Isles Road Trip Ends in Dissapointment

Those of us who were optimistic after the Isles overtime win on Saturday night, such as Sean and I, were very disappointed in the Isles performance on Sunday night in Chicago.

The Islanders were completely dominated by the Blackhawks from the word "go" as they shut-out the Isles 5-0.

The game cannot solely be pinned on any one player. Nathan Lawson was left out to dry by both the forwards and the defense. In all honesty, the effort was putrid and very unacceptable. These kinds of problems simply cannot happen if you are trying to show everyone you are turning the corner. Don't get me wrong - every team is entitled to the occasional bad game, but not as frequently as it has happened here.

The Islanders really didn't get any great chances on Corey Crawford aside from Michael Grabner's breakaway and Josh Bailey's chance all alone in front of a briefly wide open net. The puck rolled right off of Grabner's stick when he cut in on Crawford, while Crawford made a huge and unbelievable pad save on Bailey. Both events were microcosms of the game, honestly.

This was your classic case of talent shining through. Marian Hossa, Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews were all factors in this one for the Blackhawks, who are now healthy and finally have all three stars back together again. Behind Crawford's hot goaltending, they are starting to click a bit as they battle in the tight Western conference.

All in all, however, the Islanders road trip was overall successful. They finished 3-2-0, which is tough to do on these trips out West. In general the Islanders played well, and played well enough overall to win in Edmonton but couldn't get another puck past Devan Dubnyk.

The Islanders don't have a heck of a lot of time to get their act together as they return home to face yet another excellent team on Tuesday night in the Vancouver Canucks. The Canucks have been on a tear, although their recent streak was ended by the Detroit Red Wings. This is still a very good team though that will be tough to beat. The Isles have fared well against them though the last few seasons, so perhaps it could be more of the same as far as that goes.

NEW SHOW POSTED: As always, we had our show Sunday afternoon and have posted it at both the podcast and the UStream sites for your listening or viewing pleasure. We hope you guys enjoy!

-CH

nyifyi@gmail.com