Half Full or Half Empty
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UPDATE: Berard set to return against Pittsburgh
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There were some good signs last night during the Isles’ loss to the Flyers at the Wachovia Center, yet there were also some causes for concern. For the most part, the Isles outplayed the Flyers as evident by a majority of the game being played in the Flyers’ defensive zone. On the other hand, the Flyers kept the Isles to the outside of their zone, which led to 26 low percentage shots by the Isles. Silinger scored his second of the season on a nifty backhander and Simon was able to drive through a loose rebound, but for the most part, the Isles had a difficult time generating consistent scoring chances. Biron was able to see most shots he faced, including both the Isles’ goals. In a game like last night’s, the Isles must learn to get more traffic in front of the opposing goaltender and learn to collect some harder fought garbage goals. They can cycle for 10 minutes straight, but if you don’t get the puck toward the net with some pressure, it’s going to be extremely hard to come from behind on a nightly basis.
Rick DiPietro was not the problem last night. He could not be faulted on the first goal where Ruslan Fedotenko pretty much gave Scottie Upshall a perfect one-time pass in front of the net. Likewise, Upshall was later given a full ice breakaway where he showed some great poise faking to the forehand and stopping short to slip the puck in on the backhand. The Flyers got their third goal on yet another breakaway, where DP made the initial save and yet had no help on the rebound. With only 17 shots against, DP was not a factor in the decision of the game, but he was certainly not at fault. We have been spoiled with a goaltender that can steal games. But merely because he could not steal this one, it does not follow that he was to blame.
Mike Silinger has got to be the worst power play center in all of hockey. The Isles had a power play with 4 minutes remaining and a solid chance to tie up the game. Silinger was on for about 45 seconds of that PP. First he made a lazy pass in the offensive zone which led to a Flyers’ clear, then as the Isles tried to generate one final rush, Silinger misplayed a pass and turned the puck over in the neutral zone. He won less than half of his faceoffs last night, so if that’s the reason why Silinger sees time on the PP then Nolan better get his eyes checked. I thought Silinger was better last night overall (possibly because he wore the “C”) but he clogs up the PP and needs to be replaced by a better playmaker. The Isles really miss Berard on the PP.
Giveaways were the Isles’ Achilles heal last night. Tank’s giveaway to Upshall, a defensive breakdown leading Upshall’s breakaway, and Vasicek’s lazy backpass leading to the third goal were the differences last night. Marc-Andre Bergeron showed glimpses of his inner soul, making numerous poor decisions with and without the puck. However, MAB has been pretty consistent since his benching two weeks ago, so I am confident Nolan will stick with him for the time being. MAB needs to learn when to press and when to sit back and allow the play to come to him. He was pretty well covered last night on the PP so Berard’s eventual return should free up MAB’s shot.
Let’s shrug this one off.
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20 comments:
I (for once) disagree about MAB being decent in this game. I thought he was atrocious, and actually the cause of 2 of the goals (-2 for the night).
I have no idea what that PP was. Why was MAB the ONLY one on the blue line? He is not a puck handler who can do that- he has the shot only when dished a perfect pass. Every time he received the puck on the blueline, he looked like a high schooler out there. He looked down at the puck to make sure he had it, and then looked up to survey the positioning of teammates, and then, you could almost see the wheels turning, he made a decision on where to pass (after the fake shot of course). It was painful to watch. The Flyers picked up on his tentativeness in seconds, and pressed him right back to the line.
Overall, an ugly game by the Isles IMO- the Flyers simply wanted it more, which is a sad thing for the Isles considering that 'hunger' is what they stake their reputation on.
On the plus side, I haven't seen such a unpassionate performance by the guys yet this season, so I'm assuming this was a 1 game deal. It almost looked like the dreaded Rangers hangover!
nyisles,
I definitely did not say or think MAB was decent. I said in part "Marc-Andre Bergeron showed glimpses of his inner soul, making numerous poor decisions with and without the puck." I contrasted this poor performance with his steady play over the recent weeks.
You make solid points about his quarterbacking skills. He simply takes too much time to decide what to do with the puck.
And the Flyers did want it more. They waited for the Isles to make mistakes, and they took full advantage.
Bill,
Fantasy hockey is very easy to play and your longtime knowledge of the game will give you an advantage.
Yahoo is idiot-proof (not calling you an idiot!:))....it does an auto-draft, so once you sign up, all you do is pre-rank the players you'd want.
Once the season starts, you indicate which players you want to play on a given night. You get points according to their performance. You go head to head against another owner every week and whoever has the most points wins...like I said, easy.:)
Please join...the more guys we have with knowledge as opposed to "I hear this Crosby kid is pretty good", the more competitive the league will be.
-Frank
Hey guys- I'm in for the fantasy hockey! I'd prefer to keep the idiot comments to a minimum here, but where can I email you? I don't see a link anywhere...
Justin- you're right, I misread. 4 hours of sleep + anger at not winning last night makes it tough to think straight.
Let's go get this Crosby kid on Thursday now...
DP may not have been at fault for the loss, but he certainly was not sharp. On a good night, he stops two of those three goals. Ricky is at his best when he faces a lot of shots. He didn't get a lot of work against the Devils or the Flyers and I think that he tends to lose concentration when he is not more involved in the game.
