Yep there is and the islanders haven’t found a way to clear the net. Tampa watched the tape from the Philly series.
- Cptmjl

They need to pressure their dmen more, specifically Hedman. Can’t let them just lob pucks at the net....too much traffic and they’re unreal at tips.

Also the isles PP needs to be better. I get that they’re cheating covering Pulock but switch it up. You got a guy with 100+ MPH clapper and it’s not being used.

- EdmHockeyMan

Gracias, senor. Nice to know that there are some good refs out there.

This is another reason to dress Boychuk. He's the best crease clearer on the team. And I think Greene could use a rest.
- JohnScammo

I get on paper thinking Boychuk, but the guy hasn’t played and I think is still injured?

I get on paper thinking Boychuk, but the guy hasn’t played and I think is still injured?
- kindlyrick

I don't think he's still injured. I just think he's slower than Greene, and Greene has generally been pretty good. But Greene is even older than Boychuk and IMO could use a game off.

This is another reason to dress Boychuk. He's the best crease clearer on the team. And I think Greene could use a rest.
- JohnScammo

So dress 55 whos foot speed is bad vs a super fast team?

They need to pressure their dmen more, specifically Hedman. Can’t let them just lob pucks at the net....too much traffic and they’re unreal at tips.

Also the isles PP needs to be better. I get that they’re cheating covering Pulock but switch it up. You got a guy with 100+ MPH clapper and it’s not being used.
- kindlyrick

Doesn't matter if its 100mph if he can't get it off or hit the net. I'd be ok with him just getting it on net with traffic. Philly scored with wrist shots from the point, all it has to be on net

I don't think he's still injured. I just think he's slower than Greene, and Greene has generally been pretty good. But Greene is even older than Boychuk and IMO could use a game off.
- JohnScammo

The entire backend at times has been outworked. I think Greene has been a huge addition. I’m not sure Boychuk is a better option just based on games played. Isles have to be better getting the pucks out and winning battles in their own end.

So dress 55 whos foot speed is bad vs a super fast team?
- Upstate_isles

I get that it's not an ideal situation. Boychuk would probably have to hang in back of the play a bit to compensate for his lack of speed. It just looked to me last night like Greene needed a game off.

This is another reason to dress Boychuk. He's the best crease clearer on the team. And I think Greene could use a rest.
- JohnScammo

I think that’s a legitimate option the problem is Tampa’s speed. They are absolutely flying out there. I’m a big Boychuck fan but I have a hard time believing he’ll match up well in this series. The Bolts are like a team possessed.

Doesn't matter if its 100mph if he can't get it off or hit the net. I'd be ok with him just getting it on net with traffic. Philly scored with wrist shots from the point, all it has to be on net
- Upstate_isles

My point is the isles need to move their feet to create options. All it takes is getting it on net....the isles constantly try to look pretty. My point was if you move your feet and create options at some point Pulock can be left open.

They need to pressure their dmen more, specifically Hedman. Can’t let them just lob pucks at the net....too much traffic and they’re unreal at tips.

Also the isles PP needs to be better. I get that they’re cheating covering Pulock but switch it up. You got a guy with 100+ MPH clapper and it’s not being used.
- kindlyrick

Agreed. They’ve been unable to find an answer to everything you mentioned here.

Doesn't matter if its 100mph if he can't get it off or hit the net. I'd be ok with him just getting it on net with traffic. Philly scored with wrist shots from the point, all it has to be on net
- Upstate_isles

Islanders have to find a way to get more traffic in front of Vasy and get shots through. Tampa has been so effective at clearing their zone the Islanders haven’t been able to do this pretty much at all this series. I’m having a hard time remembering a team limiting another teams time and space as much as Tampa is doing to us. They are just unbelievably quick and playing incredible. I can’t stand them

I get that it's not an ideal situation. Boychuk would probably have to hang in back of the play a bit to compensate for his lack of speed. It just looked to me last night like Greene needed a game off.
- JohnScammo

Dobson time?

Islanders have to find a way to get more traffic in front of Vasy and get shots through. Tampa has been so effective at clearing their zone the Islanders haven’t been able to do this pretty much at all this series. I’m having a hard time remembering a team limiting another teams time and space as much as Tampa is doing to us. They are just unbelievably quick and playing incredible. I can’t stand them
- Cptmjl

Well they are the favorites for a reason and set the points record last year. God help us if point comes back as he's even faster

Dobson time?
- ses111

Not a chance.

