Islanders Come Up Short In Buffalo

Arthur Staple  “It's official -- Doug Weight is interim head coach with Jack Capuano (flu) out tonight.”

Forwards: Moulson-Tavares-Parenteau; Grabner-Nielsen-Okposo; Martin-Bailey-Rolston; Niederreiter-Reasoner-Pandolfo.

Defensemen: Streit-MacDonald; Eaton-Jurcina; Ness-Staios

Kevin Poulin will start tonight in Buffalo.  Al Montoya will be backing up.

Tim Wallace, Ty Wishart scratched tonight.

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In their final meeting of the season, Your New York Islanders and Buffalo Sabers fought for their playoff lives.  The Islanders at 2-0-1 vs Buffalo this season and sat 6 points out of 8^th spot in the east thanks to a Dale Hunter/Washington Capitals’ loss last night.  The Sabers at just 1 point behind New York in 14^th position prior to tonight’s start and 5 teams within a point of each other at the bottom of the eastern conference. Tampa Bay, the Islanders and Montreal at 58 points and Buffalo and Carolina at 57.  Every single point for the remainder of the season is crucial and the Islanders need to do better than alternating wins and loses, like they have done over the last ten games.

Kevin Poulin and the Islanders started out tonight in similar fashion to yesterdays’ hockey nightmare, poor defense with a goal surrendered just 1:21 into the first period.  1-0 Buffalo.  Acting coach, Doug Weight constantly juggled lines and changed things up to try and generate something positive.  New York came on later in the first period generating shots and creating pressure that resulted in a few good chances, but no goals.  Kevin Poulin seemed to settle down and make some nice saves in the Isles net.  P.A. Parenteau took exception to Patrick Kaleta at the buzzer.  It was good to see a little grit come into the Islanders’ game, even if it was late in the period.  Hopefully it would carry over into the second.  Ryan Miller was the difference for Buffalo early on in the game.  Isles out shot Sabers 14-13 in the period.

The teams traded chances to start the second period, but the Islanders continued to play sloppy and motionless in their defensive zone.  Poor defensive play gave the Sabers another goal to make the score 2-0.  The Islanders pressed and Grabner hit a post on a tempting rebound.  Shortly afterwards, Brian Rolston and Josh Bailey got a breakaway but Miller was equal to the task.  Michael Grabner went off into the Isles locker room.   Aaron Ness took an Erhoff shot to the arm and skated to the bench in pain.  Jay Pandolfo was leveled cleanly and Matt Martin answered Mike Weber’s physicality in an attempt to stir things up.  Pandolfo had also gone to the Isles locker room as a result of the hit.  Kevin Poulin played well despite the score and kept his team in the game.  Islanders were out shot 16-5 in the second period and behind 28-20 in the game.

In the Third period, Josh Bailey was not on bench due to back spasms.  Jay Pandolfo returned to the bench with stitches. Michael Grabner, Aaron Ness were also back.  The pace had slowed to the Sabers liking.  The Islanders seemed listless.  Frans Nielsen scored his 4^th goal in 6 games to end the Isles 134:14 scoreless drought (per Arthur Staple.)  2-1 Sabers.  Islanders make push in final minutes.  Poulin to the bench, Islanders start a rush but fail to control the puck.  Isles out shot Sabers in the period 11-9, but were out shot 37-31 for the game.  Kevin Poulin was good with 35 saves and .946Sv%.  He also had an assist on Nielsen's goal. It's Poulin’s first NHL point.

Buffalo wins 2-1.  Isles get no points.  Fall to 25-27-8 and14^th in East.

And it gets worse.

Toronto took N.J. to O.T. and got 1 point.  Isles are now 7 points behind Toronto.

Winnipeg took Flyers to O.T. and got 1 point.  Isles are now 7 points behind Winnipeg.

Are their trades to make?

Isles Notes:

Islanders confirm that they are in contract discussions with G Evgeni Nabokov, as reported by Chris Botta earlier today.  Botta speculates “Evgeni Nabokov choice of 1 or 2-year contract, hope to sign him for 2,” and “Nabokov will get his $ (2-3 mill per), but needs to know if DiPietro is still in Wang's plans to get NHL starts while rehabbing.”

Christian Arnold of @Isleshockeyblog says, “reports are saying that Milan Jurcina is on being shopped by the Isles.  Also suggests that Mark Eaton has asked for a trade.” 

Chris Botta on Eaton, “If Isles Mark Eaton isn't traded, it's only because teams decided he wasn't worth a 3rd or 4th rd pick.”

Arthur Staple reports that Mark Eaton told him "Absolutely not," on whether he asked for a trade.

Head Coach, Jack Capuano on the 6-0 loss vs Ottawa,  "I’ll never ask anybody to fight but we weren’t physical enough."

Before tonight’s game, Andrew MacDonald had 132 of the Islanders 1,013 blocked shots.  That is good enough for 8th in the NHL.

Ken Dick of @RealKenDick said coming into tonights game, “So...in nearly *22%* of their games the Isles have let their opponent score within the first five minutes of the game.”

I will be away for Friday’s game at home against the Rangers @ 7 p.m. and Sunday’s away game in Ottawa at 5 p.m.  I will try and summarize before going into next weeks games.