Patrick Roy's Islanders coaching debut, Sunday's 3-2 overtime win over the Dallas Stars, shared a common theme with New York's key players.
Roy, whom the Isles hired while firing Lane Lambert amid a four-game skid and 19-15-11 record entering Sunday's game at UBS Arena, brought a much-needed spark to the team.
"He brings so much energy behind the bench," said center Bo Horvat, whose goal 41 seconds into overtime lifted New York (20-15-11) past a top-three Western Conference team in the Stars (27-13-6). "He feels like he's playing the whole game for us out there. He's constantly engaged and yelling not only words of encouragement but helpful tips out there, too. So he was great behind the bench and we've just got to continue to keep that going."
Roy, 58, was last a coach with the Colorado Avalanche from 2013-16.
"It's not easy, coming in," said defenseman Noah Dobson. "He came in today, first time we met him, had a game tonight -- got jumped right in. But he had a great presence. He was vocal -- a lot of energy, intensity. There's obviously things that we're going to keep continuing to get better at, the little adjustments that we've made, but a good start and a good job finding a way to get a win."
Where the rest of the Isles' season goes remains to be seen, but Roy left a strong first impression on his new group as he settled into a unique situation.
"We touched on a few details, just defensively, because there's certain things that we've got to pick up quickly on the fly with a change like this," said center Mathew Barzal. "That's really what it is -- we're just learning on the fly right now. I thought we did a great job tonight. I saw everyone had a spark tonight.
"I think Patty came in before the game and gave us a little touch of him being a human, telling us he was a little nervous -- and I was, too -- and it was nice to hear that from him. I think, sometimes, when you play with those nerves, it really forces you to get your legs going and be engaged in the game. It absolutely translated immediately on the ice."