"With the New York Islanders trailing 2-0 after two periods against the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday afternoon at UBS Arena, Roy made a pointed statement to his team that went far beyond the scoreboard. The head coach benched his entire second line - captain Anders Lee, Mathew Barzal, and Anthony Duclair - for the full third period following a glaring failure to backcheck on Tage Thompson's goal with 11.4 seconds left in the second."
"The sequence that triggered the benching was hard to ignore. After a turnover in the Sabres' zone, Barzal and Duclair coasted back, leaving Lee as the lone forward attempting to support the defense. Thompson, left uncontested in the slot, took a slick pass from Zach Benson from behind the net and snapped it past backup goalie David Rittich. Roy was careful to note that the move wasn't meant to single out Lee."
""Barzy is a leader on this team, and unfortunately, for Anders, he was on that line, and sometimes, you have to take it for the team," Roy said. "I have nothing to say about him... He's part of that line. You play with your linemate, you stick with your linemate, and you back your linemate." It wasn't an isolated incident. Roy pointed to similar breakdowns by the same trio during the Islanders' 4-1 loss in Seattle, the game that ended a seven-game road trip that saw New York go 3-3-1."
Patrick Roy benched the New York Islanders' entire second line — Anders Lee, Mathew Barzal, and Anthony Duclair — for the full third period after a failure to backcheck led to Tage Thompson's late second-period goal. The Islanders played only three lines in the final period and lost 5-0 to the Buffalo Sabres. Roy emphasized that backchecking is a matter of will and team concept, not talent, and that accountability is his responsibility. Roy clarified the move was not meant to single out Lee and pointed to similar breakdowns by the trio in a recent loss in Seattle.
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