Patrick Roy tried as laborious as he may to place a optimistic spin on issues after his group’s 4-2 defeat to the Devils on Friday at UBS Area, however the Islanders coach had no selection however to acknowledge that, simply over every week into camp, his group appears prefer it nonetheless wants vital work at five-on-five.
“We put plenty of concentrate on particular items: the ability play, the penalty killing, and we did just a little little bit of five-on-five, perhaps a day up to now,” Roy mentioned. “So the primary focus, I’d say, for the primary 4 days is we’re realizing [where] the gamers [fit]. Engaged on our energy play and penalty killing, clearly we didn’t have any energy performs tonight.
“So that is the place we’re and we’re gonna proceed to work on our five-on-five. … And work on our forecheck, be certain we acquired stable construction. We wish to be higher on our impartial zone regroup, be just a little extra predictable. Extra predictable on our breakouts. These are issues which might be gonna take a little bit of time.”
Working extra on particular groups was a deliberate selection made after the Islanders’ energy play and penalty kill mixed to doom their season final yr. It is usually laborious to evaluate issues off the preseason, when the lineup is mostly composed of a cut up between NHL- and AHL-level gamers, as was the case Friday night time.
Nonetheless, the Islanders have appeared discombobulated typically at even power, not often generated a forecheck and steadily ceded area in entrance of their very own internet. It was telling that, as he rattled off positives from Friday’s sport, Roy listed off Matthew Schaefer, Marshall Warren, Gleb Veremyev, Cameron Berg and Ilya Sorokin, not naming a single veteran NHL skater.
“Not specializing in win or loss proper now, however extra specializing in being prepared for the primary [regular-season] sport,” Roy mentioned. “Was right now step? No.”
Sorokin performed all 60 minutes in his first preseason motion, stopping 23 of 26 pictures. Roy mentioned Sorokin will get one other full sport earlier than the season.
Ethan Bear left the sport at 13:13 of the third interval and didn’t return. Roy didn’t have an replace on his standing afterward.
Anders Lee (higher physique) skated Friday in a pink non-contact sweater, although there was no formal replace on his standing.
The Islanders made a sequence of cuts to their coaching camp roster, as Alex Jefferies, Joey Larson, Matt Maggio, Calle Odelius, Cam Thiesing, and Henrik Tikkanen had been all assigned to AHL Bridgeport, whereas Liam Foudy, Julien Gauthier, Cole McWard and Travis Mitchell had been positioned on waivers.
