Pens Take 3-2 Series Lead As Vokoun Shuts Out Isles

Tonight, the Islanders were shutout by the Penguins 4-0 giving the Penguins a 3-2 lead in the teams' best of seven first round series.  Here are some of my notes:

-Nabokov has to be better!!  The defense didn't help him much, but Nabokov has got to bail the team out like other goalies in the playoffs do for their team.  He has been incapable of doing that this entire series and it really shows in his atrocious numbers.  If the Islanders even stand a chance at winning these last two games, Nabokov has to be better.

-Further on Nabokov, he has been being beat up high all series, and yet tonight the Penguins still were able to score up high tonight.  Are Nabokov/the coaches incapable of making adjustments?  That is very concerning that it hasn't been addressed yet.

-Defense has to step up!  Nabokov hasn't been good, but the defense hasn't helped much either.  It seems like the Penguins get at least one breakaway per game, that really needs to change!

-Where has the powerplay gone?  Paging Doug Weight!  2-17 is just unacceptable!

-The team overall needs to be better on faceoffs.  Even though they are often overlooked, faceoffs are a key to the game and the team hasn't been good thus far this series.

-Even though Joensuu didn't have a bad game, why make the change from Ullstrom?  The team won and all season he rarely changed the lineup after wins but does in the playoffs?  That doesn't make sense.  I can't kill him on the Carkner move because I wasn't to surprised by it because of how bad he is in the defensive zone and his lack of physical presence the last two games.

People during the game started saying that back in 1993 we lost game 5 to but went on to win six and seven.  What people failed to remember is that our goalie back then was actually a good playoff goalie.  We saw during the regular season that Nabokov is a good goalie, but even back with the Sharks he has always struggled in the playoffs.  If the Islanders want to repeat history 20 years later Nabokov and the defense need to play like they did in early-mid April and not recently or things won't be pretty for Islanders fans.

Next Game: Saturday @ Home Game 6 @ 7:00PM