The Islanders continue the second leg of their road trip tonight in music city to take on the Nashville Predators. The Islanders are coming off a dramatic yet sloppy defeat to the Dallas Stars on Tuesday night. The Isles did not quit and were able to tie the game in the closing second but another costly turnover led to the game winner for the Stars who won 3-2 in overtime. Obviously, when you tie a game that late you take the point and move on but this team needs to execute better. I fully feel that the effort is there but they are simply not executing crisply enough for a full 60 minutes.
This team is thin right now as it is dealing with injuries. To compound matters worse, forward Matt Martin was suspended one game for his kneeing major that injured Stars’ defenseman Trevor Daley. The team will have to deal with that blow tonight but they do receive some good news as center Casey Cizikas will return to the team’s lineup. Eric Boulton will also be in the lineup tonight and the healthy scratch upfront will be Kael Mouillierat. The newest Islander Tyler Kennedy was sent back to Long Island for further examination to his puzzling injury. I’m thinking it can’t be serious if he took part in a full practice but we have to wait and see what the medical staff reports. Perhaps this is why the Islanders were able to acquire him for a conditional seventh round pick.
If there is a silver lining to the loss Tuesday, it was the play of the penalty kill. The Isles were able to kill off five Stars power plays including the five minute major to Matt Martin. I know it is only one game but that is definitely something for the team to build on moving forward. Jaroslav Halak will be in the net again for the Isles as this will be the second and final regular season contest against the Predators. New York defeated Nashville by a score of 5-2 less than a month ago.
Having Casey Cizikas back in the lineup will be huge for this team that simply needs to get healthy. We are still awaiting word on Tyler Kennedy, but his presence in the lineup would help. The best news that the team has received is that of injured forward Kyle Okposo. Okposo, has been skating and went through a full set of drill in Long Island. If everything goes to plan we could see Okposo back in the lineup in a week or so.
Until this team is 100 percent healthy they simply need to scrap out as many points as possible. They also need to simply clean up the slop and minimize the mistakes. When you are thin up front, you have to simplify your game. The team just needs to play a north/south game and not get too cute between the blue lines. Dump the puck in and go to work. As always for more on all things hockey please follow me on twitter at DadDanNoodles78.