BUFFALO — Considered one of the one things that never quite got going for the Islanders during their six-game winning streak was the ability play.
That finally caught as much as them Monday night, when an 0-for-5 performance at five-on-four was the catalyst in a 3-0 loss to the Kings — the Isles’ first defeat since Feb. 24 — however the struggles weren’t recent.
Over their past 10 games, the Islanders have converted just five of 33 possibilities on the ability play — 15.15 percent.
Collectively, nevertheless, they feel the problems on display Monday are easily correctable.
“I prefer to have a bit of more net presence. I prefer to move the puck a bit of quicker,” coach Patrick Roy said after the team practiced Wednesday at KeyBank Arena. “I feel like sometimes we decelerate the play a bit of an excessive amount of. If we could attack the web more, and once we had success, that’s what we’ve been doing.
“The goals that’s been scored, they’re coming from battles, attacking the pocket after which rating goals. It’s not coming from tic-tac-toe. It’s a mindset where it is advisable to get out of the box, and be sure that you can just put pucks at the web and compete for rebounds. Most of our power-play goals have been scored that way.”
In other words: Stop trying to go looking for the right shot and just put the puck on net. The Sabres, whose penalty-kill ranks twentieth within the league, must be a neater nut to crack in comparison with the Kings, who lead the NHL at four-on-five.
“I feel we’re just slow at times,” Noah Dobson told The Post. “[The Kings] had a extremely good kill, they got really good structure. You actually gotta move it quick and attack the web, and that’s where you get your possibilities, off those rebounds.”
“I just feel like we were slow with it. We weren’t as crisp. They simply kept us to the surface, and we weren’t really capable of get an excessive amount of. It’s definitely something we all know we gotta be a bit of bit higher next game. I’m sure the fellows will respond.”
Ilya Sorokin will start in goal for the Islanders on Thursday night, Roy said. … Matt Martin (lower body) was a full participant in practice and returned to his usual spot in line rushes to Kyle MacLean’s left after missing Monday’s loss to the Kings. But Roy declined to substantiate he’ll be back within the lineup against the Sabres, continuing to call him day-to-day.
Robert Bortuzzo (lower body) didn’t join the team in Buffalo after missing the California leg of the four-game trip.
