Last night at the Nassau Coliseum, the Philadelphia Flyers defeated the New York Islanders by a score of 4-3. The Islanders blew a 3-1 lead over the course of the game, culminating in a Danny Briere overtime goal after a failed two minute 4-on-3 Islander powerplay. The Islanders have now dropped 13 of their last 15 games, and will go into Friday's matinee against the Devils with a 5-10-4 record.
Usually, we would harp on the negatives to start, but I think Kyle Okposo deserves some recognition for the effort he put together last night. A three point first period was the flashy part of Okposo's night, but what we saw was the Okposo of two years ago. Okposo backchecked extremely hard, won board battles, went towards the play head-on, and crashed the net. He got to the soft areas of the ice and created chances for himself, which is the first time we have seen that from Okposo this year. Last night, he and Michael Grabner came alive and gave the Islanders a second scoring line for the first time all year. It was long overdue, and if he keeps it up the Islanders will be much better for it.
On another positive note, Josh Bailey had a very nice game as well, which included a nice cross-crease pass to Okposo for the second goal. But Bailey was engaged last night. He was good on the PK. He played a smart game, showing off his hockey sense - the main reason we was drafted when he was. It's too early to call this a coming out party for Bailey, but last night he played like an NHL player with a purpose. Hopefully he gains some confidence out of it and keeps playing like that.
As soon as the Islanders went up 3-1, they went into a shell like usual. Using a 1-2-2 style of play, the Flyers entered the zone with ease, despite not always getting shots off. The team put forth a good effort in the third, but were on their heels too much with the Flyers pushing. This type of style does not suit the Islanders well at all. They are too slow on the defensive side to compensate for mistakes, and not active enough with their bodies to stop any east-west play. Eventually, this caught up to the Isles as the Flyers tied the game in the third.
However, this playing style does not exclude Rick DiPietro from blame. DiPietro was downright horrific last night, letting up three goals that were beyond brutal and a fourth on a tricky bounce that went off his glove. It is perfectly clear that DiPietro is not good enough anymore to be an NHL goaltender. He is slow side-to-side, he goes down early on every shot, he plays the puck with too much frequency, and when he does play the puck does not make enough smart plays with it. His rebound control is terrible, which causes him to flop a lot. Defensemen must have quite the adventure playing with him, as he is too predictably unpredictable for them to be proactive about the play ahead. The Islanders must do something about this situation before it gets any worse, even if their hands are tied. He is negatively affecting the team at this point.
A lot of people have been clamoring for Matt Martin to be placed up on the second or even first line. Last night proved that Martin is not ready for that responsibility. Twice he was fed in the slot by Josh Bailey with no one on him. He fanned on the shot both times. Now, Martin is still developing as a player and may very well get there, but his time isn't now. That said, I am quite confident as Martin gets more acclimated to the NHL game, those chances will not be passed up, even if he shoots the puck in the goalie's chest every time.
The defense played a good game as a whole last night. There were a few rocky shifts last night from Steve Staios, but overall the team play good defense. But with a team like the Flyers, you can't take the pedal off the metal. And that may have happened, which was essentially a complement to DiPietro's struggles. With a better goalie, these breakdowns become less magnified.
The powerplay was putrid last night. With a two minute 4-on-3 in overtime, it's a must score. There was zero reason to have that kind of awful powerplay. There was no movement or creativity. Mark Streit and John Tavares just repeatedly passed the puck back and forth with P.A. Parenteau activating on the half-wall from time to time. It's too predictable and is not good enough. They needed to get shots to the net, and that just didn't happen there. Very shortly after the powerplay ended, Danny Briere put one past DiPietro and the game was over just like that.
Overall, yes, the team had a better effort, but with the season essentially on the line, saying "at least we got a point" is not good enough anymore. Granted, if the team wins both games this weekend, they'll be "just" three games under .500 going into next week, which may keep their playoff hopes on life support. Maybe that happens if they build off this type of effort. Either way, with seemingly no changes on the horizon, it looks like the team is going to have to fight through this themselves. And that is the real shame.
The Islanders next play Friday afternoon at 3 PM against the New Jersey Devils at the Nassau Coliseum. Once again, they will be wearing their new third jerseys.
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