And how do you like the series so far?
There’s a fair amount of action every night, which is interesting. And last night, as my colleague Raph Simard summed up earlier this morning, was no exception either.
Every team (or just about every team) is still in the race, when you look at it.
I say “or thereabouts” because even if the Islanders aren’t a game away from the end, you can sense that the club is fragile. That’s what happens when you give up a three-goal lead in a game.
23:54 into the game, the Islanders were leading 3-0. Everything was going well… looking at the goals.
But then the club started to stop shooting. How bad? To the point where even the Hurricanes, who scored five straight goals in the second half, pointed out that the Islanders had more game misconducts (6) than shots on goal (1) in the third. #ÇaBrassait
In fact, after the Islanders’ third goal, the New York club took only three shots on net in just under 37 minutes of play. In a playoff game, remember!
Over the course of the game, the Hurricanes fired 39 shots on goal. The Islanders? 12 times.
In all, taking into account shot attempts (which also include blocked shots and shots that missed the target, among others), the Hurricanes are at 110 for yesterday’s game… compared to New York’s 28.
By necessity, you’ll understand that the Islanders, who led 3-2 with less than four minutes left in the game, got burned and have only themselves to blame.
The Islanders had 36 blocked shots during the game because they were only defending themselves.
Of course, you won’t be surprised to learn that Patrick Roy wasn’t exactly a satisfied customer last night. He didn’t explode… but he did spoil himself on the many blocked shots, which don’t make him a crease on the difference.
After all, as Anthony Martineau reports, Roy isn’t a fan of that statistic. The Islanders coach has “no idea” how it’s calculated and says it’s done by someone sitting in the arena… or at McDonald’s.
Really? If they’re buying me McDonald’s, I’ll go ahead and calculate blocked shots.
Roy no doubt wanted to divert attention a bit with such a quote since he knows his club will have to make some big adjustments to avoid ending the week on leave.
Thursday and Saturday, the Islanders play at home.
We knew that the Hurricanes were strong and that the Islanders were an ordinary club at best, but let’s just say that the first two games of the series demonstrated the glaring gap between the two clubs.
In a gust
– We can whine all we want about Vegas, but what the Golden Knights are doing is legit. Teams don’t really want to change the way the long-term injured list works either. So we’ll just have to deal with it.
– Ivan Fedotov stays in Philly.
– 12 concussions? Ouch.
– The Rocket and the disappointment of missing the playoffs. [98.5 FM]
– Incredible, that shot.
More must-reads: