The Islanders may have taken baby steps forward in their games against the Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins, but in St. Louis the penalty killing and defense were once again the culprits in an effort that left the team taking another huge step back.
Showing posts with label St. Louis Blues. Show all posts
Showing posts with label St. Louis Blues. Show all posts
December 6, 2013
March 6, 2011
Isles Dent Playoff Hopes for Blues
If the St. Louis Blues want to truly make up the 10 point hole they have put themselves into after a hot beginning of the season, then the task just got a lot harder.
The Blues road in their attempt at a miraculous comeback passed through Uniondale on Saturday afternoon, and it turned out to be a nightmare for them.
Generally, these afternoon games on the weekends give the Isles hard times. But Saturday afternoon felt different. It felt like it was being played by a team that knows what they have to do to win now, and was in line with many of the games they have played over the past month.
Who knows. Maybe the Isles slept better than they had been and were ultra prepared for the Blues for this one.
There were a number of instances where the Isles made the Blues defensemen just look plain silly. Despite their recent woes, that's not an easy task to do. The likes of Barrett Jackman, Carlo Colaiacovo and Alex Pietrangelo are very good at their trade. But on a couple of plays, the Isles made them look like turn styles.
The scoring was started by John Tavares, after he made a beautiful move around two Blues players. That goal might be one of the top five I have seen all season. It was something really cool to see. It was off of a nice pass by P.A. Parenteau, who had a bit of a rough start to the game but settled down nicely after missing an open net.
Parenteau would end his own little slump later when he got a nice pass from Michael Grabner to give the Isles a 2-0 lead. That goal was started by Tavares, who made a nice play and pass at center to find Grabner, who used his speed to streak up the left side. Parenteau went to the net hard from the right, and was in the perfect spot to tap in the pass.
Andrew MacDonald scored two goals in this one, his 2nd on a breakaway after stripping Andy McDonald of the puck on the blue-line.
Grabner got one of hi own to end a drought, and he blew past Pietrangelo to score on a breakaway of his own.
I really liked the Isles effort, but Jack Capuano didn't seem enthralled with it. He warned in the post game that they can't play the way they did and expect to win like that. I thought that while there were a couple of defensive lapses here and there, that they were few and far between.
But perhaps that's more of a statement towards how much Capuano has grown as a coach. We have seen the good, bad and ugly with him, and now we are obviously seeing more of the good. Perhaps it was his subtle way of telling the team it's never enough, a friendly way of saying "I'm not pleased" so they keep up what they have been doing. He needs them to for next season when he's here, anyway.
The test gets a bit harder for the Isles as they face the New Jersey Devils in a Sunday afternoon matinee. The Devils are one of the few teams hotter than the Isles right now, and seem to be trying desperately to do anything in their power to march to a playoff spot. It's still improbable, but anything can happen.
Martin Brodeur has been announced as the starter for the Devils. Capuano wouldn't announce his, but I'm going to guess Nathan Lawson. Al Montoya wasn't bad against the Blues, but he wasn't as "on" as he has been in recent games, so the Isles may look to give him the day off and go with Lawson off of his stellar performance in Washington.
Ilya Kovalchuk is playing like himself again, which is good for the Devils and bad for everyone else right now. He's firing on all cylinders. After a really miserable start to the season, Henrik Tallinder really settled in and is playing like the defensive defenseman he can be when healthy. This is a team you must be very careful with.
The last time the Isles saw them, it was also an afternoon matinee. It didn't go too well for the Isles as they lost 5-2. Times were a bit different then though. Can this rejuvenated Isles team take out the Devils that no one else seems to be able to stop? Would make for a great story. I'm looking forward to being in the press box for this one.
REMINDER: We'll be on live at 11 AM for NYI FYI. Make sure to join us on UStream and come with questions or comments!
-CH
nyifyi@gmail.com
The Blues road in their attempt at a miraculous comeback passed through Uniondale on Saturday afternoon, and it turned out to be a nightmare for them.
Generally, these afternoon games on the weekends give the Isles hard times. But Saturday afternoon felt different. It felt like it was being played by a team that knows what they have to do to win now, and was in line with many of the games they have played over the past month.
Who knows. Maybe the Isles slept better than they had been and were ultra prepared for the Blues for this one.
There were a number of instances where the Isles made the Blues defensemen just look plain silly. Despite their recent woes, that's not an easy task to do. The likes of Barrett Jackman, Carlo Colaiacovo and Alex Pietrangelo are very good at their trade. But on a couple of plays, the Isles made them look like turn styles.
