ELMONT, N.Y. — Three wins in a row and a dominating performance against one of the top teams in hockey makes for a confident hockey team.
Written off by many just two weeks ago, the Islanders are firmly back in the Eastern Conference playoff picture after a dominating 5-1 victory over the Boston Bruins on Saturday night at UBS Arena extended the team’s winning streak to three games.
This is by far the best they have looked under head coach Patrick Roy with the result against Boston arguably New York’s marquee performance of the season.
“I just feel like we have something good going on,” Roy said. “The guys look sharp, they feel good. They look alive out there.”
It has been roughly six weeks since Roy took over for Lane Lambert behind the Islanders’ bench where his new, aggressive philosophy ran into some roadblocks seeping into the collective mind that is the locker room. The Islanders lost eight of Roy’s first 12 games before seemingly figuring it out.
Roy’s decision to shuffle the lines has paid massive dividends to spark this run. The top-heavy line of Mathew Barzal, Bo Horvat, and Brock Nelson brings a relentless attacking force. Kyle Palmieri reeled off a first-period hat trick on the second unit alongside Anders Lee and Jean-Gabriel Pageau on Saturday night. Pierre Engvall and Simon Holmstrom have been dubbed the “Swedish Connection,” by Roy and have clicked instantaneously.
“We want them to play free. We want them to enjoy themselves and play their game and right now, we are having a lot of confidence,” Roy said. “There’s one thing I’ve learned: we don’t take anything for granted. But I like the chemistry that all those lines have. The four lines are playing well, the defense is playing well, the goalie makes a good save at the right time…
“Sometimes, you want a great start when a coach comes in and put a band-aid on it but it’s not how that works. It’s to play the right way and right now, I think we’re playing the right way.”
The Islanders sit five points behind the Philadelphia Flyers with two games in hand for third place in the Metropolitan Division, which is the final non-Wild-Card playoff spot in the division.
Now with Roy’s system having permeated throughout the ranks, confidence is at a high in 2023-24 with 23 games to go in the regular season.
“You start to feel that momentum, you start to feel good about the results we’re getting and that feels good,” Lee said. “That adds to the energy in here. That adds into anything you do. Once you start feeling good about what you’re going out there and accomplishing, you can build off that and continue to roll.”
“We want to keep building and we’re not done,” Pageau added. “We saw a team that’s competing and wants to keep climbing and that’s our main focus.”
