Islanders defensemen utilizing new strategy to unlock offense

The Islanders might have liked how they played in the trio of losses that led into Sunday’s win against the Bruins, but there was one noticeable shift in strategy that helped lead to the 5-4 overtime win in Boston. Their defensemen shot the puck.Early and often. “That’s what we want,” coach Patrick Roy said.

“More than this, we want bodies in front of the net.Try to take the eyes — make sure the goalie can’t see the puck, basically.

And if we throw it behind the net, we know we’re gonna have possession of the puck.So I thought we did a really nice job in that regard.” By raw shot attempts, the Islanders did their best job of the year, with 82 of them at five-on-five — 14 more than their previous season high.

That was largely down to their defensemen. Of the top four, Alexander Romanov and Adam Pelech — the Isles’ two less offensively inclined defensemen — both recorded season highs in shot attempts against the Bruins, with eight and nine, respectively.Noah Dobson’s total of eight was his fourth highest of the year. Ryan Pulock had a more pedestrian three shot attempts but was the most offensively impactful defenseman of the night, scoring a goal and producing two assists.

Roy called it Pulock’s best performance since he took over as head coach. While most of those shot attempts came to nothing — 47 were either blocked or sailed wide — the shoot-first mentality created a steady stream of possession and pressure that kept up through most of the game.That’s been a rarity for the Islanders this season, as they average a pedestrian 56.78 shot attempts per 60. “I thought our D played a great game … getting pucks through,” captain Anders Lee said.

“All of them.I thought Rommy got a bunch through.

Dobber got a bunch through.Pulls was great at the blue line.

I thought this was one of their better games.When they’re going the way they are, it makes a huge difference on our offense.” On Sunday, Bo Horvat became th...