After posting historically bad penalty kill numbers a year ago, the Islanders went back to the drawing board this offseason.
Specifically, Patrick Roy and new assistant coach Tommy Albelin decided to go back to the PK structure that had worked so well for the team in the past.
“We’re running a flush [system],” Roy said after day two of training camp wrapped up Friday. “We watched the clips from a couple years ago, the team was doing really well on the flush so we’re just gonna go back to that. [Albelin] wanted us to be a flush team and that’s the structure he wanted to use. What I love about it, that’s what this team was doing a couple years ago when they had one of the better PKs in the league.”
Without getting too deep into tactical detail, a flush means the Islanders will be more aggressive on the PK, particularly with their forwards.
That they spent time working on special teams so early in camp at all was notable — normally that is reserved for the second week of training camp, but Friday featured extensive teaching on the power play and penalty kill for those who didn’t participate in an intrasquad scrimmage.
Roy said that was in some part due to the Islanders having so many exhibition games that there may not be as much time to work on special teams. But of course, the unit’s struggles last season and subsequent system changes added some urgency.
The Islanders’ 71.5 percent success rate at four on five last season was the tenth-worst of any team since the stat has been kept, starting in 1977-78, as well as the worst in franchise history.
If returning to the system that gave them success under Barry Trotz even gets the Islanders to league average, it would be a substantial difference.
“It’s be patient, but be aggressive at the same time,” Casey Cizikas told The Post. “I know that kinda sounds weird, but you wait for your opportunities. You wait for key times in a kill where if one guy is going to pressure, then everybody’s there with him. It’s not one guy by himself, it’s all four guys pulling on the rope together. If one guy decides it’s time to pressure, then everyone’s following behind him.”
Ilya Sorokin (back) missed a second straight day of camp.
Roy said he is skating on his own but declined to answer whether that involved taking shots.
Alex Jefferies, Brian Pinho, Tage Thompson, Matt Maggio and Anders Lee all scored during an intrasquad scrimmage followed by a bag skate at Friday’s practice.
The group of players that didn’t scrimmage bag skated in addition to holding a full practice focused primarily on special teams and skill work.
