Islanders Blow Another Lead, Roy On What They Have To Do To Stop This

The New York Islanders blew a third-period lead again on Saturday night, allowing their 3-1 lead to evaporate against the New Jersey Devils in a 4-3 overtime loss.

Related: Islanders Lead Evaporates In The Third; Lose to Devils 4-3 In Overtime

Through 40 minutes, the Islanders only found themselves tied with the Devils because of Ilya Sorokin, who stopped 19 of 20.

And, once the Islanders broke the game open with two goals in 1:56, courtesy of Dennis Cholowski and Brock Nelson to give themselves a 3-1 lead, it looked like the tide had turned.

The Devils refocused and got back to their game, scoring with 4:27 to play in the third before tying the game with 50 seconds to go with the empty net:

“The first 40 was not our best. We didn’t forecheck like we were capable of. We didn’t possess the puck offensively,” Islanders head coach Patrick Roy said. “I mean, they had a lot of good chances. Ilya made some great saves for us, but in the third, we played hard, and we played well, and it’s too bad that we gave up a goal hitting our skate, and it went in.

“That’s bad luck. I know it’s cliche, and we repeat that, but it is what it is.”

This marked the third time this season that the Islanders led in a game but lost and the fifth time in 15 games that they had lost a lead at some point.

That empty-net tally was the third 5-on-6 goal the Islanders have allowed this season, the second most in the NHL, with two of three coming against the Devils.

The other came against the Buffalo Sabres in a 4-3 regulation win.

How do the Islanders break this prolonged habit?

“Well, first of all, it’s a matter of confidence. That’s the first thing, and secondly, we need to defend better around our net,” Roy said. “They pick up rebounds, so we got to find a way to box them out and put our hands on those pucks and do a little bit better job.”

“We can’t throw pucks away. We got to eat those pucks and swarm it and kill the clock. You play against the clock. When they pull the goalie, it’s a clock. It was…