Andrew Gross: Islanders still trying to fix broken power play
Bo Horvat #14 of the New York Islanders misses a scoring chance during the third period against Juuse Saros #74 of the Nashville Predators at UBS Arena on Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026 in Elmont, New York. Credit: Jim McIsaac
WASHINGTON — The following transcript is from Islanders coach Patrick Roy’s most recent pregame media availability:
Reporter: “What has putting [recently acquired Ondrej] Palat on the wall done for the power-play unit?”
Roy: “He’s not on the wall, he’s on the goal line. That’s what he did when he was in Tampa with [Nikita] Kucherov and [Brayden] Point. It’s a good role for him.”
The point here is not to mock the reporter’s (OK, this reporter’s) hockey knowledge, even if, certainly, Roy has more of it. It’s to point out that, too often lately, it’s been very tough to tell who’s playing where on the Islanders’ power-play units because they just haven’t been able to set up before the puck is heading back down the ice toward their zone.
The Islanders will face the Capitals at Capital One Arena on Monday night desperately needing a win because several hours after that transcribed exchange, they lost to the Predators, 4-3, on Saturday night at UBS Arena. The Capitals’ 4-3 overtime win over the visiting Hurricanes on Saturday allowed them to move within four points of the third-place Islanders in the Metropolitan Division.
The Islanders are two points behind the second-place Penguins, who have won six straight and played two fewer games. They will host the Penguins on Tuesday night.
The Islanders, who allowed Predators defenseman Roman Josi’s winner at 18:46 of the third period, went 0-for-2 and generated only one shot on the power play against the Predators, who were 1-for-2 on the man advantage.
Not surprisingly, NaturalStatTrick.com calculated the Islanders to have zero high-danger chances skating five-on-four while the Predators had four.
That’s a very unhealthy deficit.
Yet while the Islanders are a decent 3-for-16 (18.8%) in their last five games, they still are unable to count on their power play to positively impact their game. They rank 27th in the NHL at 27-for-167 (16.2%).
“I don’t know,” Mathew Barzal said when asked if it was what the Predators were doing or what the Islanders weren’t doing. “I think a couple of bad decisions, myself included. We’ve got our units mixed up a little bit right now, so we’re still trying to find that chemistry.”
The same reporter (OK, this reporter) again tried his luck questioning Roy about the power play after Saturday’s loss.
Here’s that transcript:
Reporter: “You generated one shot; what were you seeing tonight? And do you guys just need to have a shoot-first mentality at times?”
Roy: “I would agree with that. I would agree with that. I thought that we didn’t move the puck quick enough. They were putting quick pressure on us. You’re right. We should one pass, two pass, take shots and work for the rebounds or try to score on a tip. Whatever it is. And we didn’t do a very good job. Also, coming into the zone, we were not as connected as we should be, and that gave the result that we have.”
Roy had Palat skating with defenseman Matthew Schaefer, Bo Horvat, Emil Heineman and Simon Holmstrom on one unit against the Predators. Defenseman Tony DeAngelo quarterbacked the other unit with Barzal, Anthony Duclair, Max Shabanov and Anders Lee.
That may change again against the Capitals if Jonathan Drouin, who missed Saturday’s game because of illness, is able to return. He’d likely replace Shabanov.
But Drouin, signed to a two-year, $8 million deal to be a consistent playmaker, has gone 31 games without a goal. That’s a stark figure even if he has always been more of a pass-first playmaker — he has 17 assists in 48 games — in his 12 NHL seasons.
Meanwhile, Horvat has not scored a goal in five games since returning to the lineup from a nine-game absence for a lower-body injury. He also missed five games with a different lower-body injury from Dec. 13-23.
So even though Horvat still leads the Islanders with 21 goals and is tied with Schaefer for first on the team with six power-play goals, he has not actually scored a goal since Dec. 30.
“He brings so much to the team,” Roy said. “Offensively, defensively. Solid defensively. I could not ask any better than this.”
Yet any turnaround in the Islanders’ power-play fortunes is tied to Horvat, though Palat’s presence ultimately should improve the units as well. That was evidenced by the man-advantage goal Palat scored — from the slot bumper position — to open the scoring in Wednesday’s 5-2 win over the Rangers in his Islanders debut.
And don’t worry. The reporter (OK, this reporter) rewatched the video. Palat definitely was between the faceoff circles.
Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.
