Mathew Barzal’s Benching and Call Out a Rare Sight in Today’s NHL

The New York Islanders were shut out 5-0 at home by the red-hot Buffalo Sabres on Saturday afternoon. While the lopsided score might have shocked some, what was even more surprising—especially for those who didn’t watch and only saw the box score—was that Mathew Barzal logged just 12:45 of ice time.

It wasn’t due to injury or a penalty-filled game; rather, head coach Patrick Roy benched Barzal and his linemates Anders Lee and Anthony Duclair for the entirety of the third period after he felt their lack of effort on the back check led to a late second-period Tage Thompson goal.

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Roy didn’t mince words when discussing the decision postgame, appearing to single out Barzal despite benching all three.

Roy said:

“Pretty simple. Backchecking is an important part of our game and our concept. We talked about it on the road, and it’s my job to make guys accountable. I even said to Barzy when he made that turnover in the first period, and he backchecked hard, that’s fine—that’s exactly what I’m looking for. Mistakes are part of the game, but backchecking doesn’t require talent; it requires will.

The standard here is to win, and I hope it sends a message, because I think Barzy is a leader on this team. Unfortunately for Anders, he was on that line, and sometimes you’ve got to take one for the team. I have nothing negative to say about Lee, but if we want to give ourselves a chance to make the playoffs this year, we have to do these details really well,”

The 28-year-old Barzal leads the Islanders in scoring with 41 points (11 goals, 30 assists) across 50 games played this season. He’s in year three of the eight-year, $73.2 million extension signed to stay in New York back in 2022.

Patrick Roy Sent Quite the Message to Mathew Barzal

As much as Roy might not have liked Barzal’s backchecking effort on Saturday or the road trip prior, it’s still pretty shocking to see a star sat down for an entire period and called out by his coach after the game.

To his credit, Barzal handled things relatively well during his postgame media availability: “It was pretty straightforward. Our line in Seattle gave up a few odd-man rushes, and then in the last-minute period, we gave one up, and they scored. So Patrick’s just doing what he thinks needs to be done to make us a winning team… Yeah, sometimes I think things need to be done or just shown to the room that certain things aren’t going to be tolerated. And think that’s what it was.”

This isn’t the first time Barzal has been punished with Roy leading the charge, either, having been a healthy scratch for a game in Carolina back in October because he missed the team bus that morning.

The message clearly got through to Barzal back then, as he scored the next night in a 3-1 win over the Capitals, so Roy and the Islanders will be hoping for a similarly strong response Monday in Philadelphia.

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