Recap: Islanders 5, Lightning 1, Tavares-Parenteau Explosion

The isles should thgink along the simple lines when it comes to their third jersy.

I like simple, but these are too simple and abandon the black that’s marked them for 20 years. (People forget that when TBL came along, only Boston, Ottawa and TBL were black. Minnesota quickly jumped on the bandwagon.)

The logo is too cartoon superhero-ish for me. They aren’t awful, I just think for a lasting revision they could have done a little better. In the effort to go classic they went too bland.

if not for Ohlund’s double knee surgery this week. But, agreed that is not the stuff that solid D is built on.

Quick Poll: MAB/Bruno or Eaton/Mottau?

puts into perspective our complaints about our “bottom 3” d-men

Invest in two computers?

And you don’t know how many times today I thought, “You’re going to type Rolston instead of Roloson tonight and vice versa. Just accept it.”

When teams have big leads, they get outshot, as the team basically stops trying to score very much and just relaxes on D. As a result, we expect for players’ corsi numbers with a big lead, like we had for over 40 minutes of this game, to be negative, or at least more negative than normal.

That’s why FN-GO’s low numbers aren’t worrisome…we were undoubtedly not really trying to score very much after the 5th goal. Same with Mottau and Eaton today. I dislike em both, but this is not a game corsi gives a good story to.

But given Mottau’s, shall we say, lack of mobility, sounds like maybe he chose the conservative route rather than risk getting burned by going for the puck carrier? I don’t know … chances are he remembers getting burned against the Panthers as well as we do.

The Corsi numbers for tonight are funny (Okposo among the biggest negatives (!)). I saw the D pairings but didn’t look into how much was later in the game when the Isles played prevent.

But you know tonight was a great example for all the ways you can look at hockey: Scoring chances, shots/possession affected by the score, defensive pairings (Hedman always up against Tavares), line matching (Nielsen against the only effective TBL line until it didn’t matter anymore), grit/sandpaper/intimidation (too little too late against JT, who did not back down), and the fact that if Roloson stands on his head and does one of his NYI vs. Leafs routines this game might have turned out far less comfortable.

Man I love hockey: Beautiful uncertainty everywhere, despite best laid plans. I’m sincerely grateful that everyone at this site forces me to look at the game in so many interesting ways.

That’s really cool.

And what I think is most helpful is just to have that kind of mindset indeed, to see the game in a slightly different way thanks to this sort of background. Whether you check the stats after every game or give too much thought over the fact that somebody has a 48% Corsi instead of 52% is not what makes a real difference, but just to be aware what driving the play and puck possession means, does help to better understand what’s going on.

The tough thing for me in a single game has always been to figure out who’s driving the success of a certain line for example. Sometimes they can’t generate any offense because the forwards don’t click – sometimes because the D don’t move the puck well. Sometimes they’re vulnerable defensively because the forwards miss assignments – sometimes because the D can’t break up any plays and allow for sustained pressure. In all cases Corsi would look rather bad. So, to get a better understanding of individual performances (or numbers) I try to watch some of these things carefully.

Now, last night, I thought the whole team, but especially the D, played well with the puck. The D moved it extremely well, also Eaton-Mottau broke up some plays down behind the goal line and moved the puck up the ice very well. Prior to the 2nd goal I think (didn’t find it on the highlight reel) Mottau won a battle behind the own net with a good stick and made a nice pass to get them out of the zone quickly. Hamonic was very impressive again, AMac more adapted to the speed of the game, Streit making some nice passes. Surely, the forwards contributed nicely, too, but I thought a lot started with their D indeed.
Without the puck the team was less convincing I thought. They gave away some opportunities, maybe not all of them were excellent scoring chances, but a sharp team could have scored some goals on them. And there I’d not have put the predominant part of the blame on the D. Actually, by breaking up some plays nicely, blocking some important shots I thought the D even made sure there never really was too much sustained pressure. The forwards on the other hand missed some assignments, also at times allowed Tampa to enter the zone too easily, weren’t set up in their 1-1-3 quite as smoothly as I’d seen it.

Of course, those forwards played with Eaton-Mottau as much as with the other pairs… So, Eaton-Mottau still might have struggled most, but I thought this time the team allowing too many shots (and thus maybe Eaton-Mottau’s Corsi looking bad) was a function of some insufficient defense from the offense.

Unfortunately, that will be b/c of Rangers fans. :(

Anyone there tonight know where the noise was coming from? At several points it sounded like the distinctive cheers of a student section. I know in addition to Loudville there is now a Hofstra section or package or something.

I do think this team is particularly susceptible to winning mood swings though. A couple games like tonight, I bet they get packed houses. A couple losses follow, and back to 10k.

I hate the idea of JT getting hurt, but he’s a big boy, playing a man’s game for obscene amounts of money. If teams are taking liberties with him that go beyond the rules, then the refs, and then the League, should be using the resources they have to make the offender pay. It appears more andmore like Shanny is and will continue to take this role seriously. If they do not (ie. Penguin Blood in the Water night), then Hell breaks out. If JT gets hit, then he gets hit. If someone doesn’t like it, hit back: I thought Martin played a great game tonight. I don’t think it’s necessary or appropriate to go after someone (outside the rules) simply because he has the unmitigated gall to put a shoulder into JT’s chest, in a way that is completely within the rules.

Case in Point: Landeskog took a check to the head last night. Buddy got a minor penalty, will probably be fined and a Colorado player decided a fight was necessary. The first two, he deserved; the third just ruins lowers the game, imo.

Down the line we will be fine.

Frans Nielsen

Because if Exhibit A is all you got, this case won’t be going to trial.

How’s Komisarek doing?

Zone entry was mostly his, distribution mostly his, he threw some hits (3, Martin 6, and Hamonic 4, were the only two with more) and for a 190 guy, he definitely watches JT’s back. He is also faster than people give him credit for and does play D. I wouldn’t buy his jersey, but his presence is pretty damn valuable.

I’ve been a strong defender of Parenteau all along, and nothing gets me more peeved than the “Parenteau only scores because he plays with JT/MM” posts. I don’t know how you can watch games and not see that those three have real synergy playing together. That line works, plain and simple. A faster, more skilled player like Grabner probably wouldn’t work as well in PA’s place

again last night. I have been someone who thinks that at some point there might be someone better for the first line, but I’m not certain that person is an Islander yet. I certainly don’t want to see Nino handed that spot right off the bat.

I have noticed that he does do a lot of the little things really well though, and they clearly have some chemistry. I’m still not convinced he’s the final solution, but for now he should stay put.

And to be honest, a good bit of my desire to move him to the third line is more about seeing if he can do something for Bailey.

glares at Josh Bailey-Blake Comeau-Brian Rolston line

You’ll have to pull it out of Czech breweries though.