Devils 4, Islanders 1: No magic tonight

Being blasted with shots against typically won’t win you many games. The Islanders have lucked out the last few by getting by on the strength of their stars, but tonight was a stark reminder of why they need to support their stars with some real talent.

[Game Sum | Event Sum | Corsica | Natural Stat Trick | HockeyViz]

First Period

Anders Lee found himself on a breakaway, and fourteen seconds later he was able to convert on it, sliding the puck under Farmingville native Keith Kinkaid to give the Islanders an early 1-0 lead. But then the barrage began, such as it did last night.

Alan Quine was serving a penalty taken at the end of a previous penalty kill and Smithtown-born Kyle Palmieri rifled a shot past Jaroslav Halak.

Second Period

An ultimately meaningless but nevertheless frustrating trend with this team is that they unravel within a matter of minutes of one goal. Tonight, Damon Severson was the beneficiary, recording his fifth and sixth goals of the season in a two-minute span. To seal the deal, Taylor Hall added a goal, and then glared directly into Garth Snow’s soul.

Third Period

Not much to say here - more of the same. No real push back from the New York side.

Thoughts

Once again, they allow 40+ shots. I don’t really know what else to add. They only win if the top two lines and Nick Leddy put up four or more goals. They need actual depth. And for fuck’s sake, put Josh Ho-Sang in the RW1 slot until Josh Bailey returns. If they’re gonna put a minor leaguer on Tavares’ wing, let it be a decent one.

Next Up

They host the Bruins on Thursday night. It went great when they did that dance a couple weeks ago.