Your 11th place New York
Islanders have an opportunity to play for some serious pride tonight and try to
make up for their lackluster effort at home yesterday against the Flyers. The fans rallied with pitchforks and torches
while calling Coach Capuano's name.
Tonight, the Isles start a 3
game road trip (4-2-1 on road) in Ottawa against the 7th place
Senators. Ottawa is 5-1-2 at home.
Will the Islanders rally or just
sit back and wait for John Tavares to make it happen?
Forwards: Moulson-Tavares-Boyes,
Bailey-Nielsen-Aucoin, Grabner-Reasoner-Okposo, Martin-Cizikas-McDonald.
Defensive Pairings:
Finley-Streit, Hickey-Visnovksy, MacDonald-Hamonic
DiPietro starts in net with
Nabokov backing up.
In the first period, the 4th
line of Martin-Cizikas-McDonald set a strong pace for the Isles in the
game. The Islanders have been more
aggressive on the fore check and more positional of defense, good offensive
pace. Adjustments appear to have been
made. Lets see if it holds up. New York finishes the period a little sloppy
after strong start, Josh Bailey hits a crossbar off Aucoin feed, Isles fail to
score 5 on 5, or on the PP. Isles
outshot Sens, 8-7. Isles 0-1 on the PP.
Isles start the second period
very strong and apply immediate pressure to Craig Anderson. Islanders give Ottawa a PP, and they
convert. 1-0 Senators off a defensive
breakdown with both Isles defenders going behind the net leaving Greening wide
open. Second one is all on DP sitting
way back in his nets and shot goes in from the blue line. Danger zone approaching. 2-0 Senators. Anderson continues to thwart any Islanders comeback effort. Give the Isles that, they have not
quit. Islanders get lazy and give away
PP chances to Ottawa. Isles still
outshooting Ottawa, 25-15.
Per Eric Hornick, so far, the
Isles have been blanked for last 100:35, outscored 9-0.
The Isles hard work pays off
with a goal by Travis Hamonic (Reasoner and Okposo), 2-1 Senators. Arthur Staple adds, " Hamonic's first
goal since the opener; first goal by an Isles D since Jan. 31." Credit the Isles 4th line for contributing
to that goal as well. Good looks on the
PP for the Isles, moving the puck well and disrupting Anderson's game a
little. DiPietro forces a clear right
into Ottawa player who puts it back on net, DP covers. Ottawa shot goes off post and out. DiPietro bobbles puck from glove, attempts an
awkward sweepand it ends up in the net.
3-1 Ottawa. Brian Strait was
missed in the defensive scheme. Benoit
and Dziurzynski get first NHL goals tonight against DP. Isles net is empty. Kyle Okposo takes penalty late in period,
DiPietro goes back to the net. Ottawa
finish the game on 5-3 PP.
Isles fall to 6-9-1 on the
season.
Game ends with Ottawa winning
3-1, despite being outshot by New York 38-26 and without key players like
Spezza and Karlsson. John Tavares was
neutralized and frustrated by Eric Gryba and Matt Moulson missed a few
opportunities that he might normally make.
The bottom line is that the team played better and worked hard. But they lost. Again. Working hard is
not good enough anymore if it doesn't result in a win. You can not spot teams a 2-3 goal lead and try and comeback
against a goaltender with an NHL leading .950 Sv%, 2nd best GAA of 1.57 and 3rd
in shutouts with 2 in Craig Anderson. Per Brian Compton, Rick DiPietro has not given up less than 3 goals in a game since 11/3/11.
I am sure there needs to be a
head coaching change. Players like
Marty Reasoner should not play over David Ullstrom or a call up for Nino
Niederreiter, Ryan Strome or even Brock Nelson. Lets see Aaron Ness and Matt Donovan get a shot on defense. If the team continues to lose these kind of
games, at least give these guys some minutes and see what they can do. Kevin Poulin can use some more NHL games as
well, he is the projected #1 goaltending prospect for the Isles. Management needs to make a statement and it
needs to be a big one. The fans are
beyond angry.
What was up with the network
crashing into commercial when Travis Hamonic was asked about the Isles
goaltending tonight? Either way, it
looks bad. If Hamonic did say something
negative, then the organization better take note again. When core players are melting down, there is
trouble.
When Management looks past this
and ignores disfunctional team coaching and the roster it has been struggling
with without making changes, thats when guys like that don't care anyomore.
But I think that the team will
stay the course and be conservative. It
is technically still early and they will most likely look to the positives to
not act to aggressively against "the plan."
I just hope there is something
left in the players and fans when the smoke clears.
Isles Notes:
DiPietro in net tonight.
Ullstrom and Boulton scratched, Reasoner in. Hickey in on D for Strait
It has been confirmed that Isles
Defensemen Brian Strait is out with a broken ankle. He will be out 6-8 weeks.
Mark Streit is in talks on a
contract extension to remain a New York Islander. Streit has stated he wants to remain with the team.
Today's the day that Matt Moulsn
ties Denis Potvin for 3rd on Isles all-time leader board w. 262 consecutive
games played.
On this day in 1979 - Mike Bossy
scores his 100th career goal in his 129th game. It is the fastest 100 goals
ever scored by a player in the NHL.
Chris McNally of Lighthouse
Hockey does his homework - Cap'n Momentum?: Islanders Streak the Wrong Way
Under Jack Capuano
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