Thought they outplayed the Islanders for long stretches but continue to have mental breakdowns that are killing them....Allen did bail them out a couple of times as well on some bad turnovers/puck plays....Hopefully they get it going....Mercer has been playing hard it will hopefully come together soon for him...Cotter SN and Haula played strong games again ....
Yes Allen kept us within reach at the end of the first and in the second period.with a pile of saves after we made reckless and sloppy plays. While Allen makes me nervous with his own knuckle-head mistakes he's a big reason we got a point out of this game. I can't stand Hamilton at the top of the power play, he's a turnover and shorthanded breakaway waiting to happen every time. And we don't have long to wait. Meanwhile Luke Hughes should sit a couple games right now in place of Nemec given Luke's repeated turnovers ten feet in front of our net.
But there were positives last night all the same. First of all, that we got a point after blowing the point the prior night. Also seen, Jack Hughes going into the corners playing a dump and cycle game. He, Bratt and Palat playing cycle along the wall. In Hughes career I've never seen a commitment to this. But Keefe has him playing dump and chase as a fail safe when the immediate rush isn't there (Marner and Mathews lived off of it in Toronto) and that's so promising. It also means he's going to have to go into the slot and battle out front more.
Hischier is playing like a first team all star, the best player on the ice, a second coming of Patrice Bergeron, it's amazing the plateau he's jumped to. I've never seen him finish goals in front like he's doing now, and his defensive positioning, getting to the spots and pinching off plays before the other team gets there is also at a level I've never seen. The positioning and anticipation and efficiency of what he's doing.
It's starting like it's going to be a bubble year like last year with multiple teams hanging around the playoffs. The Islanders are a good team by the way. Way better than Detroit, the Isles are with their defensive personnel and goaltending.
Don't like the way Keefe is managing overtimes. With Bratt, Jack, Nico, Meier and Luke we should seldom lose in OT.