GAME DAY: New York Islanders @ Ottawa Senators - 7:00pm ET - Thu. Oct. 8th, 2009

Jordo wrote:

N4L wrote:A Train got beat by a great move and bit, it happens. Okposo is a good player and made a great play, simple as that. Oksposo made everyone on the ice look bad, not just Spezza, not just A Train, but everyone.

Agreed- I'm not sure how you could have played that differently- he just got turned inside out by a great deke. You say that Volchenkov is way out of position, but he isn't. Where's he supposed to be in that situation. Draw me a picture on that photo of where you think he should be in that case, and keep in mind that they're breaking in on the net, so the momentum is moving forwards toward him. He did exactly what he should do- try to defend him as he's moving forward, except Okposo deked the pants off of him.... not much you can do.

That aside- Spezza and Kovalev looked like Dung tonight. Both of those guys need to be better. You can even throw Michalek and Alfie into that pile too... They made some good plays tonight, but let's be honest- this is the Islanders, not the Wings or Penguins. We may have won this game, but we have a LOT of work to do in their zone to bring us up to a playoff team.

Jordo wrote:

N4L wrote:A Train got beat by a great move and bit, it happens. Okposo is a good player and made a great play, simple as that. Oksposo made everyone on the ice look bad, not just Spezza, not just A Train, but everyone.

Agreed- I'm not sure how you could have played that differently- he just got turned inside out by a great deke. You say that Volchenkov is way out of position, but he isn't. Where's he supposed to be in that situation. Draw me a picture on that photo of where you think he should be in that case, and keep in mind that they're breaking in on the net, so the momentum is moving forwards toward him. He did exactly what he should do- try to defend him as he's moving forward, except Okposo deked the pants off of him.... not much you can do.

That aside- Spezza and Kovalev looked like Dung tonight. Both of those guys need to be better. You can even throw Michalek and Alfie into that pile too... They made some good plays tonight, but let's be honest- this is the Islanders, not the Wings or Penguins. We may have won this game, but we have a LOT of work to do in their zone to bring us up to a playoff team.

ddt wrote:

Jordo wrote:

N4L wrote:A Train got beat by a great move and bit, it happens. Okposo is a good player and made a great play, simple as that. Oksposo made everyone on the ice look bad, not just Spezza, not just A Train, but everyone.

Agreed- I'm not sure how you could have played that differently- he just got turned inside out by a great deke. You say that Volchenkov is way out of position, but he isn't. Where's he supposed to be in that situation. Draw me a picture on that photo of where you think he should be in that case, and keep in mind that they're breaking in on the net, so the momentum is moving forwards toward him. He did exactly what he should do- try to defend him as he's moving forward, except Okposo deked the pants off of him.... not much you can do.

That aside- Spezza and Kovalev looked like Dung tonight. Both of those guys need to be better. You can even throw Michalek and Alfie into that pile too... They made some good plays tonight, but let's be honest- this is the Islanders, not the Wings or Penguins. We may have won this game, but we have a LOT of work to do in their zone to bring us up to a playoff team.

It's not his positioning that's the problem, it's his body position. Look at that crouch he's going into (he actually goes down lower). He's thinking blocked shot all the way, and from that crouch he cannot skate to keep body position on Okposo. It's not so much this one play, it's that he always does it. The blocked shot should be a last ditch effort, not the first thing a D-man thinks about.

N4L wrote:

If Leclaire stays healthy then he can get Ottawa to the playoffs on his own honestly, he looks that good.

Things will come together I think, slowly but surely, just gonna have to grind out some ugly wins with the guys like Fisher, Neil, and Regin. Regin has looked awesome.

I can't believe how good Carkner is looking now! Where are the people that were screaming for Lee now?

N4L wrote:I can't believe how good Carkner is looking now! Where are the people that were screaming for Lee now?

Jordo wrote:

N4L wrote:

If Leclaire stays healthy then he can get Ottawa to the playoffs on his own honestly, he looks that good.

Things will come together I think, slowly but surely, just gonna have to grind out some ugly wins with the guys like Fisher, Neil, and Regin. Regin has looked awesome.

I can't believe how good Carkner is looking now! Where are the people that were screaming for Lee now?

That's probably true, but I'd hate to be a team like that- like the old Devils. We have the tools to be a highly potent offensive team- I'm just not sure why we aren't clicking yet. I really hope (and trust) that this will pick up.

Also- you know I wasn't one of the ones screaming for Lee.. haha- I hope we never see him again.

N4L wrote:The team will improve obviously but they REALLLLY need to get that PP going because that will cost them if it doesnt. Phillips and A Train have been unreal the last 2 games and Fisher looks like he wants to earn his money and shut up his critics (SSF, haha)

Spezza is going to have to start putting things together but you see the commitment to playing both ends right now which is a fairly big deal, but is he a good enough player to become a good player in both ends? I have my doubts right now.

N4L wrote:He's showing his worth right now and could be the teams best player.

N4L wrote:If Leclaire stays healthy then he can get Ottawa to the playoffs on his own honestly, he looks that good.

Things will come together I think, slowly but surely, just gonna have to grind out some ugly wins with the guys like Fisher, Neil, and Regin. Regin has looked awesome.

I can't believe how good Carkner is looking now! Where are the people that were screaming for Lee now?

Hoags wrote:Pretty good game last night.

Leclaire was great again, beat on 2 great plays.
Cheechoo-Regin-Neil was our best line
Our top players for the most part were again ineffective, Kovy couldn't even keep his helmet on.
Power play is horrible.
Referees were making up for the first goal, 4 straight penalties to us ? Blatant hit from behind by Weight not called ?
And finally WTF is Foligno doing out there ?

I was hoping we'd have an offensive blowout against the Isles but a win is a win

SeawaySensFan wrote:I'm very disappointed in Picard. Let's say he was terrible for only half the game, it's still unacceptable.

As for Karlsson, kid or not, he has no business being on the bench when the 1st PP unit is on the ice. Shannon or no Shannon.

SeawaySensFan wrote:I'm very disappointed in Picard. Let's say he was terrible for only half the game, it's still unacceptable.

As for Karlsson, kid or not, he has no business being on the bench when the 1st PP unit is on the ice. Shannon or no Shannon.