As we turn back the clocks tonight, the Islanders try not to repeat their past season’s performance, in the month of November. The Isles’ continue their west coast trip, tonight, in San Jose as they battle the Sharks. Jaroslav Halak returns to tending the goal and Travis Hamonic returns from injury. He will play in place of Brian Strait.
The forward lines have finally been tinkered with by Islanders’ head coach Jack Capuano. Brock Nelson will move up to the top line and play alongside John Tavares and Kyle Okposo. To be frank, the top line has to generate chances at even strength if the Isles have any chance of competing on a consistent basis. Frans Nielsen will center Nikolay Kulemin and Mikhail Grabovski. The third line will feature Ryan Strome centering Matt Martin and Anders Lee. Finally, the much maligned fourth line will feature Cory Conacher, Casey Cizikas and Cal Clutterbuck.
These lines aren’t that awful and I will reserve judgment until I see how the forwards perform tonight. I’m not in love with moving Brock Nelson away from center, but the second line is intriguing. Also I don’t think Matt Martin deserves to move up to the third line as his play has been subpar at best. However, if these lines are flying tonight, then that is all that matters.
On defense, Nick Leddy will be paired with Johnny Boychuk. Lubomir Visnovsky will be partnered with Thomas Hickey and Travis Hamonic will be reunited with Calvin de Haan. The return of Hamonic is certainly good news for Islander fans.
The Islanders desperately need points tonight. They also have to show that they are capable of holding teams to 1 or 2 goals. The overall defensive scheme of this team has to come together and fast. The Islanders cannot have another sustained losing streak and as each loss mounts, we have to look at the coaching staff and their future with this club.
One thing that really irritates me with Jack Capuano is how he always refers to the players in post-game interviews as “they.… “They… didn’t execute or “they… didn’t play within the system. I have never seen such disconnect between staff and players. I always thought it was “we… and “us.… WE didn’t play well or WE didn’t execute. I may be looking too much into this, but it is something I’m not used to hearing from a coach. Below are tonight’s lines and pairings for the game. As always, for more on all things hockey, please follow me on twitter at @DanDanNoodles78.
Forwards
Brock Nelson-John Tavares-Kyle Okposo Mikhail Grabovski-Frans Nielsen-Nikolay Kulemin Matt Martin-Ryan Strome-Anders Lee Cory Conacher-Casey Cizikas-Cal Clutterbuck
Defense Leddy-Boychuk Visnovsky-Hickey De Haan-Hamonic
Goalies Halak/Johnson