Can Roy fix the Islanders problem?

Patrick Roy sees things clearly and sees them whole.

That might be the best reason why the Islanders freshly-minted head coach has a chance to goose the Orange and Blue into the postseason.

The Maven calls him "The Perfect Coach For An Imperfect Team."

Even during the post-win OT euphoria on Sunday night, Roy kept from doing handstands of joy over the come-from-behind victory over a very solid Dallas sextet.

What he viewed -- apart from the muchly-needed two points -- were flaws up and down the winning performance. 

"We're depending a little too much on our goaltender," Roy remarked.

And he was right. The Visitors outshot New York by a lot. Patrick insisted that the team has to design  -- or just play -- a game that meaningfully trims Ilya Sorokin’s workload.

"We've gotta do a better job on turnovers, he asserted, and he's right about that, big-time.

Bad penalty-kill games have severely trimmed the Isles effectiveness. And I'm that you can certify a few other areas lumped under "Work In Progress."

It all comes down to a major fixing job that has to be accomplished during this second half of the season. 

The good news is that -- to a man-- the personnel is ga-ga about having this Hall of Famer leading the charge.

Some said the Isles need a new voice.

The Maven agrees, but what about the "new ears?" There'd better be full-time listening to the mentor. 

For my dough, the best media conclusion I like is simply this.

"He knows how to get you to compete."

We'll see about that tonight with The Champs in town.

TOP STORIES