Weekend Lookback: Tampa Bay

On Saturday night, your New York Islanders faced the Lightning in Tampa Bay.  The Isles were riding a 5 game winning streak, but had trouble capitalizing on their chances and it cost them.  After a strong start, the Isles were out muscled and frustrated by the Lightning & fell to Tampa Bay by the score of 5-2.  Clutterbuck, Donovan & Strait were the scratches for the Isles.

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

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

Chad Johnson got the start with Jaro Halak on the bench.  Metrics.

 

Brock Nelson (Tavares & Okposo) opened the scoring and gave the Isles a 1-0 lead.  Callahan evened the score at 1-1 shortly after the Isles opening goal by beating an out of position Johnson on the short side.  But Josh Bailey (Boychuk & Leddy) got his 3rd goal of the season off a Boychuk deflection and gave the Isles a 2-1 lead.  In less than two minutes later, Tampa Bay would score two more times and take a 3-2 lead into the first intermission.  The TBL led in shots 13-11 in the period.

 

In the second & third periods, Tampa Bay scored two more times to make the score 5-2 and that is how it would all finish.  The Isles had several opportunities, but were denied by Bishop.  They were also off their game and made some out of character errors.  Watching Grabovski & Kulemin collide was a microcosm of the night.  And if that wasn't enough, it was evident that the hockey gods just weren't going to favor New York in the game.  Even Frans Nielsen was close to giving a boost to his team, but sent the puck wide.  He was very frustrated when he got back to the bench and wasn't trying to hide his disgust on the night.  Chad Johnson was 23-28 with a .821Sv%.  He struggled for much of the night including a couple of really bad goals late in the game that buried the Islanders' chances of getting back into it.  While their PK went 2/3, their PP had an 0/4 showing on the night.  The Isles continue to struggle in the face off circle, being out dueled by a 33-24 margin. 

Some positives on the night was the continued play of Brock Nelson.  His work ethic and hands are starting to elevate him from the pool of "good" NHL players.  Watching the Nelson, Strome & Lee line was something to get excited about, yet again.  These guys have skills and are improving as a line.  Josh Bailey looked good again in his second game off injury.  The Islanders moved the puck well and got some good chances, but couldn't convert against a good Tampa team.  In some ways, the Isles can learn a lot by their experience in the game.  While we know they are a very good team, Tampa Bay executed and repelled all the Isles had for them.  They need to use this as motivation to get even better.  Their first opportunity will come tomorrow night against the same Lightning team at the NVMC.

 

Isles Notes:

Lines at Practice:  Bailey-Tavares-Okposo, Kulemin-Nielsen-Grabovski, Lee-Grabner-Strome-Nelson, Martin-Cizikas-Conacher-Clutterbuck.

 

With Bishop in net against the Rangers tonight, Evgeni Nabokov could very well see action tomorrow night on the Island.

Per Arthur Staple, "Capuano: Grabner not ready yet, but "I think he'll be cleared (to return) pretty soon." Clutterbuck ready to go tomorrow.  Where Grabner skated "no indication of where he'll be when he gets back." Also says waiver status won't determine roster move...  Translation of last two tweets, to me anyway: Lee is staying."

Why was Josh Ho-Sang traded?  “I don’t fake the team concept,” Ho-Sang said. “I truly believe it takes a team to win. I also believe in myself and I’m not afraid to tell people that.”