Roy could be Islanders' fall guy

Head coach Patrick Roy could lose his job if the Islanders miss the playoffs.

During the Islanders’ five-goal second-period implosion in their 8-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Monday night at UBS Arena, there was a camera shot of Islanders head coach Patrick Roy expressing an air of disgust. He behaved as if he were frustrated that his train was delayed in arriving at a destination where he wanted to be.

This illustrates poor leadership by the head coach. It explains why the Islanders are falling apart at the wrong time.

There are five games left in the Islanders’ season after a 4-1 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers on Friday night at UBS Arena. Roy could be coaching for his job starting on Saturday night when the Islanders travel to Raleigh to play the Metropolitan Division-leading Carolina Hurricanes.

If the Islanders miss the playoffs, this gives Islanders president of hockey operations Mathieu Darche ammunition to hire a new head coach. Remember, the new hockey boss inherited Roy, and he gave him a year to see if this working relationship could work.

At this point, Darche had to see enough to make an evaluation. Roy makes a case that he should not be the head coach next season. Quite frankly, it’s surprising that the head coach somehow stayed on after the new president of hockey operations was hired this past offseason.

Roy knew he was coaching for his job this season. He has been in the game long enough to know that new general managers hire their own guy to execute their vision. Arranged marriages rarely work in sports, as we saw with head coach Rex Ryan and general manager John Idzik in the Jets. Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns decided not to work with Buck Showalter, so he hired Carlos Mendoza as the Mets manager, whom he can control.

The Islanders are not helping Roy’s cause after another listless performance.

The home team had the advantage in this contest after two days off, and the Flyers were coming off a 4-2 loss to the Detroit Red Wings on their home ice on Thursday night. Instead, they started off the game so badly by trailing 2-0 after the first period. The score could have been 5-0 if Islanders goaltender Ilya Sorokin had not made a glove save and a beneath-the-glove save in the first few minutes of the game.

The defense once again turned out to be a problem for the Islanders. The Flyers were outskating them, and they created 2-on-1 and 3-on-1 opportunities in that period. There was no way Sorokin would keep up for too long. Eventually, it caught up with the Islanders. The Flyers registered 12 shots when the first period was over.

The Islanders were no better offensively, as they failed to register any scoring chances in the first. In that period, they sprayed only two shots on goal in the first period.

The losing and poor starts created a malaise at the wrong time for a team trying to make the playoffs.

Is it any wonder why the Islanders did not draw once again in what was a must-win game on their home ice? The fans know the team is just not good enough for them to care.

Truth be told, the Islanders overachieved all year. Eventually, it caught up with them. An 82-game season exposed their flaws, such as struggling to score at times, along with the defense not playing in front of Sorokin. Plus, the great teams can survive the rigors of a long season.

Playing above expectations won’t save Roy in the end, and he knows it.

Hockey head coaches tend to lose their effectiveness in coaching their players, and it could be that Roy may reach that point based on how the Islanders played these last two weeks. It appears the players stopped listening to him, with these performances at this critical juncture of the season.

The Islanders will also have to break up the roster by getting rid of the veterans who have done nothing but lose after going to the Eastern Conference finals a couple of times. This means it’s time to start rebuilding altogether, and Roy is not the coach for what Darche wants to do in executing his vision for building a team. It’s better to have a young up-and-coming coach learning on the job as the head coach for Matthew Schaefer, Cal Ritchie, Emil Heineman, Max Shabanov and other young prospects such as Victor Eklund and Cole Eisterman in the farm system.

After what we saw Friday night and this week, the countdown of Roy’s days as Islanders head coach is probably ending unless the Islanders change the narrative.