Postgame Mailbag: Islanders Shut Out, ‘You Can’t Score If You Don’t Hit The Net’

The New York Islanders had the chances against the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday night, but their inability to hit the net gave them no chance to win, let alone score a goal, as they were shut out 2-0. Here’s your NYI Hockey Now Postgame Mailbag:

A lot of missed opportunities because they couldn’t hit the net at all. Vejmelka played well, but too many shots went wide. (@bossrodsky)

The New York Islanders finished the night with 24 shots on goal, but missed the net 23 times and had 17 shots blocked. That’s no way to win a hockey game. They gave themselves little to no chance. And given their chances, the Islanders earned an Expected Goals For of 3.21 but were shut out.

Arizona Coyotes netminder Karel Vejmelka played well, but out of the 24 shots that hit the net, four were considered high-danger, as the Islanders beat themselves by not hitting the net.

Did Beauvillier play tonight? What about Wahlstrom or Bailey? Too many guys are MIA in games. Lee and Nelson can’t score 75% of their goals (@Isles423)

These three players seem to be the biggest thing stopping New York Islanders head coach Lane Lambert from keeping consistent lines going forward. He has not found a line that has allowed Anthony Beauvillier to be a contributing piece, and Josh Bailey has struggled to find consistency in his game as well. Oliver Wahlstrom has struggled alongside Mathew Barzal, but Lambert is giving him time to make that duo work.

Beauvillier played 15:37, Bailey played 16:05, and Wahlstrom only played 9:53.

The Islanders need all hands on deck if they want to continue being an offensive team that averaged over three goals per game.

Why I would never pull a goalie, being reaffirmed left and right… I’d rather take a 1-0 loss than give them a bonus goal (@islesofmets)

This logic does not make any sense. Down by a goal, teams need to do what they can to generate offense. Especially for the New York Islanders, that got tremendous looks on their power play throughout the night, Lambert pulling Sorokin was a move that had to happen. Whether you lose 1-0 or 2-0 doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things, because a loss is a loss. But by not pulling your goaltender, you give yourself a far more likley chance at tying the game.

Boy, there was a lot of talking after that Rangers win… just give it right back, I mean… The Coyotes??? (@Pmick333)

The Islanders had won their two previous games after trailing 3-1 entering the third. Two valiant efforts, the last one coming against the rival New York Rangers. And then to lose to the Arizona Coyotes at home, it seemed like a major letdown for a team, no question, has the talent to win the game. I won’t say that the Islanders outplayed the Coyotes because the Coyotes did play quite well. But the Islanders, because of the misses, beat themselves.

Will this be one of those games that we look back on come to the end of the season?

What I will say to the people that do look back and blame this loss as one of the reasons the Islanders did not finish higher in the stands, is that while they did lose to a bad team, they had two come-from-behind wins where you can argue that they “stole four points” so it cancels out.

But that game against the Coyotes is one you want to have and one you likely do have if you hit the net 10 percent more than they did.

Same thing that always is, we need a goal scorer. Offense has been better than I thought overall this season, but an actual sniper would make this team so much more dangerous. (@DavidMoss21)

There’s no question the New York Islanders have the offensive talent to continue to score 3.00 goals or more per game. But what the Islanders need and have needed is a game-changer. Mathew Barzal continues to create for the Islanders, but given his lack of shooting, lack of accuracy, he can’t be the game-changing scorer the team needs. An elite weapon would help this team in many areas, including the power play.

The team as assembled is a playoff team, but without an elite goal scorer, the Islanders are not a true Stanley Cup contender.

NYI Hockey Now Stories:

The New York Islanders could not mount a third-period come-from-behind win for a third straight contest, as they fell 2-0 to the Arizona Coyotes. The Islanders have now been shut out twice over their last four games as they are now 9-6-0. New York Islanders.

The new age of Twitter is upon us, and with it, fake verified Twitter accounts looking to impersonate actual verified individuals have been popping up. On Wednesday, a verified user changed their name and profile to impersonate Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid. They used this new identity to “announce” that McDavid had been traded to the New York Islanders.

“He’s done the little things. He’s done the details. We’d like to see him get more shots on goal because that’s what he is [a shooter]. Islanders forward Oliver Wahlstrom has struggled as of late after a strong start to his season as things take a twist. New York Islanders. 

NYI Hockey Now went around the New York Islanders locker room following Thursday’s morning skate and asked a few players if they could pick one word to describe Ilya Sorokin, what word would they choose. Here are some of the answers. New York Islanders.