Old habits die hard and that was Patrick Roy's thoughts this week at Islanders practice.
Old habits die hard and that was Patrick Roy's thoughts this week at Islanders practice.
EAST MEADOW, NY -- It's very uncommon for NHL teams to have four days between games. But that's the cards the New York Islanders have been dealt, and it could be the recipe for a winning hand.
New head coach Patrick Roy has had a lot on his plate since arriving on Jan. 21, starting with getting players to buy into what he's selling.
Over his first week, it was clear the players were understanding what he wanted as their game took a turn in the right direction, even if the results weren't two points.
After coming out of the All-Star Game feeling good, with two wins over top-flight teams, the last two games showed a lack of competition and discipline -- major strides in the wrong direction.
It was clear that the Islanders had to go back to basics, and that's what this practice week was all about.
"I think it's what we were looking for, a mix of a lot of things," Roy said. "And what I mean by this is, the first day was about our fundamentals, I mean, making sure that guys got their legs going. On the second day, I wish I had given them a day off, but we were in Jersey, and we just skated there. I thought it was 15 minutes of practice, very light. Yesterday was a good one because we wanted to scrimmage and see the things that we could improve as a group structure and individually and we talked about it this morning.
"Then today was very short, 20 minutes and intense, but a good 20 minutes, so more flow and more things like this, so I think it was good for us to touch the ice more, get our legs going, get our hands going, get some grit and I know sometimes people say too much. But we'll have plenty of days off coming up. We're gonna play every other day. So I thought that was important to get something going, legs wise and our mind. So the intensity level was getting to where I thought I was hoping to see."
Old habits die hard. And for the Islanders, they've had pretty much the same habits drilled into them for quite some time before a drop-off after Barry Trotz left.
Now it's about ridding the club of bad habits and forming new ones that will help change the course of their season.
"I mean, breaking habits takes time, and to bring in new habits takes time. So it's probably a lot easier when you get a group that did not know too much about it," Roy said. "But a group that's been here for so long and had those habits -- and I'm not saying it was right or wrong the way it was before me -- I'm just saying that it's a different approach and a different mentality. I love to see our defense jump into the rush. I love to see our defense be very active. I want us to play a little more aggressive on our forecheck a little more aggressive on our neutral zone fortunate.
"So these are all the areas that we've been working hard at, and their response is very good. It's just being patient enough for them to process all of this."
The Islanders battle the Rangers on Sunday afternoon, a team riding a six-game winning streak and currently sitting in first place in the Metropolitan Division.
Roy thinks that the hard work this week has them ready.
"I thought we had good practices. It was very short, but it was intense, and that's the word I'm looking for: intensity," Roy said. "I mean, if we have that, I know that our compete and all our fundamentals are going to be there and the structure will be there. And that's it."