Broad Street Blues
Jiggs and Billy characterized the Isles 3-1 loss to the Flyers tonight as a hard fought battle that just didn't swing the Isles way, but I don't buy it. Even DP proclaimed after the game that they battled hard but couldn't find a way to score, just barely touching on what is precisely the problem. 6 games into this young season we are seeing what we feared would be the Isles problem all year long: the inability to generate consistent scoring chances in order to compete with average NHL teams.
This problem first became evident in the game against Washington. Sure the Isles outshot the Caps by a healthy margin and only gave up 12 shots on goal. But if you watched the game then you would know that the Isles had absolutely nothing going against Kolzig. I can't even recall one decent save he made that entire game. The Isles peppered him with low-percentage perimeter shots and got their only goal on one such shot. The same was true against the Rags on Wednesday, even though the Isles were able to muster up a win. Some heroics from DP and the Rags' inability to finish from in close is what won that game, not the Isles offense. The Isles generated nothing against Lundqvist in that game aside from a few solid chances on the powerplay.
I don't need to discuss the Leafs game because the score in that contest speaks for itself. And now tonight against the Flyers told the same story--absolutely no solid scoring chances. The game tonight was a cake walk for Biron who was finally tested when Miro Satan tried to put home a rebound with a few minutes left in the 3rd. When you are losing games 2-1 (like the Isles did to the Caps and should have to the Flyers without the empty netter) then the reason better be that the other team's goalie stood on his head at times. Not necessarily that the goalie stole the game by making 40 saves, but he better have made at least a few great saves.
The Hilbert-Silinger-Hunter line has been invisible in terms of offensive production. Hunter is still skating in quicksand and Hilbert can't seem to unfreeze his hands. Silinger looks like he should be playing in a local Men's league. The Satan-Vasicek-Bergenheim line was buzzing tonight but only managed one goal on a fluke play. I loved the Guerin signing but I have a hard time seeing him netting 15 goals after a 36 goal effort last year. I can only recall one solid scoring chance all season when Lunqvist robbed him with a sprawling skate save. Comrie has been a non-factor since his brilliant showing against the Sabres.
The Isles look way too tight right now and I think they should open up their game. Let the D take some chances and maybe the Comrie line can start to generate some more opportunities. And let this be an early warning to Snow to start looking for offensive help around the league. I don't know if I can take sitting through another one of these lackluster dreary games for an entire season.
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24 comments:
Absolutely correct, Justin. This team is still full of third and fourth liners who were never finishers.
I think the two games against Buffalo fooled people into believing that this team could play with the best in the NHL.
The Islanders were just lucky to catch a Buffalo team that had never played without their free agent desertions and could not get their game going.
They were fortunate to beat the Rangers, but looked horrible against the Caps, Leafs and Flyers.
Guerrin has been a non factor. Comrie is still a talented player but it appears he has a streaky side. Satan has been lost out there. He needs someone who can get him the puck inside his scoring zone.
The D has played well enough, except in Toronto.
So, what's the solution to this offensive drought?
Nolan sends the one player who has an offensive side back to Bridgeport to make room for another 4 th line slug.
This team is going nowhere, so get used to it. It will win a fair share of 2-1 or 3-2 games that DP steals for them. When they play an elite team like Ottawa they will get blown out. When they all don't work hard (see Toronto) they will get blown out. The team simply lacks talent. All the "Nolan type" players in the world can't make up for that....Bill
Oh my. This is getting pretty sad guys...how is this fun for you? Just watch the season and root for the team. What satisfaction can you possibly get out of being so pessimistic?
I spent 4 years in Boston, around Red Sox fans pre-World Series win. You guys are pretty much starting to sound like them. Trust me, you don't want to be compared to sox fans.
The last 3 games have been tough to watch, yes. But its been entertaining, and fun. And I'd much rather be watching hockey than baseball/football/POKER/basketball.
Leafs game= result of an emotional team playing against an emotionally spent team. Blakes illness along with the playing against his old team that 'didn't want him' resulted in that blowout. Also, remember we had Doobie playing, who was solely responsible for the leafs not playing in the postseason, and "matching up so well with Buffalo". You could have pretty much written that game off as a loss...not gonna happen again though.
Flyers? I thought the game could have gone either way. The first period was extremely solid for the Isles, who were playing in the first home game for a team that stunk last year, and made some huge signings...again extrememly emotional. Lets see how game 6 of the philly/isles series this year turns out. If the isles can muster the same effort again, they'll win. For a suppossedly elite team this year in the Flyers, I'd say the Isles hung w/ them pretty well in game 1 of the season series.
