Your New York
Islanders will face the mighty Detroit Redwings at home tonight. For whatever reason, the Isles usually play
them pretty well and I hope tonight is no different. Jonas Gustavson, not Jimmy Howard will be in net for
Detroit. Eric Hornick said the Isles
will be wearing thier third jersey's for 2nd time this year (0-1-0). They went
3-2-0 last season in their blacks.
Forwards: Nelson-Tavares-Okposo;
Grabner-Nielsen-Bailey; Bouchard-Regin-McDonald; Martin-Cizikas-Clutterbuck.
D-Pairings: MacDonald-Hamonic; Donovan-Hickey;
Ness-Carkner.
Starting in goal:
Evgeni Nabokov with Kevin Poulin on the bench.
In the first period,
John Tavares (Bailey) opened the scoring for the Isles and gave them an early
lead in the game. Helm & Datsyuk
(1st career goal vs. NYI) would later score to give the Wings a 2-1 lead.
Evgeni Nabokov was hurt with Helms first shot on goal and would leave the game
for what would later be called a lower body injury or groin strain. If it turns out to be a lengthy injury,
Garth Snow may have to trade for a goaltender to act as Poulin's back up. Isles out shot Wings 9-7 in the period.
In the second,
the Isles came back with a strong effort on both sides of the ice. Casey Cizikas (McDonald & Martin) would
score early in the period to tie the game at 2-2. Franzen would score just :33 later to regain the lead for
Detroit. Shortly after that, Brock Nelson
would score a PPG (Tavares & MacDonald) to tie the game at 3-3. The Islanders looked better on faceoffs and
special teams and brought a complete energy not seen enough at home for quite some time. Shots were even at 11 with the Isles holding
a 20-18 sog advantage in the game so far.
In the third period,
Pierre Marc-Bouchard (Ness & Regin) gave the Isles a lead at 4-3 that would
last for most of the period. Datsyuk
would score his second career goal vs the Isles and tie the game at 4-4 in he 19:17
mark of the third. Time would expire
and the game would get to over time with the Isles getting at least 1 point for
their efforts. The Islanders out shot
the Redwings 15-4 in the period.
Detroit was credited with blocking 19 shots as well.
In overtime, the Isles would out shoot Detroit
6-1 with some great pressure, but come up empty. That would give New York a 41-23 shot differential throughout regulation
and overtime play.
In the Shootout:
Frans Nielsen scores on the backhand!
Zetterberg is stopped by Poulin.
Pierre Marc-Bouchard is denied by Gustavson's
glove.
Datsyuk is stopped 5-hole.
John Tavares is blockered aside.
Bertuzzi misses high.
The Islanders win, 5-4!
Tonight, the Islanders came out and clearly did
some things better. Their were out done
in the face-off circle 27-25, but it was a much improved effort and it showed
in the game. Defensively, it was a much better effort and the Isles fore and
back checking was there as well. They
finished hits and fought off a quality team that would not quit. Casey Cizikas, Brock Nelson and Kevin Poulin
(19/22 .864Sv%) looked really good for the Isles tonight. Also credit Aaron Ness for another well played game to help the Isles on defense.
Cizikas continues to wok non-stop with his line
mates (Clutterbuck & Martin) and generate chances by frustrating the
opposition. In addition, he has a good
nose for the net and was a scoring threat as well. Nelson was everywhere and shoed
good hockey sense when he got into position to score a big goal for the
Isles. Poulin made headlines after the last loss to the Kings when he insinuated that the team faltered in front of him late in the game and that he might not be to blame for the loss. But tonight, Poulin came on off the
bench not expecting to even play. He didn't miss a beat as the Wings and Isles
traded opportunities (and goals) throughout regulation and the overtime period. His play in the shootout can be described as smooth & composed.
I am interested in hearing how long Nabokov is
expected to be out and if that means the Isles will add a goaltender. Michael Fornabaio reports "Nilsson (and Pellerin both) said he didn't
know yet if he (Nilsson) was going up (to the Islanders)."
Anders Nilsson is 3-6-1, 3.57gaa & a .880Sv% in 11GP so far this season
with the BST. Nilsson lost playing
opportunities most of last season to a mystery illness that turned out to be a
dietary issue with gluten intake.
Per Daniel Friedman, Capuano, on Nabokov's status: "I'd suspect it'll be
a little while." It
may give Poulin the starting job with very little safety net and really force
him to show if he's got the minerals to be the starter. (Snatch reference)
Sound Tigers Notes:
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