Patrick Roy admits he made mistake with Tristan Lennox’s shambolic Islanders debut

Patrick Roy admitted he’d made a mistake. 

More than a mistake, the Islanders head coach essentially embarrassed young Tristan Lennox in his NHL debut, putting the 2021 third-round pick in during the third period of the Islanders’ 9-2 loss to the Rangers and pulling him just 4:43 later after Lennox gave up a goal on the second shot he saw. 

“After the sixth goal, I wanted to give a break to Marcus [Högberg], mentally more than anything else,” Roy said. “And I put Lennox in. When I saw the first goal — it’s on me. 

“Maybe I should have kept [Högberg in]. The kid didn’t have a chance to practice. I thought that was unfair to him, to put him out there like this. That’s why I put Marcus back in. Didn’t want to expose him and put him in a tough spot. The chances we were giving, they were two-on-ones and three-on-twos. I didn’t think it was fair for the first game for him.” 

Lennox, who has played just four games in AHL Bridgeport this season and returned in March from a major knee injury that kept him out 14 months, was backing up Högberg on an emergency basis with Ilya Sorokin hurt. 

Tristan Lennox made his NHL debut during the Islanders’ 9-2 blowout loss to the Rangers on April 10, 2025.

Högberg, who allowed eight goals on 30 shots on an all-around embarrassing night for the Islanders, said he had never been pulled and then put back in. He also said he didn’t realize such a thing was a possibility when Roy initially pulled him. 

Roy said he plans to talk to Lennox on Friday. 

“I’m sure he’s gonna understand the situation. It’s hard,” Roy said. “He played yesterday in Bridgeport and drove here and had the morning skate and put him in a situation like this. I’ll take responsibility for that. Might not have been my best decision.” 

Patrick Roy looks on from the bench during the Islanders’ 9-2 blowout loss to the Rangers on April 10, 2025.

After Kyle Palmieri said the Islanders didn’t play with enough pride, Roy passionately disagreed with the assessment. 

“A team that does not work does not have 45 shots,” Roy said. “A team that has no pride, they don’t stop working and keep shooting pucks on the other side.” 

Roy incredulously claimed that he “didn’t notice” that Alexander Romanov was benched for over 10 minutes during the second period. 

The Rangers swept the Islanders in a season series for the first time since 2003-04, outscoring them 23-5 across four games. 

The Islanders technically were not eliminated from the playoff race on Thursday, but with a loss, their elimination number dropped to 1, meaning that Montreal can eliminate them with a win or overtime loss on Friday at Ottawa.