Айлендерс баг тоглолт бүрт гурван гоол оруулах зорилтдоо хүрэхэд хүндрэлтэй байгаа нь тэдний хожлын боломжийг хумиж байна.
Нью-Йорк Айлендерс баг энэ улирлын 11 дэх тоглолтоо хийхдээ Даллас Старс багт 6-3-ын харьцаатай хожигдсон нь тэдний довтолгооны асуудлыг тод харууллаа. Дасгалжуулагч Пит Дебур тоглолтын дараа хэлэхдээ, гурван гоол нь хожиход хангалттай үзүүлэлт боловч баг нь одоогоор энэ хэмжээнд хүрч чадахгүй байгааг онцолжээ. Хэдийгээр баг нь 60 минутад ногдох аюултай довтолгооны тоогоор NHL-д дээгүүрт бичигдэж байгаа ч бодит байдал дээр гоол оруулах чадвар нь дутагдаж байна.
Эмил Хейнеман болон Бо Хорват нарын үзэж буйгаар багийн дамжуулалт хангалттай оновчтой бус, довтолгооны бүсэд шайбыг илүү удаан эзэмшиж, боломжийг ашиглах шаардлагатай байгаа аж. Тус баг хамгаалалт болон төв бүсийн зохион байгуулалтаараа өрсөлдөгчдөө дарамт үзүүлж чадаж байгаа ч гоолын баталгаа муутай нь тэднийг эрсдэлд оруулж байна.
Кайл Палмиеригийн хэлснээр баг нь бие биеэ дэмжиж, тоглолтын бүтцийг алдагдуулахгүй байх тал дээр анхаарч ажиллаж байна. Одоогоор Айлендерс багт өндөр түвшний мэргэн бууч дутагдалтай байгаа тул өрсөлдөгчөө тасралтгүй дарамталж, алдаа гаргахад хүргэх тактик баримтлах нь нэн чухал болоод байна.
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NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Three goals should be enough for the Islanders to win on a given night, Pete DeBoer said, but there are two issues with that.
First, the Islanders are falling short of three goals per game. And second, while it might be true that three goals gives you a good chance every night, it leaves little margin for error.
So, how to address a 5-on-5 offense that’s lagged behind, even while the Islanders rank eighth in high-danger chances per 60 minutes, per Natural Stat Trick? It’s not a straightforward answer for a team that, simultaneously, feels it is due for better puck luck and that it has a lot of runway to improve.
“There’s always teams at the end of the year that, that gap [between chances and goals] never closes,” DeBoer said after his team held a detail-oriented practice Monday in Nashville, where they’ll face the Predators Tuesday night. “But you can’t coach the puck into the net. I think our idea here is that we continue to tilt the ice, if we continue to win that battle, if we continue to put up those underlying numbers, then we’ll score enough.”
The Islanders probably can expect some positive regression; after all, Sunday’s 6-3 loss to the Stars was only their 11th game of the season, and the sloppy performance in Dallas was an outlier.
Still, a note of caution on taking the high-danger chance number as gospel: the expected goals models at both Natural Stat Trick and Evolving Hockey have the Islanders offense much lower-rated at 5-on-5, 17th and 19th, respectively. They haven’t generated many looks in the home plate area around the net, and they know that their offense needs improvement.
“Sometimes just isn’t sharp enough,” Emil Heineman told The Post. “Passes or whatever it is, it’s not crisp, or maybe we’ve been talking a lot to hold onto the puck a little bit more in the O-zone. Not just send it and [make] hope plays. Stuff like that.”
Much of what the Islanders have done well has been without the puck. Sunday aside, their defense and neutral-zone structure have been excellent, leading to a consistent ice tilt in their favor and, in turn, scoring chances.
Even if they’re never going to be a scoring-rich team, that can be enough on a lot of nights. Especially given that the power play has largely cooperated so far.
“We’re creating a lot of good offense. It’s just a matter of it going in for us and obviously, us bearing down in front of the net,” Bo Horvat told The Post. “Capitalizing on our opportunities is gonna be big for us. For the most part, we’re doing a good job of creating. Last game wasn’t our best and we know that.”
If the Islanders aren’t retrieving pucks, winning battles along the walls and generating a consistent forecheck, offensive issues that can get pushed below the surface otherwise start to bubble up.
That was evident Sunday, when the Islanders were held to just seven high-danger chances at 5-on-5 and never generated pressure for more than a shift at a time.
Given the lack of high-end scorers on their roster, the Islanders need their offense to be based on constant pressure that wears teams down. Creating that was much of the focus Monday, with a practice that seemed based largely on scenarios they struggled with in Dallas.
“It’s looking for the right thing but also being in support of each other,” Kyle Palmieri told The Post. “Knowing where your outs are. When you have the opportunity to keep plays alive, sometimes when you get them trying to break out, it keeps [the other team] out of their structure, too. It’s a process that we’ve been building.”
