Eastern Quarter Finals, Game 1 - Islanders vs. Pittsburgh
It has been pointed out that
Marc-Andre Fleury was pulled in his last 2 home starts against the Islanders
and Fleury gave up 30 goals against the Flyers in the first round last year.
Dan Bylsma had this to say about
your New York Islanders, "They're a team that was overlooked by a lot of
people coming into the season, a team that's grown up together."
Early reports say Crosby, Orpik
and Kennedy will be out for the Pens tonight.
Despite these things, the Isles
will have to outwork a depleted Pittsburgh team in their own building, endure
their onslught and outlast them until they can put points on the board
themselves. Truthfully, it feels like
the Penguins are ripe for an upset, and who better to give them one that the
upstart Isles with which, they have so much history with.
Forwards: Moulson-Tavares-Boyes,
Bailey-Nielsen-Okposo, Grabner-Aucoin-McDonald, Cizikas-Reasoner-Martin.
Defensive pairings: Hamonic-MacDonald, Streit-Strait, Hickey-Visnovsky.
Evgeni Nabokov is in net with
Kevin Poulin behind the bench.
In the first period, the Isles
and Pens joust back and forth with some physical play. Evgeni Nabokov takes an Igilna shot off the
face mask and seems rattled, but remains on ice after trainer leaves. Clearing attempt hits an Official and the
Isles give up a PP goal just 16:00 mark, 1-0 Penguins. Casey Cizikas is everywhere in the offensive
zone with a good shot on net in close.
Isles look pretty composed, considering the bad bounce and early lead by
Pittsburgh. Isles with a good chippy
game so far in the period. Penguins
make it 2-0 with 6 minutes remaining in the first. Isles need to be better on the rebounds, dont let the need to lay
the hit make the defense vulnerable. Matt
Moulson draws a penalty on Cooke, Isles get a PP, move the puck well, only one
shot on net but fail to score.
Islanders defense really slow to clear out rebounds, making Nabokov work
too hard. Streit not responding well to
Pens speed. Isles take a nother bad
penlty late and give Pens a PP to end the first. 1:17 of PP time will roll over into the second period. Pittsburgh outshooting Isles 13-8 in the
period.
The Isles Defense needs to tighten up, keep playing physical and keep moving the puck
and make Pittsburgh earn this. Fleury
really hasn't been tested yet. He looks
a little shakey. Isles need to put some
shots on net in the second.
The Pens enter the second period
with remaing PP time. Reasoner gives
the Pens a 5 on 3. Pittsburgh scores
just over a minute in, 3-0 Pens.
Seconds later, 4-0 Pittsburgh.
Evgeni Nabokov is relieved by Kevin Poulin. Nabokov finishes 11 of 15 with a .733 Sv%. The shot he took off his mask may have rattled
him, or it could be the weak defensive help he had gotten. I'm back on coach Capuano, where is the game
plan? Where is the leadership? The Isles need to support Poulin and knuckle
down and make it one shift at a time and claw back into the game. Pittsburgh continues to dictate play and
make it 5-0 Pittsburgh. Terrible goal
allowed by Poulin and Isles defense as soft as they were in the final 3 games
of the season. Isles getting manhandled
and having the play dicataed to them by Pittsburgh. Is there no direction for the Isles bench? This does not look like the team
that went 11-2-4 in their last 17 games.
Despite being outplayed, Islanders played better later in that
period. They led in shots 10-8 in the
period with Pittsburgh 21-18 in the game so far.
The third period starts with
some pressure by the Islanders, but Pittsburgh still controls most of the
play. The physical tone of the game
continued throughout the period until Marty Reasoner was accessed a 5 minute
major and a game misconduct from an "apparent" knee on knee hit with
Jokinen. More like a trip. Terrible call. Kevin Poulin finished the game going 10 for 11 and a
.909Sv%. Isles outshot the Pens 8-5 in
the third. Shots were even at 26-26 by
the end of play.
Penguins win Game 1 of the
Eastern Quarter Finals by the score of 5-0.
Its a hard piece of humble pie to swallow for the Isles and their fans. Call it a part of history and look for the
Isles to get angry about it and show up on Friday for a different kind of game.
#beLIeve
#STRONGisland
Recap:
The islanders failed to do anything that wins them games. They were outplayed, out hustled, out
worked, dominated in their own zone and kept to the outside when they tried to
set up offensively in Pittsburgh's zone.
They didn't pressure Fleury for most of the game and when they did, it
wasn't a sustained attack like both Nabokov and Poulin had to face. I hope Nabokov is ok and wasn't really
rattled from the puck to mask early in the game. Something seemed to change after that event for the Isles. The top line was invisible tonight. Hickey, Visnovsky and the team defense was awful tonight. Most of the team played
poorly. Marty Reasoner and his veteran
experience watched the first goal go in, was in the penalty box for goals 3
& 4 and was escorted off the ice, late in the third period
for a 5 minute major and a game misconduct.
At least Poulin got some experience in a playoff game, facing a top
ranked opponent.
The coaching was non existent throughout the game in my
opinion. Even mixing up the lines late
in the game is a weak message to send so late in the game. I had been trying to give coach Capuano the
benefit of the doubt after the late season surge, but the team played poorly
for the final three games with no adjustments.
I really think this team does what it does with the assistant coaches and on ice talent,
but when it comes to a solid game plan, they succeed in spite of their head
coach. Almost as if he himself is a passenger. Then, head coach Capuano comes out and bashes
their work ethic in the game in yet another post game interview.
Perhaps tonight's game was a wake up call of sorts. Perhaps this was another level the team
needed to experience.
Tavares when asked if he is
worried about the Isles playoff experience tonight. "We get experience right at the first drop of the
puck..." Right.
Fridays game must see the Isles send a message, or it will
be a very short series. Tavares: "We're going to need to (forget it
quickly). These series are long, but they can be real quick too."
John Tavares had no shots on goal tonight.
Grail Knight of the game is a new category for KoC that
awards a player for his standout performance that kept his team in the game,
helped them win or just never surrendered.
Grail Knight for Game 1:
Tie for Game 1.
Matt Martin and Casey Cizikas contributed to the Isles
physical game and did their best to move the puck and apply pressure on net.
Isles Notes:
Retweet#Islesfans! @NYIslanders
playoff song here!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhKNuoaGHO0
… … … … … … #beLIeve#STRONGisland@FFDP
Coach Capuano announces that Anders
Nilsson will travel with the team to Pittsburgh just in case Nabokov wants a
practice day off, they can have 2 Gs. All other callups staying in New York.
Per Neil Best, "Islanders
games averaged 0.49% of area homes on MSG Plus, up 133% from last season and
best ever for Isles in MSG records dating to 1991-92."
There is more rumors of the the
Barclay's/ Nets Marketing Group planning possible uniform changes for the Isles in Brooklyn. I am not buying a wholesale change. Possibly an alternate jersey.
Oh, and do the Isles miss Trevor
Gillies?
KoC Notes:
May 2013 marks my second year
anniversary writing KoC. See my 1st year
recap here.
It was obvious the Pens were keying on Tavares, often leaving other players uncovered, or with single coverage. Boyes needs to shoot, not force passes to double-covered Tavares. Isles D was slow, both in reaction time and in footraces. They'd best clean it up Friday, or this series will be over in a hurry.
ReplyDelete