Huh? What third period did this guy watch? The Ducks buzzed all over the Isles in the third, won all the battles for loose pucks and had bodies standing in front of Biron all night. Corey Perry should have brought a folding chair and a cup of coffee he spent so much time alone in the crease.
A couple of scenery shots? That they managed to get to overtime was a miracle and if those weren’t Grade-A opportunities, don’t ever dine on eggs at the Gordon house.
All this isn’t to say Gordon’s club hasn’t shown some spunk this past week. John Tavares is back as the goal in Philly on March 9 absolutely lifted a huge weight off his shoulders, culminating in the big five-point night in Vancouver last Tuesday. The confidence is clearly back and it looks like the kid will finish strong.
Freddy Meyer is making a great case to be included in the mix on defense next season playing a gritty, physical style that belies his 5-foot-10-inch, 190 lb. frame. Add to this the emergence of Jack Hillen and Andrew McDonald (out now) and the fairly steady play of Dustin Kohn and the Islanders blue line looks to be in potentially great shape for next season.
The back-to-back momentum killers in SoCal may have truly finished them off but with 20 points still on the board and the aforementioned directionless bunch chasing the final spot, we’ll be more prudent in accessing their chances from this point on.
Just remember this: If they blow anymore third-period leads, just don’t ask Gordon about it. Let’s hope, for Rob Carlin’s sake, they’re working on the problem.
ICE CHIPS:
Another area (beyond the their third-period play) that has really hurt the Isles this season has been their special teams play as both the penalty kill and power play have languished near the bottom of the league most of the season. It’s nice to see that both units have improved dramatically of late.
The PK is on a nice run the last couple of weeks as they have killed 26 of the last 31 penalties (84 percent) in the past seven games, including a 13-for-13 stretch without surrendering a power-play goal before the Ducks connected last Friday. This run has it up to 76 percent on the season after dipping to a season low 74 percent prior to the break.
Same can be said for the power play which looks far more dangerous in recent weeks. Since the Olympic break the club is operating at a impressive 9-33 clip (27 percent) that has them up to 16.6 on the season—up from the woeful 15.4 it had slipped to.
Despite the reawakening of John Tavares, it looks like Buffalo’s Tyler Myers has taken a big lead in the Rookie of the Year race. The 2008 first round pick of the Buffalo Sabres has been a tower (and we do mean tower at 6-foot-8-inches) of strength on defense and checks in with 10 goals and 30 assists for 40 points and +12 rating for a playoff bound team. He’ll be tough to ignore. Colorado’s Matt Duchene will make it close with 23-26 for 49 for another playoff contender as will Detroit’s young netminder Jimmy Howard (2.32 GA, .924 SV percentage), though we are told he lets in too many softies. Unfortunately, there were too many lost weeks for JT and that will probably cost him a shot at the Calder but a strong finish should do wonders for his confidence heading into next season. In the final analysis, it’s been a great first season for Tavares and the 19-year-old absolutely lived up to all the hype and handled the pressures of his first NHL season quite well.
Is it me, or is Trent Hunter standing still every time he receives a pass? Not to pick on the 29-year-old veteran, but it appears this guy never accepts a pass on the fly. It’s a shame because he never gets to unleash that great shot when he’s on the move entering the offensive zone. We understand Hunter has battled injuries again this season but the bottom line is he’s finishing up yet another disappointing season with just nine goals in 54 games. Odd that after that impressive rookie season in 03-04 when he connected for 25 goals, Hunter hasn’t been able to reach that level since. His goal totals in the last three season are 12, 14 and the aforementioned nine for this year. Isles could really use a healthy, bounce-back season for the winger next year.
Last word on Gordon storming off like a 5-year-old during the Carlin interview—beyond looking like a fool and shedding an amateurish light on the coaching staff, what kind of message does that behavior send to his young club? Apparently it says when the going gets tough, just bail—don’t take responsibility for your play and stand up about it—just walk away. For all the microphones shoved in John Tavares’ teenage face about his struggles, the kid hung in all year and answered the endless litany of questions about his scoring drought. Not good when the head coach is outclassed by his 19-year-old rookie.