I left the house after the first intermission with the Isles up 1-0 on another sweet Matt Moulson shot. By the time I tuned the car radio to the game, the Isles were down 3-1 and about to give up a fourth. That's how it's been going. For about 12 games now.
Game Sum | Event Sum | Corsi - H2H | Recaps: NHL - LBC - Isles
Video and notes after the jump. With another game this late afternoon/early evening in Atlanta, the weekly Bridgeport/prospect round-up will be posted on Monday. A day when mercifully there is no game.
Game Highlights
Seeds of Discontent
- The big quote most reports seized on from Jack Capuano: "I thought we had a couple of passengers. As we move forward, guys need to be held accountable." Want to start making guesses? Your First Islanders Passenger pool?
- The other telling quote was from Matt Moulson, who has by and large not been a passenger during this
funkslidediseasesyndromerun-out-of-terms-so [insert term of descent here]: "We have to play with a little more passion than that," the deflated forward said. "If that's the type we have, it's going to be all losses. You can't give back against teams in this League, no matter who they are." - I'll be interested to see who and how Capuano judges his passengers to be. You can look at the minuses on the sheet (Matt Martin and Jesse Joensuu minus-2 in about 10 minutes of TOI, Bruno Gervais minus-2 but with 5 shots and a few hits) but we know there's much more to the game than that little ledger. Dylan Reese was also minus-2 and didn't look good on either goal, ramping Mike Santorelli's first goal up over Dwayne Roloson's shoulder, then leaving too much of a gap for the shooter on Stephen Weiss' goal.
- Bryan McCabe's turnover to set up Moulson's goal was pretty hilarious though. Wow, what an awful decision. Vokoun's face was priceless afterward. "We're passing it where now?"
I've seen this too many times as a fan, but a team in this state just looks fragile. They come out with a mixture of energy and nervousness, start to look up when they actually leave the first period with a lead, but then when things break against them -- missed chances on the 5-on-3 followed by a goal the other way -- it crashes quickly. The fragile nature is exposed again. Then they spend the rest of the game with a mix of malaise and desperate shot taking.
(They ended up outshooting the Panthers 33-21 at 5-on-5, which often happens when one team is trying anything to crawl back into the game. So single-game Corsi is always a little weird and context-challenged; on this night it particularly doesn't tell you much.)
More Recaps/Links
- Okposo Net: Predictably downbeat locker room, unfortunately there is no prospect for improvement on the horizon.
- NYIFYI: Quotes Eaton, "I don't know what to say anymore."
- Newsday [sub.]: The Isles are now in the company of 1989-90 and its 14-game winless streak. Never thought I'd see that one.
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Florida view: Litter Box Cats - Miami Herald recap (more throughout on On Frozen Pond)
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Islanders Point Blank with an interview from former captain Bill Guerin, who probably isn't looking to help this ship.
Touching Tribute: To Pat Burns, before the Habs-Bruins game.
Yep, gonna do this again later today in Atlanta. Rick DiPietro starts...what if he wins?