After winning six of seven games on their road trip, the New York Islanders have lost four of their first five games to start their seven-game homestand.

While the game outcomes tell one story, head coach Patrick Roy remains confident in his squad, which is still 13-10-3 and tied with the Pittsburgh Penguins for the second wild card spot.

“Sometimes after games there's nothing to be said,” said Roy.

“And I think today is an example. We did everything right. We had a lot of shots and we had a lot of chances. We just came up short. We could find excuses. I get it. I mean, the standard of our team is to win hockey games and do the right thing, but sometimes we just need to continue to play the way we are and believe that things will go our way.”

Stefen Rosner asked Roy if he's noticed anything different from the way they've played on their recent road trip to how they are playing right now.

"I feel like we played pretty much the same way," Roy said. "Actually, we might give more shots on the road than at home, but other than this, I feel like we've been playing the same kind of hockey. I really do. Did the puck bounce our way, maybe a little more on the road, maybe, yes -- obviously, we score more goals. But I mean, I felt like we played really well defensively. I thought on the trip where we won, what six out of the seven, I mean, the game that we lost was the game we played our best. And we've been playing some good hockey, and unfortunately, we don't win."

There is no doubt the Islanders' finishing has struggled in their recent stretch, shooting at just a 3.49% rate, but is the rest of their game there?

During the first five games of their home stand, the Islanders have had 69.1 shot attempts per 60 minutes, 12.39 of which from higher-danger areas. Both of these metrics are significantly higher than their road trip, where they had 50.23 and 9.57, respectively, according to Natural Stat Trick. 

At 5v5, the numbers are closer: 63.02 to 48.39 in shot attempts and 10.98 to 9.27 in high danger shot attempts.

Natural Stat Trick's expected goals model also has the Islanders generating 3.8 expected goals per 60 minutes at all strengths during the home stand, as opposed to 2.9 on the road trip. 

However, the Islanders have scored just 1.16 goals per 60 minutes amid this stretch, while they scored 3.38 on the road trip.

Roy said himself, following the Islanders' 3-1 loss to the Boston Bruins in their third game of the homestand on Nov 26, that the shot quality had to improve, and this is something expected goals models struggle to pick up as they track location on the ice but not the location on the net.

#Isles HC Patrick Roy:

"We were the better team on the ice, but the quality of our shots is onna have to improve, find ways to bear down on our chances [...] we're going to win more games than we're going to lose if we play that way."

— Stefen Rosner (@stefen_rosner) November 27, 2025

Fortunately for the Islanders, the chances are there, and at the very least, the defense has been much improved.

During the homestand, the Islanders have conceded just 18.19 shots per 60 minutes compared to 29.13 on the road trip -- an over 10 shot improvement. 

They have also conceded 5.81 fewer high danger shot attempts per 60 minutes, down to 9.1 from 14.91.

On the season, the Islanders are shooting 9.75% -- the sixth lowest in the NHL -- yet this is still over 6% higher than their stretch on the homestand.

Roy has said himself that there are no moral victories and the goal remains to win hockey games, but fans and the team should hold optimism that, at the very least, the data is promising.