New York Islanders Offense Is Asleep At The Wheel

The New York Islanders are down 2-0 in the series right now and have nobody to blame but themselves. Despite what some will say.

You don’t win very many hockey games when you score one goal over a two-game span. That’s exactly what has happened for the New York Islanders in the first two games of this series and they find themselves down 2-0 after two games.

I really don’t want to hear the excuse of the referees. It’s a lame, tired crutch to fall back on when in reality there are numerous opportunities to win the game outside of the “missed calls”.

Today was the perfect example of a team not being able to put an opposing team away. The Isles had countless chances to end this game after taking a 1-0 lead in the first period but just couldn’t bury the puck.

In the first period, Anthony Beauvillier had a perfect opportunity to score for the Islanders. Scott Mayfield hit him with a pass that went off his stick and nowhere near the net. Yes, Beau had chances today which is great but you have to capitalize on it.

It’s too late in the season to be content with a guy who has struggled all year long just because he put a couple of shots on net. Find a way to get a puck to go. He had two point-blank chances in period one and couldn’t connect.

In the second, Anthony Beauvillier sent in a nice pass over to Leo Komarov who had Mrazek out of position and put a shot three feet wide of the net. I know, Leo isn’t a goal scorer but that’s a puck that has to go in.

Later in the second period, Curtis McElhinney robbed Matt Martin on a shot but Scott Mayfield was there with a chance on a wide open net. He barely got a stick on the puck.

Mayfield has to get that puck in the net. It’s as simple as that. The sad part is, we’re nowhere even close to the end of the opportunities. Jordan Eberle hit the crossbar on a wide-open look in the slot in the third period.

Ryan Pulock did the same thing with time trickling down. He sent in a howitzer of a shot that hit the crossbar and Lee had a chance on the backhand was denied.

Yes, there were questionable calls in both Game 1 and Game 2 but the Islanders have only themselves to blame for this 2-0 series deficit. The team did a good job of masking their scoring issues in the first round.

Now, they are back and as prevalent as ever. Game 3 is on Wednesday night, and it’s a must win for the Isles if they want to keep their hopes alive in this series.