NYISLES, Quite simply, it's not fun. In fact, it's hard to take watching this punchless offense.
I don't think Kolzig or Biron made one difficult save the entire game.
I don't know what game you were watching, but I didn't see any sustained pressure againt the Flyers or the Caps. And these are mediocre teams.
Did you see anyone drive to the net with or without the puck? The lone goal scored was on a flub by Biron. This is tough to take. Something needs to be done before the entire season unfolds like this...Bill
Bill and I don't usually see exactly eye to eye, but I think we can both back up our opinions here with some hard evidence. The last few games were not fun at all to watch. Even the game against the Rags displayed some of the most boring hockey of the year, although us Isles fans enjoyed it because we managed to muster up a win.
If you want to talk about sad then watch the Isles offense over the last FOUR games. You will not find one good save made by either Kolzig, Raycroft, or Biron. Moreover they have ONE 5 on 5 goal over that stretch of games, by none other than Richard Park.
And save your excuses for the Toronto game, because there is no excuse to get embarrased like that. These are professional athletes making millions of dollars. Do you honestly believe the score was 8-1 because the Leafs were so determined to beat Dubie and help Blakey beat the Isles? Neither Blakey nor Dubie nor anyone on either team would probably buy that.
It's not about being pessimistic for the sake of being pessimistic. It's about only being optimistic when you see something to be optimistic about.
I'm optimistic about the solid yet spotty play of DP, as well as the emerging defensive play of guys like Campoli and Gervais. The offense has given us no reason to be optimistic.
Or you can just think of it this way- a 3-3 record after supposedly nothing to be optimistic about.
8 new signings, home openers against teams that had a lot to prove, hurt knees (hurt us more than we'll probably ever know...hopefully we won't have to wait till next year to know), chemistry issues on D and O, Miro & Guerin still havn't scored yet....and we still are on top of the division.
Doesn't sound like much to be this pessimistic about to me.
If you would have told me 2 weeks ago that the Isles would be 3-3 after 6 games then I would have probably taken it. But if you would have also told me that the Isles would go on a 4 game stretch where the offense was almost invisible, then I would have probably been very worried about this team so early in the season.
As crazy as it seems, this team is different since Sim got hurt. The first two games, I think we were all as giddy as school girls of what this season could be. You look at the first half of the third game we were a little slower but seemed as if the boys were getting into the game, then Sim got hurt. Since Sils went from his usual self to a hustling 3rd line center for the local mens league. I think we can all agree that 3-3 after 6 games isn't bad and isn't great. Yes before the season we probably would have taken it. Part of me also believes that we could have played too many preseason games, especially when you look back on our schedule and we played 5 games in 7 or 8 days.
The real question is where are we going to find a replacement for Sim's energy he seemed to bring to the team. Hopefully this move of Bergs to the 2nd line will get Satan going so our only scoring isn't from the PP or the top line.
While you can't knock Hilbert for his effort, I would actually like to see a line of Simon-Sils-Hunter, I believe he could somewhat fill Sims role on that line, even though he is about as fast as a turtle on skates.
3 and 3 is not bad, but after beating Buffalo twice and the Rangers we should be 5-1. I think that most of you would have looked at the schedule and figured the wins to come against the Caps, Flyers and Leafs. So, this is not acceptable. Lets not fool ourselves into thinking that this is a good start.
This team needs a jump start and the way to do that is to recall Tambellini and Walter, who are gifted offensive players and really see what they can do. And I don't mean Ted Nolan 6 minutes a game. Let's see what they can do over a 10 game span playing 17-20 minutes per game. Scratch Hilbert and Bootland, Park, Simon and give these guys a real chance to provide some offense. To me, there is nothing to lose by doing this. It is painfully obvious that Hilbert has picked up right where he left off last year. Same with the rest of the "Nolan" type players.
Otherwise it's going to be a long, boring season of lackluster hockey...Bill
Caps, Flyers & leafs? This isn't last year, and those aren't expected wins, after beating 2 of the only teams in the NHL with more turnover than the isles (not quantity necessarily, but quality).
So Bill, your vote is to disband a line that sustains one of the best forechecks one can remember, send down Hilbert who has more chances than Miro (same goal total btw), for guys we know nothing about, and have suspect D ability?
How does that make for a more interesting season?
NYILSES, So then you expected to beat Buffalo twice and the Rangers.
My vote is to get some new blood and some offense ito this dull, dreary team. Everyone who reads this board nows that Hilbert will never be a goal scorer. Nor will Park, Simon, Bates or any of thoe other retreads Nolan loves so dearly.
