Roy had to talk about the Islanders' lack of hunger yet again.
ELMONT, N.Y. -- Following the New York Islanders' 2-0 shutout loss to the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday, head coach Patrick Roy was asked about the hunger level of his team.
"The position we were in, winning three in a row, we had a chance to go for four in a row. I think we should have been more hungry," Roy said. "We should have had more urgency than what we did. Sometimes, you have to dig those ones, and for some reason, we did not."
On Thursday night, the Islanders fell yet again, losing 5-3 to the Philadelphia Flyers.
Roy was asked about his team's hunger level. If the Buffalo Sabres defeat the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday, the Islanders could wake up Saturday morning dead last in the Eastern Conference.
"No," Roy responded on if he thought his team played hungry for a full 60 minutes. "At the start of the third period, we saw some urgency that we were looking for, and unfortunately, I mean the short-handed goals hurt us. I felt like we kept pushing at the end and scored on that power play to make it a one-goal game.
"But, yeah, we need, we need more consistency in that urgency from the start to the end. We cannot have holes in our game."
How concerning is this?
"Everybody has moments in games where they're not sharp and, but for some reason, the quality of our turnovers give them like really nice unmanned rush, and then we pay for it. There's a mistake you can make, but there's a mistake you can't make, and unfortunately for us, we pay for it."
Here's the video:
The date is Jan. 16. The Islanders have 38 games left in the season. They need to be starving every shift if they want to give themselves a chance to sniff a playoff spot or, at the very least, convince general manager Lou Lamoriello to keep this group together.
But these last two games, especially Thursday's loss, don't inspire confidence that this group can overcome its flaws.
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