Why Patrick Roy Doesn’t Want To Talk Too Much About Turnovers With Islanders Players

It's story time with New York Islanders head coach Patrick Roy.

EAST MEADOW, NY -- New York Islanders head coach Patrick Roy is well aware that turnovers led to their 3-2 loss against the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday night.

But he doesn't want to talk too much about the issue that's been killing his new team the entire season, and here's why. 

"We have to talk about turnovers, but we can't put too much emphasis on it," Roy said following Tuesday's practice. "I gave them my example during my first year in Montreal.

"I was weighing about 165 pounds, and I decided to go into the sauna. I have no idea what the heck I was doing there. I guess I wanted to lose some extra weight. To go to the sauna, I had to pass the showers and Larry Robinson (teammate) was showing. I get in the sauna, and all of a sudden, I see Larry Robinson going into the sauna, and I get my head down, and I thought, 'There's no way he's coming in to take a sauna' because he had already been there. Then he goes to me and goes, 'Kid, no more bad goals.' So the next night, we are playing Buffalo, and then Gilbert Perrault came down the wing, and he's at the blue line. He took a slap shot, and it went through my legs. And I'm like, 'That'd be it for no bad goals, isn't it?' And then I was like, 'Oh, no'. And then I was looking at the bench.

How does this relate to the Islanders?

"So the reality is, the more we are going to talk about turnovers, the more guys are going to be nervous. More guys are going to squeeze the stick," Roy said. "My message to the players this morning is that's why we want to work as a unit of five. We want to make sure that if we open up for them, we give them easy plays, and if we do make turnovers, then we come back. 

"I mean, let's not kid ourselves. Vegas last night, they had five. We had 14. We need to be better in that regard, but it's not just the defense. It's a team thing, and if we do it together, I know we will cut down on that. We are not going to squeeze the stick as much. We are going to be more relaxed."

Islanders MVP this season, Noah Dobson, has looked a bit off his game over the last couple, turning the puck over at a much higher rate. His turnover that led to Nicolas Roy's goal came from him trying to do too much in transition:

Roy wants the Islanders to simplify their game, and his goal against the Montreal Canadiens is to just continue to see that progression. 

The Islanders had 14 turnovers in each of the last two games, and cutting down on that number will make life and winning much easier. 

The Islanders battle Montreal Thursday night at 7 PM ET.