Islanders Ground Lightning

Your New York Islanders get a chance at revenge tonight as they face the Tampa Bay Lightning and Evgeni Nabokov at the NVMC.  Nabokov is sure to receive a warm welcome, at least at first by Isles fans for his contributions as an Islander.  Nabokov's former team mates have good things to say about the former Isles goaltender.  Islanders Captain, John Tavares said, “He was a great teammate. He fit really well in this locker room and made a big impact on a lot of us, especially myself.”   Welcome back Nabby.  The Isles will do their best to move on tonight and get one back against the Lightning.  Cal Clutterbuck is in for Cory Conacher.

 

Forwards:  Bailey-Tavares-Okposo, Kulemin-Nielsen-Grabovski, Lee-Strome-Nelson, Martin-Cizikas-Clutterbuck.

Defensive Pairings:  Leddy-Boychuk, de Haan-Hamonic, Hickey-Visnovsky.

Jaroslav Halak gets the start with Chad Johnson backing up.

 

The first period starts with Boychuk having trouble skating off the ice after sliding into the boards following an icing call, not putting much weight on his leg.  Travis Hamonic wasted no time getting reacquainted with Callahan, nor Matt Martin throwing the body early.  Boychuk returnes to the ice with Leddy.  Brock Nelson's line applying pressure as well.  Isles to the PP off an errant high stick by Nabokov & Boyle goes off for hooking, 5 on 3 for 1:07.  John Tavares misses on a nice tic-tac-toe play, then Nelson with added pressure, but Nabokov is equal to the test so far.  Isles finish the 5 on 4 without a goal.  Its another missed opportunity for New York.  Bailey hauled down on a partial break-away, but no call by the Officials.  Halak loses control on the rebound, Tampa score on the third rebound, 1-0  Lightning.  Matt Martin called for goaltender interference as he is pushed into Nabokov out of his crease.  Martin is furious.  Nabokov is booed, but the Isles to the PK.  Martin & Cizikas on a rush, Martin again pushed into Nabby again, but Killorn is called for the penalty.  Isles to PP.  Isles with some good chances again, but they come up short. Thomas Hickey with a soft interference penalty at the 19:52 mark of the first.  Isles get 12 shots on Nabokov, 5 on the PP & 3 from the 5 on 3 opportunity.  Isles 0/3 on PP in the period & 1 goal in last 19 PP chances (Staple).  Isles were soft on defense and despite coming out hard & misfired on opportunities.  They need to cash in on those kind of chances against the TBL with a motivated Nabokov that has something to prove to his old team.  They lead 12-9 in shots, trail 1-0 in the game.

In the second period, the Isles will work a 1:52 PK.  Stralman gives away the puck and Cal Clutterbuck get a SHG for his Birthday. He ties the score 1-1 and could have created a turning point in the game.  Thomas Hickey joins the rush out of the box and gets taken down by Stamkos.  Isles to the PP.  Brock Nelson with a good chance, Nabokov gathers it in.  Isles fail to score on the man advantage, that's only 1 goal in the last 20 chances.  Halak having a good period for the Isles with some nice saves.  Former Islander & Tampa assistant coach Steve Thomas gets a round of applause by the Isles faithful when he is shown on the jumbotron.  Johnny Boychuk limps to the locker room during the T.V. timeout.  Capuano sends out the revamped Kulemin-Tavares-Nelson line, then Neilsen between Grabbo and Okposo.  Mikhail Grabovski (Neilsen & Okposo) slaps one past Nabokov for a 2-1 Isles lead.  Ryan Strome (de Haan) comes out with Bailey & Lee & puts in a wrister for a 3-1 Islanders lead.  Per Eric Hornick, "Milestone assists for both Nielsen (ties K Jonsson for 18th) & Okposo (ties J Potvin for 22nd) on Grabovski goal."  Credit Coach Capuano for apparently getting this line juggling thing dialed in tonight.  Per Brett Cyrgalis, "Down a dman in Boychuk, Capuano then juggles lines - 12-18-27, 29-91-86, 84-51-21 - and gets 2 goals in 63 seconds."  Credit Coach Capuano for getting this line juggling thing dialed in tonight. That's right, I said it.  I've bashed him when I am not happy with his coaching, so I have thrown a few compliments his way when he gets results.  Isles outworking TB late in the second and Casey Cizikas draws a penalty with 7 seconds remaining.  Isles take a 3-1 lead into the dressing room and had a stronger level of play in the second half of the period after Clutterbuck's shorty.  They need to keep up their improved fore-check and manage the puck like they did in the second half of the period.  Isles lead in shots 12-9 in the period and 24-18 in the game so far.  They lead in face-offs 20-16.  Their PP is 0/2 and PK is 4/4.

