Islanders Goalies Struggle In Shutout 5-0 In Nashville

In Nashville, the New York Islanders goalies struggled in net while Juuse Saros stood on his head in a 5-0 Predators win.

Tonight is one the New York Islanders would like to forget. For some reason, the Barry Trotz Islanders don’t match up well against the Nashville Predators and this game was the epitome of their struggles against Nashville.

35 seconds into the game, Craig Smith netted his 14th goal of the year. It was unassisted and one Thomas Greiss likely should’ve been able to save. Smith wasn’t done, just seven minutes later he netted his second of the game.

This time, Rocco Grimaldi and Nick Bonino picked up assists on the play. Smith has turned into an Islander killer this year and despite the Islanders getting shots on net they found themselves down 2-0.

At 13:33 Mattias Ekholm netted his seventh of the year and Thomas Greiss’ night was done. He allowed three goals on eight shots for a .625 save percentage. In came Semyon Varlamov who wasn’t much better.

In the second period, Rocco Grimaldi came in and scored his 10th of the year unassisted. For the fourth time tonight, a Predator scored a goal on a shot up high on an Islander goalie.

Just a couple minutes later, Craig Smith netted his third of the game for the hatty.

No goals were scored in the third period as both teams went into cruise control for the third period generating a combined nine shots in the final frame.

This shutout wasn’t on the Islanders offense, at least not five on five. They generated six high danger chances in the first period, according to Natural Stat Trick. A goalie meltdown just took them out of this game.

Unfortunately, as currently constructed, they can’t survive when their goalies aren’t playing well. It’s something that has to get back on course down the stretch.

Want your voice heard? Join the Eyes On Isles team!

Write for us!

Winners: Craig Smith, Juuse Saros, Rocco Grimaldi

Losers: Thomas Greiss, Semyon Varlamov, Johnny Boychuk