Tonight, your New York Islanders are in Arizona to face the
Coyotes for the final game of their west coast road trip. Johnny Boychuk
is being kept out of the game tonight for a "precautionary
measure." Brian Strait and not Matt Donovan will be in the line up
on defense. The Isles will look to add a W with their third straight win
on the road. Mike Smith is in net for Arizona. He owns a 4-1-0
record with a 2.36 GAA in five career games against the Islanders. But tonight is a new opportunity for the
Isles to take the next step forward and conquer another adversity.
Forwards: Kulemin-Tavares-Okposo,
Grabovski-Nielsen-Clutterbuck, Lee-Strome-Nelson, Boulton-Cizikas-Martin.
Defensive Pairings: de Haan-Hamonic, Leddy-Strait,
Hickey-Visnovsky.
Jaroslav Halak will be in net with Chad Johnson on the bench.
In the first period, the Isles had the better of the play to
start the period. Brock Nelson called on a hit from behind, but the Isles
strong on the PK. Visnovsky limps off ice & onto the bench after
a big hit from Vitale. Isles to the PP at the mid point of the
period. Tavares & Leddy with some good plays with the extra man, but
fail to score. The Isles still playing hard to close out the
first period and limiting the chances for Arizona. Strong play by the Isles defense. No
scoring in the period, but the Isles hold slight edge in shots 11-5, but
control face off by a 12-6 margin.
The Islanders pressing early in the second period with good
scoring chances by Tavares, Nielsen & Nelson, but Smith is equal to the
task. Teams exchange chances through
the middle of the period, but game remains scoreless. Isles hold a 15-8 advantage in shots. Isles PK put to the test again in the final five minutes, but
come through again. 2/2 so far tonight & Halak having a good night. Smith comes up big again as a
scrum opens up in front of his net, some good pressure by the Isles, but with
no results. Isles back to the PK with
31.6 left in the period. Bad call by
the officials on Nielsen. Isles repel
the Coyotes to keep the games scoreless.
Isles still lead in shots (19/11) and face off wins (21-17.) Per Arthur Staple,
"Isles have allowed 4 even-strength SOG by Coyotes through 40 mins. Still
1:29 of PP time to kill off to open 3rd, though."
The Islanders start the third period on the PK. Halak with a nice save as the PK ends. Islanders are back on the PK again. Clutterbuck gets a short handed chance but
is stopped by Smith. Isles PK improves
to 4/4 to this point. Islanders need to
generate more aggressive play and start giving themselves more quality chances
to score. Halak has been quietly strong
in this game. Isles to the PP with just
under 8:00 minutes left. Isles continue
to apply pressure and Frans Nielsen (Grabovski & Hickey) makes it 1-0
Islanders. Isles will be on the PK for
the final 1:37 in regulation. Coyotes
pull Smith. Brock Nelson will some
great defensive work at the blue line and finally clear the puck. Coyotes with a final rush with :21
remaining. Isles repel Arizona and win
1-0.
Jaro Halak gets his 31st career
shut out with 19 saves. It's his first
of the year and first as an Islander.
Jeff Capellini points
out, "Halak has lowered his GAA to 2.87, raised save % to .905. Stopped 51
of last 53 shots." He looks more focused and is finding his game right before our eyes. Halak-it. On special teams, the PP was 0/3, but the PK was an impressive 5/5.
The Isles finished with a 31-19 shots advantage.
It looks like Coach Capuano kept things in check tonight
from a leadership standpoint. We have
yet to see if the improvements will be there consistently. I have questioned his judgment many times
this season and I am not taking my criticism back, but things have looked good
over the last three wins. More to come.
The Islanders finish their west coast road trip with three
straight wins, gain 6 out of 10 points and improve to 9-5-0 in November. Another great team win in what some would call a mostly boring game. If they keep up this kind of
strong defensive effort each night, the rest will happen for them. They have obviously learned how to fight
through adversity on this trip and recover from mistakes. The team chemistry is building and despite
some key injuries, (Grabner, Bailey, Boychuk) they got it done. When the first line gets hot, who knows how
much more they can accomplish.
Colorado comes to the NVMC on Tuesday @7PM.
Isles Notes:
Per Arthur Staple,
"Isles got 41st road win since start of 2012-13. Only Pens (46), Ducks
(45), Habs (43) and Blues (42) have more. 23-8-2 last 33 on road."
Sound Tigers Notes:
The Sound Tigers win as @HarryZ87 scores 2 of #BST six power play goals as they win it
7-2! #BSTvsALB
Griffin Reinhart left the game & did not
return. Reported as a lower body injury.
No comments:
Post a Comment