Isles have 1:55 on PP time to start the third period.  Brock Nelson (Visnovsky & Nielsen) scores on the PP & puts a slap shot behind Nabokov, 4-1 Isles.  Johnny Boychuk returns to the Isles bench.  Tampa Bay puts in a rebound to make it a 4-2 game.  Rebounds have stung a little tonight.  Grabovski's skating makes things happen, Isles back to the PP.  A crosscheck by Bailey negates the man advantage. 4 on 4 for :54.  Isles kill ensuing PP with 11:30 remaining.  Casey Cizikas (Okposo) with a twisted wrister over Nabby's glove for a 5-2 Isles lead.  Anders Lee is making it difficult for anyone to talk about sending him down to Bridgeport.  Isles win 5-2. 

 

 

Shots were even at 10 in the period with Isles having a 36-28 advantage in the game.  Isles went 1/6 on the PP & 3/3 on the PK.  They held advantage in face-offs 30-21.  Jaro Halak was 26/28 with a .929 Sv%.  Cal Clutterbuck, Casey Cizikas & Mikhail Grabovski get the 3 stars of the game.  Per Matt Saidman, "Cizikas when told he was one of the stars: "Seriously?"

Points of concern for tonight's game is the health of Johnny Boychuk and his leg.  Boychuk left the bench again tonight and seemed injured after going down awkwardly in the game.  Hopefully, it doesn't become a major issue in his game and gets better in time, even if he needs to miss a few games.  The Isles PP needs to get better.  It will become more of a major deficit for the team going forward and hamstring the teams ability to stay in close games.  John Tavares continues to play hard and contribute offensively, even if it has decreased in frequency.  However, he really seems to be struggling with something in his game.  While I am sure he will rebound soon, it has been noticeable to me in each game.  Just imagine this team when he comes back with a vengeance.

The Islanders endured Tampa Bay's onslaught tonight and mounted one of their own.  In a game that focused on Nabokov's return and the specter of the Isles recent loss to the TBL, the Isles came out swinging, didn't quits and broke loose after a SHG to mount a very successful 2nd period.  For what its worth, five different Islanders (Clutterbuck, Grabovski, Strome, Nelson & Cizikas) scored tonight on even strength, PP and shorthanded chances.  I can not stress enough, how well I feel Mikhail Grabovski and Nikolay Kulemin have influenced the Islanders ability to win games so far this season.  This has been evident when they have been out of the line up and Garth Snow deserves all the credit in the world for adding them and everyone else signed or traded for in the off season.  I love Strome's development, Lee's progression and you know how I feel about Nelson.  Goaltending & defense has been better for the most part and special teams has been good at different parts of the season, but not as a tandem.  So there is room for improvement despite how hard and well this team is playing for each other.

The Isles are 12-6-0 with 24 pts. Good enough for 8th in the NHL and are 6-2-0 in the dreaded month of November.  How does that sit with you?

 

 

Isles Notes:

The BST's are enjoying the Isles depth as well. Better players aren't constantly being called up so they can mature & win together.

Per NHLFREEAGENTS, "Portland Pirates signed (F) Corey Trivino & (G) Peter Mannino to PTOs."

 

NHL Notes:

Per Shannon Hogan, "There will no longer be a dry scrape of the ice surface between the end of regulation and the start of overtime. GMs at their annual November meeting Tuesday, decided the process was taking too long. Starting Saturday, shoveled by hand."

Per Craig Custance, "Gary Bettman on advertising on jerseys: "I don’t love the trend. It’s not something we want to run off and do."