Is There A Way to Decline Overtime?

Islanders 3: Avalanche 4 (OT)

If my caps lock isn't broken by now, it never will be.

I spent a hellish amount of time caps-lock screaming on Twitter (when I wasn't actually yelling at the game), and as far as I can tell it didn't do any good. The Islanders squandered a three-goal lead and lost to Colorado, 4-3. Why?

Well, we got secondary scoring. For once, John Tavares was not the main article on the scoresheet. Josh Bailey finally broke his goose egg, Brian Rolston made it 2-0, and Michael Grabner was the beneficiary of a beautiful play by Matt Moulson that resulted in a 3-0 tally. So it wasn't that.

What did they do wrong? They lost sight of the prize.

Now, I know there's all this hoopla about "Denver, the Mile-High City" and "the altitude kills you" and such, but did it ever. Grabs was red in the face by the end of the second, it's true, but I just can't completely buy that. After Avs goal #2, a crazy little floater that caught Al Montoya up high, the Isles seemed to just lose it completely. A little less discipline, a little less confidence and a whole lot more of sloppy seemed to be the issue. Even Montoya, usually unflappable in the crease, was a little less sure of himself, and it may have been that which led to the mistakes to come.

However, let's not throw the goalie completely under the bus just yet. After all, it takes defensive breakdowns to create scoring chances, and it takes lack of offense to lead to constant defensive pressure. In the third period, though the Isles had a few scoring chances, much of it was spent in the defensive zone, and that cannot happen when you're trying to protect a lead. It's like this team still hasn't learned to play a full sixty minutes, and that is something that must be done before we can even fathom trying to break into the playoffs. It's not enough to score a bunch of goals over forty minutes. There needs to be a constant effort.

And that being said, there also needs to be some actual OFFICIATING by the guys in stripes. I thought the "tripping" call on Rolston was bad enough (Shane O'Brien's feet were nowhere near Rolston's stick at the time), but then in overtime, Daniel Winnik (who definitely earned my "don't you ever show your face to me again" award for being a real douchebag) skated through the crease for the second time after running over Montoya late in the third, causing a "high sticking" call on Montoya, which I completely disagree with. Sorry, but if you're nowhere near the puck and you decide to have a little skate and try to interfere with the goalie, you deserve an instigator or goalie interference at least. (even though they were bowling over Monty all night, but I digress.) But of course, that was not so. So Monty got the penalty, the Isles went on the PK, and Kyle Quincey scored.

Welp. On to Vancouver, I suppose- and thanks to school in the morning and work Tuesday night, I will be seeing little to none of the next two games. Thanks ever so much, manager of mine, for scheduling me for a 3-close on the night two division rivals play. Phew. Oh, and I have pics to share with you (from my friend Jacob, which I have to upload to my email- oh, technology). But for now, adieu.