There are a few things we need to talk about following this loss. But they all start with this. We should have won this in regulation. Our offense played well enough to score enough goals to win, and our defense was more than adequate only giving up 18 shots, outside of Backman who was, again, terrible.
So why did we lose? See the title.
What the hell was Tom Renney thinking. Can anyone tell me? 6 rounds deep and Ryan Callahan, Chris Drury, and Sean Avery, 3 of our hottest goal scorers, have not shot, yet Michal Rozsival, and Martin Straka, neither of which have been scoring goals with any sort of regularity lately did shoot?! Way to just give up on a point Tommy. I think Renney has done a masterful job as of late in doing things that make sense, even if they don’t always work. But this is another one of those, I don’t get it, moves by Tom Terrific. Also, where the hell was Jaromir Jagr? The guy was all over the ice in regulation, dominating shift in and shift out, yet he doesn’t shoot at all?! If he asked out, I am going to be one unhappy camper.
Next is Henrik Lundqvist. Look, I am not going to blame him on the first or the third goals. Neither was his fault, but the 1 goal he did let in, and the multiple posts (2…3?), along with some very shaky saves all game long makes me quite unhappy. This isn’t like the Montreal game where he was just hung out to dry. His D, for the most part, played quite well in front of him, he on the other hand, did not play well in the net. You need to also look at the saves he does make and ask yourself is this a guy who is sharp. He was not.
That is it, that is why we lost. Dubiliwhatever was good enough to win, the Islanders, as always, worked their asses off, and we gave away a point we should have had. 7-0-3 in our last 10, but a very sour tasting 1 point for me tonight.