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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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