After another loss with new line combinations, New York Islanders head coach Patrick Roy should return to the lines that won six straight games with nine games to go.
After another loss with new line combinations, New York Islanders head coach Patrick Roy should return to the lines that won six straight games with nine games to go.
TAMPA, FL -- After the New York Islanders defeated the Florida Panthers 3-2 on Thursday, it was a bit of a head-scratcher when head coach Patrick Roy changed his lines ahead of his Saturday game against the Tampa Bay Lightning:
After Friday's skate, The Hockey News asked Roy if it was difficult to alter lines after wins.
"It's always tough, but at the same time, we want to continue to generate more offense," Roy said. So, I mean, having maybe a more balanced lineup, I think maybe that will help us."
Yes, the Islanders didn't generate much offense in that game against Florida, and scoring has been a significant issue lately. However, the line configuration on Thursday night ultimately led to a winning result, and wins are needed now.
But Roy felt strongly about what his gut told him and his job is to do what he thinks is best.
The Islanders ultimately did get on the board first against Tampa, with Kyle Palmieri scoring on their first shot of the game, deflecting the puck off Lightning defenseman Matt Dumba and in at 2:25 of the first.
But after that, the Islanders couldn't beat Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy, who stopped the next 27 shots he faced, as the Islanders fell 4-1.
During the second period of the loss, Roy decided to change up his lines:
After the game, Roy explained why he made the in-game adjustments:
"They were matching Barzal against Kucherov often and I thought we needed a little more speed on that line," Roy said. "That's why I put Cizikas with them and when we did that, I mean give them a bit of a [jolt] and it was the same thing with Brock's line. They played they play well together last year at the end of the season with Engvall and Palmieri, so I thought that was a good moment for them to be back and then I thought that Pageau, with Lee and Horvat, had a good moment, as well.
"We'll see how it goes for next game."
The Islanders are running out of time to salvage this season, sitting five points back of a wild-card spot with nine games to go.
While Roy is trying to find the right lines to produce more offense, trying certain players out of position at this point of the season isn't bringing results.
It's time for Roy to go back to the lines that were working a few weeks ago, when the Islanders won six straight games to get back into a playoff spot.
Here are those lines:
Forwards
Brock Nelson - Bo Horvat - Mathew Barzal
Anders Lee - Jean-Gabriel Pageau - Kyle Palmieri
Pierre Engvall - Casey Cizikas - Simon Holmstorm
Matt Martin - Kyle MacLean - Cal Clutterbuck
Defense
Adam Pelech - Noah Dobson
Alexander Romanov - Ryan Pulock
Mike Reilly - Sebastian Aho
Over the course of that win streak, the Islanders outscored their opponents 30-11.
The passing was crisp. The confidence was as high as ever and the transition game was like nothing we had ever seen from the Islanders.
But, when the streak came to an end after a 3-0 loss against the Los Angeles Kings -- in which the lineup changed for the first time in a bit due to a Matt Martin injury -- it seemed like the magic was completely gone.
Since then, the Islanders have used five different line combinations to start games, being outscored 36-19 with a record of 2-6-1 over that span.
Roy's search for offense led to the separation of Mathew Barzal and Bo Horvat, as you've seen for the last six games.
Breaking up the Islanders' most prolific duo is certainly a choice, as well as the choice to put Barzal back at center after the organization had groomed him to be Horvat's winger upon No. 14's acquisition last January.
The latest change was moving Horvat on the wing for the first time since his freshman year of juniors, which didn't pay dividends.
Now 12-12-4 through his first 28 games behind the Islanders' bench, Roy is still experimenting, which is more about the roster he's working with and its inability to play the brand of hockey he's looking for than anything else.
Nothing has worked better for this group than the lines that went streaking for six games.
With nine games to go and the team on life support, going back to those lines and hoping there's still some magic there seems more beneficial than trying to discover new lines with little to no track record.
The Islanders battle the second wild-card Philadelphia Flyers on Monday, the next biggest game of the season.