The Islanders Are What Their Record Says They Are; Patrick Roy's Damning Quote
The Islanders are out of excuses. This is who they are.
They say you are what your record says you are.
For the New York Islanders, they believed that the saying was wrong.
With Mathew Barzal, Anthony Duclair, Adam Pelech, and Mike Reilly out for a good portion of this first half of the season, they didn’t believe their mediocre record defined them.
And it was easy to believe them to an extent.
If you looked at this team on paper ahead of training camp, with Duclair locked up for four years and Maxim Tsyplakov coming to the NHL after a breakout season in the KHL, along with a full training camp under Patrick Roy, the belief was that the Islanders would be better.
But, back healthy, they’ve proven that belief wrong because they’ve been the same team they were when the guys were out of the lineup.
Yes, they had a big win in Toronto and a strong showing against Pittsburgh on Saturday night, but between those two games, they had a disaster of a showing against Buffalo and finished up their weekend with a lackluster 3-2 loss to the Penguins, a game where they were outplayed for 55 of the 60 minutes.
They are what their record says they are. You can’t say they should be better because they haven’t proven at all this year that they deserve that benefit of the doubt.
Head coach Patrick Roy had some damning comments following their loss to Pittsburgh on Sunday:
“After we gave up that second goal, we were not mentally strong enough. It's just a goal. I mean, we were down two in this league, two goals. It's nothing. We prove it. With seven minutes, we pull the goalie. We score one. Five minutes, we scored another one. You can come back in those games. And sometimes I just feel we don't believe enough in that.”
Woof.
Even through the Islanders’ struggles this season and over the last few seasons, there was always belief in the room. Was it a false belief? Maybe sure, but the belief never wavered.
Roy’s quote was the first time that someone on the Islanders’ side of things questioned the players’ beliefs.
If the players have stopped believing that, it marks the end of an era for this Islanders team.
Most of these guys have been through two general managers, three head coaches, a couple of assistant coaches, and two long playoff runs in 2020 and 2021.
It’s been a noble run for a group that was so close but yet so far at the same time.
Every team goes through this with a core, the rise and the fall.
The writing on the wall is like a Sharpie on a whiteboard.
They are what their record says they are.
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