Islanders Remain Committed to Strategy, Gear Up to Crack Andersen’s Defense in Game 2

Patrick Roy believes the New York Islanders don’t need big changes against the Carolina. Hurricanes in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference First Round at PNC Arena on Monday (7:30 p.m. ET; MSGSN, BSSO, ESPN2, TVAS2, SN360).

He thinks they should keep doing what they’re doing.

Patrick Roy still thinks the New York Islanders don’t need to make big changes. Even though they lost 3-1 in Game 1 of the best-of-7 series on Saturday. He believes they should stick to their plan.

New York’s coach said on Sunday, ‘I thought we did a lot of good things out there. Obviously, it was not enough, but I mean we had our chances. I just feel like we have to be resilient right now and go out there and play another strong game. That is where our focus needs to be.’

He believes they did well in some areas despite losing. He thinks they need to stay strong and focus on playing well in the next game.

I just feel like we should be confident in the way we played yesterday. Overall, I’m pleased with the way we played defensively, the way we played in the neutral zone. And the way we played in the O-zone. We had a lot of chances.

The coach feels they should have confidence in their performance from the previous day. He’s happy with how they defended, controlled the middle of the ice, and attacked in the offensive zone. He noticed they had many opportunities to score.

The Islanders can take comfort in how they played. Despite the loss, there were positive aspects to their performance. They can feel good about certain parts of their game.

The Islanders faced a tough start when Evgeny Kuznetsov scored on a power play just 95 seconds into the game. It is igniting the home crowd into a frenzy. However, Kyle MacLean stepped up and tied the game 1-1 at 8:20 of the first period with a hard-fought goal right in front of the net.

In the second period, New York took control, outshooting the Hurricanes 13-6, but they couldn’t find the back of the net. However, their hopes were dashed when Stefan Noesen managed to score at 3:34 of the third period. The goal came from a shot that deflected off Hurricanes defenseman Brady Skjei and then Islanders defenseman Ryan Pulock before finding its way into the net.

Carolina forward Martin Necas sealed the game with an empty-net goal at 18:28, securing the victory for the Hurricanes.

Islanders center Brock Nelson shared a positive message with his team after Game 1. He wanted to lift their spirits and keep them focused for the upcoming games.

I think we played well, he said. Sure, we wanted to win, but even though we didn’t, we can’t let it bring us down. This series is far from over, and we know it’s going to be tough. Every game will be close and hard-fought, but we’re ready for that challenge.

Now, we need to take a break, reset, watch some footage from Game 1. Maybe adjust a few things before we jump back into it.

The Islanders are aware that they need to be ready for the Hurricanes team they faced in the third period. It is not the one that had a tough time finding their rhythm in the first two. Carolina had rested nine players in their last regular-season game. So it took them some time to get back into sync and find their energy.

Once they found their groove, the Hurricanes’ performance was impressive. In the first two periods, they only managed to take 13 shots in total. However, in the third period, they matched that same number with 13 shots alone.

Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour felt positive about the pace of the game. He mentioned that they improved in the third period by being more focused and decisive in their actions. They were able to get into a rhythm and execute their game plan better compared to the earlier periods.

The Islanders are aware that they’ll need to put in more effort to figure out how to beat Frederik Andersen, who made 33 saves in the game.

Andersen pulled off some impressive saves throughout the game, but none were as crucial as his quick reactions to stop defenseman Noah Dobson’s shots in the third period. The most remarkable save happened when Andersen, a 6-foot-4, 238-pound goalie, dove across the ice and managed to block the puck while sitting down.

Andersen admitted, “I abandoned my usual technique for that one.”

Mathew Barzal also had an opportunity to score, but he felt overwhelmed by Andersen’s size and positioning, which made it difficult to find an opening in the net.

“I had a clear shot from close range last night, but there wasn’t much of the net visible,” Barzal commented.

Roy mentioned that the Islanders will focus more on studying Andersen during their preparation on Sunday. They had already done some initial analysis in the two days between the end of the regular season and the beginning of the series.

We’ll discuss Andersen today,” Roy stated. “Maybe we should have discussed him more earlier, but we’ll definitely do it now and figure out our strategy. We know we need to create more traffic in front of the net.

Roy highlighted the Islanders’ goal, It was a wrist shot that got redirected low, hitting the ice, and bouncing towards Andersen. He couldn’t handle it cleanly, and the puck slipped to his left side, where MacLean was quick to capitalize and score.

“That’s challenging for any goalie,” Roy remarked. “These are the goals we might need in this series because they’re strong defensively. We might not see fancy passing plays; instead, we’ll have to focus on getting the puck to the net and grinding it out.”

One expected aspect of the game was the performance of the special teams, where Carolina held a significant advantage on paper. Shortly after Anders Lee received a questionable penalty in the first period, Kuznetsov capitalized with a power-play goal just 12 seconds into the advantage.

The Islanders’ power play struggled, going 0-for-2 against Carolina’s aggressive and highly effective penalty kill unit. Although they managed to create a couple of chances during their second power play opportunity late in the third period, it’s clear that this will be a tough battle throughout the series, much like it was last year.

Despite the loss, the Islanders aim to build on their performance from Saturday’s game, recognizing that they had opportunities to win. They dominated large portions of the game but know they’ll likely need to elevate their game even further to level the series heading back to UBS Arena. Ultimately, the outcome of Game 2 is what truly matters, regardless of how Game 1 unfolded.