GDT: GDT #48 New York Islanders @ Montreal Canadiens | January 25th | 7:00 PM | F/4-3 L

[crashthenet]

Interesting first 13 minutes. Barzal not scoring at 16:22. Wow. 9 Million dollar guys probably score there. Mayfield's first two shifts nothing short of atrocious. Fasching makes one decent hockey play and gifts the Habs a PP one shift later or maybe it was 2. PK is a trainwreck besides the goal. Anyone knows you can get behind our d or just outnumber them based on Houda's useless system. And just like that- Not the shot but the rebound. Nice almost tip by Engvall that could have produced a tying goal but this team doesn't score 5v5 ever. A powerplay of sorts, terrible decisions. A montreal 3v2 that somehow Nelson manages to thwart and off we go on a 2v1 where shockingly one of the fastest players in the league cant generate a chance, gets caught from behind and turns the puck over. No sense in 13 backchecking so he doesn't. Questionable call on Palms but if a penalty one that needs to be taken as a by-product of the turnover. It gets better when Houda(?) decides Aho and Bolduc should be out there 4v4. Aho (worst player in this league period) doesn't make himself available initially ahead of the puck, which is the only reason he is supposedly here (offensive prowess), and then cant receive Engvall's somewhat awkward pass. Bolduc gets big-leagued and 2-0. With 20 seconds left in the Palmieri penalty, soft clear and right back at us. Literally a one on three and 3-0.

This team is a bit soft these days. We have sooo many deadspots in our 5v5 lineup.

In the first period, it was tough to watch JGP lose faceoffs on the PK.

 

[crashthenet]

Interesting first 13 minutes. Barzal not scoring at 16:22. Wow. 9 Million dollar guys probably score there. Mayfield's first two shifts nothing short of atrocious. Fasching makes one decent hockey play and gifts the Habs a PP one shift later or maybe it was 2. PK is a trainwreck besides the goal. Anyone knows you can get behind our d or just outnumber them based on Houda's useless system. And just like that- Not the shot but the rebound. Nice almost tip by Engvall that could have produced a tying goal but this team doesn't score 5v5 ever. A powerplay of sorts, terrible decisions. A montreal 3v2 that somehow Nelson manages to thwart and off we go on a 2v1 where shockingly one of the fastest players in the league cant generate a chance, gets caught from behind and turns the puck over. No sense in 13 backchecking so he doesn't. Questionable call on Palms but if a penalty one that needs to be taken as a by-product of the turnover. It gets better when Houda(?) decides Aho and Bolduc should be out there 4v4. Aho (worst player in this league period) doesn't make himself available initially ahead of the puck, which is the only reason he is supposedly here (offensive prowess), and then cant receive Engvall's somewhat awkward pass. Bolduc gets big-leagued and 2-0. With 20 seconds left in the Palmieri penalty, soft clear and right back at us. Literally a one on three and 3-0.

This team is a bit soft these days. We have sooo many deadspots in our 5v5 lineup.

In the first period, it was tough to watch JGP lose faceoffs on the PK.

I actually just finished watching - is it me? How do we not score 6v5? half of those chances would have been in our net.

 

[DerekKingSnipes]

The only reason I'm disappointed with Palmieri's production is that this is the year he's been healthy for us, and I expected with a full ride next to Nelson he'd be on a 25-30 goal pace. But Brock Nelson drives that line, and when he goes cold his linemates don't get scoring chances.

They need a LW with more offensive ability than Engvall, maybe that’s an opportunity for Iskhakov internally.

 

[PJGooch]

Just saw the game.

Are you effin' kidding me?

ARE YOU EFFIN' KIDDING ME?

Is this team simply not able to ever just play it safe and get the puck out of the zone when there's a 1000% opportunity to do so???

Seriously... I got a lot of stuff to get done today and this just....

This kind of disappointiment weighs heavy.

They are incredibly skilled at turning the most mundane instances on the ice (ex. skating uncontested out of their zone) into catastrophic chances against.

 

[bigtim1988]

I miss Barry trotz…….badly

 

[13th Floor]

Not an in-person meeting for Gallagher?

 

[Throttle]

I miss Barry trotz…….badly

Probably so do some of the players that have proven they don’t execute so well w/o any structure…

I never saw Trotz hockey as boring. I did have confidence as a fan that there was a high probability they would win games or if they fell behind, they could come from behind and win.

Now? Every game is a wild card with ongoing embarrassments. For every Horvat OT goal, there’s the crap of the last two games.

 

[JBHockey]

All-Star break can't start soon enough.

 

[LeapOnOver]

I miss Barry trotz…….badly

This has nothing to do with coaching to me. This is roster composition at this point. It's the long term middling players making mistakes that cost us games. Good teams fill those spots with young players trying to stick in the NHL and scared of making mistakes, not 7 year contract players coasting every game.

 

[Chapin Landvogt]

The hit on Pelech was atrocious.

 

[scottywiper]

The hit on Pelech was atrocious.

NHL disagrees!

 

[The Winter Soldier]

The only reason I'm disappointed with Palmieri's production is that this is the year he's been healthy for us, and I expected with a full ride next to Nelson he'd be on a 25-30 goal pace. But Brock Nelson drives that line, and when he goes cold his linemates don't get scoring chances.

When Isles moved Eberle to make room for Palmieri, at the time I thought it was the right move. It is clear the Isles did not upgrade their roster with that decision. I was wrong, thought Eberle was more deadweight than asset, he's not at Barzal or Horvat's level, but compared to Palmieri or Pageau he was more impactful at 5.5M per than either of those guys. I don't think the Isles ever recovered from that move. It's just a litany of paper cuts of moves that have downgraded the roster and chemistry. Komarov was another, some did not appreciate what he brought to the room, ice, and D. Also not having 2 good puck moving D men in Toews or Leddy. One can argue, the roster is not better than it was when it went to the final 4 twice, and it's not just the coaching. Barry Trotz struggled in his final year also. Roster construction has to be questioned and even critiqued.

 

[MJF]

When Isles moved Eberle to make room for Palmieri, at the time I thought it was the right move. It is clear the Isles did not upgrade their roster with that decision. I was wrong, thought Eberle was more deadweight than asset, he's not at Barzal or Horvat's level, but compared to Palmieri or Pageau he was more impactful at 5.5M per than either of those guys. I don't think the Isles ever recovered from that move

I don’t agree with this at all. With Palmieri the Isles were looking for more of a net front presence and a playoff performer. As an Islander Eberle was a perimeter player (the Isles already had Bailey underperforming in that role), was streakier than Palmieri is, and, except for that playoff series against the Pens that earned him his current contract, has been a soft, shrinking player in the postseason a la Matt Moulson.

 

[Throttle]

The Isles also saved $500k on the cap I believe in the Eberle/Palms ‘swap’ during the cap crunch.

 

[YearlyLottery]

I don’t agree with this at all. With Palmieri the Isles were looking for more of a net front presence and a playoff performer. As an Islander Eberle was a perimeter player (the Isles already had Bailey underperforming in that role), was streakier than Palmieri is, and, except for that playoff series against the Pens that earned him his current contract, has been a soft, shrinking player in the postseason a la Matt Moulson.

Agreed. The Eberle-Palmieri swap was not an issue to me. For me the issue started this offseason when everyone was just locked up long term and Lou did not fire Lambert after the SJ loss and instead waited too long.