the basics and, and that's what we need to do offensively and in our game in general.

"The thing that I want our guys to learn is to find ways to win when we're not playing our best. I mean, that's what a good team does. They find ways to win those games. Just because we are having a tougher night doesn't mean we have to lose. Our goalie could be part of our solution at times. And Ilya gave us that chance after the first period, and we just dug ourselves a hole after giving up the second and a third goal."

Since Roy's arrival, accountability has been the word of the season, and he made it clear that he thought he could have done more heading into the game against Buffalo.

"I feel like maybe I should have gotten more precise, a little evasive about how we want it to be in front of the net example. So this morning, we were clear. We need that presence. We need to support each other in the battles. We need to be quicker jumping on those loose bucks. [We need to play] more a unit of five than what we've been doing maybe the last two games because we got way too much talent to be shut out two games in a row."

Defenseman Mike Reilly, whose game is about using his skates to help with breakouts and generate off the rush, said that their issues in the last few games came from trying to do too much.

"I think sometimes we get maybe too cute with the puck a little bit and try to make that extra play a little bit," Reilly told The Hockey News. "There's games where the puck is gonna get turned over. It's gonna come back the other way. You're going to be out of position. There's gonna be the odd man rushes. So, I think -- even last night -- there were a couple of times where we were able to either flip it or get it deep, at least create a forecheck and get some puck back, and I think that led to some sustained offensive zone time.

"It was just one of those games last night where maybe that's the way you gotta go and just dump it in and put it in tough spots for their defensemen to get back. They've got a lot of mobile defensemen. But we did that a couple of times, and we're able to get some more sustainable, so at times, I think we need to simplify a little bit. I think we can do both. Maybe there are games where there's a lot of plays to make, and you can look for a pass, but in a situation like that last night, we gotta get behind their defense."

Islanders forward Mathew Barzal completely agreed with Reilly about the need to forecheck when things aren't working out and said he needs to do a better job of that.  

I definitely think that we've been forechecking well. That's a staple in our game," Barzal told THN. "And now, we got some bigger guys and some smaller guys that are fast, too. So we're getting there, and I'm definitely trying to make it a point in my game to forecheck hard; all the good players and good teams forecheck hard, so we definitely have to do that to be successful."

The Islanders have no choice but to shake things off with just 17 games to go and a playoff spot anything but certain.

New York hosts the bottom-feeding Ottawa Senators on Saturday at 12:30 PM ET, before a quick turnaround as they head to Madison Square Garden to face the New York Rangers at 1 PM.

With things not clicking at the moment, the Islanders will need to get in on the forecheck more often to help right the ship and stop their skid from reaching three games.