Tonight, your New York Islanders are in Carolina
to face the Hurricanes, who are
8 points out of the final play off
spot in the East. Every point is precious and they will want to add to their standings with a win tonight. Arthur Staple reports that Kyle Okposo (lower body) did not practice
today, but is traveling with Isles to Raleigh.
Lets hope that the Isles can build on what has gone right lately. The play of Anders Lee and his hot streak of
5 pts in last 5 games, while Kyle Okposo has 8 pts in last 6 games and Frans
Nielsen with 6 pts in last 5 games. The
Isles are 0-5-1 in their last six games against Kirk Muller's Hurricanes. Which team will show up tonight?
Forwards:
Lee-Nielsen-Okposo;
Bailey-Nelson-Clutterbuck; Martin-Strome-McDonald; Halmo-Cizikas-Sundstrom.
D-Pairings: de Haan-Hamonic; Hickey-Czuczman;
Donovan-Carkner.
Anders Nilsson is in
net with Evgeni Nabokov on the bench.
The Isles start the
first period with a fast paced and confident style of play. Colin McDonald (Hickey & Strome) chops
the puck behind Ward in the net mouth to put the Isles up 1-0. Less than two
minutes later, Cal Clutterbuck (Nelson & Bailey) puts in a rebound for a
2-0 lead. Isles are aggressive on the
check and moving the puck well. Colin
McDonald (de Haan & Hamonic) with his second of the game, 3-0 Isles. Ward is replaced by Khudobin in the
Hurricanes net. Shortly after, Carolina
registers their first shot against, 10 shots to 1 in favor of Isles. Shortly afterwards, Matt Martin (Czuczman
& Hickey) makes it 4-0 Isles. Kevin
Czuczman gets his first NHL point on the assist. The Hurricanes are playing a terrible defensive game, often
leaving their goaltender without help.
Carolina gets on the board with a PPG and then adds another to cut New
Yorks lead in half, 4-2 Isles. Anders
Nilsson with very poor positioning on those two goals. Shots are now a little more even at 14-9,
but still in favor of the Islanders.
In the second period,
play evens out with both teams jousting for control. Carolina scores again off another PPG (delay of game) with a
cross crease pass and into the net, untouched and unguarded, 4-3 Isles. Isles are struggling to gain their momentum
back as Carolina gains confidence. They
need to go back on the attack and dictate the play of Carolina's defense. Matt Martin (Strome & McDonald) gets his
second of the night, 5-3 Isles. :22
seconds later, Carolina gets it right back on another weak goal by Nilsson, 5-4
Isles. Carolina carries the play through
the second period and out shoot Isles 13-9.
Canes with 1:18PP time to start the third.
The Isles are able to kill off the remainder of
the Canes PP time to start the third and do a good job of playing defense, until they allow
Skinner a lane to rush the Isles net, Nilsson with a big point blank save. Isles still passive as Carolina works the
puck. Kyle Okposo is hit in offensive
zone, and skates off in pain. Arthur
Staple mentions, "Harrison appeared to
tug on Okposo's left arm after hit, bringing them both to ice." Okposo back on next shift. Islanders keep missing out on PP chances and
scoring opportunities as the period ticks on.
Isles with a good PK effort in the final five minutes of a one goal
game. Hurricanes with an empty net for
the final minute of the period. The
checking line eats up the remaining time and Isles hold on to win a close one,
5-4. Anders Nilsson (24 of 28, .857Sv%) got better in the third and made some big saves to keep the Isles in it. Isles with a 9-6 shot advantage in the period and 32-28 in the game. Isles 0/3 on PP and give up 2/4 on the PK, but still manage to win.
The Bad. The team psyche, while good in the way that they never quit, are predictably bad when adversity hits and the game plan goes south. They often struggle to regain their strides after taking a few bad breaks without the benefit of a team timeout or strategy by the coach to regroup. Anders Nilsson, after coming off a 6-0 team loss had a lot of trouble regaining his composure and maintaining his positioning and balance throughout the game. Arthur Staple reports, "Isles coaching staff has been working with Nilsson on his balance when down. Hasn't quite taken tonight. Falling all over the place." If Nilsson wants to remain in the Isles future, he had better return to his calm style of play and use his size to guard the net.
Arthur Staple, Nilsson: "I have the guys to thank for that one, I'm not satisfied at all ... I have to do a better job of not ending up on my ass so easy."
Positive Observations: The Colin
McDonald, Ryan Strome and Matt Martin line were awesome throughout the
game tonight. Anders Lee is a force to be dealt
with by the opposition. He is really
settling in to be a big piece of the new Isles. Thomas Hickey, Calvin de Haan and Kevin Czuczman (minus time in
the sin bin) played well on the blue line.
de Haan continues to become a leader of Isles defense as they improve as
a unit. It was a character win, especially after
blowing such a large lead and its good to see this team has the ability to work
out of adversity from time to time. The
isles improve to 13-4-1 in last 18 road games.
Isles Notes:
CHL PLAYOFF REPORT: Isles prospects Adam Pelech, Ryan Pulock and
Griffin Reinhart all lead their series' 2-0.
Per Athur Staple,
"Johan Sundstrom told me this AM his old junior/SHL teammate, Sebastian Collberg,
is out injured for Frolunda in SHL playoffs.
Hearing that Collberg, acquired in the Thomas Vanek deadline deal with
MTL, may come over to be checked out by Isles medical staff soon."
Sound Tigers Notes:
Per BST, Ben Rosen
has been recalled from the @StocktonThunder.
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