The Islanders were able to snatch two points from the Florida Panthers last night, defeating them in a shootout by a score of 4-3. The Islanders played a solid 40 minutes but they got caught running around in their own end in the third period and overtime. The team also took some awful penalties leading to a loss in momentum. For the most part the penalty kill was solid and goalie Jaroslav Halak was really only at fault for one goal. The signs of a good team however, is good teams still find a way to win when they are not performing at their best. Last night was a clear example of that. The Isles did not play their best game but still came away with two points. There are no style points in this league, so grab the points and get out of dodge.
The fourth line had its moments last night and lines two and three played an overall solid game. The top line, especially center John Tavares just looks off. I honestly don’t know what it is right now with JT but he simply looks off his game and at times he simply isn’t moving his feet. He also took two awful penalties. I know I’m being picky as his numbers are still over a point a game but the top line just doesn’t look good at even strength. Head Coach Jack Capuano did bump Josh Bailey up to the top line for a bit and that did result in a few good shifts but right now the top line is simply not clicking. I just see a lot of passion, desire and chemistry from the Kid line that I am not seeing with the top line.
Let us shift our focus tonight though as the Islanders roll into Tampa to face a very good Lightning team. The Islanders will start Chad Johnson in goal tonight as Jaroslav Halak will get the night off. If the Islanders play their defensive system that we now know they are capable of playing, it shouldn’t matter who is tending goal as they are both good enough to win. Cal Clutterbuck will be a game-time decision tonight and if he is not able to suit up I would expect Cory Conacher to take his place in the lineup.
Tonight will be a good test for this Islander team. Tampa is one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference and if the Isles want to keep this streak going they need to play solid in their own end and they proved that they can play with anyone in the league. Below are the projected lines for this evening. As always for more on all things hockey please follow me on twitter at @DanDanNoodles78.
Kulemin-Tavares-Okposo
Lee-Strome-Nelson
Bailey-Nielsen-Grabovski
Martin-Cizikas- Conacher or Clutterbuck
Leddy-Boychuk
De Haan-Hamonic
Visnovsky-Hickey
Johnson/Halak
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