Bad Moon Rising

Prior to game time on Thursday, Arthur Staple was again the hated messenger, "Waiting for Capuano to confirm, but looks like Strome won't play tonight. Isles were wary of dropping him in w/ no practice time."  The fans were angry yet again at the coaches decision for having a red hot Ryan Strome miss a BST game and get called up after Bouchard cleared only to sit against Phoenix because he hasn't had enough "practice" time with the Isles.  Brian Compton adds, "So if Isles don't practice tomorrow (which they won't), does that mean Strome sits again Saturday?  Its not really a big deal and may indeed benefit Strome in the long run, at least that's what they are saying.

Evgeni Nabokov and Brian Strait return to the line up.  Both players should help the teams chances to win.  Arthur Staple commented, "Capuano pointed out that Strait should help the PK. PK w/Strait this season: 21/24 (87.5%). PK w/o Strait: 51/77 (66.2%)."

Forwards:  Vanek-Tavares-Okposo, Grabner-Nielsen-Clutterbuck, Bailey-Nelson-McDonald, Martin-Cizikas-Boulton.

D-Pairings:  de Haan-Hamonic, MacDonald-Hickey, Ness-Strait.

Kevin Poulin will make his second consecutive start and Evgeni Nabokov is back on bench.

Regin and Carkner are the scratches tonight.

 

Eric Boulton (MacDonald & Strait) opened the scoring for the Islanders, but the Coyotes scored shortly after to tie the score at 1-1.  Kevin Poulin would then play well for the Islanders and make some big saves in the first period to preserve the score going into first intermission.  In the second period, Phoenix would break through a shaky Isles defense and a myriad of mistakes to score 3 times by the 6 minute mark to bring the score to 4-1 Phoenix.  “To give up six goals like that and leave our goalie out to dry after making some big saves again is unacceptable,” Tavares said. “We’re not going to win too many hockey games if we’re getting back to habits like that.”  There were deflections and bad luck for Poulin (20/25 with a .835Sv%) in the second who despite giving his all, couldn't save this one for his team. 

The Islanders would rally behind John Tavares (Vanek & Ness) and Kyle Okposo (Strait & Nielsen) to close the gap, 4-3.  The Isles regrouped and were trying hard to even the score, but their confidence is fragile.  The Coyotes would score again by the end of the period making the score 5-3.  In the third period, the Isles struggled with bad penalties and sloppy plays, until they surrendered another goal to close the scoring at 6-3 in favor of phoenix.  Just after the 18 minute mark, tempers flared for New York.  Matt Martin and Kyle Okposo got involved in frustrating situations that showed the team is near the end of their composure rope.

 

The refusal by NHL officials to make calls on behalf of the Islanders is getting laughable.  High Sticking, or the lack there of has become an every game occurrence and happens with a high frequency.  Visnovsky was injured on a non call and that has been a major component derailment of the season so far.  last night, Casey Cizikas left the game and never returned for what is being reported as a broken jaw.  The Islanders cant afford to keep losing these kind of players.  The league should be embarrassed that this goes on at all.

 

After 33 games this season and 5 regulation wins, and other than acquiring Vanek for Moulson, Garth Snow and Jack Capuano have pretty much kept the team the same.  The Isles prospects pressed into service right now should not be called upon to play these major roles at these minutes. That's where the mistakes come from. Its not a fair assessment.  de Haan looked great for a few games and looked terrible last night just like Matt Donovan did before him.  Capuano had a few quotes after the game.  On his defense, "That's about the worst I've seen them play all year." And on possible changes, "Changes? There's not a lot of options."  Is that referring to Visnovsky and possibly Martinek being down, or was it a passive aggressive lash at Snow and Wang's "Plan?"

Once again, as we ALL have said, something has got to give with this team.  I just hope our real core players don't get disenfranchised with the team and ask to move on.  This is the kind of statement I used to roll my eyes at when other guys wrote it.  Except now, I've witnessed some of the lowest level of hockey an Islanders team has ever played.  The team is spiritless at times and continues to look lost.  The opposition is even taking liberties on John Tavares lately and I don't see enough pride in the defense of team mates as a whole.

I am a die hard fan, but I am losing my patience while watching the same failures repeating themselves over and over again.  Bring on Ryan Strome.  Hopefully, the pressure will be managed correctly and he rides his hot streak onto Long Island.

 

 

Isles Notes:

Per Arthur Staple, "Looks like Nabokov may come off IR today as well. Poulin will start, Nabokov backing up and Nilsson back to BPT."

Per Jay Figs, "Kudos to Isles fans to being 1 of 4 teams to raise average attendance, seriously."

 

The Islanders will be home against Montreal on Saturday, 12/14 @ 7:00PM & Tampa Bay on Tuesday, 12/17 @ 7:00 PM.  Then at MSG to face the Rangers on Friday, 12/20 @ 7:00 PM and back home against Anaheim on Saturday, 12/21 @ 7 PM.

 

Sound Tigers Notes:

 

"BST PLAYER TRANSACTION: Matt Lowry and Scooter Vaughan have both been signed to PTOs."

 

Three players will make BST debut Friday night. Scooter Vaughan (wearing No. 7), Matt Lowry (No. 17) and Pierre-Marc Bouchard (No. 96).