Struck By Lightning

On Saturday Kellie and I ventured to Knoxville to watch the Tennessee Volunteers throttle the Kentucky Wildcats 50-16.  It was one of the few times where it is ok for the dogs to beat the cats.  We left in the third quarter partly due to the fact that the game was decided and we had a three hour drive home.  However, the primary reason was that Kellie was freezing as an unseasonal cold snap had the temperature at below 40 degrees.

I had planned to listen to the Islanders game on my iPhone on the way home.  The Isles were playing the Tampa Bay Lightning looking for their sixth win a row.  However, I decided to watch the game at home on the DVR.  I arrived in my man cave around 10:30PM.  I turned the game on and accidentally fast forwarded through the first eight minutes of the game.  Before I could fix my mistake, I saw Brock Nelson skate to the middle of the Lightning zone and wrist one past Bishop for a 1-0 lead.  I thought that was a good sign of things to come.  It was Nelson's team leading 8th goal of the year from Tavares and Okposo.  Chad Johnson was in net on the tail end of the Florida back-to-back games.  It made sense to give him a game but it was also a risk because Halak has been hot as of late.

I sat back and watched the rest of the first period.  The Lightning got one back when Ryan Callahan, the former Ranger got his 6th goal of the year.  Then Josh Bailey tipped in a shot from Boychuk to give the Islanders the lead back at 2-1.  Bailey had been rewarded for his strong play with a spot on the top line with Tavares and Okposo.  But the Lightning had a couple of more answers and put two more goals from Filppula and Paquette past Johnson to take a 3-2 lead into the second period.

It was clear that Tampa Bay was dictating the play  even though they had only a slight edge in shots.  In the second period the Lightning scored a critical goal from Johnson to take a two goal lead into the last frame.  The Islanders simply could not overcome those two goals.  Tampa Bay kept up the pressure and added an a goal with a couple of minutes left for the 5-2 win.  The Islanders did not play a bad game.  They were out shot only 28-27.  It was basically one of those games that you can chalk up to "you can't win them all".

The Islanders are 11-6 and coming home to a rematch with Tampa Bay in the Nassau Coliseum.  That game will tell me a lot.  It we see more of the same then it might shed some light on a potential problem.  However, if the Isles come out and play a strong game then it will be a good sign that the game in Florida was a one game aberration.