You can keep your head in the sand, but this team is only going to make a run at a playoff spot by beating up on the Caps, Flyers, Panthers, Thrashers and Bruins. They will never beat the Ottawas or Carolinas. With luck they will split with NJ, Pitt, Montreal, Lightning and the Rangers.
Forechecking means nothing if you can't finish. Tambellini and Walter have a history of being scorers albeit at the minor league level. All I want is a chance for them to see if they can do it against the NHL.
What's the worst thing that could happen? They light up the scoreboard and make Nolan look like the fool? They couldn't do any worse than a team that has mangaged 5 goals in four games. Perhaps they could inject some life into a dead team.
I just don't understand the resistance to these younger players. It is not as if the "Nolan" players have set the world on fire. In fact, they stink!! And worse then that they are dull,dull dull.....Bill
NYISLES,
Your so-called best forechecking line has a combined plus/minus of -9 and has managed only 1 goal in 6 games, and none since Hilbert was returned to that line. That's -9 and 1 goal!!! If this line is not doing the job offensively then it MUST do its job defensively, and this simply isn't happening. Has anyone been impressed with the play of Mike Silinger so far this season? Why not add Tambellini to this line in place of Hilbert to see if we could jumpstart their offensive game. Is watching Hilbert blow chance after chance really that appealing? I'm sure he's a nice guy but come on already, enough is enough.
Bill,
I wouldn't take Park out, I happen to think he has been one of our most consistent forwards all year. I like the energy he brings to the fourth line and to the PK. BUT, there is NO NEED TO EVER START SIMON and BOOTLAND in the same game!! What is Nolan doing?? Send Boxin' Bootland back to the Bridge. But I agree give Walter and Tambellini a hard look, not just a 5 minute audition during meaningless moments of the game. How are these guys supposed to get into the flow of an NHL game and prove what they can do if not actually given a fair opportunity to play in at least ONE GAME, let alone ten.
ALL,
What is the definition of a Nolan-type player? Do you only have to be a hard-worker or is there some sort of hockey skill requirement?
P.S. Did anyone read Greg Logan's Newsday article yesterday? Seemed like he was reading our blog and our comments to come up with something to write about. Keep up the good work. For all of you that I see hitting the site but not commenting, please feel free to enter the disscussion at anytime.
Justin,
Just one exception I had with your analysis which I feel (as an Isles fan) needs correcting. Lundquivist did not rob Guerin with a sprawling toe save. Guerin's shot actually beat Lundy but hit the post and then he couldn't bury the rebound past the sprawling leg.
The "ping" at the game was quite audible even amidst the two chanting factions.
If you watch the replay in slow motion you will notice that his shot deflected first off Lundqvist's skate and then into the post, making the 'ping' sound that you heard.
Justin, What you say about Park is true. He has been one of the lone sparks in this otherwise sleepwalking bunch. I also feel that Hunter has palyed well, shooting more and taking the body every chance he gets.
Why did we bother to trade for Tambellini and Walter if Snolan never had any intention of giving either one a chance. Tambellini should be plugged into Sim's spot and Walter should get a chance where Hilbert has been playing. These kids are the future.
Did anyone notice that Buffalo signed Hecht to a 4 year deal yesterday? As I predicted before the season started, there will be no free agents worth a damn at the end of this season. If you think that Snow is going to sign big name players next year you are in for a rude awakening. He can't even
spend the 10 million he has in cap space this year. All the big names will be locked up and you are going to have teams fighting over second and third tier players.
This is the time to start working some younger players into this old, slow lineup. If these kids can't cut it in the NHL then it is time to move them out and move on....Bill
PS I love how many guys start off saying how they don't agree with me.......and then proceed to agree with me!!! Keep up the good work.
It really is becoming a concern as free agent by free agent continue to be locked up. What happens if Comrie, Vasicek, Fedotenko, and Hunter bolt at the end of the season? Then what?
You could look at it as a big problem, or look at it as a chance to build a team. Not gonna happen in a year, but the next few draft years, (especially this coming year), are stacked with talent. If this year doesn't pan out well (i.e. we're not contending for a playoff spot come Jan), we're trading Comrie, Vasicek, Tank, Hunter, and a number of others. I'd put money on that. Those guys would be so valuable to a bubble team, or a team looking for slightly more depth, and they'd give up 1st or 2nd round picks.
Look how quickly Pittsburgh came back, with 3 good draft picks (Crosby, Malkin, Staal). Apparently there are guys in this years' draft who are almost as good.
