In the eight games since Patrick Roy has taken over as head coach, the Islanders have looked like a better team. 

They have controlled the puck more.

They have accounted for a higher share of expected goals, high-danger chances and actual goals at five-on-five than under Lane Lambert.

They look like a team trying to take the game to the opposition as opposed to one hoping the goalie can steal some points. 

They are also 3-3-2 in those eight games under Roy. 

Nice as it’s looked most of the time, it hasn’t quite translated to results.

It also hasn’t translated to scoring, with 2.75 goals per game under Roy compared to 2.95 under Lambert. 

Adjusting to a new system is a process that takes time.

But time isn’t exactly a luxury the Islanders have right now, with 29 games to go in the regular season and the playoffs far from a certainty.

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The scoring needs to start matching the improvement that the eye test and the statistics are showing, starting on Sunday afternoon at MetLife Stadium against the Rangers, otherwise the Isles will be relegated to missing the playoffs for a second time in three seasons at UBS Arena. 

“Teams do a good job of covering the house and not letting teams get inside,” Mat Barzal told The Post after a short practice Saturday marked the sixth straight day the Isles were on the ice. “I think we need to get more shots. I think we need to get more pucks to the net, create a little more that way. But a lot of it just comes down to scoring.” 

Barzal, who is good to go for Sunday’s match after missing practice with maintenance twice this week, has avidly bought into Roy’s methods.

He believes more possession lends itself to controlling the game, and rattled off the past four Stanley Cup winners as teams that have used that formula to success. 

“Tampa, Colorado, Vegas — possession, lot of shots, but they just have control of the game,” Barzal said. “You look at Carolina, they always have control of the game. I watched them [Friday] night against Arizona. They controlled the game the entire night. 

“It’s about our control of the game. I feel like in the past a little bit, we’ve let the other teams control the game. We haven’t necessarily been the most possessive team in the league. But I do think that is the model and the recipe to winning is we need to control the ice. We didn’t do it against Seattle [on Tuesday]. But when we do do it, you can see there’s a formula right there that really helps us win.” 

The Islanders embracing this thinking under Roy is a tectonic shift in the way they’re trying to win.

Clearly, that was needed. But whether it is coming too late to save the season is still an open question. 

Earlier this week, Roy cited internal statistics saying that over his first seven games, the Isles led the league in chances close to the net while ranking middle of the pack in the slot area.

Those are encouraging signs, but on a yearlong basis, the Islanders also rank below the 50th percentile in shooting percentage from close to the net, per NHL Edge tracking. 

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“You can play well offensively and have systems, it can look good at times. But if you’re lacking that intensity, that hunger, that attack mindset to be aggressive and attack the net, it’s hard to get in front of the net, hard to get inside on teams,” Noah Dobson told The Post. “These days, everyone defends so hard. When we do get those zone time, those offensive zone shifts, we gotta find a way to still attack the net. Get to the interior and generate offense that way.” 

Intensity and aggression has largely been the focal point of this week, which Roy has used as a de facto training camp.

Sunday’s renewal of the Battle of New York is the first in a stretch that will see the Islanders play every other day for nine straight days.

If they can’t build some momentum out of the mini-break, looking forward to 2024-25 will start to feel prudent. 

“I really believe practice generally is the way you play,” Barzal said. “I like hard practices, I like high-intensity practices. That’s the way it’s been. So hopefully it translates.”