Why Patrick Roy is out, Peter DeBoer in as New York Islanders coach

Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports The New York Islanders stunned the hockey world Sunday, firing coach Patrick Roy with four games left in the regular season and replacing him with Peter DeBoer. But to watch the Islanders recently, especially in the past week, more than answers the question as to why first-year general manager Mathieu Darche pulled the plug. The Islanders enter the final full week of the regular season outside of a playoff position in the Eastern Conference after holding one for all but a handful of days in the past four months.

A superb season by goaltender Ilya Sorokin and the brilliance of 18-year-old rookie defenseman Matthew Schaefer, the No. 1 pick in last June’s NHL Draft, helped cover the holes in the lineup, atrocious coverage in the defensive zone on too many nights, and a power play that for the second straight season ranks among the League’s worst . A source told ESPN’s Emily Kaplan that the Islanders made the move because they felt they were leaving Sorokin too exposed and needed to shore up their defensive structure.

Sorokin faced a League-high 491 high-danger chances, according to Natural Stat Trick. He stopped 430 of them and has a League-best . 876 save percentage on those chances.

Overall, Sorokin has a 2. 65 goals-against average and . 909 save percentage.