Wang will point to this game as strong attendance towards the end of the season and stay the course.
Dont worry the Isles AD campaign for next season will include a montage of how amazing the last 3 games Josh Bailey and Kyle Okposo played as if they actually belong in the NHL.
Congrats @mattymarts17 with the new record for hits...357 with a handful of games to go! Way to go kid! Kepp bangin!!!
And he did it with even hits on the road vs home, under the new shiny law to boot
That is something when you consider they thought hitting would go away with all the head shot talk etc.
Yet Matty Martin found a way to keep banging and set a record! Good on you Matt, good on the Islanders.
The league otta poster boy the kid, showing that it can be done with a little class.
Dont worry the Isles AD campaign for next season will include a montage of how amazing the last 3 games Josh Bailey and Kyle Okposo played as if they actually belong in the NHL.
GET YOUR TICKETS NOW!!
They were the best players on their line. Get a goal scoring center with size who can skate and drive to the net. Put KO and Bailey on either side. Drop Nielsen down to 3rd line center and place him with two bigger forwards (say, Ullstrom and Martin.) Replace PAP with someone who can skate with size who can not only defend JT, but be effective along the boards and in his own end.
Add size and mobility on defense.
There's a lot of work to be done, but if you really think that Josh Bailey and Kyle Okposo are not NHLers, then I don't know what to tell you. Even if you're using hyperbole to prove some kind of point, I really don't know what that point is.
We finally stacked our top-6 with all the talent we really have and they're producing. Does that not have something to do with it? Or is it just that we've been playing meaningless games for the entire month of March where we also happened to have had the hardest stretch of our schedule?
I don't care whether Wang uses this as an excuse to keep the status quo. If he's going to continue to keep the payroll this low, then the status quo would be staying no matter what. If that's the case, then any visible improvement in what we have already on the team is important. The excuse then instead becomes an important development for the team's future in this kind of environment.
Yet with our crew, we have fans ******** on young players who have been brought up with little to no help who are starting to produce. We blame it on the point of the season and ignore that a completely different line has been put together and positions have changed. We ignore the quality of the competition. The only thing that matters is that they're playing "free and loose" and we ignore every other variable in the equation.
Very simply put, the Islanders do not play a hard, passionate game. They did not look like a team clinging to their playoff lives. They're a really good men's league team. They don't pursue anything aggressively, and in the playoffs, everything is pursued aggressively.
I believe that this team does need a coach who's hell bent on accountability. Not that I agree with shot blocking, but John Tortarella has a very simple rule, "if you don't block shots, you don't play." - I'd like a coach who has a more cerebral rule, "if you don't skate hard, you don't play." - Can we at least start there? I get so sick of Mark Streit and Franz Nielsen with their soft play and slap passing. It's so annoying. We need a guy like Mike Peca who would skate through a wall.
The truth is that the culture is keeping us such a long way off. We do have some players who can do some more damage than what they've done, but no one's pushed those buttons yet. Garth Snow is going to have to do all that he can to find such a coach. A coach who will bench one of the sweethearts, if need be, and shake up the lines when need be.
I'm rooting for the Stars, Predators, and Coyotes this playoff. Why? Because I can't root for the Islanders. Chaz and Garth have made that impossible again.
They were the best players on their line. Get a goal scoring center with size who can skate and drive to the net. Put KO and Bailey on either side. Drop Nielsen down to 3rd line center and place him with two bigger forwards (say, Ullstrom and Martin.) Replace PAP with someone who can skate with size who can not only defend JT, but be effective along the boards and in his own end.
Add size and mobility on defense.
There's a lot of work to be done, but if you really think that Josh Bailey and Kyle Okposo are not NHLers, then I don't know what to tell you. Even if you're using hyperbole to prove some kind of point, I really don't know what that point is.
We finally stacked our top-6 with all the talent we really have and they're producing. Does that not have something to do with it? Or is it just that we've been playing meaningless games for the entire month of March where we also happened to have had the hardest stretch of our schedule?
I don't care whether Wang uses this as an excuse to keep the status quo. If he's going to continue to keep the payroll this low, then the status quo would be staying no matter what. If that's the case, then any visible improvement in what we have already on the team is important. The excuse then instead becomes an important development for the team's future in this kind of environment.
Yet with our crew, we have fans ******** on young players who have been brought up with little to no help who are starting to produce. We blame it on the point of the season and ignore that a completely different line has been put together and positions have changed. We ignore the quality of the competition. The only thing that matters is that they're playing "free and loose" and we ignore every other variable in the equation.
,
Mitch
The point is Mitch, The team is garbage and I refuse to be lied to again by management as they try and extenuate the last 5 games into something that it is not. To have Butch say How proud he is that this team lasted so far before being eliminated from the Playoffs is a ****ING JOKE!!
I am not going to be lining up and counting down to the start of the new season if we roll out the same scrubs and this team does nothing in the off season. I am glad there scoring and I am glad they woke up from there coma but if you people cant call out the inferior talent and lack of hustle and complete sloppiness by Josh Bailey and Kyle Okposo all season then I dont know what to tell you.
On an off topic note I finally gave in and got my Chase Sapphire card in the mail today. I shall go rock climbing with my wife.. truth be told they have some great features that were better then my Chase Freedom card.
Seriously. Capuano starts the press conference off with a big smile and laughs. You were just eliminated from the playoffs with a blow-out 3rd period, which has been your problem all season, and you're smiling? **** you Jack. **** you.
