Tonight, your New York Islanders
start a 7 game homestand when they face the Carolina Hurricanes. It was the last contest vs. the Hurricanes
where all the problems and inconsistencies became painfully exposed for New
York. John Tavares and Travis Hamonic
showed their frustrations and the season seemed to feel all but lost. Since then, the Isles have gone 4-2 and are
only a point out of eight position in the Eastern Conference standings.
Forwards: Moulson-Tavares-Boyes,
Bailey-Nielsen-Aucoin, Grabner-Reasoner-Okposo, Martin-Cizikas-McDonald.
Defensive Pairings: MacDonald-Hamonic, Streit-Martinek,
Hickey-Visnovsky.
Kevin Poulin gets his first
start of the NHL season tonight. Evgeni
Nabokov is backing up.
With 10,048 fans watching in the first period, the Islanders
look strong. Kevin Poulin looks calm
and poised in his play so far. Matt
Moulson (Boyes and Tavares) scores on a nice rush to make it 1-0 Isles. The Islanders are applying some strong
pressure and a hard fore check, really playing well. John Tavares (Moulson) scores off a nice wrist shot to make it
2-0 Isles! Somehow, the Islanders were
out shot 14-5 in the period they seemed to dominate.
The second period opens with more aggressive play from New
York. Kevin Poulin not getting much
work here in the second thus far, he needs to stay sharp. Casey Cizikas continues to bring energy to
the Isles game. Bad call against
Martin, gives Canes a fluky PP goal.
2-1 Islanders. And just :45
after, Carolina scores again, it's 2-2 game.
Although the Isles played poorly on defense there, that goal is one Poulin wants back. Despite that, Poulin
has played well so far overall. The
Islanders cant let a bad minute erase two good periods of play. The Isles out shot the Canes 14-3 in the period,
but were outscored 2-0. Game tied at
2-2.
In the third period, the Islanders need to answer this
challenge and show they have matured and keep up the pressure on Carolina. Aside from a couple of rushes, the Isles
look a little flat in the third. Kevin
Poulin has comeback to make a few nice saves.
More questionable efforts on the Isles defense and an odd man rush gives
Carolina a 3-2 lead mid-way through the third period. Cam Ward has really tightened up for the Hurricanes. The Isles seem snake bitten late in the
period. Coach Capuano pulls Poulin in
the final minutes and puts Reasoner and a struggling Okposo on the
ice. Why? An empty net goal gives the Canes a 4-2 lead and the win in
tonight's game. Carolina finished the
game with a 28-25 advantage in shots on net.
JT ties (Stamkos) for the NHL lead in goals scored. That's 13 goals in 15 games. Matt Moulson scored his 10th goal
tonight. That makes the Islanders the
only NHL team with double digit line mates.
Kevin Poulin looked OK in his season debut with the Isles. He was 24 of 27 with a .889Sv% in the
loss. Poulin should get better as he
gets more practice with the team.
Marty Reasoner has been good on face-offs this season and
has a few assists, but terrible on ice the rest of the time. Kyle Okposo struggled through out the game
tonight and still looks lost.
Once again, the Isles crumpled after bad luck, adversity or
what ever you want to call it came up to challenge them.
When you out play a team and don't put them away, you keep them in the
game to come back and beat you.
Tonight's game was yet another example of this principle. Again, I blame the coaching of Jack
Capuano. His teams inability to play a complete game at
home is ridiculous.
In a post game interview, Islanders Head Coach, Jack Capuano said they (Isles)
shouldn't have been up 2-0 to start the game.
He said that he was aware of no emotion or spirit in the room
before the game, "I saw it going into the game." When asked how it could be fixed, he said he
"couldn't figure it out for the life of him."
Maybe this team would benefit from a proven NHL coach who has won at this
level and proven some proficiency over his career.
The only consistency of this promising young team has is
their inconsistency. Jack Capuano
should stop blaming his star players.
He should stop blaming his Captain and take responsibility for HIS teams
preparedness and compete level. He has
created an overall lack of confidence and fostered a losing culture with his
coaching.
Own it.
Isles Notes:
Radek Martinek will replace
Finley in tonight's lineup and Kevin Poulin will get the start tonight for
their season debut.
Kevin Poulin: In 6 games last season, he was 3.04 GAA,
.907 Save Pct. with 2 wins & 4 losses.
Islanders have worst home record
in the NHL at 2-7 so far this season fter tonights loss. They rank 6th best in NHL on the road at
6-3-1. Per Eric Hornick, " so good
on road, but match 2nd worst home start in their history (had 3 pts in 72-73,
and 4 pts in 89-90 and this year) ."
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