Let me start by thanking everyone for their patience and overwhelming support in my efforts to care for my Dad last weekend. As difficult as each day caring for an elderly person is, he had a particularly rough few days. But with MaryBeth's help, we will continue to do the best we can for him as he battles the challenging affects of cognitive impairment.
Joe
***
Your New York Islanders swept the state of Pennsylvania last
weekend. It included a sweep of the
Pittsburgh Penguins in an exciting home at home series and finished off with
the Philadelphia Flyers on Monday with an intense S.O. victory to break an Isles'
team record.
Prior to the Pittsburgh series, Coach Mike Johnston
commented on playing the Isles: “I look forward to these two-game series we
have. It gives us a chance to simulate playoff action."
11/21 Game 1:
Forwards: Nelson-Tavares-Kulemin,
Grabovski-Nielsen-Okposo, Lee-Strome-Bailey, Martin-Cizikas-Clutterbuck.
Defensive Pairings: de Haan-Hamonic, Leddy-Boychuk,
Hickey-Visnovsky with Chad Johnson in goal, Jaro Halak backing up.
Pittsburgh drew first blood to take a 1-0 lead early in the
first, but the Isles would fire back.
Matt Martin, Nikolay Kulemin & Ryan Strome gave New York a 3-1 lead
in a 2 minute span. Ex-Isle, Blake
Comeau would bring the game to a 3-2 score by the end of the period. Nick Leddy increased the Isles lead to 4-2 in the second, while Pittsburgh tied
the score by the 13:00 mark of the third to force overtime. The Isles had a couple of chances to end the
game, but couldn't score in the O.T. period.
In the shoot out, Frans Nielsen & Kyle Okposo scored to give the Isles
a nice 5-4 win.
The Isles PP was 0/1 and the PK was untested in the
game. New York edged the Pens 27-26 in
the face off circle & outshot them by a 35-30 margin. I felt the Isles were able to take
advantage of the Pens slow & sloppy line changes, and that was the
difference in the game. Ryan Strome had
another strong effort with a goal & two assists, while Kyle Okposo played
well in the game & absolutely undressed Fluery on the shootout winner. Chad Johnson started slowly, but tightened
up later in the contest. He was 26/30
with an .867 Sv%.
Ryan Strome & Kyle Okposo were the 1st & 2nd stars
of the game.
11/22 Game 2:
The Islanders organization honored hall of fame goaltender,
Billy Smith in the pre game, that included the ceremonial face off with John
Tavares & Sidney Crosby. Smith was
as fired up as he usually is & told stories with Butch Goring about
noteworthy events and lore about the Islanders dynasty.
Forwards: Kulemin-Tavares-Okposo.
Grabovski-Nielsen-Bailey. Lee-Nelson-Strome. Martin-Cizikas-Clutterbuck.
Defensive Pairings: de Haan-Hamonic, Leddy-Boychuk,
Hickey-Visnovsky with Jaro Halak in goal with Chad Johnson backing up.
The Islanders fell behind 1-0 in the first, but Matt Martin
would tie the game in the second period at 1-1. Anders Lee, Brock Nelson (PPG) & John Tavares put the Isles
in control at 4-1 after dominating the third period and a sweep of the home at
home series against the eastern leading rival Penguins. They finished with a 35-28 shots advantage.
The Islanders had 11 players on the score sheet with JT
netting 2 pts. A key stat had to be that
they won 61% of their face-offs in the game to help dictate play &
control the flow of the game. Jaroslav Halak turned in a great
performance, stopping 27/28 shots with a .964 SV%.
Brett Cyrgalis got some good post game quotes,
"Capuano: "Last year is in the past. This is a new hockey club with a
new attitude.” Tavares on 1st place: "We just want to continue
what’s going on. If we’re there at the end of 82, that’s what’s most
important.”
Isles win a 4-1 final, shutdown Crosby, sweep home @ home
beat Penguins on Billy Smith tribute night & share 1st in East.
Matt Martin, John Tavares & Anders Lee all had strong
games & were named the 3 stars of the night.
11/24 Flyers
Your New York Islanders were coming off two big wins against
the 1st place Penguins, so it wouldn't be out of the question to worry that a struggling
Flyer's team could come out hard and maybe push for an early advantage. It seems that the 2014-15 Isles team takes
very little for granted and are only getting hungrier with each success they
experience.
Forwards: Kulemin-Tavares-Okposo,
Grabovski-Nielsen-Bailey, Lee-Nelson-Strome, Martin-Cizikas-Clutterbuck.
Defensive Pairings: Leddy-Boychuk, Strait-Hamonic,
Donovan-Visnovsky with Jaro Halak in goal with Chad Johnson backing up.
