The New York Islanders after going up 3-0 with 37 minutes left in the game tonight:
– 3 shots on goal
– 5 goals against
– 7 penalties taken
– lost the game 5-33 shots on goal in the last 37 minutes of hockey. pic.twitter.com/guybM4alAg
– Big Head Hockey (@BigHeadHcky) April 23, 2024
There’s a fair amount of action every night, which is interesting. And last night, as my colleague Raph Simard summed up earlier this morning, was no exception either.
I say “or thereabouts” because even if the Islanders aren’t a game away from the end, you can sense that the club is fragile. That’s what happens when you give up a three-goal lead in a game.
23:54 into the game, the Islanders were leading 3-0. Everything was going well… looking at the goals.
But then the club started to stop shooting. How bad? To the point where even the Hurricanes, who scored five straight goals in the second half, pointed out that the Islanders had more game misconducts (6) than shots on goal (1) in the third. #ÇaBrassait
In fact, after the Islanders’ third goal, the New York club took only three shots on net in just under 37 minutes of play. In a playoff game, remember!
In all, taking into account shot attempts (which also include blocked shots and shots that missed the target, among others), the Hurricanes are at 110 for yesterday’s game… compared to New York’s 28.
By necessity, you’ll understand that the Islanders, who led 3-2 with less than four minutes left in the game, got burned and have only themselves to blame.
“It’s more than the last few minutes of that game”
Patrick Roy talks about what went wrong for the Islanders tonight: pic.twitter.com/LEbMy2WQ5l
– Islanders Videos (@SNY_Islanders) April 23, 2024
Of course, you won’t be surprised to learn that Patrick Roy wasn’t exactly a satisfied customer last night. He didn’t explode… but he did spoil himself on the many blocked shots, which don’t make him a crease on the difference.
After all, as Anthony Martineau reports, Roy isn’t a fan of that statistic. The Islanders coach has “no idea” how it’s calculated and says it’s done by someone sitting in the arena… or at McDonald’s.
“I don’t care about blocked shots. Tell me about shots on goal. Blocked shots are calculated by a guy sitting somewhere in the arena or in McDonald’s. In fact, I have no idea where he calculates that.” -Patrick Roy, in a delicious lyrical flourish.
– Anthony Martineau (@Antho_Martineau) April 23, 2024
Really? If they’re buying me McDonald’s, I’ll go ahead and calculate blocked shots.
We knew that the Hurricanes were strong and that the Islanders were an ordinary club at best, but let’s just say that the first two games of the series demonstrated the glaring gap between the two clubs.
Shot attempts, after two games:
Hurricanes: 184
Islanders: 87
A gap of nearly 100 attempts. In six periods of play.
“Huge” is an understatement here.
– Anthony Martineau (@Antho_Martineau) April 23, 2024
In a gust
– We can whine all we want about Vegas, but what the Golden Knights are doing is legit. Teams don’t really want to change the way the long-term injured list works either. So we’ll just have to deal with it.
The Mark Stone Saga:
– injured 2 weeks before trade deadline
– Vegas uses Stone’s cap hit ($9.5m) to acquire Hertl ($6.7m) and Hanifin ($1.7m)
– They’re $9.2m over salary cap
– Stone comes back and scores the first goal for Vegas 1 minute into game 1 on a Hanifin assistVegas. pic.twitter.com/PlGyZf2sXN
– Big Head Hockey (@BigHeadHcky) April 23, 2024
– Ivan Fedotov stays in Philly.
Ivan Fedotov agrees to 2 year extension with the @NHLFlyers. $3.25 mil AAV.
– Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) April 23, 2024
– 12 concussions? Ouch.
Jakub Voráček officially ends his career after… 12 concussions https://t.co/2WuzMJsIKR pic.twitter.com/uqMpGZ2Asr
– SwissHabs (@SwissHabs) April 23, 2024
– The Rocket and the disappointment of missing the playoffs. [98.5 FM]
– Incredible, that shot.
Poor Brice Turang looked completely insane as he took off. https://t.co/yo00GZqHvW
– Passion MLB (@passion_mlb) April 23, 2024