While the same issues prevented the Islanders from at least gaining a point in Pittsburgh, they did play one of their better games in some time. However an inability to execute in the defensive end led to a 4-3 defeat at the hands of the Penguins. The Isles competed hard and their “battle level… was high enough but you can’t have the break downs they have consistently and expect to win games. It would be nice though if the effort they play with against the Penguins could somehow be transferred over to other teams they play.
One positive to take from yesterday was the play of Kevin Poulin. He was spectacular at times and played well enough to give this team a chance to win. It is still too early to tell if Poulin can develop into a starting NHL goalie but he is surely showing that he belongs in this league. Thomas Vanek also returned to the lineup last night and had his best game as an Islander scoring twice. He was strong around the net and this is the most active he has been since becoming an Islander.
However the downfall of this team continues to be its play in the defensive zone. While the defenseman have been flat out awful, the blame lies in the forwards as well. For some reason the forward consistently forget about the men at the points and sag too low. More importantly though there is an alarming inability to cover the trailing player on a d zone rush.
While it is extremely difficult to simply acquire better defenseman; the forwards can without question play better in their own end. This defense will be an ongoing problem but some reliable play by the forwards could go a long way to at least get this team defense to mediocre, which would be a huge improvement than the adjectives we use to describe it currently.
The Islanders desperately need points in Philadelphia tonight as they take on the Flyers. Regardless of the lineup or who is in goal the Isles need to bottle that desperation and hard work that they only seem to save for Penguins games. Tonight would be a great time to use some of it. As always for more on all things hockey please follow me on twitter @DanDanNoodles78.