As for MAB, I think you can blame the coaching staff for his PP troubles. Last year he was on top of his game and fired away. This is the reason the Islanders traded for him. So this year, they try to change his whole approach to the PP and did nothing but screw up his head. The guy needs to shoot one timers to be effective...that is his whole game. Having the coaching staff on his back about missing the net has changed a confident flamethrower into a tentative, punch shooter who has to think before reacting. Shooting has to be instinct. You can't hesitate and agonize over every shot. Leave the guy alone and let him play the game you expected him to play when you made the trade.
This is the same crap that happened to Campoli last year. Nolan took away his confidence and his play reflected it. Now he is doing it to MAB........Bill
I definitely have to agree with Justin we blew the game last night by turning the puck over and by not finishing. It seems like almost every game we generate a lot of shots but most of them aren’t of good quality. In the NHL lazy shots from the point or sides aren’t going to go in. We need to create better opportunities and go hard to the net. On a positive note we only let up 17 shots all game and 4 in the entire first period.
Stat of the Day- Joesef Vasiceks has recorded a point in 7 of the last 9 games and went 7-4 on face-offs last night.
Np nyisles I figured. Bill, you're right DP needed to come up with a big save last night if we were to stand a chance. There were three breakdowns and he didn't come up with the big save on any of them. And again I agree--that had a lot to do with the fact that he hasn't seen many shots, which at times can disrupt a goalie's consistency throughout a game.
Agree with both of you. The second goal any goalie was an incredible move and unstoppable. However, the third goal was a bad goal he should have been able to hold onto the puck. The first goal wasn’t really his fault because he obviously wasn’t expecting a turn over and a quick wraparound. As both of you said it definitely is very hard for a goalie to stay focused when he isn’t really involved in the game because of so little shots and opportunities. A bigger reason for our loss is scoring 2 goals once again. In today’s NHL you can’t expect to score 2 goals a night and win every night.
I'll try the fantasy hockey. How do I get in touch with you?...Bill
bill,
just leave your email address and i will send you the information
YEAH! Bill's on board with the fantasy league. Great news.
We still need some more players....I sent emails to two of my best friends who have played in the past, but it may be a tough sell to them considering the season already started.
I'll let you know.
-Frank
Watched some of the Devils-Rangers game tonight and could not help feeling that Broduer has lost a step. Granted, that he no longer has the great D-men in front of him that he once had, but he certainly seems to have lost his invinciblility.
I don't think that the Devils or the Sabres will make the playoffs this year. Good news for the Isles.
What do you guys think.....Bill
Check out the July predictions. We had the Devils in 4th place in the Atlantic. The Flyers however are the surprise team of the year.
Ben Walter was returned to the Bridge. Good lookin out Nolan.
Bill - I agree with you about Brodeur. He wasn't very good in the playoffs last year, and he hasn't been very good this year. All those years of playing 70+ games is catching up with him.
Good for Marty. It's about time he had to play behind a team that possessed less than spectacular defense. Marty has had the tremendous ability to play consistently behind great teams and I don't mean to take that away from him. But in all honesty, Marty has never had to carry the Devils the way DP has had to at times and the way Lundqvist does for the Rags.
I also think the Rangers are going to burn Lundqvist out at the rate they are playing him.
True, you always ride the hot goalie but he cannot play 75 games for them, stand on his head and win 3/4 of those games without an injury occurring....just my opinion.
Where are we with the Fantasy league?
-Frank
The rangers better start using big valley more or the progress they have made over the last few games will mean nothing come playoff time.
Marty does look like he lost a step but he is still solid. The devils d is not what it was and outside of Parise, Gionta and Elias (who looks lost on the ice) they have no one who can put the puck in the net.
Big game tonight as we don't want to start this road trip 0-2. I want to see more crashing the net, when we did that in philly is when we scored our goals and looked the best.
Before we can start the league we need more people if we do not have at least 6 by the weekend, we will scrap the idea for this season and for next season we will be more organized and be able to do it from the beginning of the season.
How about just using the Eastern Conf. for the fantasy league? Or won't that work?........Bill
Pens 3 - Isles 2
Another bad effort tonight. Two goals a game is not gonna get it in the NHL.
Sykora's goal should have been stopped.
PP stinks without MAB. Nolan needs to wake up and use him as a PP specialist. There is no need for the last fourth line winger. Dress 7 D-men and use MAN as he should be used.
The Isles are full of perimeter players. The need someone who will crash the net and stand there and take the punishment.
How many passes were sent into the front of the net and there was no one there to bang them home? I saw plenty of Penguins crowding DP.
Vasicheck was the only player to head to the net and he got rewarded for it. This has to change.
Who would believe that Witt scores a goal and then gives up the puck for the winning goal in the same game. Go figure !
Ben Walter was one of the few players who actually went to the net. Naturally, he gets sent down.
Snow needs to take a stand here and step up. He is Nolan's boss and should start acting like it.
He should bring up Walter and Tambellini and tell Nolan that they play significant minutes or else.
Did anyone hear Guerrin's name last night?
Simon and Jackman need to watch from the press box.
Reality is beginning to set in. This team is not as good as it's record indicates. In order to win, the Isles need to bust it every night. I didn't see that in Philly or Pitt........Bill
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