EAST MEADOW, N.Y. — A five-day break before the 2024 Stadium Series at MetLife Stadium allowed Islanders Patrick Roy to ramp up the intensity that much more during practice on Wednesday morning.
His side had lost the night before 2-1 in a shootout to the Seattle Kraken in which they turned the puck over 23 times, spent nearly seven minutes defending their zone, and lacked the verve that’s necessary for a team that needs to claw its way back into the playoff picture.
“Today was about fundamentals,” Roy said. “We’ve been talking a lot about the structure and how we’re going to play, but there’s one part in our game that has to improve and that’s the compete level. Today was a good day for that.”
Hits were not held back, puck battles were meticulously worked on, and skating was extra intensive — including suicide drills to end the day, leaving most Islanders in an exhausted state.
“Today wasn’t a punishment,” defenseman Ryan Pulock told amNewYork. “It was a day where we were going to go out and work and make each other better and instill this work ethic in the group so when the next game comes, we’re doing it.
“This is about getting back to our identity of hard work, outworking teams, outcompeting teams, outbattling teams. That starts in practice.”
For more than half a decade, the Islanders always had that concept to hang their proverbial hats on. The roster wasn’t always the most talented, but they outworked teams with a defensive structure that yielded two straight Stanley Cup semifinal appearances in 2020 and 2021.
A lot of that roster still remains on the 2023-24 edition, but the consistency to string together wins has eluded them.
“One way to get consistency is to constantly do it,” Pulock continued. “It’s hard to be lackadaisical and then just show up to the game and just do it. It’s important to have these days as a reminder and to instill those habits so that when the game comes, it’s natural.”
“Part of our identity that we have is to be a hard-working team that competes, that wins their one-on-one battles,” forward Jean-Gabriel Pageau added. “That starts in practice. If you don’t try to win your battles — if you don’t work hard, do all those little details that we know we had when we had success in the past, that’s what we were doing well. Today we worked on it. I wouldn’t say they’re the most fun practices, but when you’re done, you’re proud of yourself and you know you left it all out there.”
This is just the latest jolt that Roy has tried to administer to the Islanders since taking over as head coach for Lane Lambert toward the end of January. New York is 3-3-2 under him while overhauling its entire philosophy — transitioning a defensive-first and at times, a timid squad to an aggressive attacking unit.
But if a core value such as the compete level is off, it won’t take in time for the Islanders to save their season.
“He’s trying to help us to get that fire in us,” Pageau said. “He wouldn’t do that if he didn’t see the potential in us.”
