The Islanders look to keep up their strong play as they take on the St. Louis Blues in Brooklyn at 7:30PM tonight. Fresh off an emotional 2-1 shootout win against the Rangers Wednesday night, New York hopes to build off a recent stretch of success that has seen them go 4-0-1 in their past 5 games. Contests after Ranger games have been a landmine for this team in recent years and I’m hoping the Isles can match the intensity, passion and desire that they showed Wednesday. I saw firsthand yesterday what a trap game looks like as the Rangers lost to an Avalanche team that the blue shirts had no business falling to.
Isles coach Jack Capuano announced that Thomas Griess will be in net this evening and the lineup that was victorious earlier in the week will remain the same. The Islanders’ play was far from perfect Wednesday but what I saw that has been missing much of the season was a team that played with incredible desire, intensity and passion that has been missing at times this year.
I also thought the team fed off a very loud Barclays Center. Yes you read that correctly. Barclays was rocking during the Islanders first meeting with their cross town rivals and when I was there Monday night against Colorado it was also quite loud once the Islanders found their game towards the end of the first period. Will it ever match the Coliseum? No, not by a long shot, but this place is starting to feel like an actual home. The arena was loud, the bars and restaurants in the area were packed both pre and post-game. I think this is slowly evolving into what we thought this new home could feel like. Look, I’d be lying to all of you if I said I didn’t miss the convenience of the Coli. I loved the tailgating, I loved the family atmosphere. But Brooklyn can totally work. The Isles just have to keep winning and I think this will all fall into place.
As for tonight’s opponent, the Blues come into town with a record of 2-1-2 in their past 5 contests. St. Louis plays a tight defensive game and they normally don’t run away from anyone so I would expect another tight matchup like the one this past October where the Isles were outplayed for much of the game but managed to win a 3-2 game in overtime.
Even though there is a lot to like about this Islanders squad they can still play better and need more consistent secondary scoring. Anders Lee and Josh Bailey have to provide more scoring. I do think Nikolai Kulemin and Mikhail Grabovski are showing signs of life and Ryan Strome has been solid since his call up from Bridgeport. Lee and Bailey are key though, the bottom six has been steady but it is imperative that this team get production from their second line. Also, some goals from the blue line would help as well. As always for more on all things hockey please follow me on twitter at @DanDanNoodles78.