Good Morning, Islanders Country.
It was supposed to be no mercy, not no goals.
The Capitals shutout the Islanders 2-0 on Saturday in a game that represented a step up from recent competition. On Cobra-Kai day, even Ralph Macchio’s presence wasn’t enough to crane kick-start an offense that was lackluster, failing to generate many chances throughout the afternoon. We’ll have the key moments, including a shot that hit the post and one that wasn’t taken in a bit.
Coming up, Josh Bailey passes on an open net while Noah Dobson has been shooting a lot. Plus, a look back at Kyle Okposo’s four-goal game in front of ‘Trots,’ and today is your last chance to vote to send Mathew Barzal to the All-Star Game.
Let’s dive in.
📰 NEWS: The Islanders fell to the Washington Capitals 2-0 in a Saturday matinee at UBS Arena. Semyon Varlamov played well, making 30 saves, but it wasn’t enough to eclipse the stingy Capitals. A defensive miscommunication between Robin Salo and Josh Bailey led to Tom Wilson beating Varlamov for an early 1-0 Washington lead.
The game remained that way until Alexander Ovechkin sealed the victory with an empty netter after the Isles spent extended time playing 6-on-5 seeking the equalizer. Noah Dobson came inches from tying things in the first period but rang iron as he continues to show confidence with the puck.
Vitek Vanecek made 23-saves in the shutout effort to earn his third career shutout; he has now blanked the Isles in consecutive appearances over two seasons. The Islanders’ power-play goal streak came to an end after eight straight games with a goal going 0/3 on the afternoon. They are 6-3-1 in their last ten games and have earned at least a point ten times in the last 13 games (6-3-4).
🗣 QUOTEBOOK:
FIND A WAY: "We got to find a way to get the puck to the net, especially late," Islanders captain Anders Lee said. “We got to find a way to bear down and get something greasy.”
MISHANDLED: “I didn’t think we made a lot of plays,” associate head coach Lane Lambert said. “We didn’t handle the puck the way we could, should, and probably would. It felt like a game where we had a layoff. I was expecting more of a lack of execution last game than this game. We knew the magnitude of this game and we didn’t get it.”
ACCOUNTABILITY: "Yeah, we sit up here and talk about we’re in a hole," Scott Mayfield said. "We’ve got to dig ourselves out. It’s tough. We’ve got to get those points. We’ve got to start racking up wins, racking up points and we didn’t today."
🤦♂️ SHOOOOOOOT: Certainly, Josh Bailey was a topic of conversation when he opted to pass the puck on a play where he clearly had an open net.
It’s easy to get lost in the sauce with still frames such as this. Should Bailey have opted to shoot? Yes, absolutely. Would a shoot-first forward probably have buried this? Likely. It happened to be Bailey on the receiving end of this pass, a pass-first kind of player, and he opted for one too many. The Islanders have (and have had) an obvious issue with scoring. They need more shoot-first mentality in these situations, and maybe that starts with promoting those minds from within.
⏭ NEXT UP: The Islanders play a back-to-back against a team that may just be as desperate as they are for wins. The Philadelphia Flyers visit UBS Arena tonight aiming to end a seven game losing streak.
📊 STANDINGS:
🏒 HEY MAN, NICE SHOT: Per JFreshHockey, going into Saturday’s game, Noah Dobson had the 8th highest individual share of on-ice shot attempts for defenseman in the league, ahead of some household names.
It’s neither good or bad to be or not be on this list, but it does show a player’s aggressiveness when it comes to taking shots and getting pucks on net. As Dobson’s confidence has grown, he has shown a propensity for unleashing his shot rather than looking to make the extra pass or play the puck in-deep.
You may recognize the top spot (by a healthy margin) belongs to that Coyotes’ defensemen everyone is talking about - the only defenseman over 30%.
📚 SOUND SMART: How much of a scoring problem do the Islanders have? Well, in 30 games the Islanders have scored a league-low 67 goals. In their last eight games, the Florida Panthers have scored 50(!!!) goals.
🗓 ISLE REMEMBER: On January 16, 2015, former Islander Kyle Okposo registered a four-goal game, with three coming in the third period, in a 6-3 come-from-behind win against the Pittsburgh Penguins at the Nassau Coliseum.
The performance was made extra special as one of Okposo’s mentors, Islanders legend and Hockey Hall of Famer Bryan Trottier was in attendance and took part in a pre-game ceremony. Via John Kreisser in NHL.com:
“Okposo got to know Trottier when the No. 1 center on the Islanders' dynasty teams of the early 1980s worked in player development during his early years with the team.
"[Trottier] has been a bit of a mentor of mine," said Okposo, who became the first Islanders player to score four goals in a game since Matt Moulson against the Dallas Stars on Dec. 3, 2011. "When I came into the League, my first rookie camp in 2006, I just kind of picked his brain. The way that he carried himself and still carries himself to this day is something that I really look up to and try to emulate.”
🔗 Adam Pelech shows why he’s the Islanders’ All-Star, but he needs more help around him, by Kevin Kurz, The Athletic: “When he first came up (to the NHL) … you could see early on that he really had a special ability, and I think that ability has just grown…”
🔗 Islanders Goalie Semyon Varlamov is Hitting His Stride, by Matt O'Leary, Eyes on Isles: “In Semyon Varlamov's three starts since, he's been like the Varly of old. He has a 2-1 record with a .973 save percentage and just one goal allowed per game. Talk about a massive turnaround.”
And we leave you with this…if you’d like to see Mathew Barzal defend his 2020 fastest skater title, here’s your chance to assist. One more player from each division will be sent to Las Vegas as part of the 2022 NHL All-Star Last Men In™ contest and Barzal is the Islanders representative from the Metropolitan Division.
Fans can submit up to 10 ballots per 24 hours through Monday, January 17. You will need to sign in or create an NHL account to cast your vote.
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