An independent blog on the New York Islanders, the NHL and AHL by a guy from New York.

Monday, January 20, 2014

Weekend Lookback: Tampa Bay & Philadelphia Series


Your New York Islanders finished up their latest road trip with a 4-2 record in their typical hard-nosed, mostly come from behind fashion.  There was a close 2-1 shoot out win vs Tampa Bay and a split in the home at home series with the Flyers where the Isles lost 6-4 in Philadelphia and had a 4-3 shoot out win at home on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.  It all shakes out to New York fighting back to within 5 points of a play off spot.
 
 

 
On Thursday, The Islanders faced a surging Tampa Bay team who has climbed into second place in the Atlantic Division behind balanced scoring and strong goaltending.  After falling behind, 1-0 in the first, Thomas Vanek (Nielsen & Tavares) scored a PPG to even the score at 1-1 late in the second period and eventually force O.T.  Kevin Poulin was stellar again as he kept his team in the game going 29 of 30 with a .967Sv%.  It took a Frans Nielsen shoot out goal and strong work by Poulin to give the Isles a 2-1 win against Lightning.  Radek Martinek made a return to the line up as Travis Hamonic's reported "dehydration" has now become an upper body injury, and possibly a concussion.
 
 
 


On Saturday, the Islanders would finish their road trip and face the Philadelphia Flyers for the first of a home at home series to finish on Monday.  The Isles would come out strong and take a 2-0 lead half way through the first period off goals from John Tavares (Vanek & Okposo) and Cal Clutterbuck’s short hander (Nielsen & Strait).  Philly would answer back with three goals of their own to grab a 3-2 lead in the second period.  John Tavares would have a goal “called back” due to a bogus “goaltender interference” when Thomas Vanek was crushed into the Flyers net as the puck got behind Emery.  The Islanders rallied again and got goals from Brock Nelson (de Haan & Bailey) and Brian Strait (Grabner & Nelson) to take a 4-3 lead into the third period.  But after that, the Flyers responded and the Isles scrambled and played back on their heels, allowing the Flyers to eventually win the game by a 6-4 score after a back breaking empty net goal.  Kevin Poulin (26 of 39 with an .839Sv%) started the game well and kept the Isles in until defensive lapses were too much to handle.  Isles Nation has Poulin 0-3 with a .846 SVP and 5.04 GAA in three appearances against Philly this season.



The Flyers came into town today to play the Islanders at the NVMC.  Anders Nilsson would be in net and the Isles need to start get wins in their own division if the playoffs are to become a reality.  The second period would see the flyers get a SHG to grab a 1-0 lead early in the first.  Kyle Okposo continued his hard & spirited play when he fought Couburn to rally his team to get back into the game.  New York and John Tavares (Okposo & Vanek) responded with a PPG mid-way through the period to tie the game at 1-1. The Flyers would see Philadelphia score twice and take a 3-1 lead into the third period.  The Islanders fought back again and got goals from Brock Nelson (Bailey & Clutterbuck) and a PPG from Kyle Okposo (Nielsen & MacDonald) to complete his Gordie Howe hat trick & tie the game at 3-3 forcing O.T. and eventually, a shoot-out.  The Islanders outshot Philadelphia 43-29 in the game and extra session while winning 37 face offs and scoring 2 times out of 6 PP opportunities.  Nilsson (who went 26 of 29 with a .897Sv%) came up big again in the extra sessions with 3 saves in O.T. and a respectable showing in his first NHL shootout, making 2 out of 4 saves to preserve the win after Frans Nielsen & John Tavares scored with Kyle Okposo netting the GWG in a 4-3 shoot out win.  Okposo has 12 and 11 for 23 pts in his last 19 games.  Isles are 7-3-0 in their last 10 games.



 



Isles Notes:


The Islanders will face the Rangers on Tuesday, 1/21 @ 7pm at MSG and return home for on Thursday, 1/23 vs the Penguins @ 7:30pm.  I will be away for the weekend and hopefully recap Saturday's 1pm tilt against the Blues sometime before Monday's game vs Boston @ 7pm.

 
Per Arthur Staple, “Caps and former BPT D Steve Oleksy on waivers. Right-handed, feisty, cheap (2-way deal at $550K thru next year). Isles might have interest.”

 
On January 18th, Islanders' Defensemen Lubomir Visnovsky making progress toward return, skated and practiced with the team in a non-contact jersey.  Good news for Isles Country, but still no timetable for Visnovsky's return to game action.


The Islanders reassigned Kirill Kabanov to MoDo of the Swedish League on January 17th.

 
On January 15th, Ryan Strome was loaned to the BST.  I noted that Strome & de Haan expected (mentioned at booster meeting) to be sent to @TheSoundTigers for the Olympic break, although de Haan could stick around due to lack of depth on defense.  Per Arthur Staple, “GM Garth Snow on Strome move: "The development of all our young players is important. (Strome) needs to play during the break."

Arthur Staple adds about Strome, “Something to consider: NHL teams received a memo prior to season saying that a player who plays more than 15 of 20 games prior to Olympic break cannot be assigned to AHL during break. Strome move clearly made w/ eye to having him play during break.”

 
Per Chris Botta, “CCM is reviving the Tacks skate brand. John Tavares and Nate MacKinnon will endorse.”
 


 
If weather allows.


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