Defense Blows It As Isles Hand Buffalo Their First Win

Tonight, our Islanders were defeated 4-3 by the Buffalo Sabres in a shootout giving Buffalo their first win so far this season.  Here are some of my notes from the game:

-Good to see Nielsen stay on the scoreboard, however I saw him stop skating on a couple plays which is concerning and something you don't see a lot from him.

-Clutterbuck had by far his best game as an Islander to this point tonight.

-Nabby was alright tonight, he wasn't great but he wasn't terrible either.  Sure, would he like to have a goal or two back tonight?  Yeah, but he gave the team a chance to win and that is all we can expect from him.

-The defense was atrocious!  There is no other way to say it, MacDonald pretty much served up Buffalo's first goal for them on a silver platter with that blind pass out of the corner.  Then throughout the night he seemed lost at times.  He has had a rough start, hopefully he is able to figure his stuff out.

-Brock Nelson should be back in this lineup on Thursday weather it is for Boulton or if McDonald is feeling better then Bouchard.  I know Bouchard had a point tonight, but the guy really didn't impress me at all with his increased ice time.

-I don't get them scratching Matt Donovan for a second game in a row.  Sure, the kid had a bad game, but how many bad games did Bouchard have before he was scratched?  Doesn't seem right to me, especially when his replacement is Matt Carkner which isn't exactly an upgrade.  The way they are handling both him and Nelson seem backward to me for a team that is supposed to be building through the draft.

-The coverage on the Sabres power play goal was abysmal, terrible job by them to leave Vanek of all people pretty much wide open in front of the net.

To me, this streak has the makings as one of our annual swoons that will have us out of the playoffs by the holidays.  Hopefully this team will show growth and that they are beyond those type of stretches.  The last two games don't have me feeling all that optimistic though.

Next Game: Thursday @ Home Vs Edmonton