Islanders Owe It To Their Fans To Have A Bounce Back Effort At UBS Arena Against Pittsburgh

EAST MEADOW, NY -- The New York Islanders have a few important things riding when the puck drops against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday night.

Pittsburgh, a team they'll face twice in less than 24 hours, is currently four points ahead of them in the wild-card race, with one more game played.

The other reason the game is a big one is because the Islanders are back in front of their fans after a horrific and flat-out embarrassing showing against the Buffalo Sabres at home on Monday night:

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That 7-1 loss was nauseating for the fan base in attendance. The outrage across social media from even the most optimistic of fans showed how damaging that performance was to a season full of brutal defeats.

Islanders head coach Patrick Roy touched on both these things during his post-skate press conference on Saturday morning.

"Hey, we have a chance to get closer to Pittsburgh by winning this game, plus we're playing in front of our fans," Roy said. "They deserve a good performance from us. We have to bounce back from our last game and play a strong game. They deserve that.

"And if we could win this game, it's all positive."

Even with a win, depending on the outcomes of other games across the National Hockey League, the Islanders can't find themselves in a wild-card spot.

But the Islanders have to win one to win two and climb the ladder.

"In my opinion, you win this game, you're closer to Pittsburgh and going into Pittsburgh with some momentum," Roy said. "Our fans [will be] happy. So, it's a good day for us if we could do that."

Usually, getting three of four points would be deemed a success with back-to-back games.

But, after the Islanders chucked the potential for two points into the construction zone at Belmont Racetrack with their showing on Monday, the need for a clean sweep this weekend is paramount.

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"You want to win those two games this weekend. Unfortunately, you can't win the second one before winning the first one," Roy said. "And, you got to play the first one. But the key is, if we have a great game and we win this game, we need to find a way to reset ourselves and be in the same frame of mind that we were in before the game to try to win that [second] game.

The Islanders need a strong start. It's what allowed them to dictate their 6-3 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs last Saturday and what disallowed them from doing the same against Buffalo.

Pittsburgh is 4-1-1 in their last six games but a beatable team. There's no such things as moral victories anymore for a team that's used all of those up.

The players in the room believe that the Toronto game is a game they can play consistently, so now it's time to show the fan base that their actions can speak louder than words before their words fall on deaf ears...the ears still listening.

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