Islanders Barry Trotz Rips Team After First Loss

The amount of money I would’ve paid to be a fly on the wall in the Islanders locker room last night after a brutal 5-0 loss. Since taking over in 2018, Barry Trotz has proven why he’s one of the best coaches in the NHL on multiple occasions.

To hear him be so critical after an embarrassing performance last night wasn’t a surprise, and it’s one of the reasons why fans love him so much. He’s brutally honest, and sometimes the team needs that.

Last night, just minutes before puck drop Semyon Varlamov got injured when he took a puck up high in warmups from Cal Clutterbuck. MSG Network caught the shot that ended Varly’s night before it got started.

You’re taught to shoot low on a goalie in warmups for this reason! You’re supposed to just be getting yourself and the netminder loose, there’s no reason to be ripping shots especially up high on Varlamov.

After the game, Trotz called the incident “unacceptable” and he’s right. Unfortunately, it put their rookie goalie Ilya Sorokin in a tough spot. He was put into the game as a starter and struggled.

Yes, he left saves on the ice that he should’ve made but you can also admit that he was put in a tough spot. Both of these things can be, and are, true. Trotz also came back and said it “wasn’t fair” to Sorokin and called the team “junk”.

That might be an insult to junk if we’re putting it lightly. The team played terribly last night and clearly, Barry Trotz wasn’t pleased. It was a tough watch from start to finish but don’t expect this to become a trend with this team.

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They played bad, and made an awful mistake in warmups. Ilya Sorokin is not a bust, the Islanders are not a bad team, everyone just has to r-e-l-a-x after two (2) games.