Weekend Lookback: San Jose

Your New York Islanders were in San Jose on Saturday night with Travis Hamonic to try and right their recent losing streak. 

 

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

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

Jaroslav Halak is in Goal with Chad Johnson on the bench.

 

Kyle Okposo (Leddy & Boychuk) scored around the 8 minute mark of the first period to give the Isles a 1-0 lead.  The Sharks would score just a little over two minutes later to tie the game at 1-1 through the first off a tough one timer directly in front of the net.  Travis Hamonic comes close to netting the go ahead goal off a beautiful feed by Kulemin, but hits the post behind Niemi.  Jaro Halak was good in the period with San Jose outshooting the Isles 17-6.

 

The second period saw the Isles gain a 6-5 advantage in shots, but couldn't beat Niemi. 

The third period saw Halak (26/28 with a .908Sv%) play big for the Islanders, but San Jose edged New York 9 to 8 in shots and score twice off redirections & deflections to seal the 3-1 win.  The Isles controlled much of the play, but once again failed to convert their opportunities.  The defense played better, but still allowed the Sharks to get back into it.  Isles pulled Halak in the final minute, but were unable to generate a goal. 

 

 

San Jose blocked 25 Islander shots and out shot them 31-20 in the game.  They were edged by the Sharks, 34-31 in the face off circle as well.  Special teams were off their game with the PP going 0/3 & 0/1 on the PK.  It is difficult to win with those numbers.

Travis Hamonic was a big improvement for the New York Islanders in his first game back from injury.  “I felt like we were throwing lots of pucks at the net, but these Western teams don’t give up much.” Hamonic said. “I think we had enough chances to score enough goals to win this game, but as a group, collectively, we didn’t.”  The Isles put forth a good effort yet again.  The players are working hard and are playing pretty well as a group, but are missing something in their game.  Something to turn their efforts into the wins that came to them early in the season. 

The Isles fall to 6-5-0 on the season with 12 pts., putting them 3rd in the Metro and 9th in the eastern conference.  The losing streak increases to 3 games, with only 2 wins in their last 6 games.  While there isn't a need to panic, is it reasonable to believe that Jack Capuano is now on the clock.

 

The Islanders return to action on Wednesday against Anaheim at 10:30 p.m.  Hold your breath.

  November is here.

 

Isles Notes:

The Isles Booster Club has announced that Michael Grabner will attend the next meeting, Tuesday, 11/4 at 7 p.m. at the Long Island Marriott.

Per Arthur Staple, Goalie consultant Marc Champagne was on the ice during practice today, hired in offseason by Isles. Has worked with Halak for several years.

Joshua Ho-Sang's six-assist week highlights this week's report. 

Per @NHLhistorygirl, "On this date in 2007, Al Arbour stepped behind the Isles bench one last time, to end his career with 1,500 NHL games coached."

Sound Tiger Notes:

#BST Goaltender, David Leggio uses an alternate approach to combat a 2 on 0 situation. I wanted to go on record and say I like and have always liked Leggio. Guy hates to lose and pins his ears back. As strange as this situation was, he gambled on it & won.

 

The Isles have re-assigned Andrey Pedan to the Sound Tigers from the @StocktonThunder.