The roster construction doesn’t work with Barzal or Horvat. Trotz maximized it at its peak but if Barzal is ever going to be anything the team needs to create opportunities skating up and down the ice, but our defensive personnel isn’t built to do so and unfortunately we play to offset their deficiencies at the expense of the offensive talent on the team. Unfortunately the best case scenario of success for that philosophy is first round losses.
I think making the playoffs was the worst thing that could have happened to this team. Had they not made the playoffs, we might have seen some front office changes. Now we're most likely stuck with zero inspiration head coach and way past his time GM.
Agree. Lou and Lane will be back. What really sucks here is there appears to be no direction with this club. There are 2 ways to a win a Cup. You already have a great team that can compete for a championship which the Isles do not have. Or you go into full rebuild mode and start over. Try to acquire as many draft picks as possible and start rebuilding thru the draft. Lou can't be the one doing it though. Right now, the Isles aren't a Cup contender, and they are not rebuilding. They are an average team that doesn't appear to have a direction. What is the plan here Lou?
Went to the Kings/Oilers game last night and two things stuck out to me that are relevant to the Islanders. The Kings were able to rebuild back into a legit Cup contender pretty quickly because they acknowledged quickly that their previous Cup window had closed and committed to the rebuild, something Lou has refused to do. And two, skating with the puck and creating separation isn’t a unique skill set relegated to only a few elite players; every player on the ice for the Oilers and Kings could do it. The Isles have deliberately committed to a roster of players that seems incapable of it.
That was a great game. I would love for the Isles to have even half the talent the Oilers have on offense. Their PP is lethal.
At least you guys can clearly point to the referees for a reason for this series. What excuses do we Rangers fans have?
Devils are a really good team as well. The Rangers and Devils are evenly matched. Its 2-2 so it's anybody's series. The Isles are basically done. Even if they manage to win tonight, I can't see them coming back and winning this series. The Canes even with all of their injuries are still a better team than the Isles.
The Islanders in this series are your typical underdog that is able to compete for a few games in the series to make it interesting but ultimately they can’t maintain that level of play against a better team and fall off as the series goes on. That’s what we saw in game 4. Sure, maybe we could have had a 2-1 lead instead of a 1-2 deficit going into game 4 if not for the refs but I think the outcome of game 4 would have been the same, and the outcome of the series, because ultimately this is a poorly constructed roster with a delusional GM that doesn’t see they don’t have the defensive personnel to win 2-1 games or the offensive personnel to sacrifice defense and try to win 4-3.
One word: SOROKIN. If you watched the game, then you know. Win a home game on Friday night and this thing goes 7. Anything can happen in a game 7.
OH yeah, told my dad last night "see you for game 7".... Sorokin beasting in the 1st....then the team actually skating in scoring after some adjustments later. We'll see
And that's it. You play with head up your rear ends for most of the game, you're not going to win too often. Too bad it was Pelech and Sorokin who messed up, when it's people like Barzal, Horvat, and Engvall who are responsible for this garbage with awful play.