Home ice gets the last change. If the Islanders want to role 4 competitive lines next year, they should put Grabs on the 4th line and match that line agianst the other teams 4th line. I bet you'd seen results.
according to Jack**** Edwards no Islander is brave enough to play Lucic.
What a load of crap.
I love this team and hopefully they will be better next year to compete at this level with teams like the B's. Eliminate mistakes, more compete.
Did not like to see Bailey a step late behind the play in the B's zone to start the play.
It's not a "load of crap" Edwards is right for a change. I do in fact think the Isles were timid on that play.
The Isles let Lucic skate end to end, with no one even trying to play the body on Lucic on that play.
Every Islander on the ice on that goal gave Lucic so much room to skate, were afraid to take Lucic out with the body and proceeded to let Lucic go end to end without even being touched! Just a pathetic display of a scared timid team.
When any Islander got close to Lucic on that play they shyed away from contact as if they were scared. They tried to stop Lucic with stick checks from end to end, no one willing to get near him to take the body, no one!
Our top 3 lines are so soft and timid when it comes to playing physical. This needs to be fixed or we will never beable to compete with the bigger tougher teams.
They wont be compeating with teams like the Bruins unless they get bigger and tougher.
I still can't believe I felt like a road fan, in my own building, ten minutes from my house.
Yup, it's embarrassing. I forgot the game was on and put it on with 2 minutes left and thought it was in Boston with all the B fans. Many opposing team fans take over nvmc like Pitt on thursday.
Dont worry the Isles AD campaign for next season will include a montage of how amazing the last 3 games Josh Bailey and Kyle Okposo played as if they actually belong in the NHL.
GET YOUR TICKETS NOW!!
See 20 goal scorer Kyle Okposo and the New York Islanders at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum. We'll sell you the whole seat, but you'll only need the edge!
Get your tickets today! Dial 1-800-882-ISLES. That's 1-800-882-I-S-L-E-S... call now!.... 41 years of commitment!
It's not a "load of crap" Edwards is right for a change. I do in fact think the Isles were timid on that play.
The Isles let Lucic skate end to end, with no one even trying to play the body on Lucic on that play.
Every Islander on the ice on that goal gave Lucic so much room to skate, were afraid to take Lucic out with the body and proceeded to let Lucic go end to end without even being touched! Just a pathetic display of a scared timid team.
When any Islander got close to Lucic on that play they shyed away from contact as if they were scared. They tried to stop Lucic with stick checks from end to end, no one willing to get near him to take the body, no one!
Our top 3 lines are so soft and timid when it comes to playing physical. This needs to be fixed or we will never beable to compete with the bigger tougher teams.
They wont be compeating with teams like the Bruins unless they get bigger and tougher.
Scared is a strong word. While Lucic was given plenty of room on that play, we can not know what the Isles players were thinking, or if it was just laziness. On a hockey play, what player in this league would be scared to make a hockey play and engage an offensive player for fear of what........getting attacked with a stick to the head, Lucic dropping the gloves and beating them to a pulp for checking him? Lucic was checked many times during this game and in most games.
Getting into a scrum or challenging him is different than checking him. I think Edwards was more than exaggerating because of the little piss face he is.
Bad play by the Islanders defenders...yes. Scared....doubtful.
See 20 goal scorer Kyle Okposo and the New York Islanders at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum. We'll sell you the whole seat, but you'll only need the edge!
Get your tickets today! Dial 1-800-882-ISLES. That's 1-800-882-I-S-L-E-S... call now!.... 41 years of commitment!
Put an * next to Okposo's name soley because "subject may not be available and may be benched due to lack of heart and passion and extreme need to simplify his game"
Boston fan, made the trip down yesterday, third year in a row we've gone down and each year there has been more and more Boston fans but even I was blown away by it yesterday, last few years ive gotten heckled, yesterday it was literally like a game at the Garden.
The energy in the building was great though and as old as it is, I still love the coliseums sightlines, the game was fantastic, especially when you guys pulled it to 4-3, I was thinking, oh man, two years in a row the B's choke a 2 goal lead on me on this trip.
Anyway, just about people saying the Isles should refuse tickets to us folk, every year we've gone we've gotten our tickets either at, or below face, from stubhub for these games, so even if the Isles somehow stopped Boston fans from buying from the box office, a great amount of fans could still make it though stubhub. The trip is just too easy, we drove to our buds college in Hartford friday night, then the 3 of us left from there Saturday am, and after a stop at Hooters post game, headed back to Hartford for the Sat. Night, then just got back to Boston today.
Picked up a Moulson shirt while I was down there, good stuff.
We might get it this summer or next when Wang decides to make a team WORTH KEEPING to pressure Nassau County.
Or not.
Good Luck. It must suck if the owner doesn't care.
We had many years in Boston where the fans felt the same way.
IMO Cam Neely made the difference.
BTW...I always liked Brian Rolston. His first couple of game back in Boston he looked winded and had short shifts but now he is skating strong, has a great shot and seems to be a great addition for the B's.
Good Luck. It must suck if the owner doesn't care.
We gad many years in Boston where the fans felt the same way.
IMO Cam Neely made the difference.
BTW...I always liked Brian Rolston. His first couple of game back in Boston he looked winded and had short shifts but now he is skating strong, has a great shot and seems to be a great addition for the B's.
Was he coming off an injury ?
I would sell Wang's soul for Cam Neely.
I'd ante Wang's son in law if Dennis Leary comes with him.
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