Your New York Islanders will face the Blues in
St. Louis to start their 10 day, 5 game road trip against some very good teams. Their hopes for the playoffs are fading
fast. B.D. Gallof puts up 93-95 pts. as
the magic number. That would require 72
points in the remaining 54 games. There
seem to be too many issues facing the team right now to be optimistic about
reaching such a goal. If it is at all possible,
the Isles need to start tonight.
Forwards:
Vanek-Tavares-Okposo,
Grabner-Nielsen-Bailey, Bouchard-Regin-Clutterbuck, Martin-Cizikas-McDonald.
D-Pairings: MacDonald-Hamonic, Hickey-de Haan,
Ness-Carkner.
Anders Nilsson gets
his 3rd straight start. Kevin Poulin
will back up.
Anders Nilsson and
the Islanders started the game off strong and put good pressure on the Blues,
but left the first period down 1-0. Michael
Grabner had breakaway opportunities, but failed to score with one shit ringing
off the crossbar. In the second, they
continued to push and played a physical game.
Andrew MacDonald PPG (Nielsen & Okposo) tied the score at 1-1 with a
blast from the point. The Isles
continued to play hard, but their frustration level was rising. The began to take foolish penalties and
found themselves on the PK a few too many times. By the time the second period expired, the score was 4-1 St.
Louis. In the third period, the first
line wasn't on the ice much. The game
ended with a 5-1 score for the blues, outshooting the Isles 26-23 in the game. The Isles played hard, but lost again.
Anders Nilsson was 21/26 with an .808Sv%.
I love this team, but
these games are hard to watch. It's tough to blame guys who aren't really
experienced enough to be here, or the Vets for trying float incomplete roster. The young patchwork defense and pair of AHL
goaltenders have shinned at times, but to be blunt are just not getting the job
done. I understand that there are key
injuries and the players haven't exactly been spectacular in the last 8 games,
but lets be real. Without appropriate
leadership, they look as if they are going through the motions. The team is still easily rattled and has
difficulty protecting their own zone, especially in PK situations.
Their deep prospect
pool IS NOT READY and is only being taught to lose in this team culture with
this coach. I keep hearing about how
this team supports the head coach, but their play has said differently for a
while now. They players are
undisciplined and out of control. They
need to be reigned in and guided. A
coaching change is a must and not from within.
With all due respect to Doug Weight, this team needs a head coach with a
fresh outlook who has experience at winning in the NHL on his resume.
The Islanders are
0-6-2 in their last eight and 8-16-5 with just 21pts. I am worried that JT will want out if this situation keeps
rolling along. How long is a player of his caliber going to tolerate this?
Isles Notes:
So disappointed
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