Five Points Back, 15 Games To Go
March 3rd, 2008 by Tom
After a lost weekend at the Coliseum in which the Isles scored one lousy goal, the team finds itself five points behind the Flyers for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The Islanders, who are currently in tenth place, have 15 games left, one less than Philly and ninth place Buffalo. The Sabres have 71 points, two more than the Islanders.
It doesn’t look good but the lights ain’t out yet. But man did the Islanders lay an egg this past weeked or what? First, they fell to the Flyers 4-1, a game which was pretty much sealed when the Isles gave up yet another short-handed goal. Then on Sunday, after a pretty awesome ceremony marking the “Core of the Four,” the Isles went out and failed to put one of their 53 shots past backup Panther keeper Craig Anderson.
Here’s what some Islanders had to say after the game.
“I looked up at the scoreboard and I turned to Wade [Dubielewicz] and said, ‘I can’t believe we had 52 shots,” newest Islander Rob Davison told Newsday. Asked whether Davison had ever been on a team to register 52 shots that failed to win, he said “Absolutely not.”
Wait a minute, my bad. Davision didn’t say that after yesterday’s game. He said that after the Islanders pulled almost the same stunt and lost to the Penguins just last week after recording 52 shots. At least they scored two goals in that game. Yesterday - nada. 53 shots and no goals and a big loss. I hope this freak occurence ends here. One time is bizarre. Two is suspicious. Any more and we have a trend. The Islanders don’t need bad trends right now. They need goals and points in the standings.
For the season, the Islanders are tied with Columbus for the second-fewest goals in the league with 164. The Blues have the fewest with 161. The Islanders and the Blue Jackets share the worst goals-per-game ratios in the league, however, averaging just 2.44 tallies. The Blues average 2.47. If the season ended today, none of the three would make the playoffs. By contrast, Ottawa leads the league with 216 goals in 66 contests - a 3.27 goals-per-game average. On paper it doesn’t seem like such a huge difference but it is.
The Isles’ lack of scoring has been a major storyline all year. We’re not breaking any new ground but the fact remains, as we’ve said and as many others have said, this team isn’t going to win consistently until a little more firepower can be had. Maybe I need to revise that statement, and exchange “scoring’ for “firepower” because the shots have been coming lately. Shots are great. The Islanders need goals.
They needed four points over the weekend. They came away with zero. The clock is ticking.
Next up, a home-and-home series against the Rangers starting tomorrow night.
Michael Schuerlein Says
Tom,
Great job on the Davison comment - we should go back and ask him if he has ever seen it twice within a week.
Something needs to be done about scoring, unfortunately it doesn’t look like the solution will come this season - our biggest chance was last Tuesday, but that one slipped by the wayside.
Mar 3rd, 2008 at 4:38 pm
Tom Says
Thanks, Michael. I thought I was losing my mind when I saw they lost another 50-shot plus game.
I think the team needs to rely on DP and Coach Nolan from here on out. Heady, smart play and big-time goaltending can get the Isles on a run.
Mar 3rd, 2008 at 5:47 pm
fauxrumors Says
1) Lots of shots and few(no) goals is what you get from a hard working team with few players with reliable goal scoring ability
2) This is kinda what we forsaw with this team before the season started. The team is definitly missing having a true offensive threat. They simply doesn’t have a go-to guy.
3) Is it over? No, after last years heroics anything is possible, but its a very high fence to climb and time is running short
Mar 4th, 2008 at 12:15 pm