More Of The Same?

In last nights game vs the Rangers, the Islanders were guilty of a few defensive breakdowns and mental mistakes.  Those misqueues undid any good things they were able to muster.

Nabokov played pretty well and I thought the team looked pretty good at times. What wasn’t very good was the defense and the "Jekyl and Hyde" type confidence that the team seems to have. Their in game confidence completely dictates their style of play and their opponents know this.

At certain times, they dominate and several players are able to contribute to the attack. They seem relentless and refuse to give up. Other times, they look unorganized and clueless. The bad passes through the slot and the lazy, robotic, no-look passing to a teammate in double coverage type incidents have been adding up lately. Towards the end of the game against the Rangers, Isles play by play man, Howie Rose remarked that the Islanders had gone seventeen minutes without registering a shot. That cannot be if they expect to contend in must win games.

Captain Streit looked a little out of sorts and I question some of his confidence in leading the team. While I have witnessed good things from him as a leader at certain times this season, he doesn’t seem to lead by example regularly and needs to be more vocal on the ice and during games.

While Michael Haley and Tim Wallace played with attitude, I felt the game was way to polite for an Isles, Ranger game. I was also a little "peaved" at the lack of physicality, even going back to the Winnipeg game when Al Montoya was run over by Kane, and no one took him to task. I think the Islanders need to come together once again and fight for each other on every shift of every game. When they do this, they seem to play better.


I read that Trevor Gillies is currently injured in Dee’s blog and I have respect for Haley and Martin, but the Islanders need to step it up now and make other teams frustrated to play against them. I feel that it starts with finishing their checks and intimidating their opponents. Players like Tim Wallace are good for the mix because their urgency to stay on the team motivates their desire to make an impact. I know the Islanders (and Bailey’s) play improved when Blake Comeau was waived, but they need to refocus their “commitment” on taking the next step as a team.


Their strong and improved play needs to last for a full game and they need more of the roster to start to contribute regularly again. John Tavares is struggling way too much. He is being battered and knocked down way too often. I am getting frustrated and want to see a steadying flow to the Islanders' rebuild. If the players on the roster wont get it done, I say the that team should continue to look to Bridgeport’s roster and the trading/waiver landscape to improve.
 

In the mean time, I’d be ok if the Islanders got a little miffed and played with an edge consistently. Maybe they could make strides if they came together like they were some sort of fellowship.  A group that bonded while battling some insurmountable task, while keeping focus on their ultimate goal.

Isles Notes:

Eric Hornick reports that Tavares-Parenteau-Molson have combined for 32 of the team's 72 goals (44.4%), and 80 of the 197 points (41%).

New York Islanders report that Coach, Jack Capuano says the same lineup will go tonight against the Leafs with Evgeni Nabokov in net.

Isles lines: Moulson-Tavares-Parenteau; Grabner-Nielsen-Okposo; Martin-Bailey-Wallace; Haley-Reasoner-Niederreiter.
 
Isles d-pairs: Streit-Jurcina; Hamonic-MacDonald; Eaton-Mottau.


Coach Capuano talks again about need for secondary scoring and he says there are things that have gone well and said the turning point was Gaborik's second period goal off the face-off the Isles watched film on before the game. He said it was a play they were warned about and should have been ready to contain it, especially with the players the Rangers had on the ice.