The Islanders return home to take on the Washington Capitals at the Nassau Coliseum today at Noon. I would like to thank the friends in programming at NBC for the lovely 12PM start time. New York is hoping to rebound after a 4-3 loss in game two. Today will be special, a playoff game at the Old Barn. There is really nothing like it.
When asked about the two arenas, Caps forward Alexander Ovechkin stated that the crowd noise at the Coliseum is not an issue as he thinks it is always louder in the Verizon Center. I would like to formally respond to this statement. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! I know he is supposed to say this, what should he say? We all know DC was a library game one and the fans responded to this as you could really hear them in game two. But that is nothing like today. Nothing, not even close. This old barn will feel like it is going to cave in today from the noise.
It is up for the team to feed off of this. The first ten minutes are key. The Islanders are going to come out flying and they need to feed off this energy in a positive way. Braden Holtby will return to the net for Washington after missing game two due to illness. He will need to be sharp but it is up to the Isles to test him consistently like they did in game one.
The Islanders didn’t have a problem scoring in game two, they had a problem keeping the puck. The Caps owned possession and as a result, owned the game and the shot count. New York needs to return to the clean crisp game that they played in the series opener. They also need to not take stupid penalties and can they please have a set of sticks that don’t break?
Jaroslav Halak will be in net for the Isles and Head Coach Jack Capuano has not decided yet as to who will be playing on the scoring lines or anchoring the blue line. I would expect the defense to stay the same and I honestly don’t believe there is any shot we see Travis Hamonic in this series. With Hamonic out the rest of the D group need to step up. They were collectively awful in game two. All of them.
As for the forwards the Isles need more from Anders Lee and Michael Grabner. But the biggest disappointment through two games has been Frans Nielsen. He has been invisible in the Caps end and a liability playing defense. I have to assume that Nielsen is playing hurt as it is the only explanation of his play eroding this badly. If he is injured and can’t help the team he shouldn’t be playing and Nielsen has zero business being on the power play right now.
We shall see how this all plays out today but the Islanders really need to regain control of this series. A loss today would not be a crusher but it would give the Caps a clear command in the series and would give them all the confidence that game one was simply a blip on the radar. The Isles need to play that simple game that they executed so perfectly in game one. If they can find that form today they can be victorious in front of their rabid fan base that is simply dying to make some noise. As always for more on all things hockey please follow me on twitter at @DanDanNoodles78.