After last night’s dismal performance against the Bruins you know there would be changes coming tonight. The Isles were outplayed badly the final 40 minutes last night and lost by a score of 5-3 in Brooklyn snapping their four game winning streak. The turnovers were pathetic last night. The top line, mainly John Tavares and most noticeably Ryan Strome could not stop turning the puck over. Travis Hamonic and Cal de Haan were also dreadful as they combined for a minus 3.
You could see parts of last night loss coming in the Isles win against the Blue Jackets. This happens yet again where Tavares and Strome stubbornly refuse to make the simple play. This needs to stop and in a hurry. Islanders’ head coach Jack Capuano has stated that changes will be coming for tonight’s game in St. Louis against a banged-up Blues squad.
Thomas Griess will be in net tonight. Jaroslav Halak was not terrible last night but he certainly did not receive any help from his teammates. Steve Bernier will make his Islander debut and Brian Strait will return to the lineup. It is believed that Strait will play in place of Marek Zidlicky. Ya know, if you are going to scratch a right handed dman, you could call up your top defensive prospect who happens to be ummm right-handed…. Just saying. As I’m typing this Ryan Pulock scores for the Sound Tigers. You can’t make this stuff up.
It is unclear who Bernier will replace in the lineup tonight but there are plenty of candidates. I don’t know if Strome will be the forward scratched but he has been disappointing through six games. His point production has been fine but the barrage of turnovers have to stop. You cannot continue to turn over the puck at the opponents blue line and keep your own red light off.
Whatever happens tonight the Isles will have their work cut for them against a strong and defensively sound Blues team that has owned the Islanders in recent memories. New York will catch a break though as Jaden Schwartz will be out 12 weeks and Kevin Shattenkirk will be out as well. If the Islanders can knock off the stupid turnovers and play some smart hockey they are talented enough to snag two points on the road tonight.
New York Islanders Blogger • 
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