I attended yesterdays Islanders' game against the Winnipeg Jets. It was the final home game of the season for New York in front of a nice-sized crowd for a team that would finish in April. This was the view from my seat about an hour before game time.
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Forwards: Moulson-Tavares-Parenteau; Bailey-Nielsen-Okposo; Grabner-Reasoner-Niederreiter; Haley-Pandolfo-Martin.
Defensive Pairings: Streit-Jurcina; Hamonic-MacDonald; Staios-Donovan.
Al Montoya in goal with John Grahame backing up.
Mark Eaton (upper body) and Dylan Reese out.
The Isles ended up defeating cheapshot artist, Evander Kane and the Winnipeg Jets by the score of 5-4 in what was an exciting, back and forth game that even boasted a penalty shot!
In the first period, Matt Moulson (Tavares) opened the scoring with a sweet wrist shot form the circles. A short time later, the surging Kyle Okposo (Bailey and Nielsen) made it 2-0 through some traffic. The Jets would score a pair of goals to ties the game at 2-2. Winnipeg out shot the Isles 13-10 in the first period.
The second period only had one goal, and it was scored by Kyle Okposo (Travares). 3-2 Isles. P.A. Parenteau was ripped down by Mark Stuart on a partial breakaway with no call by the officials. It was a terrible non-call yet again at the expense of the Isles as they lost a crucial player in their line up with nothing to show for it at the hands of the Jets. I am referencing of course when Evander Kane brutalized and unsuspecting Al Montoya in his own crease. It resulted in a concussion causing him to miss time from December 20th thru January 24th by Montoya, who was starting to have a pretty solid season, but has not looked the same since he came back. He needed to be held up by teammates as he grabbed his left leg. Later, it was reported that P.A. Parenteau had an ankle sprain and would not return. The Isles out shot Winnipeg 11-5 in the second.
In the third, Winnipeg would go tie the game yet again, at 3-3. But only a few minutes later, Michael Grabner would get a Penalty shot goal to grab the lead yet again 4-3. Less than a minute later, the Jets would comeback again to tie the score at 4-4. It seemed like another melt down could happen. Travis Hamonic would rip a shot on net that Michael Grabner would deflect past Mason to grab the lead yet again 5-4 with :47 seconds in the game. The Isles would hold on to win the game. Shots were even at 7-7 in the third period, with the Islanders having a 28-25 shot advantage for the game. Al Montoya went 21 - 25 with an .840Sv%
Matt Donovan looked solid again of defense for the Isles. While he will have a tough time beating out guys like Calvin de Haan and Aaron Ness next season, the depth he will bring is a win, win for all of us.
Per Arthur Staple, John Tavares reached 50 assists on Kyle Okposo's 2nd of the game. He was the first Isles player with 50+ assists since Pierre Turgeon did it in 1993-94.
The three Stars were John Tavares, Kyle Okposo and Michael Grabner with the top honors.
Mark Streit and the team stayed on the ice after the buzzer with a salute to the crowd and thanked the fans for their support all season long.
** Special thanks again to Isles Blog Box members, Dee Karl of Hockeybuzz and Anthony Stabile of Hockeythisweek.com for their help and guidance over the course of the season. It was great to see you guys at the game. **
Isles Notes:
The Good Guy Award was presented by Arthur Staple to Matt Moulson. This award is to celebrate professionalism and media courtesy.
John Tavares has been named "Islander of the Year" for the impact he has made for the Islanders all season long.
Per Brian Compton, Steve Staios is the 279th player to appear in 1,000 NHL games.
The Islanders finish the 2011-12 season with only 17 wins at the NVMC.
Per the Islanders, PA Parenteau (ankle) and Mark Eaton (upper body) not making trip to Columbus for Islanders season finale.
The Islanders’ draft party will be held at the NVMC on Friday, June 22nd.
Per Kevin Pates, Minnesota Duluth senior goalie Kenny Reiter has agreed to an Amateur Tryout Contract with Bridgeport of the AHL. To be in uniform Saturday.
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