Tonight, your New York Islanders are in Newark
N.J. to face the Devils. Its their
final meeting of the season with each team having two wins against the
other. The Devils were in the playoff
hunt as recent as Wednesday, but fell out of contention when the teams around
them took care of business. That leaves
pride and jobs as the motivation for both squads tonight. Martin Brodeur will get the start for N.J. Will it be his final game as a Devil? Who will make an impression and who will
not?
Justin Johnson has been recalled from the BST to
replace an injured Johan Sundstrom.
That makes an NHL debut for 13 different players for the Isles this
season.
Forwards:
Lee-Nielsen-Bailey;
Persson-Nelson-Strome; Martin-Cizikas-McDonald; Gallant-Halmo-Johnson.
D-Pairings: Hickey-Hamonic; Donovan-Carkner;
Czuczman-Mayfield.
Anders Nilsson is in
net with Evgeni Nabokov on the bench.
In the first period,
The Isles break into the Devils zone with a 2 on 1, Anders Lee (Nielsen) beats
Jagr and gets his 7th goal of the season with a wrist shot that beats Brodeur
stick-side at the 10:04 mark, 1-0 Isles.
Shortly after, Carter beats Mayfield & Czuczman on a cross ice pass
and goes 5-hole while Nilsson moves across net mouth. Game tied at 1-1. With
seconds remaining, Jagr puts it behind Nilsson through a screen, 2-1
Devils. Devils out shooting New York
13-4. Nilsson needs to play a more
consistent game. Its easy to hate, but
Nilsson is an AHL goalie who hasn't had enough time at this level to develop.
He will get better & be real deal.
Isles did well in face-offs, but N.J. controlled much of the game in the
Isles zone. That must be corrected and
the Isles need to be more active on defense and challenge New Jersey.
The Islanders come
out with more jump in the second period.
They are pressing at center ice and turning more rushes back against the
Devils to generate more shots on net.
Isles also doing a better job limiting N.J.'s shots on net throughout
the period. Persson and Zubrus collide
and Brodeur goes down. Recovers quickly
and play resumes. Casey Cizikas is back
to his physical, energized game in a big way.
He draws a penalty in the final :27 seconds of the second. Isles with some nice puck movement and good
pressure at Devils net. Shots were 11-3
in the period for the Isles, and much more even in the game at 17-16 N.Y. Score remains 2-1.
In the opening
minutes of the third period, Ryan Strome (Nielsen & Donovan) enters the
zone, freezes Brodeur and rips one past him to tie the game at 2-2 with a
PPG. Isles control play early in the
period, improving in their own end as well.
Isles with a good effort on the PK.
Cizikas' hustle draws another PP opportunity off Jagr, Isles come up
empty. Nilsson has put together several
big saves, especially late in the third.
Martin & McDonald with a 2 on 1, Brodeur comes up with a big glove
save against McDonald. 4:27 left in
regulation. Hickey with a big defensive
play late in the period that may have helped this game go to O.T. Shots were 11-9 in period and 27-26 in the
game favoring N.J. Nilsson went 23 for
25 with a .920Sv% in regulation.
In the O.T. period, a
scrum ensues in front of the Isles net with Nilsson covering his net. Somehow, Brock Nelson breaks out, but shoots
wide on Brodeur. Anders Lee draws a
penalty at the 2:52 mark. Isles get the
4 on 3 PP, but come up empty. Time
expires in O.T. and the game is going to a shoot out. Isle with a 4-0 sog edge in the extra period.
The Devils are 0-12
in the shootout, scoring on only 3 of 43 opportunities.
Frans Nielsen scores
fivehole!
Devils score.
Josh Bailey with a
spin-o-rama and scores!
Devils miss.
Ryan Strome with the
spin-o-rama and scores! Isles win 3-2!
Anders Nilsson and
Frans Nielsen got the first and second stars in the game.
Eric Hornick reminds
us, "Isles reach 20 wins on the road for only the 8th time in their
history (only second time since 1993)."
What else can you
say, but the Isles win on back to back spin-o-ramas in the shootout to defeat
Marty Brodeur and the New Jersey Devils in odd fashion. They created some space, scored big goals
from rookies on second straight night, tightened up defensively, buckled down
in net and won the game. Guys like Ryan
Strome, Anders Lee and Brock Nelson are previewing their scorers pedigree. Czuczman and Mayfield are improving with
each game and learning from their mistakes.
Every call up has shown that they can contribute and they deserve to
showcase why they belong in the line up.
Vets like Hickey, Cizikas, Martin and Hamonic are playing hard and
leading by example. Anders Nilsson has
improved since being called up and with more games under his belt, I think he
can develop some real skills and become a strong NHL goalie.
I think Management is
aware they need to compliment these young guys with some NHL free agents this
summer to give the team the best chance to win. As we discussed, I know these are "meaningless" games
and all the reasons that the season was a failure, but just keep in mind that
this is a preview for the future and put these kids ahead of the curve to
compete in camp for next seasons roster spots.
You can not deny
there is a reason to buy in to the way these guys play.
Isles Notes:
Per Mike Morreale,
Capuano said Johan Sundstrom suffered an upper body injury (neck) vs. Habs last
night. He is flying back tonight from Montreal.
Justin Johnson has
been recalled on emergency basis from @TheSoundTigers. He will wear #49 for the Isles.
Per Arthur Staple,
"Justin Johnson played 5 seasons in the ECHL and 4 in the AHL."
Sean Cuthbert, @HTW_sean
comments on Brodeur lashing out at Bailey after a spin-o-rama is scored against him,
"Just throwing it out there: if Anders Nilsson shoots the puck at Patrick
Elias after a shootout goal, does he get reprimand from the league?"
Sound Tigers Notes:
The Sound Tigers have
signed Scooter Vaughan to an AHL contract for the 2014-15 season.
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