Good Morning, Islanders Country.
It’s a special Isles “Quick Fix” podcast episode featuring former Islanders’ VP of Communications Chris Botta, who, as many of you know, was among the original Islanders blog/podcast/video personalities. For years, I refreshed Islanders Point Blank multiple times daily at home or the office. Later, I would watch him and Brian Compton debate and answer questions from the SNY studio during an episode of Islanders Interactive. It was a must-watch for Isles’ fans.
With that as context, it’s pretty cool that I’ll be chatting with him throughout the year in this format. I hope you enjoy his often unique and unfettered opinions as much as I do. Throughout the year, we’ll get together at inflection points of the season when there is something of substance to talk about either on or off the ice, and this week seemed like the perfect time to start.
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Listen and enjoy!
📰 NEWS: As expected, Patrick Roy was ready to address questions about his working relationship with Lou Lamoriello, and the Islanders head coach did his best to put any speculation that their relationship was strained to bed.
“It’s funny when people make it sound like Lou and I are not on the same page. It’s totally false,” said Roy on Monday. “We are talking every day about the lineup. Lou has the final say upstairs, and I have the final say behind the bench, and at the end of the day, we both care to win hockey games.”
Roy and Lamoriello are absolutely aligned in that they need to get more out of their fourth line, and they want one or two players to emerge and solidify that line moving forward. “I won’t lie. I mean the spots, number 11 and 12, we don’t feel comfortable yet with the guys,” added Roy. “We’re going to try until we find the guys that we are comfortable with.”
Speaking of the fourth line …
Bottoming Up
So, you thought it was going to be easy to replace the Best Fourth Line Ever?
Although two-thirds of the Identity Line is still on the roster, the Islanders' fourth line will not resemble what it did throughout the last decade; we don’t know what it will look like in the longer (or shorter) term.
When Pierre Engvall was placed on waivers, Lamoriello said he wasn’t a bottom-six player, but that’s where the opportunity for Engvall and Hudson Fasching will be in the coming days and it’ll happen together tonight versus the Ducks.
"We're going to give Pierre [Engvall] a shot tomorrow with [Fasching] tomorrow and see how it goes," Roy said. "We're going to continue to [experiment] until we're 100% happy. The main goal for this organization is to win hockey games."
Fasching disclosed he battled an injury during the off-season and injured himself further in a pre-season game against the New York Ranger. Fasching has the type of motor and work ethic Roy seeks from the fourth line.
"That's exactly what we're looking for, guys that are going to go up against a top line and do the job or change the momentum," Roy said. "If you're down by a goal, they're gonna give you that energy, that that buzz. We don't expect them to score every night, but we want them to be game changers at times."
⏭ NEXT UP: The Islanders are home tonight against the Anaheim Ducks. Face-off from UBS Arena is scheduled for 7:00 PM EDT.
📊 STANDINGS:
When in Romanov
Defenseman Alexander Romanov (day-to-day, upper-body) missed practice on Monday morning at Northwell Health Ice Center. Per Roy, his injury remains day-to-day, and his status for Tuesday's game vs Anaheim is to be determined.
A concussion was ruled out by Lamoriello, but we have to assume that whatever is ailing Romanov is due to the hit he took and the hit he delivered vs. the Devils.
📚 SOUND SMART: Per Eric Hornick in The Skinny, the Isles are only the 2nd team since penalty-killing opportunities became official in 1977-78 to not be shorthanded three times in any of their first eight games. The longest streak (10 games) belongs to the 2019-20 Winnipeg Jets.
It is only the 4th time in that span that the Isles have had an 8-game streak at any point in a single season; the club record of 15 was set in 2022:
15: 1/21/2022 – 2/24/2022
9: 3/27/2023-10/14/2023 (single season streak – 8)
9: 4/17/2024-CURRENT (single season streak -8)
8: 12/31/2019-1/14/2020
🎥 ISLES REWIND: On Oct. 29, 1974, fittingly “Mr. Islander,” Bob Nystrom scored late in the third period to help the Islanders earn a 1-1 tie with the New York Rangers. This was the first point the Isles ever earned at Madison Square Garden, where they would shock the Blueshirts later that season in the playoffs.
🎧 Isles House: The Rift “Ethan, Jack, Rocco, and Greeny discuss the new apparent rift between Lou Lamoriello and Patrick Roy and the state of the franchise going forward.”
🔗 The New York Islanders haven’t changed, and the cracks are already showing by Arthur Staple, The Athletic “Maybe Roy’s comments could be a wake-up call for Lamoriello, that the same-old, same-old is not nearly enough to create a winning roster or an exciting environment at the home arena. The Islanders are already on the treadmill to mediocrity eight games into 2024-25.”
🔗 Islanders' Patrick Roy still searching for right bottom-six combinations by Dennis Gorman, Newsday “Patrick Roy heard the rumors, the innuendo, the speculation about the status of his relationship with Lou Lamoriello following the executive’s recent player personnel decisions. So the Hall of Famer decided that after practice Monday at Northwell Health Ice Center was both the right time and right place to unequivocally put to rest any and all misconceptions that have been taken as gospel by certain corners of the fan base.”
And we leave you with this…Bid on Military jerseys until Nov. 10; winning bid includes two tickets to an upcoming game.
All proceeds will benefit the Islanders Children’s Foundation.
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