The New York Islanders did their best, had some great moments in 2014-15, but it simply was not enough.
This team did not win two games in a row one single time after February 27th.
The better team won and deserved to advance, credit to Washington, but my honest thoughts are they were all set to lose this game themselves.
The Islanders season long weakness, blowing leads or giving up goals after scoring decided this series in game two.
You cannot lose to a barely used backup with leads of 2-0 & 3-1.
This is the goal I will remember this summer, it decided this playoff and too many goals allowed all season.
That's the game you must win, and why ultimately they were eliminated.
You take eleven shots in game seven you do not win.
For good measure of course they got the game tied on a flub by Holtby, and gave it back, worst of all it was Frans Nielsen who got beat clean.
That was the theme in games they won almost the entire season, never an easy game.
Can you say the blown points that determined home ice decided things? Maybe, but the Isles were a poor home team in big games as March showed us constantly.
Washington targeted the smaller Islander defenders, young & old, the refs allowed some horrible calls, and cheap shots, that's part of many series, it cannot be used as an excuse.
Did not expect Donovan or Mayfield, who looked good at the end of 2013-14. Reinhart looked as slow/shaky as he did at Msg in October.
Losing Hamonic was huge but this organization should have been able to overcome that at this point.
Of course you add Visnovsky/deHaan to the injured list, and sure a ton is being asked.
But that's what your team is in business for, it's an opportunity.
And again they did not win two games in a row after February 27th with Hamonic.
Yes, I wrote often this team ran out of gas with that schedule, it was a huge factor.
Capuano/staff did a horrible job with the powerplay long before the playoffs, and it cost them huge, we'll see what upper management thinks about that moving forward.
Bailey did his part in all three zones.
Kulemin had the big goal in game six, but that line was not dominating, and the season long trend of Kulemin not mixing well with Tavares beyond cameos vs taking Anders Lee off that line was also a huge factor.
Lee had so many huge game-changing goals, he did struggle badly down the stretch. The trade off for Colin
McDonald playing right wing was not worth it. Lee fought Wilson.
Nelson after his benching got time with Tavares and Kulemin went on a line with Grabovski.
Strome helped, but the late season shift to 1st line right wing was more a response to Okposo's struggles, and he moved around.
Boychuk, Leddy, Hickey gave all they had, so did Brian Strait for all the abuse he receives.
Halak gave all he had, he needed to stop the game four overtime goal from long distance, it was hardly a rocket of a shot, even if Tavares broke his stick, but overall he was outstanding and deserved to win.
What does all this mean for 2015-16? Absolutely nothing.
2014-15 was a great year to be proud of the New York Islanders, now it's over.
New York team since 1972 moves to New York for 2015-16.
