Patrick Roy admits Islanders’ five-on-five struggles haven’t gone away

Patrick Roy tried as hard as he could to put a positive spin on things after his team’s 4-2 defeat to the Devils on Friday at UBS Arena, but the Islanders coach had no choice but to acknowledge that, just over a week into camp, his team looks like it still needs significant work at five-on-five.

“We put a lot of focus on special units: the power play, the penalty killing, and we did a little bit of five-on-five, maybe a day so far,” Roy said. “So the main focus, I would say, for the first four days is we’re knowing [where] the players [fit]. Working on our power play and penalty killing, obviously we didn’t have any power plays tonight.

“So this is where we are and we’re gonna continue to work on our five-on-five. … And work on our forecheck, make sure we got solid structure. We want to be better on our neutral zone regroup, be a little more predictable. More predictable on our breakouts. These are things that are gonna take a bit of time.”

Working more on special teams was a deliberate choice made after the Islanders’ power play and penalty kill combined to doom their season last year. It is also hard to judge things off the preseason, when the lineup is generally composed of a split between NHL- and AHL-level players, as was the case Friday night.

Still, the Islanders have looked discombobulated often at even strength, rarely generated a forecheck and frequently ceded space in front of their own net. It was telling that, as he rattled off positives from Friday’s game, Roy listed off Matthew Schaefer, Marshall Warren, Gleb Veremyev, Cameron Berg and Ilya Sorokin, not naming a single veteran NHL skater.

“Not focusing on win or loss right now, but more focusing on being ready for the first [regular-season] game,” Roy said. “Was today a good step? No.”

Sorokin played all 60 minutes in his first preseason action, stopping 23 of 26 shots. Roy said Sorokin will get another full game before the season.

Ethan Bear left the game at 13:13 of the third period and did not return. Roy did not have an update on his status afterward.

Anders Lee (upper body) skated Friday in a red non-contact sweater, though there was no formal update on his status.

The Islanders made a series of cuts to their training camp roster, as Alex Jefferies, Joey Larson, Matt Maggio, Calle Odelius, Cam Thiesing, and Henrik Tikkanen were all assigned to AHL Bridgeport, while Liam Foudy, Julien Gauthier, Cole McWard and Travis Mitchell were placed on waivers.