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Originally Posted by Veteran journeyman
Effective special teams is a good thing, not a bad thing. Better to use it as a strength than be in last place because it's not working at any end of the ice...like we used to have to suffer through. And they're eighth in the league in 5-on-5 goals for per game, so it's not like they flat out can't put the puck in the net unless they're on a power play.
Believe me, I'm not saying all is great. This team has a mountain to climb and a ton to prove before I'll even allow myself to entertain the thought that this season might be different than last. But yesterday's game isn't the hands-thrown-up-in-frustration outing that makes me say "Same old Islanders!" Up until the last three+ minutes, both teams had some chances, both teams took away some chances; both teams blew some chances. It was fairly even play throughout, and the goalies kept things scoreless.
I don't blame the late call entirely for the loss. We all know that bad calls happen, and the Isles benefitted from a couple of not-so-good calls earlier in the game and didn't capitalize. But still...it's tough to argue that the game wouldn't have been a 1-0 OT contest for either side if Strait doesn't go off for throwing a check, in which case the tone here would probably be different.
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But they need to stop giving up so many goals. Special teams are only going to get worse. You can't rely on them every game to make up the difference.