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The Islanders return home after a disastrous road trip to face the Philadelphia Flyers in a nationally televised broadcast. Nationally televised in that everyone who has NBC Sports Network will be able to watch the Flyers broadcast of the game. This is a very cheap way for the network to air a game nationally.
I'm starting with this today because quite frankly I don't want to talk about this team. What I heard from this team following Saturday's 3-0 loss to the Stars was infuriating.
"Tonight I thought we got back to our game and played a pretty good hockey game. We weren't able to get it done offensively. said Kyle Okposo. We were moving our feet and were tenacious and I felt we did a pretty good job for most of the night, but just couldn't buy one."
Tenacious teams usually generate more than one power-play chance. Something this team has failed at lately. They have seven chances in their last six games. After the Isles allowed the first goal for the fifth straight game, the Stars knew the Islanders weren't going to score and attacked them everytime they had the puck. They were relentless.
In his postgame press conference Jack Capuano sounded more and more like former Jets head coach Rich Kotite
"It's tough to fault these guys. It's frustrating because I thought the guys played hard tonight. They deserved better."
Cappy's decision to play Brian Strait once again turned out to be successful. He once again took a stupid penalty and struggled. Ryan Pulock will once again sit in favor of Strait.
This goes well beyond playing Brian Strait. This falls on the top nine forwards. The trio of Brock Nelson, Ryan Strome and Anders Lee, who general manager Garth Snow sacrificed an offseason for, have a grand total of 43 goals. Lee, who has 12 of them, has been asserting himself more into the game. He needs to continue to do that. Nelson, who already set a career high of 23 goals, has struggled in the second half. Strome has been non existent. Nikolai Kulemin who has pretty much been given a pass this season has struggled offensively all season and it's beginning to take its toll defensively.
Cappy needs to shelf the wheel of forwards and stick with a line down the stretch.
The Isles still have games in hand on the teams above them. They end the regular season playing 8 of 12 at home. Barclays Center has proven to be a true home-ice advantage. They are 4th in the league with a 3.18 home goals per game, almost a full goal more than on the road (2.35) the isles are 21-8-4. They are 6-0-1 in their last seven games.
The Islanders still have two games with the Flyers, tonight and the rescheduled game on April 10. They are currently five points ahead of Philly and both have played 70 games.
Same forwards for the Isles. Thomas Greiss is in net and Steve Mason will start for the Flyers.
New York Islanders Blogger • 
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