Chris King of
Islanders radio will be paired with Butch Goring and carry the play by play
duties tonight against Colorado and Sunday against Dallas. The Isles will try and keep things moving in the right direction tonight
by trying to improve their streak of five straight and six of their last seven
wins on the road. The changes in the line
up are that Colin McDonald is in for Eric Boulton & Matt Donovan is in for Matt
Carkner. The Avalanche are playing well
and are coming off a 3-1-0 start in January.
Alex Tanguay and P.A. Parenteau will be out of the line up (IR) for the
Avalanche tonight.
Forwards: Vanek-Tavares-Okposo, Nelson-Nielsen-Bailey,
Grabner-Strome-Clutterbuck,
Martin-Cizikas-McDonald.
D-Pairings: MacDonald-Strait, de Haan-Hamonic,
Donovan-Hickey.
Kevin Poulin is in
net with Anders Nilsson backing up.
The first period was
a good road period for the Islanders.
Slow paced and controlled. Kevin
poulin played a focused period and came up big on the PK. Colorado outshot the Isles 9-7. The second period started out in similar
fashion, but quickly became a spirited joust between the teams. The Isles raised the level of their fore
checking to answer the offensive pressure brought by Colorado. Their defense has been ok, but have run
around a little tonight in front of Poulin who has been good when he had to
be. MacKinnon with Grabner like speed
converts on a fast break opportunity, high on the glove side. 1-0 Avalanche to end the period. Shots are 13-9 in favor of Colorado.
The Islanders need
someone to step up and grab this game by the throat. Isles work the puck into Colorado's zone, de Haan joins the play
and Brock Nelson (de Haan & Nielsen) buries it behind Varlomov. Score tied at 1-1. The period remains even
and this game is going to overtime. The
Isles get a point and will go for two.
Colorado outshot the Isles 29-21.
Michael Grabner races
into the zone, fights off a check, resets and scores to win the game in
O.T! 2-1 the final. Isles outshot Avs 3-2 in the O.T. period. Isles improve to 16-22-7 with 39 points and
are 7 points out of a playoff spot.
I Love de Haan's
game. He is so good with his stick and
body position on defense. Playing with
Hamonic is a great pairing for New York.
Kevin Poulin (30/31 with a .968 Sv%) was focused in a slow road
game. He was poised and played the
angles with confidence and made the big save when it mattered. And again, credit Michael Grabner for
becoming a better all around player, especially on special teams and
defense. If his confidence keeps
growing and his can improve his scoring touch, he will devestate the
opposition. The Isles win as a team for first
time without scoring 3 goals, but credit Poulin for giving just a little extra
in his game tonight. Good effort by the
defense, except for a few mistakes of the flat footed variety. It was another come from behind win and the winning
streak is up to 6 on the road and the Isles go to 7-3-0 in their last 10. Eric Hornick mentions, "Vanek (10)
& Tavares (6) point streaks ended by Grabner OT goal."
The Isles are once
again improving before our eyes and showing us something. Despite the season not really being a
success, the depth at forward, defense and goaltending is starting to show by
its own necessity. It isn't always
pretty or timely, but this team is making strides amidst all the frustration,
Capuano included. Consistency.
Isles Notes:
The Islanders have
signed BPT G Kenny Reiter to a 2-way (NHL/AHL) contract.
Thank you everyone
who has helped me in my hockey career. I'm honored and excited for the
opportunity. Means a lot #thankyou #NYI
New York Islanders
captain @91Tavares
will wear No. 20 for Team Canada at the Olympics in February.
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