Last night was tough to watch for Islanders fans. New York was riding high coming off of a great Game 7 win on Saturday night, but the Lightning ruined the fun.

What Went Wrong

Everything. The team looked gassed and completely out of it, making it real easy for a powerful offense, like the Lightning, to take advantage. The Islanders defensive system was nowhere to be found, allowing way too many shots from high risk areas and also allowing too easy of a zone entry which is extremely abnormal of them. With a day off tomorrow, and a lot of video sessions, this could easily be fixed for Game 2.

Game Recap

It all started just 1:14 into the game where Brayden Point, who finished with five points on the night, embarrassed Ryan Pulock with a stutter step and power move to the net to give the Lightning an early 1-0 lead. However, Jordan Eberle finally got the monkey off the back as he tied the game with a power-play goal less than four minutes later.

Here’s where, in my opinion, the game turned. Brock Nelson had a breakaway on a Tampa Bay power-play in which he had Andrei Vasilevski beat, but missed wide. Just a few seconds later, the Lightning scored and took over the game from there. The Lightning scored five unanswered goals before Nick Leddy tallied his third goal of the postseason to make it 6-2 Lightning.  Ondrej Palat and Yanni Gourde added to the Lightning lead and the final score came out to be an 8-2 blowout.

Thomas Greiss was pulled after allowing three goals on nine shots, but none of the three goals were his fault. Two were shots through screens and one was a nice move.

What to Fix

Usually you don’t need to say this when talking about the Islanders, but defense is something they need to fix for Game 2.  It’s very frustrating to watch the Islanders defensemen leave bodies in front of the net, screening their goalie. The solution is simple: box them out.

Move them out of the slot area and let the goalie see the shot. It’s not just today too, the Islanders rarely pick up guys in front of the net. Other than that, it’s the little things that need to be cleaned up. The Isles were also tired and it was obvious. They had no time to prepare and come up with a game plan for the Lightning, while Tampa has been in Edmonton, studying the Islanders since they went up 3-1 on the Flyers.

Conclusion

Don’t panic just yet, it’s Game 1. Have faith and trust Barry Trotz’s game plan for the remainder of the series. If they come out looking like the Islanders team we saw in Game 7, good luck Tampa.

Oh, and here’s a crazy stat for you: The last time the Islanders gave up eight goals in a playoff game, was on May 15, 1980 in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final against the Flyers where they lost 8-3. What ended up happening later that series? That’s right, the Isles won the Stanley Cup. So there’s another reason why you shouldn’t get down yet.

Game of the Month Record

1-6-2