I'm ok with that approach, I'm NOT Ok, with blowing a boatload of money on Comrie or Tank if they're gonna score 15-20 goals.
The free agent landscape has changed, and a team can now choose one of two approaches. Pay a lot for mediorce players, or trade. I think we're all so used to teams building with FA, but really, thats not the only way to go. People think trades are bad because you have to give up something other than money...but often times you're giving up less money, and a player who doesn't fit your teams' needs.
Though I'm assuming my optimism won't win over anyone on this board, and everyone will still fret about our 'sinking ship' all season long...
Hahaha actually I completely agree with your post. But with a coach who refuses to allow his young players to develop, I'm not sure how successful this would be. The Isles had these purges in the late 90's and attempted to build through the draft as well as trading for prospects. That landed us current all-stars such as Roberto Luongo, olli Jokinen, Zdeno Chara, etc. and probably should have landed us the two best players on the best line in all of hockey in Dany Heatley and Jason Spezza. We were so patient for 7 years but couldn't remain patient for 2 more years which left the Isles in the state it's in today. Rebuilding through the draft would be fantastic, but it would proabably set the Isles on a pace to be very competitive sometime in 2011. It's kind of a double-edged sword since no one wants to wait that long, yet if we keep our current pace we will probably resemble the exact same team in 2011, especially with no pending stars looming in the Bridge.
Can anyone think of a good reason why Witt & Sutton are out there together? (see tonights lineup)
They both play the same style game, but unfortunately, they're not gonna be quick enough to shut down speedy forwards. Witt & Martinek was the best pairing we had last year (till the injury), and I'm not sure why thats not in place again.
Haha Bill, is this me agreeing with you that Nolan shows too much favoritism to certain players? Please, say it ain't so! :)
Man, so much to watch tonight- college football (GO USF!), baseball (GO TRIBE), hockey (GO ISLES), AND the office (GO....micheal?) The DVR will be working overtime for sure.
Great!!! Now we are playing spare parts Defensemen at forward (Johnson) while offensivily talented forwards rot in Bridgeport.
Let's hear it for those Nolan type players.......
It's time for Ted to go....Bill
Bill- where did you get that info? I see Bootland up on the 4th line, and Johnson & MAB healthy scratches.
@ Bill- I see- newsday.
Huh, so Logan says Johnson will play, while BD Gallof says Johnson's a scratch, and Bootland will play.
Have to say, even though I hear what you're saying Bill- why not Tamby- Bootland vs. Johnson really won't make a big difference either way. Both are pretty useless role players, especially Boots since Simon is back.
That said, I'm excited to see Hunter on the first line. Hopefully he'll "regress" to his rookie year, when he showed that scoring touch, now that he's off the so called checking line.
Here's to a win tonight!
Ha! BD just updated his blog w/ the info from Logan's blog. Good stuff.
That being said, he did mention an interesting point...4th line is only averaging 4 minutes per game! Thats crazy. I don't care who is on that line, they need to get out there more so the first & second suppossedly scoring lines can rest.
I've personally thought over the last year or so the Islanders look tired...but I pretty much attributed that to Yashin and Kozlov skating in mud. With them gone, I still felt that way in the Toronto game (which one could argue was true given the emotional game the night before). But still, no one can or should skate all night- there needs to be more even dispersion of lines.
Good win tonight and great to see the team not fall apart after getting cheated out of another goal. I know it's not just me, but don't you guys feel that as long as Colin Campbell works for the NHL, the Isles will never get a break. If that puck hits Crosby or Jagr, then it's a goal.
In any case, it was a good sign to see the tem rebound right after getting tied. I thought the entire "D" looked good and that DP was spectacular. Berard has really improved the PP and Guerrin finally woke up. Now, if someone will just nudge Satan. Hunter played another strong game and Snow needs to resign him NOW.
On another note, Nolan's stupid idea of using Johnson up front could have cost us the game. He took a dumb penalty with the score tied in the third period.
Boot Bootland, sit Simon and bring back Tambellini.....Bill
Everyone see that Randy R signed with Ottawa. Damn! Another Nolan type player slips through our fingers...
"I know it's not just me, but don't you guys feel that as long as Colin Campbell works for the NHL, the Isles will never get a break."
Amen. I only got to watch a few minutes of the game tonight, and happened to flip the channel to see the replays and review of that goal.
Does anyone have a statistic from last season on the number of reviews that went against the Isles vs. for? It has to be horrendously lopsided. And I don't even want to get into the penalties called for/against by the on-ice officials.
Overall, good win, I'll watch the recorded version tomorrow :)
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