The scoring was started by John Tavares, after he made a beautiful move around two Blues players. That goal might be one of the top five I have seen all season. It was something really cool to see. It was off of a nice pass by P.A. Parenteau, who had a bit of a rough start to the game but settled down nicely after missing an open net.
Parenteau would end his own little slump later when he got a nice pass from Michael Grabner to give the Isles a 2-0 lead. That goal was started by Tavares, who made a nice play and pass at center to find Grabner, who used his speed to streak up the left side. Parenteau went to the net hard from the right, and was in the perfect spot to tap in the pass.
Andrew MacDonald scored two goals in this one, his 2nd on a breakaway after stripping Andy McDonald of the puck on the blue-line.
Grabner got one of hi own to end a drought, and he blew past Pietrangelo to score on a breakaway of his own.
I really liked the Isles effort, but Jack Capuano didn't seem enthralled with it. He warned in the post game that they can't play the way they did and expect to win like that. I thought that while there were a couple of defensive lapses here and there, that they were few and far between.
But perhaps that's more of a statement towards how much Capuano has grown as a coach. We have seen the good, bad and ugly with him, and now we are obviously seeing more of the good. Perhaps it was his subtle way of telling the team it's never enough, a friendly way of saying "I'm not pleased" so they keep up what they have been doing. He needs them to for next season when he's here, anyway.
The test gets a bit harder for the Isles as they face the New Jersey Devils in a Sunday afternoon matinee. The Devils are one of the few teams hotter than the Isles right now, and seem to be trying desperately to do anything in their power to march to a playoff spot. It's still improbable, but anything can happen.
Martin Brodeur has been announced as the starter for the Devils. Capuano wouldn't announce his, but I'm going to guess Nathan Lawson. Al Montoya wasn't bad against the Blues, but he wasn't as "on" as he has been in recent games, so the Isles may look to give him the day off and go with Lawson off of his stellar performance in Washington.
Ilya Kovalchuk is playing like himself again, which is good for the Devils and bad for everyone else right now. He's firing on all cylinders. After a really miserable start to the season, Henrik Tallinder really settled in and is playing like the defensive defenseman he can be when healthy. This is a team you must be very careful with.
The last time the Isles saw them, it was also an afternoon matinee. It didn't go too well for the Isles as they lost 5-2. Times were a bit different then though. Can this rejuvenated Isles team take out the Devils that no one else seems to be able to stop? Would make for a great story. I'm looking forward to being in the press box for this one.
REMINDER: We'll be on live at 11 AM for NYI FYI. Make sure to join us on UStream and come with questions or comments!
-CH
nyifyi@gmail.com
March 5, 2011
Gillies Suspended 10 Games; Blues at Isles
The NHL came down hard on Trevor Gillies on Friday when they announced that they suspended him for 10 games for his hit on Cal Clutterbuck of the Minnesota Wild.
I was very adamant about how I felt about what happened in the post game write-up. I still stand by those and have no problem with this suspension.
Gillies didn't hit Clutterbuck hard. Thankfully, DiBenedetto wasn't hurt from Clutterbuck's hit, either. But the fact of the matter is that it was a pretty senseless thing for Gillies to do coming fresh off of that nine game suspension. Again, the proper way to handle this situation is challenge Clutterbuck to a fight. When he declines (which generally does happen) then you let Matt Martin and Zenon Konopka take care of hitting anything that moves. A few hits to the likes of Martin Havlat and Pierre-Marc Bouchard takes care of everything and forces the entire Wild team to have to answer the bell for Clutterbuck's hit.
I know people point to the NHL's inconsistency in handing out these suspensions, and that is still the case here. We can argue all day if either of Gillies suspensions fit the crimes. While I support a lot of what happened in that Pittsburgh game, what Gillies did to Tangradi wasn't cool, hit or no hit on Jack Hillen. Continuing to pummel an injured player is terrible no matter how you slice it. That's why they came down as hard as they did on him, or so they thought.
For Gillies to come out after that suspension, and hit Clutterbuck up high - it doesn't matter from the side, from the rear, whatever - is mindless. I'm not sure what was going on in his head. But the reason this suspension is so lengthy is due to what he was just coming off of, not two minutes (of ice time) into that first game back.
The suspension most likely gives Gilles seven (potential) games left of his NHL career.
