Some nights your goalie stands on his head and stuns an offense led by the most dangerous forward in the world, some afternoons you’re down 4-0 before the other team has gotten its 12th shot. The Islanders lost 4-2 in Calgary despite outshooting and outchancing the Flames, though still making enough mistakes to do themselves […]
Some nights your goalie stands on his head and stuns an offense led by the most dangerous forward in the world, some afternoons you’re down 4-0 before the other team has gotten its 12th shot.
The Islanders lost 4-2 in Calgary despite outshooting and outchancing the Flames, though still making enough mistakes to do themselves in. They outshot the Flames in the first period 10-4, then gave up a second goal early in the second right after Jonathan Drouin missed a golden chance to tie it. The Flames added two more by the midway point to basically put the game out of reach.
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After Yan Kuznetsov made it 4-0, J-G Pageau did answer with a sizzler just 32 seconds later to open a little daylight. The building was still announcing Kuznetsov’s goal, and few seemed to realize Pageau’s shot scored.
But overall, the Isles’ chances were rarely dangerous enough, even after pulling David Rittich (15 saves on 19 shots) for a sixth attacker with eight minutes left to go, a stretch that included a power play to skate 6-on-4.
Anders Lee added one consolation goal to reach the 300-goal milestone with three minutes left, while Dustin Wolf narrowly missed getting a goalie goal despite all that time and the fat lead to chase one.
Overall, it just wasn’t the Islanders’ day, and it felt like a bit of Albertan karmic payback after they stole the two points in Edmonton a day and a half prior (not that aggrieved Oilers nor pleased Flames fans would see it that way).
On this trip, the Islanders are stealing some games against better teams (Minnesota, Edmonton) and finding things difficult against weaker teams (Nashville, Winnipeg, Calgary), and that’s probably just and fitting for a team whose higher-risk approach often turns on whether they’re getting a great 60 minutes from their goalie.
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And the next weak team on the docket is Vancouver, where they’ll meet the Canucks late Monday night.
The Canucks are at the bottom of the league with just 37 points. Hell, they’re even worse than the Rangers…someone in British Columbia should write a strongly worded, poorly proofed letter.
Category: General Sports
