For a pretty long time, the Islanders have fallen back on their culture.
You’ve heard that all before — it’s a veteran team, they’ve won playoff series before, they know what it takes.
So it came as a pretty big surprise Wednesday to see the Islanders getting bag-skated following a physically demanding practice and the head coach devoting most of his press conference afterward to talking about trying to improve his team’s compete level.
Patrick Roy has been around this club for less than a month. And he sure sounded on Wednesday like someone ready to challenge the self-image they’ve had for a long time.
