photo courtesy of http://a.espncdn.com/Tonight, the Islanders opened their season with a 4-3 shootout victory over the New Jersey Devils. Here are some of my notes from the game:
-Michael Grabner was the best Islander player tonight. He was everywhere on the ice and seemed to have an extra jump to his step. Hopefully, he is able to keep that up as the season progresses.
-Nabokov was alright, he had some shaky moments. However, he did come up with some huge saves and was an absolute beast in the shootout. I fully expect him to play tomorrow even though it is the back end of a back to back.
-The teams play in their own zone was concerning tonight. With it being the opener you expect some aspects to be kind of rusty. However, their play was beyond that so something needs to be done to address that.
-The Nelson-Regin-Bouchard line was pretty solid as a hole. They had more then a few good shifts which was good to see. Brock Nelson didn't look out of place at all in his NHL regular season debut.
-After having a solid first shift, the Tavares line was underwhelming tonight. I have no doubt that they will find their way, tonight wasn't a good start for them though.
-Matt Donovan had a solid game as well! He did make a couple mistakes but that is expected from a rookie.
It is certainly a refreshing change for them to not play their "A" game and still come away with the two points. It will be interesting to see if the coaches decide to make a defensive change for tomorrow night after their struggles tonight.
Next Game: Tomorrow Night Home Opener Vs the Blue Jackets @ 7PM
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