Your first place, Metro division leading New York
Islanders are in Boston tonight to face the Bruins at a sold out TD Garden
arena. Johnny Boychuk and Chad Johnson
will be returning for the first time since joining the Islanders in the off
season. Isles are 4-2-0 with 8 pts.,
Bruins are 4-4-0 with 8 points in the Atlantic.
Forwards: Conacher-Tavares-Okposo,
Kulemin-Nielsen-Bailey, Lee-Nelson-Strome, Martin-Cizikas-Clutterbuck.
Defense: Leddy-Boychuk, Hickey-Visnovsky,
de Haan-Strait.
Chad Johnson gets the start with Jaroslav Halak
on the bench.
The Islanders come out strong to start the game
finishing chess, skating well and relentless on the attack. John Tavares looks serious out there. The second line of Kulemin, Nielsen &
Bailey making a big impression early in the period. Bailey puts a shot in that deflects in front, Frans Nielsen
reaches back as he skates behind the nets and taps in the puck with the back
hand, 1-0 Isles. Isles put the 7th best
PP (1 of 13 over the last 2 games) in the NHL to the test in the final five
minutes. Isles generate a few chances,
but fail to score. Chara hits Tavares
as he is taking a shot. Tavares is
OK. Boston evens the score a t 1-1 with
just under two minutes remaining. Isles
applied some good pressure in the period and lead in shots, 15-10, but leave
the ice tied at 1.
John Tavares puts a long shot on net, Kyle
Okposo (Tavares & Strait) takes out the garbage, 2-1 Isles. Okposo with some great hands there while
getting checked. Chara will not return
to the game due to injury. Arthur
Staple reports Bailey is not on the Isles bench. Cal Clutterbuck (Martin & Leddy) gives the Isles a 3-1 lead. Per Eric Hornick, "Isles have 24 goals
from 12 different players."
Islanders are working hard in the second period. Isn't that nice to hear. John Kreiser tweets, "Isles have
attempted 32 shots. Bruins have blocked
... 1." Isles end a strong second
period with a 27-17 edge in shots and a 3-1 lead in the game. Brian Compton reports Josh Bailey (Hand
Injury) will not return to the game.
Islanders start the third period with good
energy. Strong plays by Brock Nelson
& Lubo Visnovsky and a recommitment to the team checking game. Chad Johnson adds a huge sprawling save
around the five minute mark. Boston working
hard, hemming Isles in their own end.
Capuano calls a time out to slow things down. Bruins make it a 1 goal game, 3-2 Isles. Isles want a couple of penalties called, but
don't get them. Boston changing the
momentum in the game, but the Isles fighting back. Chad Johnson with some nice saves late in the game. Bruins net is empty in final minute. Bruins call a time out with 20.9 left in
regulation.
Isles hold on to win 3-2. They end the two game losing streak and
improve to 5-2 on the season, remain 1st in the Metro division with 10 pts.
The Islanders must improve on face offs. Boston led in face off wins, 35-24. Josh Bailey is finally doing well, and
suffers a hand injury tonight and does not return. Arthur Staple is reporting a broken hand, out indefinitely. Look to see Grabovski return to the line up for the game against Dallas to take Bailey's roster spot. Coach Capunao will live and die with the fourth line. They are usually good, but the amount of ice
time they get is amazing. The fact that
the Isles falter is not as big as when they can keep it together and get the
win. The Isles could have let it been
all about the return of Boychuk & Johnson, but they had a job to do tonight
against the Bruins and they did just that.
The team experience, skill & depth is
helping them win these kind of games.
Nine different Islanders picked up a point tonight and the defense
played pretty well. The Isles had 19
blocked shots while Bruins had only 4.
That is definitely a detail that can not be ignored. Special teams play had the PP go 0/1 and PK
go 1/1.
Kyle Okposo, John Tavares, Nikolay Kulemin,
Frans Nielsen, Cal Clutterbuck, Lubomir Visnovsky and Chad Johnson were
standouts for me tonight. When the big
time players play a big time game, the odds of success are pretty high. When they can inspire the whole team to did
down and get that much more out of their game, even better. Kyle Okposo gets the 1st star and Chad
Johnson gets the 3rd star of the game.
Isles Notes:
The Islanders have the Dallas Stars at NVMC on
Saturday, 7PM.
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