BOSTON — It’s never a good thing when the head coach has to stop practice and lay into the team.
It’s even worse when that happens 57 games into the season, fresh off a 5-1 beatdown at the hands of their archrivals and the season on the brink.
The Islanders can put on some brave faces, talk a good game about how Thursday’s match against the Bruins is a must-win and say they’re going to keep on fighting until the end.
But the scene at Wednesday’s practice said everything you need to know when coach Patrick Roy spent an extended period of time lecturing his team after a sloppy start.
That noise about how the Islanders do a lot of good things even in the losses?
The head coach is tired of hearing it too, and didn’t hesitate to let the players know it between F-bombs.
Afterward, a calmer Roy said he just wants his team to get back its confidence and swagger.
“I wasn’t displeased,” he said. “I understand when things are not necessarily going your way, you lose a little bit of your confidence. I just want us to keep practicing the right way. When you’re losing games like we did the last four, you want to make sure that you keep working hard in the practice.
“If we want to get back on the winning side, you need to continue to practice. I just felt like we slacked a little bit on our D-zone coverage, especially today in the practice. So I just wanted to remind them, let’s keep practicing the right way and things will go our way. The hockey gods were not on our side last game, I saw it. There was screens, tip-ins, and stuff like this, but you can’t feel sorry for yourself in this game anymore.”
Roy told a story from his time with the Avalanche, when Colorado lost the first two games of a playoff series at home against the Red Wings.
Going back to Detroit down 2-0, he said everyone in the room was worried, himself included, but Roy made a point of singing in the dressing room to try and keep things loose.
“Deep inside I was afraid, but felt like I had to show some swagger,” Roy said. “Not letting the other team know I was being afraid. We were scared going into Detroit down 2-0, but that’s what I want to see from our group: A little bit of swagger.”
Plainly, that’s a far cry from what the Islanders are showing right now.
All but officially, their playoff chances are kaput — they’re seven points back with six teams ahead of them — and it’s increasingly possible the roster will look a lot different a week from Friday.
For the last few years, there’s been a defiance in the room when faced with similar situations.
Wednesday did not take on the same vibe.
In theory, at least, the strength of the Islanders is that they are a veteran team that’s been through wars together and knows what it takes to battle through a playoff push.
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In reality, the head coach stopped practice to admonish their effort on February 26, and there was talk afterward about fixing details that should be second nature to a group of vets.
“It seems like when we’re losing games, it’s little stuff that we’re not doing or we’re doing, kinda shooting ourselves in the foot,” Bo Horvat said. “We can’t do that. And if we want to win these games going forward, we have to pay attention to the details. Not letting outside noise, distraction, bother us and just play our game.”
The only thing to do for the players is plow on forward. But the closer it gets to the trade deadline, the harder it is for management to justify doing the same.
“It’s frustrating when you lose a game and you see the other teams winning,” Jean-Gabriel Pageau told The Post. “But the only thing — you can’t feel sorry for yourselves. What you can do [is to] win the next game. Hopefully get on a run, another team loses, that’s all you can control. Control what you can and it’s definitely frustrating after the game when you lose the game, you see the other ones winning, but that’s all you can control.”