EDMONTON, Alberta — To hear Jonathan Drouin tell it, there’s nothing to see in a goals drought that hit the two-month mark Wednesday.
“I’m old enough to just play the game. If I score, I score. If I don’t, I don’t,” Drouin told The Post before he went scoreless again in the Islanders’ 1-0 win over the Oilers on Thursday night. “I’m not one of those guys that’s gonna start shooting 10 on net just to get one in and get that out of the way. A lot of guys will try to shoot nine on net cause they haven’t scored in a month or two months. I just play the game that’s in front of me, and if there’s a play, make a play.”
Drouin has never scored more than 21 goals in a season, and he wasn’t signed to score, but however positive his attitude, 23 games is a long time for anyone to go without scoring.
And though the Islanders haven’t gone as far as to take him out of the top six, let alone sit him for a game, Drouin also has just six assists in that time frame.
He was dropped from the top power-play unit Thursday, with Simon Holmstrom taking his place.
“I like it on the second unit,” Drouin said. “I’m a half-wall guy. Change is good when things are not going well. You try to change a couple things and hopefully both units have a good game.”
The power play, where the Islanders rank dead last in the league and have struggled to generate momentum for most of the season, is a key piece of the story.
Given Drouin’s tilt toward being a pass-first player, it’s a little surprising the Islanders kept him on the top unit — with another player who doesn’t love to shoot the puck in Mat Barzal on the opposite half-wall — for so much of the year.
As for Drouin’s overall production, sure, there’s some tough luck involved. With a drought that long, it’s almost impossible for there not to be.
The plain fact of the matter, though, is that the Islanders need more from a player averaging nearly 18 minutes a night. Coach Patrick Roy met with Drouin on Thursday morning as a check-in of sorts.
“Explained to him, I want him to focus on things he can control,” Roy said. “And what he can control is how he plays every shift and not worry about the result. The result will come, I do believe. I’ve always believed that if you work hard on the ice, you do those things well, eventually things will go your way.
“And he’s a very smart player. He sees the ice well, he reads the ice well. Sometimes if things are not going our way, we have maybe the tendency to be frustrated. And I think that’s the worst thing to do. And in his case, simplify his game and keep doing the thing that he’s been doing so well. Trust the process.”
Roy’s use of the royal “we” sounded like a hint that Drouin is showing more frustration behind closed doors, but the coach clarified that he was, in fact, talking about how he himself reacted to slumps during his playing career.
“He’s been very positive,” Roy said of Drouin. “That’s why I said that’s something that might happen. Might’ve happened to me a few times.”
Drouin, to hear the Islanders tell it, hasn’t gotten to such a point yet.
“I feel good about my game,” he said.
His answer on what specifically he liked may have been a little more telling, though.
“I don’t know. Overall,” he said. “Obviously would love to score. Get more contributions. You play the game that’s in front of you.”