At the one-year mark of Patrick Roy’s reign behind the Islanders bench, the head coach is hoping his team can put together a bigger, better version of what they did last season and make a run into the playoffs.
And in what amounted to a must-win game for those purposes against a Blue Jackets team the Isles are chasing in the wild-card race (that is, if you believe the Islanders are still in the wild-card race at all), they put together the kind of 60-minute effort that was missing earlier in this homestand to win 3-1 at UBS Arena.
This was the sort of effort which, if the Islanders could replicate it consistently, makes them look like a playoff contender.
And, since the calendar has flipped to 2025, they have quietly played much better hockey.
“It’s all positives in January, but I just want us to continue to play the same way,” Roy said. “And I love the energy. … I always thought you play like you practice. We’ve been practicing well. It shows in our game.”
Despite a two-game blip at the start of this homestand which cost the Islanders dearly in the standings, the sort of game they played Monday night has become far more consistent.
The Isles hounded pucks, forechecked hard all night and their top six played up to its billing — in particular the Mathew Barzal-Bo Horvat combination, with Barzal twice feeding Horvat for goals.
There was also a strong effort on special teams, with the Isles scoring a power-play goal and getting a net-zero night on the penalty kill, with a shorthanded tally to make up for Columbus snapping their scoreless streak on the PK.
The four-on-five effort was the linchpin of a tight defensive game in front of Ilya Sorokin, who stopped 25 of just 26 shots, with the Islanders rarely allowing anything inside.
Making up what is now a seven-point gap to the last wild-card spot is the longest of long shots. But it’s not up for debate that the Islanders have played some of their best hockey of the season over the past few weeks.
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“I think we’ve proven to ourselves that when we’re smart with the puck and we get pucks in, we forecheck and we cycle, we create a lot of zone time,” Ryan Pulock told The Post. “And I thought Horvy, [Anders Lee] and Barzy really started that for us and the other lines followed. Some great plays and we were able to capitalize.”
Case in point, their second period on Monday.
Having gone down 1-0 on Kent Johnson’s power-play goal in the first, the Islanders bore down and got to work. Horvat’s line with Barzal and Anders Lee was dominant, scoring just 43 seconds into the period as Barzal fed Horvat from behind the net.
The duo would score a similar-looking goal on the power play 5:47 into the period, with Barzal circling around the offensive zone before picking out Horvat for another one-timer.
In between, the penalty kill took advantage after Zach Werenski tripped in the neutral zone, with Jean-Gabriel Pageau feeding Simon Holmstorm for a shorthanded goal.
That was one of three penalties the Islanders successfully killed in the second — and at five-on-five, they played up ice constantly.
The three goals were all the scoring the Islanders needed after the third period passed without incident.
“I think we dominated the puck possession battle,” Roy said. “No doubt in my mind, Barzy and Bo were so good with it. They were controlling the puck very well and they were dangerous. So it was a solid performance by those two guys.”
The Islanders’ position in the standings is such that if there’s any chance at all of making a run, they need to stack wins. One loss right now can hurt them as much as multiple wins help, especially against another Eastern team.
But the Islanders are still acting like a team not out of the fight.
“Just one of those desperate times of year where we gotta win,” Barzal said. “You see everybody’s playing hard.”
