Your New York Islanders were back
at the NVMC on Friday to open a four game home stand against the 3rd place San
Jose Sharks. San Jose jumped out to a
2-0 lead in the first period, but would trade goals in the second period. Anders Lee (Nielsen & Okposo) and Brock
Nelson (Donovan & Bailey) would put the Isles on the board, but behind the
Sharks by a 4-2 margin. Frans Nielsen
(Okposo & Lee) would score the lone goal in the third period, but it
wouldn't be enough for the win as the Isles fell to San Jose by a 4-3
score. Isles held the edge in shots,
38-26 and the PK was a perfect 1/1.
Evgeni Nabokov wasn't enough to defeat his former team, going 19 of 23
with a .846Sv%.
On Saturday, the Islanders faced
the Buffalo Sabers. Both the Sabers and
Isles have had setbacks this season and would certainly be ready to play hard
for a win, but it would be the home team Islanders who would bring the most to
the ice. Behind a fast paced and
physical game, the Isles Frans Nielsen (Lee & Okposo) and Kyle Okposo's PPG
(Nelson & Visnovsky) would open the scoring for a 2-0 lead in the first
period. Buffalo would score a PPG early
in the third to cut the Isles lead, but the Isles outplayed their opponents
with a beautiful writer from Ryan Strome (Martin & Visnovsky) and another
ENG from Cal Clutterbuck (Visnovsky & Hickey) to seal the deal in the
closing seconds. The Islanders out shot
the Sabers 38 to 34 in the game and went 1/3 on the PP and allowed only one
goal in 6 PK attempts for Buffalo.
Anders Nilsson played a solid game going 33 for 24 with a .971Sv%. Nilsson, who was the game's 3rd star behind
Okposo & Nielsen, was good when he had to be and looks to be gaining
confidence with each start. Buffalo
fell in its fifth straight game.
I realize that Not having JT sucks, but I love watching
Strome, Nelson, Lee, Sundstrom, Halmo, Donovan, de Haan & Nilsson get time
with the big club. While much can be
said about Snow, his drafting has turned out well for the Islanders organization. With time, these players are showing just
how good they are and how deep the Islanders can become. Per Rob Joyce, Casey Cizikas tells me he's
been impressed by Johan Sundstrom's first 2 games. "He's not afraid to try
and make plays." Per Eric Hornick, "Anders
Lee was held without a goal (vs. Buffalo) but improves to 4-4-8 in his last six
games; he has recorded at least one point in 8 of 11 career games."
This off season, Snow MUST do better in the free agent
market or trade market to give the Islanders a fair shot and maintaining a real
compeditive line up. I still contend it
is the coaching that is the teams biggest obstacle to maintain consistency in a
tough division, especially at home.
Daniel Friedman points out, " Isles have at least 4 points in last 5
games (Bailey, Lee, Nelson, Nielsen, Okposo, Visnovsky). Lee and Nielsen have
6, Okposo has 8." Right now, the
Islanders are enjoying offensive productivity from a better balance of players,
both young and veteran alike. The lack
of playoff pressure is allowing both player groups to bond with each other and
that may come in to play next season more than you might expect.
All fans have a right to be fed up with several things
about this team and some expressed it by staging a protest at the game, while
others were less vocal, but no less disappointed about how the last few seasons
have turned out. But in the end, all of
us cheered on our team in a winning effort.
Isles Notes:
Kyle Okposo is now 4th in the NHL for scoring. Okposo led all players with seven points
last week (1-6-7), including three consecutive multi-point performances. He has been named the NHL's second star of the week.
3/15 Per NYI, "Adam
Pelech has agreed to terms on a three-year entry-level contract."
Per Arthur Staple, Pelech was the Isles 3rd-round pick in
2012. 9-45-54 in 59 games for Erie of OHL, third among OHL D-men.
3/13 Per Arthur Staple,
"Isles recall Johan Sundstrom from BPT."
"Sundstrom will start on RW with Halmo and Cizikas.
Capuano says Czuczman will play 'very soon."
Per Matt Saidman, "Strome
on Czuczman, who trains with Strome, JT etc, in the offseason: "Solid guy,
lots of poise, hard worker, the skill set's there."
John Tavares and the Islanders rally to support a bullied
fan in Winnipeg.
Lokomotiv
eliminated the 2-time defending KHL champions Dynamo in 7 games for the
Gagarin Cup. Former Islander, David Ullstrom is a member of the Lokomotiv
team that was forced to rebuild itself after the tragic plane crash back
in 2011.
Sound Tigers Notes:
3/17 Per the BST, Riley
Wetmore and Adam Brace recalled, Alan Quine and Joey Diamond reassigned to
Stockton.
3/15 The BST have
released forward Justin Mercier from his PTO.
3/14 The BST have
signed defenseman Guy Leboeuf to an ATO.
3/12 Per Mihael Fornabaio, "Bridgeport has traded D
Dallas Jackson to Springfield for former Quinnipiac F Jeremy Langlois."
NHL Notes:
Per Hockey Rumors & Trades, "GM's have been told
that the salary cap will be between $69M - $71M next season."
On 3/13, Per Mike Heika, "Rich Peverley has been
released from hospital. He will wear a monitoring vest at home."
Hockey Notes:
Per USA Hockey, "Final: USA wins back-to-back Paralympic sled hockey gold medals, defeats
Russia 1-0."
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