{"id":516361,"date":"2026-03-22T08:09:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-22T08:09:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/516361\/"},"modified":"2026-03-22T08:09:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T08:09:15","slug":"patrick-roy-playing-coy-with-islanders-goalie-decision-heading-into-key-game-vs-blue-jackets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/516361\/","title":{"rendered":"Patrick Roy playing coy with Islanders’ goalie decision heading into key game vs. Blue Jackets"},"content":{"rendered":"

MONTREAL \u2014 One piece of the weekend\u2019s goaltending puzzle fell into place Saturday morning. <\/p>\n

The other was kept close to Patrick Roy\u2019s chest, a rarity for a head coach who\u2019s normally more than willing to share his lineup plans with anyone who asks.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have no idea what you\u2019re talking about,\u201d Roy said, when asked about how he intended to split the back-to-back set that started Saturday in Montreal. \u201cWe\u2019re playing in Montreal tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Saturday did feature Ilya Sorokin in the Islanders\u2019 net and \u2014 smokescreen or not \u2014 Roy\u2019s reticence to get into his plans for Sunday implied that it is a very real option for the Russian to start at home against Columbus, as well.<\/p>\n

They might be the two most important games of the Islanders\u2019 season so far, both against teams they\u2019re directly competing with for a playoff spot so late in the season.<\/p>\n

With the Blue Jackets being another Metropolitan Division team, though, that game is slightly more important than Saturday\u2019s.<\/p>\n

The Islanders have plenty of trust built up in both Sorokin and David Rittich, but it will be tough to go away from the Vezina Trophy contender who has been a rock ever since he came to the organization in 2020.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just the way he plays,\u201d Casey Cizikas told The Post. \u201cIt\u2019s the way he competes. <\/p>\n

\"llyallya Sorokin tracks the puck during the Islanders\u2019 7-3 loss to the Canadiens on March 21, 2026 in Montreal. David Kirouac-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

\u201cHis day to day preparation and that\u2019s just what you go off of. You see what he can do in this league where he carries this team. It\u2019s a no-brainer when he\u2019s in between the pipes. He\u2019s arguably the best goalie in the world, in my opinion. That\u2019s the belief we have in him, just the work ethic he puts in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roy switched around his lines on Saturday off a fairly lifeless 3-2 loss in Ottawa<\/a> two nights prior.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOn the ice from Long Island\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Islanders by Ethan Sears, a weekly Sports+ exclusive.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Anders Lee was on the top line with Bo Horvat and Mathew Barzal for the first time all season. <\/p>\n

Emil Heineman moved down to the second line with Brayden Schenn and Anthony Duclair. Simon Holmstrom was put back with Jean-Gabriel Pageau on a third line completed by Ondrej Palat, while Cal Ritchie dropped to the fourth line on Casey Cizikas\u2019 left wing. <\/p>\n

Marc Gatcomb drew back into the lineup on Cizikas\u2019 right to complete the fourth line, having sat the last three games as a healthy scratch, with Kyle MacLean coming out.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told [Ritchie], play your game. Play the way you have to,\u201d Cizikas said of the 21-year-old whose skill set seems a tad out of place on the fourth line. \u201cMe and Gats, we\u2019re gonna get in the corners, gonna grind it out. I told him if you have a chance to shoot it, you shoot it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MONTREAL \u2014 One piece of the weekend\u2019s goaltending puzzle fell into place Saturday morning. The other was kept…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":516362,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5110],"tags":[5,277,122,3328,159,5190,5189,4,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-516361","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-islanders","8":"tag-hockey","9":"tag-ilya-sorokin","10":"tag-islanders","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-islanders","13":"tag-newyork","14":"tag-newyorkislanders","15":"tag-nhl","16":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116271813335556463","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516361","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=516361"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516361\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/516362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=516361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=516361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=516361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}