Weekend Lookback: Edmonton & Calgary

 

On Thursday, Your New York Islanders were in Edmonton to face Ryan Smyth and the Oilers.  The Islanders opened strong with a SHG from Frans Nielsen (Clutterbuck & Hickey) and Anders Lee (Strait & McDonald) in the first period.  Unfortunately, the Isles inability to hold on to a lead came back again and saw the Oilers score two goals in the third to tie the game and an O.T. winner at 2:29 of the extra period to take the win, 3-2.  The Isles once again struggled on the PP going 0 for 4 and allowed a PPG against by Edmonton on special teams.  Isles out shot the Oilers 34-29.  Evgeni Nabokov went 26 for 29 with an .897 Sv%. 

 

On Friday, the depleted Isles looked to rally behind its younger impact call ups and reliable vets to battle the Flames in Calgary.  Despite a SHG by Calgary just 2:00's in the game, the Isles played hard and saw Colin McDonald (Strome & Hickey) even the score at 1-1 to end the first period.  New York would continue to press hard as Kyle Okposo (Grabner) and Brock Nelson (Bailey & Donovan) gave the Isles a 3-1 lead going into the third period.  Characteristically and as "luck" would have it, the Isles were out played, fumbling the lead to the Flames in the span of five minutes midway through the third period for a 4-3 final.  The Isles were once again  0 for 4 on the PP and shaky in the final period of the game.  Isles maintained the edge in shots by a 26-23 margin.  Anders Nilsson went only 19 of 23 with an .826Sv%.
 

 

 

Per Eric Hornick, "4th time Isles have lost a gm in regulation time that they held a 2-goal lead in the third period."

"Isles now 2-7-5 after blowing a 2-goal lead this season, 9-6-5 when leading after 2 periods. 8th time they have blown a 2-goal lead in 3rd."

Isles Country sums up recent fan frustrations by mentioning, "We've lost 3 games in a row to bottom 4 teams in the league, blowing a lead in the 3rd period."

 

The stories of each game played out  as a tale of two games for New York.  While the players failed to get it done and the team defense was ultimately responsible for the let down, Coaching remains the biggest component of team inconsistency in the mind of this blogger to date.  Per Arthur Staple, " have had a 2-goal lead or more 24 times this season. Have given it away 14 times."

 

 

 

 

 

One final game remains on the current road trip vs. a struggling Vancouver team on Monday night.

 

 

Isles Notes:

 

Per Brett Yormark of NYI off-ice business ops responds to Isles fans ire against Snow and organization after trade deadline, "Understood. Isles in Brooklyn will be  big time . Trust me on that. We will make you proud."  Would this indicate a rumored "move" by Russian billionaire Nets owner, Mikhail Prokhorov?  No.  There hasn't been any word or indication of any move at this point.

 

Per Daniel Friedman, "By the way -- with 19 games to go, the supposedly "declining" Matt Moulson is just 11 points shy of another respectable 50-point season."

NHL Notes:

Per @EyeOnHockey, "After being traded to the Buffalo Sabres, Rostislav Klesla decides to retire from the NHL." 

Per Bob McKenzie, "Caps have for years eagerly anticipated (Evgeni) Kuznetsov's arrival, been battling red tape for past week, but 2010 1st-rder finally in fold."  The Caps organization has been trying to bring this player onto their roster for four years, similar to Isles and their Kirill Petrov situation.

 

Hockey Notes:

 

OHL player, Terry Trafford is missing.  Please spread the word to help find him.