GDT: GDT #29 New York Islanders vs Boston | December 15th | 7:30 PM | F 5-4 SO/L

[RWWallpaper]

Getting Parise back would be a welcomed addition to the PK…I hope he comes back.

 

[Suffolkbull3]

oh noooo … not again!!!!!!

 

[crashthenet]

The powerplay giveth and the penaltykill taketh away. Bo Horvat and the players fixed the PP. Watching McLean draw up a stand around 4v3 was disappointing. They did get a decent chance at the end of it. Dobson doing great but tough learning experience on goal 3. The uncalled trip by Geekie was so awful. Likely cost us the game. Good for Lambert answering that question definitively in the presser. Same ref who didn't wave off the Marchant goal btw and should have.

Zeke played one his best 5v5 games of the season. Holmstrom was terrific. Reilly has contributed every game. Nelson and Horvat also played great. Bortuzzo seems to have settled Bolduc down. Amazing that the paid coach doesn't do that.

If you still think Aho is better than a 7\8 watch the last four minutes of regulation. Goal number four in particular. All day with the puck and he gifts it to Boston in the NZ.They came right at us with an easy zone entry and the rest was history. A constant problem with him.

Two terrible penalties in the second. Wonder if we see Wahlstrom but doubt it.

Considering the injuries to three out if our top four nothing to complain about really. We killed it in the face off circle.

 

[YearlyLottery]

How is this clearly different? Honest question.

I too thought they played really well until they … just didn’t. That’s how a lot of these have gone.

Multi-goal blown lead? Check.
Multiple blown leads? Check (3).
Crippling PK? Check (3 for 3).
Losing the lead in last five minutes? Check.
Questionable goaltending? Check (sorry Sorokin).
Look to be easily in control for large stretches, but suffer to poor defensive lapses? Check.

It really fit the pattern. And I do agree they look better, but this is happening literally every single game.

To me it is different because at no point during the third period were they lifeless tonight. It was just a back and forth game where Boston got the better of them (on a clear missed trip may I add). A game like this is different than those NJ and SJ games where they just stopped playing. The blown lead against the Sharks seems to have been a major turning point to me in the way they are playing the game. I am not saying the coast is clear but they have beaten the Kings, Leafs, blew out Columbus, got the job done against the Ducks, and just went to a shootout in a 50/50 game against Boston.

I would like a win against Montreal tonight on the end of a back to back with travel though.

Also I know everyone is blaming that last goal on Sorokin but it was an insane bounce. I have not been hating Sorokin as much as everyone else has this season. I felt the team looked good last night in a loss. But that is just my opinion.

 

[IslesNorway]

Should have won. Penalties proved costly again.

 

[DamnZamDoor]

First off, lifelong Isles fan who doesn't post much loving what I'm seeing from this team. Their confidence is skyrocketing and they are exciting to watch every game. Holmstrom's stick handling on his goal and shootout goal were incredible. If only the shorty had gone in as well, love to have that chance back. This kid is really impressing me and his game appears to be rising every night.

Sorokin often looks to me as if he reaches a point where he just has had enough and is ready to go home, like on Pasta's winner. I know that's not it, but he does appear to lose focus quite a bit.

WTF is Barzal thinking on that horrible shootout try? Did he fake himself out? That was ridiculously poor and he has to do better. 1v1 with his skills he should be a threat every time and he wasn't.

Hopefully, they come out strong and not flat tonight against a team they should beat easily and get it done in regulation. Go Isles!

 

[Top Corner]

Enough whining. They played toe to toe with Boston and easily could have won. This is clearly not the same game as the other blown leads.

It’s not whining when they can lose a lead against any team , top of the league or bottom of the league. It needs to be fixed or I can’t see them making any noise if and when they get to playoffs.

 

[leeroggy]

Hopefully, they come out strong and not flat tonight against a team they should beat easily and get it done in regulation. Go Isles!

Montreal is 12-13-4, there is no such thing as an easy road win in this league.

