-The fact that Brian Strait was on the ice more tonight than all Islander players except for four is just utterly maddening. Strait was on the ice more than John Tavares was tonight, let that sink in. Brian Strait has been on the ice for 9 of the opponents last 11 goals including tonight. If that isn't license for a stay in the press box, I don't know what is.
-While the team didn't help him out a lot, it was another sub-par outing for Chad Johnson tonight. Johnson had a good showing against the Bruins in October. However, beyond that Johnson has been shaky to say the least.
-The offensive ineptness made an appearance again tonight. To get just 8 shots in two periods is simply unacceptable. While it wasn't as bad on Saturday, this is two games in a row now where the offense simply disappeared after the first period. I am not sure what the coaches can do to fix this beyond switching the lines up but something needs to be done.
-Congrats to Griffin Reinhart on his first NHL point.
-Thoughts to Keith Ballard, it was very scary seeing him on the ice tonight.
-Marco Scandella on the Wild needs to be suspended. He was fined on December 1st for a hit to the head on TJ Oshie. Tonight was his real highlight show though as in one period he hit John Tavares with a dangerous slash in the back of the leg. He then followed that up a couple minutes later with a head shot on Brock Nelson that closely resembled the one he got fined for just 8 days ago. He should now be dealt with as a repeat offender by the NHL and suspended accordingly.
If there was ever going to be 5 minute major for slashing, this was it #Isles pic.twitter.com/gWcLygERme
— Joe Buono (@JBuono611) December 10, 2014
-The lack of ice time for Griffin Reinhart is also surprising. Yes, he is a young player so you want to try and limit his minutes. However, given the Islanders situation on defense that shouldn't be so obvious. He should not be playing over 6 minutes less per game than Brian Strait given Straits on ice performance.-To allow 4 goals in the third period tonight or on any night is unacceptable. The effort tonight reminded of last season when after getting the lead they just sat back instead of continuing to play. Maybe they thought now because they have more skill on the team that strategy may work. However, they were once again shown that if you sit back on a lead like that you will lose. Hopefully, this will be the wake up call the team needs to realize that they can't sit back like that and they need to keep the foot on the gas.
While the team does sit at 19-9 near the top of the eastern conference, if you aren't concerned by the back to back 3-0 defeats, you must be new around here. Especially tonights game which resembled a game we would've seen last year or years prior to that. How the team responds to this will really show a lot about them.
Next Game: Thursday 8:00 @ St Louis
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