🚨 Special Offer! 🚨 For Isles Fix subscribers from Vintage Ice Hockey: Receive 10% off any order at Vintage Ice Hockey through November 4th using code “ISLESFIX” at checkout.
***Congrats to paid subscriber Jason Dougal, who won a $100 choice of in-stock jersey***
Believe it or not, the unconventional hockey town of Fort Worth, Texas, has a Long Island connection. During the 1970s, the town was home to the Fort Worth Texans of the Central Hockey League (CHL). They were initially a Red Wings affiliate, but starting with the 1974-75 season, they teamed up with the Islanders.
To match their new big club affiliation, the team changed their colors to blue and orange and adopted a circular logo with a hockey stick over Texas (sound familiar, Isles fans?). Texans alumni include lots of players who went on to great things on Long Island, including Bob Bourne, Richie Hansen, Lorne Henning, and Bob Lorimer.
Shop Fort Worth Texans apparel at Vintage Ice Hockey, including jerseys, t-shirts, and sweatshirts.
Good Morning, Islanders Country.
When you win a game where you take Mathew Barzal off a line with Bo Horvat, the head coach gets a question in the post-game, but it’s not a story. When he does it two games in a row, with bad results, well, that’s when those decisions are going to generate a whole lot more attention.
"They were creating a lot of chances offensively. Just defensively, we've got to shore things up," head coach Lane Lambert responded when asked why he swapped Barzal and Oliver Wahlstrom for the second straight game.
The thing is, they weren’t that bad defensively, and likely not bad enough that warranted them being split in a game where they led 2-0. To make matters worse, the end result was that each of the “updated” lines allowed a goal during the Red Wing’s three-goal third period. It was then Barzal setting up Horvat on the power-play to tie the game and salvage a point.
Overcoaching? Overthinking? Maybe.
“When I went back and looked at it, it wasn’t maybe as bad as I thought it was [after the game],’’ Lambert said at the Isles optional skate on Tuesday. “Certainly, you don’t want to be giving up Grade-A chances,” he continued. “You don’t want to be trading chances, chance for chance. That’s not how our team is built.”
Lambert’s comments lend you to believe that Horvat and Barzal will be back together to start Thursday’s game against the Washington Capitals, and he’ll likely be a little less quick to pull the trigger on a change next time.
“Those in-game decisions are made, and we learn from them as we move forward,’’ he said. In year two, as head coach, Lambert is still learning, but that doesn’t mean the team has lost any confidence in the coach’s decision-making.
“It is what it is,’’ Barzal said. “Lane’s the coach. He knows what he’s doing.”
Coming up, Scott Mayfield gingerly hits the ice, and the NHL is calling more penalties this early season. Plus, Noah Dobson’s hot start, the first four-goal game in Islanders history, and a discovered feature on Joey and Brian Mullen.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Isles Fix to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.