After Patrick Roy "wake-up call" expect a shift in gears for the NY Islanders vs. DET

Sometimes, when you're looking for an answer, you search everywhere else before you take a look at what's right in front of you. New York Islanders head coach Patrick Roy hopes that the stat sheet handed to him after Tuesday’s 4-1 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes was exactly that.

Roy seemed to have an “aha!” moment before meeting the media, talking about how the seven Islanders players averaged more than 50-second shifts compared to just one for the Carolina Hurricanes. Roy called it a "wake-up" call for him as he watched the intensity of Rod Brind'Amour's team throughout the game on Tuesday night.

"The message is very clear to me, if we want to match what Carolina does, we can't be staying on the ice as long as we're doing," Roy said. "The length of our shifts is gonna be part of our game."

How do you make the team more consistent, energetic, and efficient? According to Roy, it all came down to shift time against the Canes. The site Shift Charts allows you to track shift time throughout the course of a game. Mathew Barzal, not surprisingly, had the longest time at 56.1 seconds. Anders Lee at 55, Nelson at 53.8, Simon Holmstrom at 53, Kyle Palmieri at 52.5, Bo Horvat at 52, and JG Pageau finished at 51.3. The only line that was consistently taking short shifts was the fourth line, which went over the boards, did its job and got off. They also aren't as tempted by the thought of pushing for another scoring opportunity.

“If you want to be consistent in the intensity, that’s a good wake-up call for me… you can’t have long shifts,” Roy said during the post-game. “You have to keep your shifts short, and that gives a rhythm to your team… everybody is rolling, everybody comes to the ice a lot. You’re not staying two or three minutes on the bench before you get your next shift.”

He said it was everyone’s responsibility, including his own, to ensure that players didn’t prolong shifts but rather create a rhythm for all four lines, even if it meant turning down another offensive rush in exchange for a line change. It's something to watch for tonight against the Detroit Red Wings as the Islanders continue to search for answers to snap their five-game losing streak.