The Islanders great Canadian road trip continues tonight making a stop in Winnipeg to take on the Jets. So far through 5 games the Isles are 4-1 on a very critical stretch of the schedule. Let’s not kid ourselves though, the Isles were flat out awful in their 3-2 win over the Canucks Tuesday night. But you don’t get extra points for style and at this point of the season we take the points and move on. Yes, I wish they looked better but wins are wins.
Thomas Greiss will be in goal again tonight and the defensive pairings remain the same. The forward lines have been switched up a bit. First, the fourth and second lines remain the same. The first line will feature Captain John Tavares centering Ryan Strome and Brock Nelson. The third line will consist of Shane Prince, Anders Lee and Nikolay Kulemin.
I’m don’t dislike this new third line but I am unsure who will be playing center on it. We will have to wait and see but I am intrigued and puzzled at the same time. I truly like the idea of Brock Nelson being moved back to the top line. Now if only something sparks the play of Ryan Strome who once again has been a no show. The question that has to be answered is if this is a sophomore slump or this is truly a regression for Ryan?
Strome, Nelson and Lee must be more consistent. If the Isles have any chance of making noise this spring, their secondary scoring must be far more consistent. Josh Bailey fades in and out of relevance and Kyle Okposo has 5 good games follow by 10 invisible ones. I am looking at Strome, Nelson and Lee as three players who have provide more support for John Tavares.
Islander and Jets games have been wide open in recent history so I would expect another high scoring affair tonight. I am just hoping we see the good Islanders tonight. I simply don’t understand how this team can continue to be so inconsistent. One thing is clear, this team is not working hard enough. Something has to give. They must show that they can play well for more than just 20 or 40 minutes.
This team truly needs to string some solid performances together and if they can start working harder I would expect some more positive results. We have seen that this team can win when it is not playing great, imagine what this team could do if it could finally get its act together and play the same way night in and night out.