The Islanders suffered a horrific loss to the Dallas Stars, 3-0, in Dallas. They got shut out, and the Islanders play two good teams on the road next, Colorado and then St. Louis. Colorado and St. Louis are good, and the Islanders risk beginning the season 0-3-1. Such a start would be particularly harmful because this team made the playoffs in the last game of the season last season, and one point in four games this year would put them behind the eight-ball.
Big Trouble
The Islanders are off to an unacceptably slow start this season. Their schedule is difficult to start the season, and it does not get much easier when they head home. Their new additions to the lineup, Anthony DuClair and Maxim Tsyplakov, did not score. The lack of scoring does not bode well for the rest of the season. The top two lines of Mat Barzal, Bo Horvat, and DuClair, and, Kyle Palmieri, Brock Nelson, and Tsyplakov did not fare as well in the second game as in the first. It will be interesting to see if those two lines fare better in the two remaining games on the road trip.
Special mention will be made here of second-line player Brock Nelson. Nelson scored 31 goals last season, and October is referred to in Islanders circles as ‘Brocktober’ because he scores so much in October. Nelson has been a non-entity for the Islanders so far. He is even uncharacteristically losing faceoffs. The Islanders need him to produce to help them get out of their horrific scoring slump.
Hitting the Post
In the second period, Islanders defenseman Scott Mayfield hit a goalpost on a shot he took. Usually, the team that hits a post loses the game if there is only one. It is horrible to blow a chance like that. It is safe to say Patrick Roy, the Islanders head coach, is emphasing the need to put more shots on net.
3 Hockey Laws
As the product of over ten thousand hockey games played and watched, hockey boils down to three laws. It is a simple game. The Islanders would do well to learn these rules. So far this season, the Islanders have failed miserably in these essential hockey areas.
First, finish your checks. Even-strength teams each have five skaters. Therefore, it is essential to play the body of your man and eliminate him from the play by checking him. If you do not, your team will be at a disadvantage and will effectively be playing shorthanded.
Second, win puck battles on the boards. These puck battles are ubiquitous. Each player will be involved in dozens of toss-up puck battles along the boards during a game. A player must come away with the puck in these 50-50 battles. The Islanders are not doing this now; it hurts their game.
Third, shoot! You cannot score if you do not shoot. This has been a problem for the Islanders in the past couple of years. The Islanders were only outshot 27-26 in their first game against the Utah Hockey Club. In the second game against the Dallas Stars, the shooting balance was 34-26 in favor of the Islanders. This is good. Roy has been stressing this point. In the second game, the shutout at the hands of the Dallas Stars was simply the case of Dallas goaltender Jake Ottinger standing on his head.
Scoring Summary
There was not much scoring in this game. Tyler Seguin scored the first goal for Dallas. He was assisted by Bryan Marchmont and Matt Duchane. In the second period, Jamie Been scored. He was assisted by Wyatt Johnson. The Stars scored an empty net goal at the end of the game, with Seguin getting his second of the game. In the good news department. The Islanders did not allow a power-play goal.
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