The old saying goes that all good things must come to an end, but when playing one of the league's worst teams in a game where you're up by a goal, that shouldn't apply.
The Islanders faced off against the Anaheim Ducks in Anaheim on Friday night, and started the game off being the clearly dominant team even with no score halfway through the game. Being the dominant team while still looking lackluster is always an interesting achievement. A little over halfway through, Bobby Ryan got the scoring started off by getting one past Nabokov following a nice setup by Jason Blake. Mark Eaton's fail to clear was a main reason for this goal as well. The Islanders were quick to answer however and Matt Martin was able to net one just past Hiller in a shot that only went fully in once Hiller tried to knock it out with his glove.
John Tavares put his excellency in playmaking on display once more as he sent a beautiful pass over to Okposo to lift the Isles to a 2-1 lead. Unfortunately, Bobby Ryan was able to get his second of the game shorthanded in a game where the defense simply fell apart. The Ducks simply put an onslaught after this, scoring 2 more goals that were direct results of defensive breakdowns. The Islanders would lose by a final of 4-2.
This was a game where the team's #1 flaw - their defense - was once again on display. Anaheim is by all means a very poor team this year and they were showing it for the majority of the game. This aside, they do have several players with enormous skill and when given a chance will take advantage of a poor defense, and that is precisely what they did. Andrew MacDonald, Milan Jurcina, and Mark Eaton all had very poor games in particular. The more Snow refuses to address this blatantly obvious issue, the more you're going to see games like this that should have been won but weren't due to defensive incompetence.
The Islanders next face off against another generally weak Western team in Phoenix. The game will be at 8 EST and will be shown on MSG+2.
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