After falling in game three to fall behind 2-1 to the defending champs in the Eastern Conference Finals, is Islanders head coach Barry Trotz considering a tweak to his lines to find a spark for his group after being held to just five goals in the first three games?
Trotz told reporters on Friday that all options are being considered ahead of another crucial game four.
“We’re looking into it,” Trotz said. “We played a pretty solid game. I don’t have too many things in our game. I think we got to get to the net a little better. The chances we did have, [Andrei] Vasilevskiy made some key saves…a very even game for me. It’s a matter of inches, it’s a matter of a play. If they don’t score at the end of the period after the power play, maybe we see a different result.”
While New York is trailing 2-1 in a series yet again this postseason, Trotz will be looking to walk a fine balance between making a change to provide a spark or sticking with what has got the team this far. The Islanders lost a tight defensive battle at home in game three, and while goals have been hard to come by, Trotz isn’t convinced that a line shakeup will lead to different results.
“It’s easy to go ‘Hey, we’re going to mix up all the lines,’ and then you have everyone going ‘Were we that bad? What’s going on?’” Trotz said. “Those subtle things, whether you make that move or don’t make that move, that’s the coaching part. It’s really easy to say we can make this move or that move and change all these things, but they don’t always work. Sometimes they do, and if they do, you guys give us a lot of compliments, and if they don’t, you guys rip into us. That’s part of coaching.”
One of the few changes Trotz has made this postseason is the addition of veteran Travis Zajac, which came out of necessity following the injury to rookie Oliver Wahlstrom, who is now ready to return. Inserting Wahlstrom back into the fold seems like a potential change that could bring more energy to New York’s third line, and while Trotz said he and the coaching staff have discussed that, no decision has been made, as the staff continues to evaluate whether a change is necessary, or are the Islanders just a few bounces away from giving this series a very different outlook?
“That’s one of the things you’re always looking at as a coach,” Trotz said. “Did you play a bad game? No, not really. Did you play well enough to win? Yes, but we didn’t win. It’s no different than that game three against Boston…you go away from that game [thinking] do you make changes or do you give that group a shot and say ‘Hey, this is going, we just have to go into the next game. It’s inches, and you win your inches, you win the game.’ That’s what we’re going through with our lineup: Where does he fit, who do we have a little banged up and need duplicates, if you will, in certain roles.”
The Islanders have lost game three in both previous rounds after splitting the first two, but this time, it comes against the defending champs, who look every bit as formidable in this year’s rematch. It could make Trotz more motivated to make a change, but it will be carefully considered before a crucial game four.
“This group isn’t used to a lot of change, so when I throw some of those wrenches in, they sometimes go into a little bit of a spin cycle,” Trotz said. “I just want to make sure we go through this, evaluate the game, understand who’s available and the mindset of each player, and then we’ll make that decision.”
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