Not a chance.
- Cptmjl

I agree Cpt. Would be interesting to see how he does against Tampa.

Well they are the favorites for a reason and set the points record last year. God help us if point comes back as he's even faster
- Upstate_isles

Have to be honest I don’t like our chances at all if he’s back in the line up. He’s that good for me to have to admit that. With that said we still haven’t found our game imo. I think we all know we can play better then what we’ve seen in this series so far.

I agree Cpt. Would be interesting to see how he does against Tampa.
- ses111

I don’t want to find out. I can’t see it working out for us

I agree Cpt. Would be interesting to see how he does against Tampa.
- ses111

Yes, but not in the Conference Finals of the playoffs. Boychuk is battle-tested. Dobson needs a lot more pounds of muscle before I throw him into that situation.

Yes, but not in the Conference Finals of the playoffs. Boychuk is battle-tested. Dobson needs a lot more pounds of muscle before I throw him into that situation.
- JohnScammo

Yep! Could not blame Barry at all not putting Dobson in.

Have to be honest I don’t like our chances at all if he’s back in the line up. He’s that good for me to have to admit that. With that said we still haven’t found our game imo. I think we all know we can play better then what we’ve seen in this series so far.
- Cptmjl

Shots were dead even and the last two games we 1 goal games or tied until late in the game. They aren't playing bad but can be better

Just reading the athletic and all three goals involved an extra pass to get vasilekiy moving sode to side sonthats their game plan it appears

Can't see the clips. But here you go guys


They’re alive!

It was hard to see how the Islanders were getting off the mat when the Lightning tied the score in Game 3 with 7:56 to go. The Islanders had finally gotten to Andrei Vasilevskiy, they’d looked faster than they had in either of the first two games, and Semyon Varlamov was having his best game in a week. Yet it was still tied and the Lightning were coming on strong.

“We’ve come too far,” Cal Clutterbuck said after the 5-3 win. “I don’t think packing it in is part of this team.”

So it’s a 2-1 series deficit, with Game 4 off a short turnaround Sunday afternoon. Here are five reasons to believe this Islanders team can rally:

Patience pays off with Vasilevskiy
With the score still 0-0 in the first, a turnover went right to Mathew Barzal, to Vasilevskiy’s left in tight. Barzal was on his backhand, with Lightning defenders closing from either side. Instead of shooting, he tried to thread a pass back into the high slot to Jordan Eberle; Cedric Paquette broke it up, and everyone online and in the NBCSN booth chided Barzal for not shooting.

But as we learned from our chat last month with Steve Valiquette, whose Clear Sight Analytics company meticulously charts the true high-danger areas where goals are scored, a player with the puck in the slot and a goalie with clear sight is a losing battle for the player. Factor in Barzal on his backhand and needing to go from ice level to under the crossbar in about a 5-foot space and you’re looking at maybe a 5 percent chance of scoring — nowhere near a high-danger opportunity.

So Barzal tried to get Vasilevskiy moving. Didn’t work, but he had the right idea, one the Islanders repeatedly used to good effect in Game 3.


There was the extra side pass by Jean-Gabriel Pageau that forced Vasilevskiy to move and not be set on Adam Pelech’s 2-1 goal in the second.


There was Brock Nelson choosing not to throw a backhand toward the net on a two-on-two, instead curling behind the cage to find Anthony Beauvillier before Vasilevskiy was set again later in the second.


And, finally, Beauvillier passing up a shot to try a pass across the slot line for Nelson, having it smothered by Barclay Goodrow, then retrieving it and trying another pass that did succeed and set up Nelson’s eventual winner.


The Islanders had three goals in the first two games and no luck finding rebounds or stray plays in front of Tampa’s top-level goalie. In Game 3, they made the extra pass to open up Vasilevskiy and it worked, despite Ed Olczyk’s on-air pleas.

