Tonight, your New York Islanders face the Panthers in
Florida & look for their 5th straight win. Per Islanders.nhl.com,
A win would tie a franchise record of winning 11 of the first 16 games to start the season. The Islanders won 11 of their first 16 four times before (1976-77,
1982-83, 1987-88, 2001-02). Josh Bailey comes of IR, Eric Boulton goes on IR
& Jaroslav Halak is in goal tonight looking to extend his shut out streak
into and through a third game. Ex-Islander, Roberto Luongo is in net
for the Panthers. While the Islanders have outscored their opponents by
an 11-3 margin over the past four games, the Panthers don't score a
lot of goals at less than 2 per game average, but they have an eastern
conference best in goals against at 2.31.
Forwards: Kulemin-Tavares-Okposo,
Grabovski-Nielsen-Bailey, Nelson-Strome-Lee, Martin-Cizikas-Clutterbuck.
Defensive Pairings: de Haan-Hamonic, Leddy-Boychuk, Hickey-Visnovsky.
As mentioned before, Jaro Halak is in net with Chad Johnson
backing up.
In the first period, the Isles go on a PP just :36 seconds
in, but fail to score with just 3 shots on goal. Tavares takes a pass from Kulemin and comes close to getting a
goal. Lee feeds JT a few seconds later,
and Luongo makes the stop again.
Clutterbuck with a chance, but nothing there. Isles putting on the pressure in Florida's zone, but Florida
penetrates and scores, 1-0 Panthers, streak is over at 12:37 of the first. Eric Hornick mentions
the streak is over for team at 193:48 & Halak at 156:04. Isles still skating well making the Panthers
work to maintain their lead. After 1, the Panthers hold a 1-0 lead in the game. NY ahead in shots, 11-8.
Is is important to note that the Isles trail after the first period for only 2nd time all season
(Hornick).
The second period starts with the Isles right back on the
attack, but Luongo has been there again.
They need to bump and screen the Florida net a little more to change their fortunes. Lee puts a dangerous deflection on net from Boychuk, but Luongo makes
the save at the 6:31 mark of the second period. Isles to the PK, ward off Panthers. John Tavares (Okposo & Bailey) makes it 1-1 game off a one-timer from K.O. That's Career
point #332 for Tavares, passing Ziggy Palffy for 16th on Isles all-time list (JT
is now 16th all-time in goals, assists & points -Hornick.) Ryan Strome (Hickey & Halak) dekes &
scores off a break-a-way just 1:59 later, now 2-1 Isles. It's Strome's 2nd in as many games. Isles back to the PK. Panthers say they have scored. Halak pins bouncing puck under the crossbar with the back of his head. "No goal" after the review. Replay shows puck rested on Halak's left
shoulder against where his right ear would be, on the line at best.
Isles kill another one. Period ends
with Strome going back at Thorton's crosscheck with his own version. Love it.
2-1 Isles after a two big goals by the Isles and a Jedi ear, shoulder
save by Halak. Shots at 24-18, New York.
John Tavares victimized by a weak hooking call
to start the third period, Isles to the PK.
Isles come close again, Luongo makes the stop on the short handed
attempt. Halak stops Huberdeau, Hamonic
with the clear. PK is over, Isles 3 of
3 tonight. Nikolay Kulemin puts in a
Boychuk rebound for his first even strength goal on the year, Isles lead
3-1. Kulemin rings another one off the
post. Isles back to the PP. Tavares called for a slash. Bad penalty there for JT. Just after the 4 on 4 ends, Panthers score,
3-2 Isles. Isles back to the PK off a
another slash by Bailey. Isles losing their discipline and need to refocus
before they let Luongo & the Panthers back in this. Clutterbuck denied on the short handed break
away and paid the price, Isles kill the penalty. Bailey takes Clutterbuck's spot in the line-up.
Isles flub the clear and the Panthers tie the game at 3-3 as puck
deflects off Halak. Isles to the PP,
fail to score and time expires with the score tied. Isles secure a point with over-time coming. New York led in shots, 32-29, behind in the
face-off circle by a 34-25 margin.
Halak was a mortal, 26-29 with an .897Sv% in regulation, but did have
some very strong saves on the night, which isn't over just yet.
In the O.T. period, the Islanders played catch
up to the Panthers pressure, forced to play defense for much of the extra time. Halak has been good in the O.T. Florida calls a time out with 1:39
remaining. Panthers put a shot on
Halak, a scrum ensues and the Isles go to the PK for the final 1:03. Halak with a big save on Boyes &
Jokinen. Hickey with a huge clear as
time expires. Halak made 9 saves in the
O.T. period to raise his Sv% to .921. Isles
were 0/3 on the PP, but 5/6 on the PK. Shoot
out upcoming.
Frans Nielsen scores!
Huberdeau scores.
Kyle Okposo undresses Luongo!
Jokinen is stopped by Halak.
John Tavares is stopped.
Boyes is stopped by Halak. Isles win 4-3 in the shootout.
The Islanders stopped skating & took some bad
penalties that allowed Florida to gain some confidence and climb back into the
game. John Tavares has been good for
much of the year, but has had his share of struggles and uncharacteristic
mental lapses as well. Jack Capuano is
not at fault for tonight's partial collapse.
It was clearly more of a player driven lapse by way of on-ice error and
not just team focus. Just another example of
this teams tendency to seemingly play down to the level of an apparent, lesser
team's level. Credit Florida for
playing a good game though and giving the Isles all they could handle. Dale Talon is doing a great job there. We will have to wait and see what the word
is on Cal Clutterbuck after leaving the ice tonight.
Hopefully he isn't seriously hurt.
The Isles had some positive contributions tonight. Jaroslav Halak was strong on
the PK all night & rebounded late to keep his team in the game. John Tavares did score and it was a big goal in the first period to tie the score.
He's a gamer and always leads by example, even when he struggles with his own game. Josh Bailey looked good in his first game
back and picked up an assist. Nikolay
Kulemin had another strong performance on both sides of the puck and picked up an even
strength goal. Ryan Strome continues to
improve as an NHL player by playing smart more consistently. I thought Anders Lee had a
strong effort tonight, despite not getting onto the score sheet. Frans Nielsen & Kyle Okposo came up big in the shoot-out to seal the deal. The defense played well as a unit and made
ground when they had to do so. Most of all, don't forget that the Isles win their 5th straight game tonight by a 4-3 score in the shoot-out,
gain a second point on the night. Oh, and looking at the big picture, they
just might be 11-5 on the season. Yes, 11 & 5.
Isles Notes:
Isles have games tomorrow (A) & Tuesday (H) against the Lightening,
7PM starts and Friday (A) & Saturday (H) against the Penguins, 7PM starts.
Before tonight's game:
John Tavares – 11 assists from 200.
Nikolay Kulemin – 14 goals from 100.
Josh Bailey - 19 points from 200.
Joshua Ho-Sang traded from OHL Windsor to Niagara. Will make his IceDogs debut tonight.
Brent Thompson on Ryan Pulock: "I do see a comparable,
if he elevates his game, I do see that Drew Doughty comparable."
Sound Tigers Notes:
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