The Islanders return to Brooklyn tonight to take on the high flying Toronto Maple Leafs in an important Monday Night contest. If the Isles are serious about getting back into the playoff conversation they need two points in regulation. It would also help if they beat teams they were suppose to like this past weekend as they threw away a couple of points against the Hurricanes and Wings.
You simply cannot win games when you play that bad in your own end. Also you saw what happens when this team gets average goaltending. Thomas Greiss cannot be blamed for every goal in Detroit but he wasn’t sharp. J.F. Berube was just bad against the Hurricanes the following evening. Like I said, the defense did them no favors but Berube specifically gave me terrible flashbacks of Kevin Poulin. If he can’t be trusted in net, the Isles have to consider making Halak the backup because they are not in the position to be throwing away points.
Part of this is the team’s fault. Sitting a young goalie for months is not conducive to proper development. He is also still an unknown commodity playing very few games in the NHL. If you can’t trust your backup, then the team has to address this quickly. I’d be willing to give him one more start but right now I can’t get the horrid thoughts of Poulin and Anders Nilsson removed from my memory.
As for tonight, the lineup will remain the same and Thomas Greiss will tend goal. Despite this hiccup the Isles are still 7-2-2 in their last 11 games. The Leafs enter Brooklyn playing .500 hockey their past 10 contest and are a must watch team with so much young talent. If the Isles continue to struggle in their own end they will get blown off the rink. You have no margin for error as mistakes will end up in the back of the net. With that being said the Leafs have their own defensive issues and these are two points that are very attainable IF New York remembers how to play some defense.
New York Islanders Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»