Patrick Roy wants to see the Islanders add a little more grease to their game.
Following a 4-3 overtime loss to the Senators on Saturday, their third straight, the Islanders head coach said — not for the first time — his team was overpassing instead of throwing pucks at the net.
“I felt we were a little too pretty offensively,” Roy said. “The third goal was a screen in front of the net, the second goal was a great effort by [Jean-Gabriel Pageau], angled shot. It wasn’t in the slot or a pretty play, but it doesn’t have to be pretty all the time.
“Sometimes that’s what you have to do to score those goals and it felt like we were looking for the perfect play. That doesn’t work. We gotta simplify some of those things.”
The Islanders did at least break out of a two-game offensive morass against the Senators — ending a scoreless streak after 126:15 on Matt Martin’s first-period goal — but it certainly felt like they left more on the table.
Despite finishing the game with 63 shot attempts, the Islanders had just seven high-danger chances, an indicator that Ottawa kept them to the outside and away from the net and slot areas.
The overpassing Roy mentioned has been noticeable for a few games in a row now as well.
“There was times and chunks of the game [where] we were maybe looking for an extra pass or better play when just getting at the net and causing chaos is one of the things that makes us successful,” Kyle Palmieri said.
Those elements, not coincidentally, have been absent during the three straight losses. And they’ll have to return if the Islanders are going to get back to the level of offense they want.
“We want that shooting mentality,” Roy said. “If we could bring more pucks to the net, I feel like we’ll be dangerous.”
Bo Horvat appeared to disagree with the call in overtime that saw him sent to the box for holding Tim Stutzle, leading to the game-winning goal.
“I was just trying to win my battle,” Horvat said. “My arm was kinda stuck in his body. He obviously thought I had a free hand and held him a bit but I was just trying to win that battle and get a stick on the puck. I did. And that’s maybe why he called it.”
Robert Bortuzzo was listed as active on the NHL’s media site Saturday, though Roy declined to confirm the defenseman was no longer on long-term injured reserve.