One of the first things Patrick Roy looked to change upon taking over behind the Islanders’ bench was the club’s disastrous defense.
He installed a system that focused on puck possession, espousing the theory that opponents can’t score without the puck.
He focused on breakouts and operating as a unit of five, understanding that two defensemen and three forwards can’t be functionally separate pieces on the chessboard.
He overhauled the defensive-zone structure with a philosophy rooted in man-to-man principles and stressed a neutral zone forecheck to make it harder for other teams to break into the zone.
The numbers showed an immediate boost once the Islanders started to wrap their arms around the changes, but during their four-game losing streak that reached a new low in Sunday’s 5-2 loss to the Rangers, they have reverted right back to the old ways.
Over the last week, the Islanders are 24th in shot attempt percentage league-wide, which is often used as a stand-in for possession.
Their breakout passing has consistently looked off, with a disconnect apparent between defense and forwards. There have been constant breakdowns in-zone, with the Rangers taking advantage on more than one of their goals Sunday.
“We gotta dig in here,” Noah Dobson said after Sunday’s loss. “Find ways, even when they’re forechecking hard, everyone’s gotta come back together as a group of five. When we’re breaking out pucks good, you see five guys in the picture all the time. We just all have to be better and get back to that.”
The struggles as a group are compounded by individual production falling off for some of the defensemen.
Dobson, who was on pace to set a club record for points by a defenseman for most of the season, has just five points in the last 10 games and one in the last five.
Adam Pelech, who returned from injury in January, has a 48.05 percent expected goals share this season, per Natural Stat Trick, which would be his worst since his rookie season of 2016-17.
Alexander Romanov was on the ice for four goals against on Sunday.
Romanov and Dobson have formed a productive partnership for most of the season, but it was broken up in late February after Pelech and Ryan Pulock struggled upon being reunited. The Islanders started Sunday by going back to those pairs but quickly abandoned it, cycling through variations during the match.
But none solved the underlying problems in-zone or on breakouts.
“I think, as forwards, we can do a better job of supporting them and communicating a little better if there’s options,” Kyle Palmieri said. “We make the easy play and the fast play; we’ve shown we’re capable of doing it. So we just have to find a way to get back to it.”
Roy, a big-game player if there ever was one during his own career, seemed baffled at the lack of intensity his team had Sunday.
“I saw a team that played better than us today,” he said. “The Rangers, they managed the puck much better than what we did. They’re very fast in transition. I thought they had more energy than us for some reason.
“So to answer your question, I thought we had some desperation. We made it a 2-2 game and all of a sudden it was bad tracking and they scored and made it 3-2.
“After that, I felt like they just shut down the game.”
The Islanders, who face a scheduling gauntlet this week with Carolina, Detroit and Winnipeg as their next three opponents, don’t have much — or really any — rope left to figure things out.
With 15 games left in the regular season and no margin of error in the playoff race, it’s now or never.