As I sat down in my cousin’s room last night to watch the game, I could not help but think that the Islanders had a great shot at winning. For one thing, Chris Simon would not be on the ice. Another method behind my madness was that the Penguins were missing two starters in Colby Armstrong and Erik Christensen. But alas, I was proven wrong. Out-shooting the Penguins 52-21 meant nothing as the Islanders lost their 2nd straight game 4-2.

 After an eventful trade deadline for the Penguins in which they acquired sharpshooter Marian Hossa, the Pens came out flat. The Islanders dominated the majority of the play in the 1st period but found themselves down 2-0 on goals by Evgeni Malkin and Jeff Taffe.

After trading away their lone power play option in the form of Marc Andre Bergeron, the Islanders power play, looked powerless. The Islanders were given 4 power plays in the 1st period including 1:34 of a 5 on 3.  But the Islanders were barely able to keep the puck in the offensive zone. This exact trend carried out through the rest of the game. The Islanders went 1-9 on the power play and and even though they controlled most of the games tempo, the Isles came up short in the lost.

The one bright spot of the game for me, was the continued excellent play of the “kid” line. Jeff Tambellini, Frans Nielsen and Blake Comeau have shown recently that they have the type of skill that should result in a full time spot on the Islanders roster. Again last night, the “kids” had a great forecheck and they hunted down any loose puck. Their efforts were rewarded in the 2nd period when Tambellini won a loose puck battle along the near boards and he threw the puck at the net. The puck made its way through a Penguins legs and Nielsen deflected the puck in for his 1st goal of the season.