I'm not going to write and tell everyone the Islanders played great but it was not bad as Greg Logan and a few others made it out to be.
The Buffalo game the Islanders were horrible in every area, against Dallas it was a different story. Scott Gordon had it correct when he noted the forecheck, the chances the defense created.
I watched the play closely, if you did also I think you saw some of the same things Gordon was talking about.
As for the scoreboard for those who want to write the score was closer than the play again did not tell the entire story.
Richard Park scores on his breakaway it's a two goal swing because Dallas does not go down and finish a play for the 2-0 goal where Pock lost his man. They score on those goal post during the five on three or Turco does not make an incredible save on Weight or Sim's wrap-around chance goes in it's a completely different game.
As I wrote last night, Dallas also made some very good plays knocking a clearing attempt out of mid-air by Gervais and going in to score. Dallas was due to break out after the Devils game where they had chances and did not finish. The Isles pk was a disappointment because not clearing the puck all the way down on the first goal did not allow the penalty killers to change.
The media wants no part in mentioning the loss of Martink here which is a huge factor, they only notice him when it's time to write about how under-rated he is.
Of course the DiPietro contract/personality club will not think twice to blame the goaltender for the loss, despite him having no chance on any of the five goals. At least Dan Martin got that correct when he noted no goaltender would have had a chance.
I just hope some folks watched the game and got beyond the final score.
In the long run all folks will remember is the final score and that is all that counts but if we are breaking down a game there is more too it than that.
