Patrick Roy puts Samuel Bolduc on blast after killer Islanders gaffe: ‘It’s sad’

The tape-and-glue left side of the Islanders blue line was left with a predictable result Sunday. 

Though Dennis Cholowski and Grant Hutton played well enough — putting in a mistake-free afternoon — Samuel Bolduc committed a killer error deep in his own zone, turning the puck over early in the second period on a play the Rangers quickly converted into a goal, with Reilly Smith feeding Vincent Trocheck. 

That left Bolduc stapled to the bench for much of the remainder of the afternoon, as he played just three more shifts after the goal at 1:21 of the second in the eventual 5-2 loss to the Rangers.

It also caused coach Patrick Roy to issue a direct call-out of the 23-year-old, who has fallen from being seen as the next upcoming Islanders defense prospect only a year ago to struggling to hang onto his spot as the ninth defenseman in the organization. 

“It’s sad,” Roy said when asked about the turnover. “But Sam needs to be better. If he wants to play in the NHL, he’s gonna have to understand and step up. 

“He’s a good hockey player. He’s got all the tools. Now he just needs to figure it out. But he needs to be better if he wants to play for us.”