Your New York Islanders host Tyler Seguin and
the revamped Dallas Stars tonight at the NVMC.
The teams will meet again in Dallas on Sunday, January 12th at 6
pm. The Isles will be looking to get
back on the winning track and start a new winning streak.
26 Thomas Vanek – 91 John Tavares – 29 Brock
Nelson
16 Peter Regin– 51 Frans Nielsen – 12 Josh Bailey
40 Michael Grabner – 18 Ryan Strome – 15 Cal Clutterbuck
17 Matt Martin – 53 Casey Cizikas – 13 Colin McDonald
16 Peter Regin– 51 Frans Nielsen – 12 Josh Bailey
40 Michael Grabner – 18 Ryan Strome – 15 Cal Clutterbuck
17 Matt Martin – 53 Casey Cizikas – 13 Colin McDonald
37 Brain Strait - 47 Andrew MacDonald
44 Calvin de Haan – 3 Travis Hamonic
46 Matt Donovan - 14 Thomas Hickey
20 Evgeni Nabokov in net with 60 Kevin Poulin on
the bench.
Kyle Okposo will be out tonight to be with his
wife after the birth of his first child.
That means Brock Nelson will get another shot with J.T. and T.V. on the
first line.
The Dallas Stars jumped to a 1-0 lead after a
defensive give away from the recently recalled Matt Donovan. Donovan is a strong prospect who earned
another shot with the Isles from some solid play in Bridgeport. Hopefully, he can put it behind him and
refocus to make the most of this chance.
Evgeni Nabokov (7/8 with an .875Sv% before injury) stretched out to make
a save and looks to have hurt himself.
I hate to think he could have re-injured himself. If that is the case, The Isles will need a younger goaltender ready to carry
the starting load that is good enough to keep them in the game each and every
night. Is that Kevin Poulin? Kevin Poulin came on in relief and looked
screened on his first shot against, 2-0 Dallas. The Islanders battle through a tough period, but remain
focused. Per Eric Hornick, "Hamonic:
"We've shown we can come back in games in the past -- two big periods
coming up."
The second period
would see Ryan Strome score a PPG (Vanek & Tavares) and his first career
NHL goal to put the Isles on the board, 3-1 Dallas. John Tavares (Vanek) ties the score about 5 minutes later at 2-2. Just after the 9 minute mark, Peter Regin is
set up (Bailey & Hickey) to give the Isles a 3-2 lead in the game. Kevin Poulin has settled in and looks much
better in net for New York. Dallas ties
the game at 3-3 off a penatly call on Casey Cizikas, who was caught
retaliating. Brock Nelson (Cizikas
& de Haan with his 1st NHL point) gives the Islanders the lead again with
just :27 seconds left in the period, 4-3 New York. Isles have a 25-17 shots advantage after two.
Brian Strait uses
Dallas D as a screen and goes 5-hole to give the Isles a 5-3 lead. Casey
Cizikas victimized again on a penalty call of goaltender interference when he
bumped into the net and Lehtonen fell to ice like he was shot, Isles good for
the kill. John Tavares scores a PPG
(Nielsen & MacDonald) to give the surging Isles a 6-3 lead over the
Stars. MacDonald & Hamonic are
victimized late in the period, but give the Isles a 5 on 3 PP opportunity. John Tavares (MacDonald & Cizikas) gets
his 5th NHL hat trick on a PPG through a Matt Martin screen in front of the crease.
That makes 300th career point, 51 pts (in 43 games) on the year & 5 points
on the night for Tavares. Final score
is 7-3 New York. How is that for
secondary scoring? Isles outshot Stars
43-23, were 3/6 on the PP and won an impressive 45 faceoffs in the circle. Oh, and Tyler Seguin? Not a factor tonight.
Stars of the game tonight: 1) Tavares
2) Strome 3) Vanek
Ryan Strome, Calvin
de Haan, Brock Nelson & Kevin Poulin (13/15 with an .875Sv%) all figured
prominently in tonight's win for the the Islanders. The system is turning out quality players that are answering the organizations
need for more than just roster spots.
These players, while having times to stumble as they learn, have really
shown a reason to believe in Garth Snows rebuild. When they play the amount of minutes that is asked of them and
show improvement at this level, they are learning on-the-job and showing what
we can expect in the future.
What else can you say
about John Tavares? He is an elite NHL
player and the pride of the New York Islanders. I wonder if he will make Team Canada? Peter Regin who is often maligned, played very well tonight on
second line with Nielsen and Bailey.
His defensive game is usually strong, but he added a big goal to the
scorecard tonight. Isles gain 2 points
and improve to 15-22-7 with 37 pts in another "best of the season"
type performance.
Isles came back with
a character game here tonight. They went down 2-0, saw Nabby get hurt &
could have mailed it in after that. Instead, they buckled down and fought their
way back into the game. Their fore and
back checking were awesome and they played with the grit and snarl to get themselves back into
it. If this teams resilience & fire
can be summoned when it is needed, they will be deadly.
Consistency.
Isles Notes:
UPDATE: Per NYI, "Evgeni Nabokov placed on IR w/ lower-body injury. Anders Nilsson recalled on emergency basis."
UPDATE: Per NYI, "Evgeni Nabokov placed on IR w/ lower-body injury. Anders Nilsson recalled on emergency basis."
Per Scott Cullen, "Islanders D Andrew MacDonald 8 A in past 5 GP; C John Tavares 7 G, 6 A in past 6 GP; LW Thomas Vanek 5 G, 9 A during 9-game point streak."
Per Jeff Mannix, "Corey Trivino will make his Portland Pirates (Phoenix
Coyotes) debut tonight. He signed a PTO earlier this week. Trivino scored 5-19-24 in 29 games for the
ECHL Stockton Thunder this season."
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