ISLES TAKE ON BLUES: The Islanders take on my favorite team from the West as the St. Louis Blues come to town. The Blues are a team that has had a rather up and down season, and they made their feelings known on the teams collapse after their hot start with their trade of Erik Johnson and Jay McClement to the Colorado Avalanche for Kevin Shattenkirk and Chris Stewart.
Stewart has been on fire for the Blues, and is the type of player we can hope Kyle Okposo turns in to. While they were drafted far apart in the first round from each other, both were first round picks in the 2006 draft. Stewart hasn't been held back by injuries though and has put together two straight solid seasons as a power forward. He is the guy the Isles have to key in on.
The Blues have some other solid players who are having good season's, like Andy McDonald. He's the guy setting up the likes of Stewart or David Backes.
Ben Bishop starts in goal for the Blues. Bishop has been up and down between the NHL and the AHL's Peoria Blues, but has had some solid games recently when Jaroslav Halak was hurt. Bishop's play led to the waiving of Ty Conklin.
Micheal Haley gets back into the line-up after missing time with a knee injury. He takes Gillies spot in the line-up. Al Montoya gets another start coming off that stellar performance against the Wild. If he puts in another one like that, it's going to be really hard to not start him Sunday against the Devils, no matter what Nathan Lawson did in Washington.
All in all, a pretty good match-up for a Saturday afternoon. Two teams that play similar styles that actually match up quite well with each other. It should be a fun one.
-CH
nyifyi@gmail.com
I was very adamant about how I felt about what happened in the post game write-up. I still stand by those and have no problem with this suspension.
Gillies didn't hit Clutterbuck hard. Thankfully, DiBenedetto wasn't hurt from Clutterbuck's hit, either. But the fact of the matter is that it was a pretty senseless thing for Gillies to do coming fresh off of that nine game suspension. Again, the proper way to handle this situation is challenge Clutterbuck to a fight. When he declines (which generally does happen) then you let Matt Martin and Zenon Konopka take care of hitting anything that moves. A few hits to the likes of Martin Havlat and Pierre-Marc Bouchard takes care of everything and forces the entire Wild team to have to answer the bell for Clutterbuck's hit.
I know people point to the NHL's inconsistency in handing out these suspensions, and that is still the case here. We can argue all day if either of Gillies suspensions fit the crimes. While I support a lot of what happened in that Pittsburgh game, what Gillies did to Tangradi wasn't cool, hit or no hit on Jack Hillen. Continuing to pummel an injured player is terrible no matter how you slice it. That's why they came down as hard as they did on him, or so they thought.
For Gillies to come out after that suspension, and hit Clutterbuck up high - it doesn't matter from the side, from the rear, whatever - is mindless. I'm not sure what was going on in his head. But the reason this suspension is so lengthy is due to what he was just coming off of, not two minutes (of ice time) into that first game back.
The suspension most likely gives Gilles seven (potential) games left of his NHL career.
ISLES TAKE ON BLUES: The Islanders take on my favorite team from the West as the St. Louis Blues come to town. The Blues are a team that has had a rather up and down season, and they made their feelings known on the teams collapse after their hot start with their trade of Erik Johnson and Jay McClement to the Colorado Avalanche for Kevin Shattenkirk and Chris Stewart.
Stewart has been on fire for the Blues, and is the type of player we can hope Kyle Okposo turns in to. While they were drafted far apart in the first round from each other, both were first round picks in the 2006 draft. Stewart hasn't been held back by injuries though and has put together two straight solid seasons as a power forward. He is the guy the Isles have to key in on.
The Blues have some other solid players who are having good season's, like Andy McDonald. He's the guy setting up the likes of Stewart or David Backes.
Ben Bishop starts in goal for the Blues. Bishop has been up and down between the NHL and the AHL's Peoria Blues, but has had some solid games recently when Jaroslav Halak was hurt. Bishop's play led to the waiving of Ty Conklin.
Micheal Haley gets back into the line-up after missing time with a knee injury. He takes Gillies spot in the line-up. Al Montoya gets another start coming off that stellar performance against the Wild. If he puts in another one like that, it's going to be really hard to not start him Sunday against the Devils, no matter what Nathan Lawson did in Washington.
All in all, a pretty good match-up for a Saturday afternoon. Two teams that play similar styles that actually match up quite well with each other. It should be a fun one.
-CH
nyifyi@gmail.com
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