Calvin de Haan & Thomas Hickey missed the game due to
illness. That opened the door for Matt Donovan's debut & for Brian
Strait's return from the bench to fill in on defense. Per Eric Hornick, "With Thomas Hickey out of the lineup,
only one player has played in last 73 Isles games. His name: Brock Nelson.
"
Johnny Boychuk was pushed into the net by Coburn and got up
slowly, but continued to play in the game. He has been knocked around
over the past few winning efforts, but you have to wonder if it is quietly
taking its toll on the versatile D-man.
While the Flyers did a good job forcing the Isles outside
and got sticks on everything up the middle of the ice to keep the game
scoreless, Steve Mason was the difference in a game that could have been much
different on the score sheet. Mason was
46/46 through overtime for Philadelphia.
Credit the Isles for being relentless in the O zone and Jaroslav
Halak (10-4-0 on the season) for being a stabilizing force in the Isles net,
yet again, for his 3rd shut out (21/21) of the season (3rd best in the NHL). The
Islanders were 0/3 on the PP and 2/2 on the PK. The bottom line was that the team kept working and manufactured
the opportunity to make good things happen.
Frans Nielsen & John Tavares scored for the Isles to win
1-0 in the shootout and Jaro Halak had some huge saves to give New York a
chance in both the O.T. & S.O. extra sessions. Frans Nielsen is now 37/65 in all-time shootout
attempts. His 56.9% success rate is the best among active NHLers with at
least 20 attempts. The Isles improve to
62-41 all-time in shootouts. Only Pittsburgh (63-34) has more shootout
wins. The Isles held NHL leading scorer
Jakub Voracek to just one shot, after holding Sidney Crosby to 0 shots and 1
shot in the home-and-home series with Pittsburgh per Eric Hornick.
This is the first in franchise history the
Islanders have started the season winning 15 of 21 games. They have
now won 9/10 and are 6-0 in OT/shootout games.
Have the Isles beaten many of their own weaknesses? They share first place in the Metro and are
winning conference & divisional games regularly and their ability to hold
on to leads, win at home & in the month of November (9-2-0) have been consistent to this point. They are
playing well, but can still improve greatly on special teams & will get
back Michael Grabner soon.
Tonight, the Islanders host the Washington Capitals @
7pm, face the same Capitals in Washington @ 5pm on Black Friday and then home again
for the Devils on Saturday @ 7pm.
On an aside, Apparently radio host, Boomer Esiason called
out Islanders fans for not selling out every game, despite the team is doing so
well on the season. While its hard to realistically expect sellouts at
every home game, especially weeknight games, the Isles have been weak for
several seasons and may have to prove something first. The remaining
long-time fan base of the Islanders have endured a lot of organizational
shortcomings and it will take time to make up for 20+ years of failure.
Some media & fans will always bash the Islanders and complain about even
the slightest detail while others will condemn and malign the team only to jump
on the "praise" bandwagon like they haven't ever been over
critical. It's best to call out the
team when it is warranted & praise them when it's deserved.
Right now, the whole organization deserves the respect of the entire hockey
world for what they have accomplished so far. Especially because the
coaches & players have not basked in this season's success. While they have
embraced their successes, they have also been quick to point out elements of
their game that can or must be improved.
Isles Notes:
Per Arthur Staple, "Hickey, de Haan on the ice for
Isles practice. Grabner out there as well," & mentioned, "Boychuk
not on the ice for Isles practice." Boychuk had a maintenance day.
The Isles have acquired F, Alexandre Mallet & 2016
3rd-rd pick from Vancouver for D, Andrey Pedan. Alexandre Mallet has been
reassigned from the Kalamazoo Wings to the ECHL's Stockton Thunder. The Canucks
originally drafted Mallet in the 2nd round, 57th overall in 2012. In his final
QMJHL season he tallied 81 points in 68 games. Pedan is the Isles 2011, 3rd round pick. He split time between ECHL Stockton and AHL Bridgeport this season, his 2nd full pro season. The Islanders were not
happy with Pedan & were able to trade him due to the depth of their system
at defense and most likely moved him while he would bring back what they felt
was maximum value.
Pedan commented on Twitter:
"Thanks @NYIslanders
organization for everything ,good luck to my old teammates! Really exited to
start my journey with @VanCanucks
!!"
Jaroslav Halak is 7-1 with a1.35 GAA & .950
SV% in November.
Per Forbes, the Isles franchise value has increased by 54%
since 2013, the largest jump of any NHL team during that span. Rangers
are valued at $1.1 billion.
Congratulations to radio play-by-play voice Chris King, who
is broadcasted his 1,500th career regular season game on 11/21.
Hockey Notes:
Well respected Player, Coach, Manager & Owner, Pat Quinn
along with legendary Russian coach, Viktor Tikhonov passed away on 11/24.
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