New York Islanders Matinee in Boston Edition

The New York Islanders are in Boston in this early 1:00pm puck drop. The goal today for the Islanders play a full 60 minutes.

Did anyone else wake up and see that the game was at 1:00pm and go: “well my productivity just went down to 0”? There aren’t many afternoon games, and ever fewer Monday afternoon games that aren’t on a holiday. But the New York Islanders and Boston Bruins found a way.

The Islanders are going up against a fairly weak team at home going 10-10-0 on the season so far. Too bad the Islanders are even worse on the road, going 5-9-4, including that terrible 7-4 loss to the Hurricanes the last time around.

Carry the puck into the zone. Don’t dump the puck.

Boston are the best 5-on-5 possession team in the league with a 55.3% Corsi-for. The Islanders are a tied worst (with the Coyotes) at 46.2% Corsi-for. Don’t give Boston the chance at 50/50 pucks by dumping it in.

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Don’t play into the Bruins system by giving them control of the puck willingly. Let a player like Nick Leddy do what he does best: skate the puck into the offensive zone.

Who’s Hot

With five goals (and arguably a sixth) in his last two games, John Tavares is on fire. He’s doing everything he needs to do in order to get this team a ‘W’. Unfortuenly the rest of the team doesn’t seem on board.

More of the same from the captain against the Bruins will put the Islanders in a great position to add a win to their totals, and maybe, just maybe, have a hope in catching the Flyers who are now in their league mandated bye-week.

Who’s Not

For a team who’s GM was an NHL goalie the Islanders sure have no love for their netminders. Sure, Greiss was in net for seven goals against in Carolina the other night. But, in all fairness to Greiss, that was the second night of a back-to-back.

And his fifth start in the same number of games. There’s a reason NHL teams have backups. They’re to be used when needed to reduce the wear and tear on your starter. The Islanders don’t seem to have understood that. Becuase again today Greiss is in net.

Greiss is clearly the better goalie in the Islanders organization at the moment. But running him out there every night isn’t going to aid the team at all.

More on the Islanders: When Will They Ever Use Their Backup? 

New York Islanders Lineup:

Lee-Tavares-Bailey                  Leddy-Pelech
Prince-Nelson-Strome           Hickey-Boychuk
Quine-Beauvilier-Chimera    de Haan-Seidenberg
Kulemin-Cizikas-Gionta         Greiss (Berube)

Next: Isles Can Trade For Top Level Talent

How to Catch the Game:

Venue: 1:00pm TD Garden, Boston
TV: MSG+, NESN
Radio: WRHU