 

[doublechili]

I was only able to catch the end of the 3rd, OT and SO. I'm pretty sure those were the 3 best consecutive shootout shots I (or anyone else) have ever seen (Coyle, Holmstrom and Pasta). Forehand deke, backhand deke and snipe, so nice variety too.

Big picture, without Pelech, Pulock and Mayfield they played BOS well enough that they probably should have won the game. That's pretty good.

 

[YearlyLottery]

It’s not whining when they can lose a lead against any team , top of the league or bottom of the league. It needs to be fixed or I can’t see them making any noise if and when they get to playoffs.

It does need to be fixed but this Boston game is not a good example of the countless others you can all choose from.

 

[Kevin27NYI]

It does need to be fixed but this Boston game is not a good example of the countless others you can all choose from.

I agree, both teams suffering from players being out, both teams felt f***ed from the refs, it was just a good back and forth game. Let’s move on from this one positively.

 

[crashthenet]

To me it is different because at no point during the third period were they lifeless tonight. It was just a back and forth game where Boston got the better of them (on a clear missed trip may I add). A game like this is different than those NJ and SJ games where they just stopped playing. The blown lead against the Sharks seems to have been a major turning point to me in the way they are playing the game. I am not saying the coast is clear but they have beaten the Kings, Leafs, blew out Columbus, got the job done against the Ducks, and just went to a shootout in a 50/50 game against Boston.

I would like a win against Montreal tonight on the end of a back to back with travel though.

Also I know everyone is blaming that last goal on Sorokin but it was an insane bounce. I have not been hating Sorokin as much as everyone else has this season. I felt the team looked good last night in a loss. But that is just my opinion.

Agree with this. No trip on Gauthier and who's complaining? Everyone's suspicion confirmed when Mayfield went on IR. We have played these games without 3 of our top 4 defenders healthy. Swap out Aho for Pulock and we are in much better shape last night. Less turnovers late in the third and gives Dobson a break on the PP.

Last year Pelech went down and we folded the tent for a while. Dramatically different this year.

Left out of my previous long winded post- perhaps Fasching should be elevated to the third line. Noticeably good last few games against good teams.

 

[MJF]

Ironic from the past like 5 years, but they now have to figure out the defense to become true contenders because the offense is capable of a deep playoff run.

Hopefully Pelech, Pulock and Mayfield can return quickly enough to get any rust off by the end of the season.

The yang to our yin.

Opening it up and not being able to support our goalies is not the way to be successful in the playoffs.

 

[YearlyLottery]

Agree with this. No trip on Gauthier and who's complaining? Everyone's suspicion confirmed when Mayfield went on IR. We have played these games without 3 of our top 4 defenders healthy. Swap out Aho for Pulock and we are in much better shape last night. Less turnovers late in the third and gives Dobson a break on the PP.

Last year Pelech went down and we folded the tent for a while. Dramatically different this year.

Left out of my previous long winded post- perhaps Fasching should be elevated to the third line. Noticeably good last few games against good teams.

When your offense has two new weapons it makes up for the lack of defense currently. Barzal and Horvat were not here last season at this time. Yes, the Barzal we are seeing this year we have not seen at all yet in the NHL (MAYBE his rookie year but not this complete). Time will continue to tell as I am not completely sold on Lambert but it seems like for the moment Lou has saved this team with two big pickups in Bortuzzo and Rielly for just a 7th round pick.

Ironically old Lou has also added what many of us have asked for years which is more speed to this roster. Rielly and Gauthier have both brought a nice presence this team has not had in a while.

We will see if this continues but in the meantime go out and put a beatdown on Montreal tonight.

 

[MJF]

Also I know everyone is blaming that last goal on Sorokin but it was an insane bounce. I have not been hating Sorokin as much as everyone else has this season. I felt the team looked good last night in a loss. But that is just my opinion.

I agree with this.

Folks around here expected Sorokin to steal wins for us. That was the offseason plan. While he makes some miraculous saves almost every game he's also letting in one or two a game that he wishes he had back. Probably a function of the number of shots he's faced so far this season. I'd love it if we could tighten it up in our own end and not let so many shots come from Sorokin's doorstep.

 

[Zeeker]

The best thing after a tough loss is to play the very next day. Come out tonight and win in regulation.

 

[The Wahligator]

A solid 60 minute win tonight after yesterday’s game would say a lot about this team.

 

[Nizami Ganjavi]

Recorded the game and watched it late last night. It recorded the Bruins feed. I've always hated Jack Edwards (even when I lived in Boston for 7 years and adopted the B's as my #2) but he's unlistenable now. Anyone know what's going on? Did he have a stroke? His speach is super slow, he mumbles everything and is always 2-3 seconds behind the play. It's quite sad actually. I had to watch it on mute - it was that bad. He made a career out of belittling and ridiculing others, it's time to get mumbles off the air. Bruins fans have to listen to a speach impaired buffoon all season?? lol

 

[leeroggy]

Why is it a thing? Lax penalty calls leading to more PP's and more PPG's? Or is the smaller goalie gear finally having a tangible effect? Weird stat.

The league has done everything it can to feature more offense, and some of that is how they take away the defense's ability to hinder movement. The reason the Trotz approach is not going to be as effective is because more penalties get called for what one could get away with.

It's natural that it would mean protecting a lead is harder than it was a few years ago. And also why defenses are more inclined to try to block shots instead of man up in the zone. Less likely to pick up a penalty that way. But offenses have gotten deeper too and as someone else pointed out, save percentage has fallen.

Put it all together and you have your answer. Of course, there are those who will disagree and praise the old ways, but the current path of the NHL is to make games more exciting and you have to adapt to that reality. Only 11 of the 32 teams have a GAA under 3.00 right now. That's a big difference from just two years ago (Barry's last year), when it was 15 teams. In 2020-21, it was NINETEEN TEAMS that had below 3.0.

This year, 20 teams are above 3.0 Goals For. In 2021-22, it was 18.

Living in the past and thinking it's easy to get back to this are kidding themselves. The game has changed, and you have to accept the way the game is going to be played. Trust me, the broadcast networks do not want a 2-1 game being the norm.

 

[leeroggy]

To add to the last post:

One thing that happened in Barry's last season was that the team took a big step the wrong way in shot attempts allowed. The first two years we were basically in the Top 10 in limiting shot attempts, but in his last year, we were 21st. The trend was going the wrong way in a substantial way.

That was the canary in the coal mine that the defense-first system was starting to take on water. This year we are actually giving up the 3rd most attempts, and are 5th in save percentage, yet are still well within the playoffs now. We're now tied with the Panthers with 36 points in 29 games and they've given up EIGHTEEN fewer goals than us and 248 LESS shot attempts, yet we are tied with them.

As far as defense winning the Cup . . . Vegas was #1 in Goals For in the playoffs per game and Florida was 9th in GA (Vegas 5th). It was Vegas' offense that won the Cup.

You can find all the stats in these two posts by going to ESPN and clicking on the Team Stats pages and sorting the columns, in case you want to check my accuracy.

 

[Top Corner]

The good thing that everyone can take from this year is with added speed and skill Horvat/Holmstrom/Gauthier/Reilly, this is a more exciting team with cracks but certainly better than I've seen in past. Get me 1 more younger D like the Hanifin's of the league and I think it moves the needle as much as we can hope for. A scorer just won't be available.

 

[Metnut]

Last night looked more like two contenders slugging it out rather than another collapse from my pov.

PK and goaltending need to be better.

 

[mm11]

Boy it seemed like we gave Boston all they could handle and we didn't even play that perfect game. Think the next 50 games may be fun.

 

[Isles Junkie]

That ref was definitely thinking about calling a penalty on that trip. No idea why he changed his mind.

With all that said, the game was kind of decided when Holmstrom didn't bury that wide open chance he had for his 2nd goal. That was definitely the turning point of the game.

 

[Riseonfire]

Yep. Bear meat, moose, reindeer, whale blubber, seal oil... you name it, I've probably had it.

...guinea pig?