Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Sloppy & Lazy Play Almost Dooms Isles

Tavares wins the game for the Isles in OT with a nice second effort goal. He played a pretty good game. However, the theme for tonight’s game against the Lightning --- “Lazy.” The Isles played lazy for the first 60 minutes. Out shot in the first period 16-3, beaten to almost every loose puck, and blind passes to no one. Add in a bunch of random swipes at the puck when there wasn't a Tampa player within 10 feet and drawing several lazy penalties like high sticking, hooking, and interference and that sums up the Isles night.

They looked sloppy. They had several chances for odd man rushes but either the trailing player was caught from behind or the leading players couldn’t establish enough separation to capitalize on the chance.

They had a lot of trouble clearing the puck from their own end as well. I know the Isles have had a revolving door on the clubhouse – due largely to injuries – and they have a VERY young team, but that doesn’t excuse sloppy play or getting beat to every loose puck.

Isles need to tighten up their game significantly if they are going to compete. On a positive note – the one player that was consistently visible all night was Bailey. Josh had a number of quality chances and looked like the Bailey from the first couple of weeks of the season.

One last thing of note --- the Coli was EMPTY AGAIN. Suggestion to the Isles ---- block out the top 10-15 rows in the upper bowl to force everyone down lower so it looks a little fuller.

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