WASHINGTON — A desperate effort by the Islanders on Saturday night led to a big change in their front line in Monday’s 4-1 loss against the Capitals.
Not only was Mathew Barzal moved back to the wing and reunited with Bo Horvat for just the fourth time this season, but the second line featured Jonathan Drouin starting under center for the first time all year.
Drouin skated between Emil Heineman and Simon Holmstrom, another combination the Islanders had never put together.
The only forward line that remains untouched is the fourth line of Kyle MacLean, Casey Cizikas and Marc Gatcomb.
Anthony Duclair dropped to the third row with Anders Lee and Jean-Gabriel Pageau, while Ondrej Palat skated with Barzal and Horvat.
“I was happy with the way things went with the Horvat line [and] Drouin’s line,” Roy said after the game. “Even Pageau and Cizikas [lines]. I thought we did a lot of good things, but unfortunately maybe not enough offensively to score more than one goal.”
The Islanders have long entertained the idea of Drouin playing center in back pockets, skating with him when others miss practice.
Drouin also faced off regularly, and averaged 50.9 percent on the dot until Monday, when he went 4-for-11 on faceoffs.
Trying Heineman and Holmstrom, two Swedes close to the ice, together, could also help wake up Heineman, who has hit a wall lately.
“I like the position of playing,” said Drouin, who has played the position in the NHL and in the minors, said the first game. “You’re more comfortable on the ice, you’re not stuck on the wall like a winger watching defensemen. You’re more relaxed, more instinctive.”
The improved power play units, with Matthew Schaefer, Barzal, Horvat, Holmstrom and Palat together at the top, produced an 0-for-2 night.
David Rittich stopped 20 of 23 shots on net in front of the back, and Ilya Sorokin was scheduled to play Tuesday against the Penguins at UBS Arena.
Roy said goalkeeper coach Sergei Naumovs made this decision.
“That was difficult because Ilya was good here in Washington at the beginning of the season,” said Roy. “Maybe one of his better games. Both are good teams, Washington and Pittsburgh. Sometimes you just go with the feelings of the goaltending coach.”
Scott Mayfield tackled Tom Wilson 1:47 into the third after Wilson beat Holmstrom near center ice.
Although the hit was legal, Mayfield called it “wrong, high.”
