“He is Back” Former Islanders Defensive Player Officially Returns, After…
After taking over behind the Islanders’ bench, Patrick Roy immediately set out to improve the team’s appalling defense.
He put in place a system that prioritized puck possession and promoted the idea that opponents cannot score if they do not have the puck.
Knowing that two defensemen and three forwards cannot be effectively separated pieces on the chessboard, he concentrated on breakouts and played as a unit of five.
With a man-to-man mindset, he redesigned the defensive zone structure and prioritized a neutral zone forecheck to make it more difficult for opposing teams to enter the zone.
Once the Islanders began to accept the modifications, the numbers immediately began to improve. However, during their current four-game losing run, which reached a new low in Sunday’s 5-2 loss to the Rangers, they have immediately gone back to their previous practices.
The Islanders are 24th in the league in shot attempt percentage over the past week—a statistic that is frequently used to substitute for possession.
Their breakthrough passing has often been off, and there is a clear divide between the forwards and defense. There have been numerous in-zone errors, which the Rangers exploited on multiple occasions on Sunday.
Following Sunday’s defeat, Noah Dobson remarked, “We gotta dig in here.” “Find ways to get everyone back together as a group of five, even if they’re forechecking hard.” You constantly see five players in the image when we’re ripping pucks. All of us need to improve and return to that.
