Islanders Top Six Has Stopped Clicking, Could We See New Lines Against Rangers?

NEW YORK, NY -- New York Islanders head coach Patrick Roy altered his lines on Saturday night for the first time since making major changes on Feb. 26. 

The move to place Brock Nelson on the top line with Bo Horvat and Mathew Barzal in a 4-2 loss against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Feb. 24 was intriguing enough for Roy to keep it, which ultimately led to the team going on a six-game winning streak. 

With that move, Jean-Gabriel Pageau became the No. 2 center, flanked by Anders Lee and Kyle Palmieri; Casey Cizikas became the No. 3 center, flanked by Pierre Engvall and Simon Holmstrom, while the fourth line was centered by rookie Kyle MacLean.

But a once-promising lineup has gone cold over the last three games, with three goals, two of which came at 5-on-5.

All three goals came in Saturday night's 4-3 overtime loss to the Ottawa Senators. Matt Martin and Palmieri scored at 5-on-5, while Horvat added a power-play dagger in the final 30 seconds to force overtime.

Roy, needing offense, decided to alter his top six, placing Barzal alongside Pageau and Lee, with Palmieri skating alongside Horvat and Nelson.

Here were the results in limited action.

In 3:09, with Barzal on the "second line", th Islanders outshot their opponents 3-1, owning a 71.43 CF%, but were on the ice for Ridley Grieg's 2-2 tally at 6:35 of the third, which came on a 2-on-0 opportunity:

The other new line wasn't on the ice for a goal in 2:25 minutes but failed to get a shot on goal, with a 20.00 CF%. 

Roy didn't hold back following the loss about how he felt his team played. 

Here's what he said about the new lines: 

"Well, I thought we had some energy coming off that. Sometimes you have to try things. It would be easy to just keep it as it is, but I don't know. Things seemed to not click for our guys, the top two lines, and that's what we did."

Could we see those new lines today with a win a need with 16 games to go?