Patrick Roy sends brutal message to his top line on Saturday.

The New York Islanders suffered a tough loss at the hands of the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday afternoon, losing by a score of 5-0 after Sabres goaltender Alex Lyon stood tall and turned away all 26 shots the Islanders fired his way.

While an ugly loss of this nature would stand out in its own right, this will be a particularly notable game because of the brutally harsh message that was sent to the Islanders top line during the game's third and final period.

Roy, who has always been known for his fiery temper, made the controversial decision to bench his top line for the entire period, gluing Anders Lee, Mathew Barzal and Anthony Duclair to the bench in what was one of the harshest messages I've seen a coach send at the National Hockey League level in a long time.

Following the game Roy acknowledged the move, calling out a lack of effort from some of the team's most talented players.

"Pretty simple," said Roy when asked about his decision. "Backchecking is an important part of our game and our concept and we talk about it on the road. It's my job to hold guys accountable."

Roy explained that he wasn't angry with the mistakes from his players, even pointing to an example during the game in which he praised Barzal for hustling back after making a costly mistake, but instead was furious about what he perceived as a lack of effort.

"Mistakes are part of the game, but backchecking doesn't require talent... it requires will," said Roy. "And that's what this team is about."

You can hear Roy's comments about his top line in the short clip below: