"We Didn’t Execute At All," Lose To Flyers

Other than a 5-minute push towards the end of the game, the Islanders were out played by the Flyers at home on Thursday night.  They were able to generate a few good chances, but were flat for most of the game.  As a result, the fell again to 28-32-11 with 67 points and last in the eastern conference, 28th in the league.

Once again, they spotted their opponents a multiple goal lead, and fell short in a strong effort when they ran out of time, losing 3-2.  From Cory Wright on Islanders.nhl.com, “We gave them two gifts,” a fired-up Jack Capuano said after the game. “I thought we could have got some momentum back late in the second period when we had back-to-back power plays, and we didn’t execute at all.” 

Sound familiar?

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Forwards: Moulson-Tavares-Okposo; Grabner-Nielsen-Parenteau; Ullstrom-Bailey-Niederreiter; Martin-Cizikas-Pandolfo.

Defensive pairings: Streit-Reese; Hamonic-MacDondald; Eaton-Jurcina.

Evgeni Nabokov in net with Al Montoya backing up.

Steve Staios and Marty Reasoner are scratched. PA Parenteau is back in the lineup after missing 1 game with an upper body injury.

Updates from NYI on Twitter:

1^st period: Islanders lead SOG 11-9; Andrew MacDonald leads TOI 8:27; John Tavares has won 3 of 4 faceoffs.

2^nd period : Islanders lead SOG 20-17, Travis Hamonic has three shots; Andrew MacDonald leads TOI 14:40, Matt Moulson with 14:37.

Game recap: Isles outshoot Flyers 11-5 in period and 31-22 in the game.  Their late rally falls short. Michael Grabner (Mark Streit and Dylan Reese) and John Tavares (Mark Streit) score 35 seconds apart with 6:30 left in third.  Evgeni Nabokov was 18/21 with a .864Sv%

Bruce Ratner, head of Barclays Center management team made the following statement during an interview at the Flyers game: “My real goal is to make sure that the Islanders stay in New York, obviously. … New York needs the Islanders.” 

What was that all about?

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Isles Notes:

John Tavares and Matt Moulson give the Isles two 30-goal scorers for the second straight season.

Per New York Islanders, Only 3 players in Isles history recorded at least 71 pts. at age 21 or younger: Bossy, Trottier and Potvin.  Per Eric Hornick, “Tavares has 70 points (31-39-70) on 161 Islanders goals this season (43.5%). No Islander since Zigmund Palffy has recorded points on over 40% of the team’s goals in a complete season. He is the first Islander since Alexei Yashin (75 in 2001-02) to record at least 70 points in a season.”

@stevelepore, The Isles are up 25% in attendance from last season, highest jump in the league. Still only averaging 13,000 at the moment.

Chris Botta, “with every chance to get in race for 8th, Isles wilted. Important to note: core of the lineup was healthy. No excuses.”  He continues, “Despite his club finishing 26th, 30th, 26th, 27th and now in 28th, Garth Snow will get a 7th year as Isles GM.”

3/16  Lines at Isles practice: Moulson-Tavares-Okposo, Bailey-Nielsen-Parenteau, Ullstrom-Cizikas-Grabner, Martin-Pandolfo-Reasoner-Niederreiter.

The Islanders are on a five game, two-week road trip with Montreal, Saturday @ 7 p.m., Toronto and Tampa Bay on Tuesday and Saturday @ 7 p.m., Florida on Sunday @ 5 p.m. and Pittsburgh the following Tuesday @ 7 p.m.