Reeling Islanders fire Lambert, hire Roy as coach

After less than two seasons, Lane Lambert is out as coach of the New York Islanders with the club announcing Saturday they have hired Patrick Roy behind the bench.

Firing Lambert comes as the Islanders have struggled to find consistency while also trying to remain in the hunt for a playoff spot. The Islanders (19-15-11) entered Saturday two points behind the Detroit Red Wings for the final wild-card spot in what has become a crowded Eastern Conference landscape.

Even though the Islanders are two points out of a wild-card spot, they have lost four straight games, which is currently the NHL’s longest active losing streak. In addition to dropping four straight, the Islanders have only won twice in their last 10 games.

Hiring Roy sees the Hall of Fame goaltender return to an NHL bench for the first time since the 2015-16 season when he coached the Colorado Avalanche for three seasons. Roy won the Jack Adams Award in his first season after he led the Avs to the playoffs only to miss the postseason in his final two campaigns.

Roy, who had been coaching the Quebec Remparts in the QMJHL before he took the Avs job, returned to the Remparts’ bench at the start of the 2018-19 season. The Remparts reached the playoffs in four of their five seasons under Roy with the 2019-20 playoffs being cancelled due to the pandemic.

Last season may have been Roy’s best as a head coach. He guided the Remparts to a 53-win season that saw them win their sixth QMJHL title and then capture the Memorial Cup for the third time in franchise history.

Roy’s first game behind the Islanders bench could come Sunday when they face the Dallas Stars at UBS Arena.

Roy will now be charged with trying to get the Islanders into the playoffs for a consecutive season while also seeking to find solutions for a team that has struggled to stop opponents from scoring. Natural Stat Trick’s metrics show that the Islanders entered Saturday allowing the second-most shot attempts per 60, the third-most scoring chances per 60 along with the third-most high-danger scoring chances per 60.

The mounting losses. The inability to gain traction in the wild-card race. The fact there are six teams within four points of the final wild-card spot. The realization their defensive issues have contributed to why they have a minus-21 goal differential. These are among the factors that led to questions about if the Islanders would part ways with Lambert.

Lambert had been with the Islanders since the start of the 2018-19 season where he served as an associate coach for four seasons. He was hired at the start of the 2022-23 season where he led the Islanders back to the playoffs after they missed the 2021-22 postseason. The Islanders would lose in six games to the Carolina Hurricanes in the first round.

His second season faced a tumultuous start with the club losing seven straight in November which saw them allow more than four goals per game in each of their defeats. The Isles would then go on a stretch that saw them win nine of their 12 next games between November and December only to end 2023 with a loss on New Year’s Eve to begin another run of losing eight of the next 10 games.

Questions around Lambert’s future further escalated Friday after their 4-3 overtime defeat to the Chicago Blackhawks — a team that’s six points ahead of the San Jose Sharks for the fewest points in the NHL.

“I know what you’re probably alluding to, but we don’t want that,” Islanders forward Matt Martin told The New York Post after the team’s loss to the Blackhawks. “We want to come out and start playing hockey. At the end of the day, it’s on us. It’s just on us as players.

“Coaches, they can give you all the X’s and O’s, the game plan, the systems, all the video. If we don’t come out and execute and play well enough to win, that’s on us.”