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Isle bet the PDO train comes off the rails

October 30, 2018, 1:43 PM ET [90 Comments]
Ryan Wilson
Pittsburgh Penguins Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Pittsburgh returns home this evening to take on the non-John Tavares Islanders for the first time. This will be the first of two games against each other this week. The next will be Thursday in New York. The non-John Tavares Islanders don’t have a lot going for it other than Matt Barzal. They are 5-4-1, but they are relying on unsustainable shooting and save percentages. They have the fourth best on-ice save percentage in the league at 5v5 and the third best shooting percentage. If that dips anywhere close to average they will not continue to keep up that 5-4-1 pace. I don’t see the talent there to keep it up either.
They need to keep it up because they are currently the 29th ranked possession team according to Score-Adjusted Corsi.

Losing Tavares was a huge blow. There was nothing to hold on to. There was no trade at the deadline. He’s just gone. What may have been even worse is what the aftermath allowed. Lou Lamoriello is so far past being a useful NHL GM. It is going to be incredibly difficult for this team to gain traction with such a dinosaur at the helm.

Instead of investing in speed and skill Lou can’t get enough of grit. Here’s an example





The other forwards with a track record of success on the Islanders will be unrestricted free agents in July. They include Jordan Eberle, Brock Nelson, and Anders Lee. It would be one thing if Josh Ho-Sang and Michael Dal Colle were ready to make significant NHL impacts. That hasn’t been the case yet.

The Penguins could look like the Islanders in five years or so after the shine of the Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin era goes away. It will be less likely if they don’t have a cantankerous curmudgeon like Lou running the show.

Derick Brassard will miss another game because of his lower body injury. Kris Letang who had an injury scare in the Vancouver game will be a game-time decision. In my opinion the game-time decision label has been the equivalent of what the probable label was when the NFL used it. I would expect to see Kris Letang tonight. If not, it will be another example of a player getting hurt, returning to the game, and then missing time for Pittsburgh.

Thanks for reading!
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