Tonight, your 22-28-8 New York Islanders welcome
the 21-28-7 Calgary Flames to the NVMC.
The Isles have the fewest home wins while the Flames have the second
fewest road wins in the NHL. Both teams
has dismal PP numbers and decent PK stats.
Tonight is another must win for the Isles.
Forwards:
Vanek-Tavares-Okposo;
Grabner-Nielsen-Clutterbuck; Bailey-Nelson-McDonald; Boulton-Cizikas-Martin.
D-Pairings: Strait-MacDonald; Hickey-Visnovsky; de
Haan-Donovan.
Evgeni Nabokov is in
net tonight with Kevin Poulin on the bench.
The first period sees
the Islanders outshoot the Flames 11-5 & get two PP chances. After going 0/2 in the first, the Isles are
0 for 27 on the PP. They had good pressure in the Calgary zone and had a few
nice odd man rushes, but failed to score.
Nabokov's shut out streak continues into the second period. The Islanders continue to have glorious
chances only to misfire or come up short while losing steam. Calgary gives New York a third PP
opportunity that goes no where. 0 for 28.
Calgary breaks the shutout streak at 94:16 (Per Matt Saidman) and take a
1-0 lead in the game despite being outplayed by the Isles for much of the
game. Flames make it 2-0 on a PPG late
in the second. The Islanders look lost
until Thomas Hickey (Bailey & McDonald) gets them on the board in the
closing seconds of the second, 2-1 Flames.
Credit Hickey for how hard he plays each and every shift. Shots are in favor of NY at 11-6 in the period & 22-11 in the
game. Vanek leaves ice favoring his leg
after tumbling awkwardly into the boards.
Vanek looks OK to
start the third period. Both teams get
PP chances early in the period, but Calvin de Haan (Tavares & Vanek) finds
the net through traffic to tie the game at 2-2 at the mid way point of the
period. The Flames score off a
questionable non call for goaltender interference, take a 3-2 lead late in the
third period. Isles go back to the PP
and call a time out in the offensive zone to draw up a play. Calgary completes the kill and score an ENG
with seconds left in the game. Isles
finish with a 30-22 shots advantage and an 0 for 4 PP effort. Evgeni Nabokov finished18 for 21 with an
.857Sv%. 4-2 Calgary in your final.
The story of the game
is how the Isles dictated play, but failed to score repeatedly throughout the
game and were complacent when they were called upon to answer their opponent. It takes :60 minutes of strong play for the
Isles to compete in each and every game, but they rarely execute with that
efficiency. A young team can not rely
on the constant comeback to win games, especially against what they would
consider an inferior opponent. Calgary
came out tonight with a superior work ethic, played defense and upset the
hometown Islanders. With only 23 games
remaining, a playoff push is becoming more and more unlikely, especially from a
team who rarely shows any sign of urgency when the rest of us see the season on
the line. Maybe a trade or two will
shake things up.
Per Matt Saidman,
"Charles Wang and Garth Snow just came downstairs. Snow went into Isles locker
room."
Isles Notes:
### I plan to be at the Bridgeport Sound Tigers
game on Saturday with some friends, so I'll cover the Colorado game in a
Weekend Lookback. ###
Per IPB, "The Islanders have traded Peter Regin and Pierre Marc Bouchard to the Chicago Blackhawks for a 4th Round Pick."
Per Pierre LeBrun, "Isles retained 50 percent of salary/cap hit for both Bouchard and Regin in trade with Hawks."
Per IPB, "The Islanders have traded Peter Regin and Pierre Marc Bouchard to the Chicago Blackhawks for a 4th Round Pick."
Per Pierre LeBrun, "Isles retained 50 percent of salary/cap hit for both Bouchard and Regin in trade with Hawks."
Per Arthur Staple,
" Islanders won't let Visnovsky play in Sochi games."
Per Brett Cyrgalis, Andrew MacDonald recently turned down a 4-year, $16
million deal from the Islanders.
"By the way, Travis Hamonic had a long, hard practice with contact
yesterday, and the Isles are hoping he comes back before the break."
Per BST, "PLAYER
TRANSACTION: Defenseman Andrey Pedan has been reassigned to the @StocktonThunder
(ECHL).
Per Magnus Larrson,
"Kirill Kabanov scored his first goal in Sweden tonight. In his fifth
game..."
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