On Saturday February 16th, a rumor was reported by the New York Post about Charles Wang's interest to sell the Islanders. But that would not stop Your New York Islanders as they continued their strong inspired play motivated by a rant from Doug Weight after the 1st period of their game vs. the Rangers. The Isles met the New Jersey Devils and faced the problematic Johan Hedberg, (10-7-2 vs. Isles) before a near sell-out crowd and dismantled them, 5-1 at the NVMC. It was a well played contest for New York and a breakout game for John Tavares.
Per Eric Hornick, "John Tavares recorded his fourth career hat trick and Evgeni Nabokov made 30 saves as the Islanders broke open a scoreless game with five goals in the final 23:14 to defeat the New Jersey Devils 5-1 before 15,488 at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Both Tavares and Matt Moulson finished the night with four points."
On Sunday, John Tavares was subsequently named the NHL's first star of week with 7 points (5 and 2 in three games.)
Today, the Islanders played the Philadelphia Flyers for their first meeting of the season. The Flyers have struggled this season and would face a seemingly focused Isles team. Unfortunately, the Isles suffered their worst home loss in team history, falling to the Flyers by a score of 7-0. Evgeni Nabokov was almost left alone to face his attackers, and should have been pulled when the score got out of hand, very early in the 2nd period. Arthur Staple had this from Nabokov, "We have to have 20 people on the board together, every night. Otherwise we have no chance."
"They were the hungrier team," Capuano said. "Physically, they manhandled us. That, to me, is controllable. That's your work ethic, your battle level. And that's what's unacceptable."
Once again, this two faced team played a weak defensive game and struggled to maintain their cool as mistakes and misplayed pucks gave the Flyers the breaks they needed to gain confidence. And that they did.
The list of errors the Isles commit when they play poorly has been written about over and over again on KoC so far this season. The most frustrating thing about this team is that they have some good pieces in place, but still lack proper leadership. I am sure Doug Weight will be a great coach one day and have no doubt that Brent Thompson can add value as a secondary assistant coach with his ability to connect with younger players.
In my opinion, the next head coach of the New York Islanders can't be a home grown, self cultivated drone of the Isles internal management system. It needs to be an established coach who will buy into managements plan, but bring the knowlege and know how of a winner to change the culture of the room. The fragility and inconsistency has to stop.
For example, after Ken Hitchcock was hired by the St. Louis Blues on 11/6/2011, the team responded and their prospect ladened system immediately beared fruit. The Blues were the first team to reach the 100 point mark and later, qualifyied for the playoffs for the first time since the 2008-09 season. They went on to win the first round of the playoffs (vs. SanJose) and lost to the eventual Stanley Cup Champion, Los Angeles Kings in the next round.
With the Bertuzzi-Moore incident aside, a coach like Marc Crawford could be exactly what the team needs. Crawford is now coaching for the ZSC Lions of the National League A in Switzerland. In his last NHL job, Crawford accrued 79 wins and 60 losses over the 09-10 and 10-11 seasons, good enough for 5th place finishes with the Dallas Stars Organization.
When asked about his teams performance today, NHL player of the week, John Tavares said, "Unacceptable."
When will it end? What will it take?
Isles Notes:
The Islanders will go on the road to face the Ottawa Senators tomorrow @ 7:30, the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday @ 7:30 and the Buffalo Sabers on Saturday @ 7:00.
Isles Transactions: Brian Strait has been placed on IR with a fractured left ankle. Radek Martinek activated to official roster.
Per Arthur Staple, Islanders are offering Reasoner around league, not much interest. Could end up on waivers if roster spot needed.
Per Jeff Capellini, "Visnovsky has been on the ice of 11 of the Isles14 goals since joining the team."
Brad Boyes has 12pts in 15gp this season.
Per MSG+, Most Points, NHL, last two seasons: 1. Malkin 126 2. Stamkos 118 3. Tavares 101.
Per Eric Hornick, "Isles have now worn their black jerseys twice this ssn, and have been blanked by a combined 10-0. Isles now 3-9-3 all-time in black."
Brendan Witt on Twitter, "Why does NBC still put milbury on tv. He sucks ass."
Per @NHLhistorygirl, On February 15th in 1972, the Isles hired Bill Torrey as their first General Manager.
Sound Tigers Notes:
On February 17th, 1:57 into the overtime period, Admirals come back to beat the Sound Tigers 3-2. Norfolk outshot Bridgeport 40-19. Halmo & Costello the BST goal scorers.
On February 16th, "The Sound Tigers fought back from a 3-1 deficit to tie the Bruins heading into the third period, but could not erase another deficit as their game-tying goal was waved off in a frustrating 5-3 loss to Providence on Saturday night. With the win, the Bruins improve to 29-17-0-3. The Sound Tigers fall to 22-21-2-3 with the loss."
No comments:
Post a Comment