To say things are bad for the New York Islanders is an understatement. For a second time in a row, Wednesday against the Boston Bruins, Patrick Roy’s men allowed three unanswered goals in the third period to suffer a fifth defeat in six games.
And after this 6-3 loss against the Massachusetts club, the fans present inside the UBS Arena were clearly not in a good mood, who were demanding, among other things, the departure of general manager Lou Lamoriello.
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That said, Roy, the team’s head coach, prefers to remain optimistic. He seems to believe that better days could come.
“I like these guys,” he said in a press conference after the match on Wednesday. They work hard. They grow. This is the team Lou gave me and I’m going to work extremely hard for these guys.”
Currently penultimate and seventh in the Metropolitan section, the Islanders (8-10-5) are playing well according to Roy. So what’s the problem? If we are to believe the words of the legend of the Montreal Canadiens, his players make mistakes at the worst times.
“It’s the way we play,” explained the former goalkeeper. We don’t concede 40 shots, but 21. We don’t allow 22 scoring chances, but 10 or 12. We do a lot of good things. I’d rather focus on those things than tell you, “Oh, yeah, we did this or that wrong.”
“I prefer to focus on what we do well, and I hope that will change for us.”
The next step will not be easy for the Islanders, who will try to get back to winning ways against the Washington Capitals, a power in the National Hockey League, on Friday. They will then face the Buffalo Sabers on Saturday, before coming to the Bell Center on Tuesday to face the Canadian.
