To me the three losses to the Islanders are almost carbon copies of each other. It's not just luck and bounces. The Isles pinned us in our end a bit too much. Forced our D into making too many mistakes. When we got the puck into their end we forced too many plays--the Isles execution of their breakouts were really good all night and we were often caught scrambling to get back on defense.
The first period to me was just crap. Numerous players just giving the puck up. It's one thing when they're forced. It's another when they're not. The team pretty much left Henrik out to swing in the wind too many times and though I didn't like how he left the net on Grabovski's goal--that we were down only 1-0 at the end of the first bordered on miraculous.
In the second and third periods last night--the Rangers did play with a lot of energy--the Rangers did create a lot of good and very good scoring chances. OTOH the Islanders much more than less controlled their own defensive zone. The very good chances didn't turn into very many great scoring chances--not a lot of rebounds left in front of the net. Halak had to be very good--that's easier sometimes when you're playing with a lead. Basically the advantage we had over them came down to just territorial. They played it safe--waited for mistakes and took advantage of enough of them. I would say we expended more energy in losing than they did in winning which is another way of saying we chased the play too much.
This is exactly what I saw. The one thing that I still don't understand about the Islanders is why so many people think Capuano is holding them back. I admit to only watching them occasionally outside of the games against the Rangers, but they sure do looked well coached, in addition to talented/balanced, to me.
I certainly think the Rangers are amongst the best teams in the league, and that they can absolutely beat the Islanders in a 7 game series. That said, I also acknowledge that match-ups absolutely do matter, and right now, the Islanders and Tampa Bay present a match-up problem for the Rangers. I don't think it is one that can't be overcome, but they definitely need to approach games against those teams a bit differently.
I know this isn't groundbreaking stuff here, and it's a fairly obvious statement when you're what, 0-6 vs. those teams. But while the Rangers are really good, they aren't so good that they can impose their will on every team out there. They didn't lose these games because they weren't trying, or because they were "playing scared".
