NY Islanders head coach Patrick Roy explains why he's reuniting Barzal and Horvat

New York Islanders Head coach Patrick Roy is using the teams’ final game of 2025 as an opportunity to push different buttons, shuffling all four lines ahead of Tuesday night’s matchup against the Chicago Blackhawks at United Center.

Roy said the changes were less about reacting to a single loss and more about continuing a season-long approach of experimenting with combinations to find the right balance.

“We want to try different things all year,” Roy said. “We talk about it and we’ll continue to do it.”

The most notable adjustment saw Mathew Barzal shift back to the wing alongside Bo Horvat and Emil Heineman, reuniting two of the Islanders’ most dynamic offensive players. Roy explained the move was driven in part by the desire to get Cal Ritchie back into the lineup at center after the 20-year-old was a healthy scratch in Sunday’s loss to Columbus.

Ritchie will skate between Max Shabanov and Simon Holmstrom, while Jean-Gabriel Pageau moves into the middle of a line with Anders Lee and Jonathan Drouin. The reshuffling spreads responsibility across the lineup while keeping familiar chemistry intact in key spots.

One of the tougher calls came on the fourth line. Anthony Duclair slides in with Casey Cizikas and Marc Gatcomb, which means Kyle MacLean will sit as a healthy scratch. Roy acknowledged breaking up the Cizikas-Gatcomb-MacLean trio was not an easy decision.

“It was a tough decision, I won’t lie,” Roy said. “Anthony Duclair had a great game against Columbus. There are going to be decisions like this, and we do what we think is right for the team.”

In goal, David Rittich is expected to make his fifth consecutive start as the Islanders continue to manage Ilya Sorokin’s nagging injury. Rittich enters the night with nine wins, two shutouts and a .919 save percentage, providing stability as the Islanders look to close the calendar year on a positive note. For Roy, the message was clear: flexibility, competition and accountability will remain constants as the Islanders turn the page to 2026.