Islanders’ Patrick Roy Needs to Send Message to Scott Mayfield

The first one Mayfield takes occurs at 5:20 of the first period when he’s called for boarding Barclay Goodrow. That penalty is assessed to an offender who pushes, checks, or trips an unsuspecting into the boards. During the play that got called a penalty, Goodrow is making a play toward the puck and has his back turned toward Mayfield.

While the action by Mayfield isn’t malicious, he sees Goodrow’s numbers and delivers a check into the boards when he’s not expecting to be hit. It’s probably the right call, and Mayfield could have avoided it by pinning Goodrow up against the boards. But you can certainly understand why Mayfield went for the hit. He’s playing the puck and finishes his check. It’s not the worst penalty you can take, and it’s only the first period in a tied hockey game.

One penalty isn’t a big deal, but what about the other two? The second one by Mayfield occurs at 10:36 in the third period, when he trips Adam Edstrom’s skate from behind with his stick. There really is no debate here – that’s a black-and-white penalty. Luckily, the Islanders come up with a huge kill, and Mayfield is bailed out after goaltender Ilya Sorokin comes up with five saves. The Islanders are still in full control, up 5-3.

But then Mayfield takes another penalty at a critical part of the game. With about two and a half minutes left, Lafrenière makes a move to the outside to chase the puck in the corner, and Mayfield clearly trips him. It’s the same thing as his second penalty. When it comes to tripping, players are responsible for their sticks. Referees are going to call obvious penalties that they have a clear site on every time. There’s no excuse for it, and he cost his team the game for being careless with his stick. Plus, the Rangers can pull the goalie late, make it a six-on-four, and boost the odds of scoring. So what happens? Zibanejad ties it with a bomb on the power play, and the game is over before you can even sit down to watch overtime.

Mayfield Isn’t the Only One to Blame

Of course, Mayfield isn’t the only one to blame. Overall, the Islanders gave the Rangers five power-play opportunities. Mathew Barzal took a hooking penalty late in the third period that gave the Rangers a five-on-three and led to the fourth goal against. There’s an argument to be made that this was a weak call – but Barzal needs to be aware of his stick in the situation.

However, Roy needs to mainly send a message to Mayfield. You can’t take three penalties and blow a lead like that. Plus, it’s not like the 31-year-old defenseman has only made a few mistakes this year. Mayfield ranks last among Islanders defensemen in expected goals percentage (xGF) this year at 43.85 percent, according to Natural Stat Trick. And in this case, Roy temporarily removing him from the lineup is warranted after taking two inexcusable penalties in the third period.

The Islanders would have probably won if it wasn’t for the carelessness late in the game. Others might say maybe the team’s dead-last penalty kill needs to figure it out because this is far from the first time the Islanders have blown a lead late. This season, the Islanders have taken a penalty in the third period that led to either a tying or gaming winning goal 14 times, according to ABC7’s Rob Taub, who formerly wrote for NHL.com and the New York Post.

Roy Likes the Islanders’ Game

While the loss stings, Roy did not rip his team’s overall effort after the brutal collapse this time. “As a coach, cause I’m not a player, I feel good about our game,” he told reporters during his post-game press conference.

He added, “Yes those penalties at the end hurt us, but we did a lot of good things.”

And Roy’s correct. The Islanders controlled most of the game. Their xGF% was 67.81 percent at even strength, while their Corsi for percentage (CF) was 56.07 percent. But again, the last 10 minutes killed the Islanders. In all situations, the Rangers controlled 54.14 percent of the xGF share.

The Islanders were clearly ready to play, but enough is enough with the late-game meltdowns. It isn’t the time to talk about a trade deadline firesale just yet or another bag skate, but Roy should healthy scratch Mayfield for Tuesday’s game against the Pittsburgh Penguins. It’s unclear what the head coach’s plans are yet for the next game, but Islanders fans won’t likely be seeing the end of Mayfield in Elmont for a while. He has six and a half years left with a cap hit of $3.5 million. Oh, and he also has a full no-trade clause that runs through the 2026-27 season.