Going for the three-peat in DC. Let's see if we can let it ride.
Who'd have guessed that the philosophy of carrying pucks in yields better results than chip and chase? Keep it going, and they'll need to against the powerful Caps. No lineup notes yet other than Halak likely to get the start tonight.
Let's Go Islanders!
AND Ottawa beats Philly at home
AND Chicago beats the Devils at home
AND Islanders win in Washington
Then:
Isles improve to 1 point to being 4 out of the playoffs, haha
Can't get to 3 out because Florida and Detroit play each other, and one of them is guaranteed to pick up two points and force the deficit (if we lose) to 6.
This is life now.
I agree that it's best to just completely ignore the standings. If the team plays well and gets a bit above the fake NHL .500 then I'll take a peak and see where we stand, but as of now, just string a few wins together.
X2
Haha I know, I was saying that 90% in jest :)
Metnut I haven't seen any stats, fancy or otherwise, but I had the polar opposite impression. He had a terrible, terrible turnover in the defensive zone, kept stopping right before the blew line while forcing plays offsides, and had virtually no impact on offense IMO.
Could be wrong but I did not like his play yesterday.
I really thought we were beyond horrendous Novembers dooming us to playing what if and what could have been.
They fire Fred yet??? B
D: Leddy-Boychuk; Hickey-Hamonic; de Haan-Seidenberg
Gotta jump, fellas. Carry this one home for me.
In work meeting, how did they play in the first?
And my eyes must be playing tricks on me...KW with a rallying cry? Love it!
One game at a time. Rest till Sunday.
But some sobering possession numbers:
- Outshot 38-28
- Out attempted in 5v5 a ridiculous 54 to 34
- Out attempted overall 87 - 47
And I know we took 6 penalties to getting only 2 power plays which definitely skews the final number, but it also makes you wonder if the penalty kill tonight was good or just lucky.
During this three game winning streak, we were out attempted during 5-on-5 play by a total 157 to 124 (-33). That's -7 against Calgary, -6 in Pittsburgh, and -20 against Washington.
In the first game we blew a 1-goal 3rd period lead against a crap team in our own building and won during 3-vs-3
In the second game we blew a 3-goal 3rd period lead
In tonight's game we were 1/10th of a second away from letting in a terrible goal which would've changed the whole complexion of the game.
Yes, we were due for some luck, but certainly have gotten a lot of it during the winning streak.
My point here isn't to be a Debbie Downer. We desperately need all the points we can get, and 6 of them in 4 nights is the perfect medicine. But we simply cannot play like we played tonight or literally at any point this season and expect to have the slightest chance of making the playoffs. Just once I'd love to dominate an opponent in possession and feel good about where we are.
But some sobering possession numbers:
- Outshot 38-28
- Out attempted in 5v5 a ridiculous 54 to 34
- Out attempted overall 87 - 47
And I know we took 6 penalties to getting only 2 power plays which definitely skews the final number, but it also makes you wonder if the penalty kill tonight was good or just lucky.
During this three game winning streak, we were out attempted during 5-on-5 play by a total 157 to 124 (-33). That's -7 against Calgary, -6 in Pittsburgh, and -20 against Washington.
In the first game we blew a 1-goal 3rd period lead against a crap team in our own building and won during 3-vs-3
In the second game we blew a 3-goal 3rd period lead
In tonight's game we were 1/10th of a second away from letting in a terrible goal which would've changed the whole complexion of the game.
Yes, we were due for some luck, but certainly have gotten a lot of it during the winning streak.
My point here isn't to be a Debbie Downer. We desperately need all the points we can get, and 6 of them in 4 nights is the perfect medicine. But we simply cannot play like we played tonight or literally at any point this season and expect to have the slightest chance of making the playoffs. Just once I'd love to dominate an opponent in possession and feel good about where we are.
Like a bucket of cold water right to the face
And tonight we took on a loaded team on the road, the defending President's Trophy winner. We were on the 2nd of a back-to-back (last night's game being a late, 8pm start) while Washington had their longest break of the season (4 days off).
We're winning The Cup.
