"Glass half-full? The winless Islanders have played well enough to feel they should have won two of their first three games. Glass half-empty? They didn't and are now on the cusp of a historically poor start for the franchise. "It's only three games into the season," No. 1 overall pick Matthew Schaefer said after Wednesday's practice at Northwell Health Ice Center in East Meadow. "Not worried about anything. But you hate losing and everyone in the room hates losing.""
""But there are some things we're doing well and we're doing our best to stay confident and know that if we stick with the process, we'll start to get some results. Structurally, we've been sound. There have been breakdowns that have led to chances for the other team. It's nothing with the way we're playing. It's a bad decision here or there. But it is entering that area. We're 0-3.""
The New York Islanders have opened the season 0-3-0 despite playing well enough to believe they could have won multiple games. Players emphasize confidence, dislike of losing and commitment to process while acknowledging costly breakdowns and decision errors that have led to opponent chances. Coach Patrick Roy will start backup David Rittich against the Oilers, with Ilya Sorokin slated to return Saturday in Ottawa after a rough 0-3-0 stretch with a 4.18 goals-against average and .854 save percentage. The team seeks a win to avoid a historically poor start and preserve season-long point importance.
Read at Newsday
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]