from Larry Brooks of the New York Post,

Through four games of this series that could end on Tuesday, Palat and Point each have three goals with Kucherov adding two. That makes eight. On the other side, Eberle has one goal, that one on the power play in the opening minutes of Game 1. That is the sum, if not necessarily the substance, of the Islanders’ first line.

Oh, and the 8-1 imbalance in goals is not just a reflection of one side finishing with the other one just not able to capitalize. According to NaturalStattrick.com, Point, Kucherov and Palat have combined for 28 scoring chances at five-on-five as compared to an aggregate 16 for the Islanders’ trio.

Teams do not lose for one reason and one reason alone, but when your presumptive best players are not anywhere close to that at this point of the tournament, well, one need not be Anatoly Tarasov, Lou Lamoriello or Hercule Poirot to understand where fingers could be pointed (if anyone were into that sort of thing).

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