Hawks over Flyers
Predators over Devils
Senators over Panthers
Capitals over Lighting
Sunday:
Hurricanes over Lightning
Islanders over Red Wings
Predators over Flyers
All of those go our way, we're 3 out heading into Monday :-)
If the Flyers or Lightning win both, we'll actually lose ground and fall to 7 out, even if we beat Detroit.
But the games in hand on some of these teams are racking up a bit, which is nice. After this weekend, we'll have 3 games in hand on both Tampa and Philly, 2 on Detroit. 2 on the Panthers, 1 on the Devils. We'll have 2 games in hand on the Rangers if anyone's even looking at that anymore.
Like I said earlier, this is mostly in jest, but there is a part of me definitely scoreboard watching. 1) I want the team feeling like they're in the hunt, and 2) Sadly, our putrid start has made gaining ground any chance we get very important.
Still have to play way better, but if we can reel off a couple more wins we could be right back in this thing. Last year we were the 8 seed at this point with 26 points. This year the 8 seed has 27 points now, and we have games in hand on those teams.
Thank's Tony. I didn't watch the game, either. It's a nice reward for a shit season, to beat the Pens and Caps.
Please, pretty please, with cinnamon sugar on top. Keep this going.
But some sobering possession numbers:
- Outshot 38-28
- Out attempted in 5v5 a ridiculous 54 to 34
- Out attempted overall 87 - 47
And I know we took 6 penalties to getting only 2 power plays which definitely skews the final number, but it also makes you wonder if the penalty kill tonight was good or just lucky.
During this three game winning streak, we were out attempted during 5-on-5 play by a total 157 to 124 (-33). That's -7 against Calgary, -6 in Pittsburgh, and -20 against Washington.
In the first game we blew a 1-goal 3rd period lead against a crap team in our own building and won during 3-vs-3
In the second game we blew a 3-goal 3rd period lead
In tonight's game we were 1/10th of a second away from letting in a terrible goal which would've changed the whole complexion of the game.
Yes, we were due for some luck, but certainly have gotten a lot of it during the winning streak.
My point here isn't to be a Debbie Downer. We desperately need all the points we can get, and 6 of them in 4 nights is the perfect medicine. But we simply cannot play like we played tonight or literally at any point this season and expect to have the slightest chance of making the playoffs. Just once I'd love to dominate an opponent in possession and feel good about where we are.
We do need to keep expectations realistic. They were outplayed all 3 games they win. There's that puck luck that Jack seems to blame for the losses. We all know that can't be sustained. However, I'll accept the small victories. They are being aggressive with the forecheck and carrying the puck in and having am actual rush at times. The forwards seem to be responding. Hopefully, they can start adding on to that.
I think this is a great point. I noticed that, too and it's definitely sustaining offensive-zone time.
Calvin de Haan has very quietly been our 2nd best defenseman this year, not far behind Leddy.
- This is pretty amazing (in a "I never would have guessed" way): last night, Islander coach Jack Capuano recorded his 219th career win, tying the legendary Herb Brooks for 65th place on the all-time NHL list.
- Jaro Halak earned his 40th career shutout last night.
- With his assist on Brock Nelson's goal, John Tavares passed Pat Flatley to move into 11th place on the Islanders all-time scoring list. He'll pass Derek King and move into 10th with 11 more points this season.
- The Caps always are dangerous offensively. The Isles have been shorthanded 11 times this season vs. Washington, and have killed them all.
Madison Bowey, D (4); Zach Sill, C (11); Riley Barber, RW (19); Stan Galiev, RW (22). And don't forget our old pal Aaron Ness (27).
And I think you get to see BPT in town on Sunday?
Sources say that Malkin and Ledecky are not close to naming anyone to what would be a team president role — one of the two titles currently held by Garth Snow, who has been president and general manager since the summer of 2006. A team spokesman flatly denied that there is any search underway for a new team president.
But a league source indicated that pretty much since July 1, when Malkin and Ledecky took over the majority ownership role from Charles Wang, the new owners have been on the hunt for someone to step into the executive suite to either work with Snow or make front-office changes.“They’re looking for a big name,” the source said. “They’ve talked to a lot of people already.”