Isles Blank Caps

Tonight, your New York Islanders  are at the Verizon Center to face Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals.  Both teams are 3-6-1 in their last 10 games and Washington holds the series lead 2-0 coming into tonight.  Time is running out for the Isles to put the final pieces in place.

Forwards:  Vanek-Tavares-Okposo, Grabner-Nielsen-Clutterbuck, Bailey-Nelson-McDonald, Martin-Cizikas-Boulton.

D-Pairings:  Strait-MacDonald, Hickey-Visnovsky, de Haan-Donovan.

Evgeni Nabokov is in net and Kevin Poulin on the bench.

 

Both teams came together in what was an uneventful, pretty evenly played first period.  With one failed PP attempt so far tonight, Arthur Staple has the Isles going 0 for their last 21 chances, 0 for 13 since Visnovsky's return.  In the second, the Isles and especially the first line, look lifeless and are having trouble finding their direction.  Evgeni Nabokov continues to stand tall in net for the Isles.  Clutterbuck and Donovan are standouts for the Isles as well so far in the game.  New York finds some energy late in the second and applies some pressure in the Washington zone.  Matt Martin hits Orlov awkwardly and may be looked at by the league, although I didn't detect an attempt to injure.  Vanek pulled down from behind by Carrick on a breakaway, with no penalty shot awarded at the end of the second.  They will start the third period on another PP.  Eric Hornick points out that it is the 9th time the Isles go to 3rd pd scoreless; They've been shutout 4 times.

 

The PP unit fails to register, but a blue line blast from Andrew MacDonald goes over Neuvirth, 1-0 Isles.  Grabner is awarded a penalty shot and goes wide.  Islanders have had the better play of the third period, but the score remains the same.  As time winds down, both teams get their chances.  Neuvirth is pulled with :38 seconds remaining for the extra attacker.  Time expires.  Islander win 1-0 behind a Evgeni Nabokov 22 shot shut out.

 

The Isles finish 0 for 5 on the PP, but go 6 for 6 on the PK and out hit the Caps 36-22.  A resurgent effort by the team as a whole to recover and improve as the game went on.  The defense got stronger in front of Nabokov and I loved the efforts of Donovan and de Haan.  The D exploited Ovechkin's lazy play and really contained throughout the night.  Several forwards worked hard, but Cal Clutterbuck really had a standout effort tonight.

 

The Isles get a big 2 points vs a Metropolitan opponent and improve to 22-28-8 @ 52 pts, 10 points out of a playoff spot with 25 games to go.

 

 

Will they reach the playoffs?  What will the team look like?

 

 

Isles Notes:

Thomas Vanek recently turned down a contract offer from the Islanders.  Apparently the offer was similar to the one Vanek turned down from Buffalo in the neighborhood of 7 yrs, $50 M. It is also rumored that the Isles weren't done in negotiations and could have offered more in term and length if he was interested, but Vanek wants to test his UFA status and some say, sign with Minnesota.  Garth Snow is busy trying to get the best trade available for the Isles and Vanek if the need arises and anything else he cooks up before the trade deadline.

 

 

 

 

Daniel Friedman heard the following on pregame from Milbury, "They're a hard-trying team. They have my admiration for that."