Late Home Opener Thoughts and Photos!

You may or may not have noticed that I said I would post some final thoughts when I got home from the game on Saturday. I sort of lied, but unintentionally. When I got home, I completely fell asleep on my couch – been working my tail off lately.

Here are some of the notes that I jotted down during the game:

Freddy Meyer lands a beautiful submarine check early in the first period! Great to see FMIV has the same timing as last season!

The team looks like it has an identity and also sticks up for one another. While the team last year all stood up for each other, unlikely players are getting involved; Tambellini and Gervais for example.

Defensive pressure in the first period was great, the team lined up across the blueline and forced the Blues to dump and chase. Later in the game, they stopped doing the same things and the Blues were able to put more pressure on the Islanders.

When the pressure was on, the Isles forced the Blues to take 3 consecutive icings – without the tv timeouts, the line for the Blues was absolutely shot.

Joey MacDonald didn’t look like a back up goaltender, he was playing like a true number one and was standing on his head. One of the biggest highlights was stopping Keith Tkachuk on a breakaway, another when a nifty move made room by one of the Blues forwards with a cross slot pass. MacDonald had a point blank save and covered the puck.

Overall, I felt the Islanders played one heck of a game – they are really starting to excel at Gordon’s brand of hockey. Hopefully as time moves on, the little areas that need adjustment will be addressed and the Isles will play hockey like the first period for a full 60 minutes. Scott Gordon is likely looking at his first victory game puck, and thinking the exact thing.

Photos

Here are some quick photos of Seven Mary Three and Kevin Connolly dropping the puck! You can see more in the gallery.