No special treatment for Lee or Barzal as Roy benches NY Islanders veterans for third

Patrick Roy didn’t wait for desperation to set in. He chose accountability instead.

With the New York Islanders trailing 2-0 after two periods against the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday afternoon at UBS Arena, Roy made a pointed statement to his team that went far beyond the scoreboard. The head coach benched his entire second line — captain Anders Lee, Mathew Barzal, and Anthony Duclair — for the full third period following a glaring failure to backcheck on Tage Thompson’s goal with 11.4 seconds left in the second.

The Islanders went on to roll just three lines over the final 20 minutes in what became a 5-0 loss, but for Roy, the message mattered more than the margin.

“It’s pretty simple: Back-checking is an important part of our game and our concept,” Roy said. “We talked about it on the road, and it’s my job to make guys accountable… Back-checking doesn’t require talent; it requires will, and this is what this team is about.”

The sequence that triggered the benching was hard to ignore. After a turnover in the Sabres’ zone, Barzal and Duclair coasted back, leaving Lee as the lone forward attempting to support the defense. Thompson, left uncontested in the slot, took a slick pass from Zach Benson from behind the net and snapped it past backup goalie David Rittich.

Roy was careful to note that the move wasn’t meant to single out Lee.

“Barzy is a leader on this team, and unfortunately, for Anders, he was on that line, and sometimes, you have to take it for the team,” Roy said. “I have nothing to say about him… He’s part of that line. You play with your linemate, you stick with your linemate, and you back your linemate.”

It wasn’t an isolated incident. Roy pointed to similar breakdowns by the same trio during the Islanders’ 4-1 loss in Seattle, the game that ended a seven-game road trip that saw New York go 3-3-1.

Saturday’s late-second-period lapse, however, was the breaking point.

“It was pretty straightforward,” Barzal said. “Our line in Seattle gave up a few odd-man rushes, and in the last minute of the period [Saturday], we gave one up, and they scored. Patrick’s just doing what he thinks needs to be done to make us a winning team.”

The loss dropped the Islanders to 27-19-5 and extended a troubling stretch in which they’ve lost five of their last eight games. They also surrendered their grip on second place in the Metropolitan Division, now tied for third with the Philadelphia Flyers, whom they face Monday in Philadelphia.

Bo Horvat, back in the lineup after missing nine games with injury, understood the message.

“This shows that nobody gets special treatment here,” Horvat said. “No matter who you are, you’re going to be held accountable. When you see certain guys like that not play, it makes you want to work that much harder to not be in that position.”

In a lopsided loss, Roy’s decision ensured one thing: no one in that locker room missed the point.