Your New York Islanders are back at it this
afternoon against the Florida Panthers.
Travis Hamonic will serve his one game suspension from his action in
yesterdays game against the Devils.
Florida comes in at the bottom of the PP & PK stats not to mention
allowing 48 more goals than they scored, placing them 3rd from the bottom of
all NHL teams in goal differential.
Frans Nielsen is back in the line up with Mike Halmo returned to the
BST. Matt Martin is still day-to-day.
The struggling Josh Bailey has somehow found
himself on the Isles top line while Okposo anchors the second.
This is the last home game before the trade
deadline on Wednesday. Will Thomas
Vanek, Andrew MacDonald or any other players with the Islanders be playing
their last game for New York? Time will
tell.
Forwards:
Lee-Nielsen-Bailey,
Grabner-Strome-Okposo, Vanek-Nelson-Clutterbuck,
Boulton-Cizikas-McDonald.
D-Pairings: Strait-MacDonald, Hickey-Visnovsky, de
Haan-Carkner.
Anders Nilsson
(Riding a 19 ga, 7-0-1 streak with BST) is in the net with Evgeni Nabokov on
the bench.
13,008 fans are in
attendance for this afternoons game.
Boulton and Barch drop the gloves just 2:25 into the game, then Strait
and Huberdeau go after it off an icing just after the faceoff. Two angry teams with something to prove
early on in a slow paced, ugly game. de
Haan to Clutterbuck, back to Vanek gives the Islanders a 1-0 lead at the 13:00
mark of the first period. Vanek makes
it 2-0 Isles, with a PPG (Visnovsky & Nielsen) that beats Thomas. Eric Hornick points out that Vanek has now
reached the 20+ goal mark in each of his last 9 seasons with the tally. Isles turn on juice & get lots of rubber
to Florida net with a 5 on 3 opportunity, but fall short. Islanders play in both zones has improved
late in the period while Nilsson making the save when he is asked to do
so. NVMC crowd appreciates the teams
effort and acknowledges Anders Lee for coming to Straits aid as time expires. Isles out shooting Panthers 14-11, but are
only 1 for 4 on the PP.
Play has evened out
in the second period with the Islanders still struggling on the PP. Both teams have had chances, but its a slow
moving period. An Isles turnover off a Florida slash late in the period gets
the Panthers on the board with a rebound goal, 2-1 Isles. Ryan Strome makes it 3-1 (Vanek &
Okposo) less than a minute later. Its
Strome's second career NHL goal! Isles
with a 13-10 shots advantage in the period and a 27-21 edge in the game. Isles PP is now 1 for 6.
Florida scores twice
between the third and fourth minute of the third period to tie the game at
3-3. Goal #3 was a Carkner deflection
over Nilsson and #4 was a blown defensive assignment by MacDonald and delay of
game call by the Officials, puck found its way in somehow. Isles continue to scramble in front of
Thomas, but fail to score on numerous attempts.
Team seems to be lost. Per
Arthur Staple, "12th time in 63 games Isles have surrendered a 2-goal lead. 2-5-4 in
previous 11." Panthers put in an
odd rebound to take the lead, 4-3.
Panthers score again off a skate deflection, 5-3 Panthers. Cizikas takes a frustration penalty, Florida
to the PP, Isles kill it off. Capuano
calls a timeout with :32 seconds remaining.
Isles pull Nilsson for the extra skater, 5-3 Florida is the final after
Isles give up 4 goals in the final period.
Florida outshoots Isles 13-11 in period, Isles hold 38-34 shots edge in
game.
Isles fall to 9 wins
in 33 games at home. Per Eric Hornick,
"8-5-4 when leading after 2 pds (7-4-4 on home-ice). 3rd straight L when
leading by at least 2 goals at home after 2 pds (LA/Ana)."
This team ran wild
with no direction as the game went on and Nilsson struggled in net when his
team slowed in front of him. There was
very little physicality or checking pressure where it mattered, no crease
clearing and a disorganized, slow paced response to the Panthers surge by the Isles. The Isles head into the trading deadline
with 1 road game remaining. Without a
stroke of genius by Snow, we may be doomed to only watch for what the team's draft position will be. Again.
Matt Saidman is right
there by the dressing room. "Coming
off the ice, Isles looked more dejected than they have all year long. Looked
like a heartbroken group of guys."
Isles Notes:
Per Chris Botta, "Vanek was 0-3-3 in previous 8, 2-1-3 today. Now he should
sit until a trade."
Per Brett Cyrgalis, "Capuano on Hamonic's actions yesterday: I have no problem
with that. He [felt] they took a liberty with one of our guys, and he
responded."
Next week, the Isles
are on the road vs. the Jets @8pm on Tuesday, 3/4, the Oilers @9:30pm on
Thursday, 3/6 and the Flames @9pm on Friday, 3/5. They close the road trip vs. Canucks @10pm, on Monday, 3/10.
I will most likely
cover the Calgary and Vancouver games with a Lookback on Tuesday.
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