Blues Rock the Islanders

Ugly. That’s the only word that really comes to mind when it comes to describing this game. In what was supposed to be a great test for a rising Islander team, the result came as a huge F.

The news came around 6 that Nabokov and Staios weren’t going to play in the game, due to the flu, and that Montoya would be starting and Wishart would be making his season debut. It wasn’t the best turn of events against an almost unbeatable St. Louis Blues team at home, but there was still hope. The hope seemed to climb almost right away, less than a minute into the first two blocked shots left the puck right on Nielsen’s stick who beat Elliot stick side and right away made the game 1-0. Two lucky bounces, an early lead against the Blues at home, and the hope rose, only to drop at a deadly rate.

Five minutes before the end of the first the Blues started to take control. Vladimir Sobotka came from behind the net into the wing, and, Islander defenseman, Mark Eaton decided to go to him instead of rightfully marking his own man Jason Arnott who was positioned in front of the net. Sobotka threw it in front, Arnott slapped it down and being left all alone was more than able to position it as he wished and roof it to tie the game.

Blown defensive coverages would continue all game. On a power play at the end of the first, the Blues would take the lead after Backes was left all alone in front of Montoya and screened him on a Shattenkirk shot which found its way into the end of the net. 

There was still hope though for Islander fans, as the team was only down by one, and a comeback was completely possible. However, that too was shut down very early in the second, as a big rebound from Montoya and fully blown coverage by Jurcina allowed Andy McDonald to push the Blues’ lead to two.

Things would only get worst from there as David Perron’s deflection on a Pietrangelo shot would make the score 4-1 and push the Blues’ power play to a perfect 2-for-2, impressive for a team whose only weakness is their special teams. Later in the second, T.J. Oshie would wrap up the scoring with yet another deflection, and make it 5-1 Blues. 

That was the game for the most part, the Islanders came out firing and got the lead, but they realistically played about 10 or 15 minutes of the full 60. There were a few power plays, and scoring chances, but the team just didn’t play like a team that wanted the win as much as they should’ve. All five goals were goals that should be completely preventable from good defense as the Islanders should in no way be leaving men open in any position to deflect shots. The difference was clear in Matt Moulson’s eyes, “they just capitalized their chances”, and he was right as Elliot came up big on the Islanders’ chances, and Montoya just didn’t seem to be able to make the important saves to keep the Islanders in the game.

The Islanders are very clearly moving on however, and focusing on Saturday’s game. Capuano made it obvious during his post game interview, stating that “obviously there’s things we can take from this game, but we gotta get ready for Saturday night” when the Islanders will take on the Carolina Hurricanes. The game on Saturday will be huge, and the urgency is present in the locker room as portrayed by PA Parenteau’s post game interview, where he said “we can’t afford to lose two in a row, we all know that as a group. We absolutely have to win Saturday’s game”.