Structure yields a winner
You’ve seen a couple of goals similar to Nelson’s winner already this postseason, especially from that line. There was the Game 3 goal against the Flyers when Josh Bailey broke up a zone exit and fed Nelson for a snap shot. Tampa hasn’t allowed the Isles to make a difference with turnovers at all this series, but Nelson flying off the bench to take the puck off Goodrow and set the winning goal in motion was a system play — Jon Cooper lamented his team giving the Isles a win, and he was mostly talking about that goal, which featured a couple of uncharacteristic mistakes by usually reliable Lightning players.

The Nelson line was by far the Isles’ best in Game 3, and someone from the top nine needed to step forward with Casey Cizikas out. Nelson, Barzal and Pageau were three of the top four Isles forwards in terms of even-strength ice time Friday. Barzal didn’t have a great night — he lost Tyler Johnson in front of Varlamov on the tying goal — but Pageau and Nelson were strong and showed the Islanders can get by without one of their identity forwards in Cizikas.

Activation from the defense
The Islanders can’t match what Tampa’s defensemen do in the flow of the Lightning’s offense. They simply don’t have the horses that Tampa does; Victor Hedman had a relatively quiet Game 3, and Ryan McDonagh was downright bad (for him), but Mikhail Sergachev was a force. That’s three big, skilled defensemen.

But the Isles did more than they had in the first two games at key times. Scott Mayfield’s step up to glove down a puck and keep the play alive before Pelech’s goal was one of a few strong decisions by Mayfield, who was rewarded with a team-high 21:37 of ice time. Devon Toews still looked a little spooked at times, but his quick restart off a poor dump-in got the Isles moving on Beauvillier’s goal, catching the Tampa D mid-change. And Pelech made half a dozen forays deep into the Lightning zone at various times, using his feet and his reach to keep plays alive.

“Sometimes we’re playing safe, we’re not diving in, but when that opportunity arises, we need to take it,” Pelech said.

They can’t match what the Lightning’s defensemen do. But the Islanders can’t throw Tampa off course without mixing it up, and there was just enough of that in Game 3.

Feeding off mistakes
McDonagh and Hedman had been pretty flawless through two games, which left little time when either of them wasn’t on the ice. But McDonagh had a clunker in Game 3, crossing up with Kevin Shattenkirk in coverage on Beauvillier’s goal, then a buddy pass to Goodrow that was easily turned over by Nelson and a failure to break up Beauvillier’s feed just before Nelson wired the winner.

The Islanders needed to shut the door on Tampa’s top forwards with Brayden Point and Alex Killorn sidelined. They didn’t really do that as well as you’d have hoped in Game 3, with Tampa dressing a couple of rarely used forwards and putting more effort players in different roles. Tampa still worked the Isles around for stretches, and Varlamov had to come up huge.

But finding a few cracks in Tampa’s imposing D-corps could give the Isles some confidence going into Sunday.

Brassard and Dal Colle belong
They didn’t play much by design, but Derick Brassard and Michael Dal Colle acquitted themselves well in returning to the lineup for Game 3. Leo Komarov centered those two, and they got more shifts than you’d have expected in a tight game. Komarov had trouble keeping up with Tampa’s fast-paced setup in the offensive zone, but it’s hard to imagine Barry Trotz sitting Uncle Leo if Cizikas can play Game 4.

Still, Brassard and Dal Colle were effective. Putting Pageau between them if Cizikas returns would give the Islanders a bit more speed in the bottom six, something they need to keep pace with Tampa’s active D.

Shots were dead even and the last two games we 1 goal games or tied until late in the game. They aren't playing bad but can be better
- Upstate_isles

The quality of the chances between the two teams seems to lean towards Tampa imo. Also, they also have a ton of extended zone time while they seem to be limiting ours.

How many hockeyputz coaches are pissed Griess wasn't in goal last night?

Isles are missing all of the Vas rebounds lying in an open crease on the weak side. I've seen close to 10 in this series already. Tampa gets people to the weak side, but we haven't. Our goalies are getting beat by tips. Where are our tips? Lee is taking the beating in front but not getting those softer tosses to the net so he can go to work.

Greene has looked tired this entire series. Is JB hanging at the red line being ready to drop back and block shots the answer? Probably not, but I have a feeling Dobson would be lost out there, and JB would do a better job protecting the paint and interfering with the tips and cross passes.