West Coast Lookback: Anaheim

Last night, your New York Islanders faced the Anaheim Ducks without Getzlaf & Perry.  And while LaBarbera was in net, the Ducks came in with the best record in the NHL and the Isles would need to play hard to get the win.  Ducks Coach, Bruce Boudreau said, "They're (Isles) a scary team. Fun to watch if you're a spectator, but a scary team to play against."

Jack Capuano sat Casey Cizikas in favor of Eric Boulton (season debut) because he felt Cizikas was, "pressing too much."  He thought it would help Cizikas find his game.

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

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

Jaroslav Halak in net with Chad Johnson on the bench.

 

John Tavares (de Haan & Hamonic) drew first blood when he scored his 5th goal of the season at the 3:38 mark of the first period giving the Isles a 1-0 lead.

 

 

 

Kyle Okposo scored a PPG just :38 seconds into the second period to extend the Isles lead to 2-0.  Okposo has 5 goals & 1 assist in 6 career games against the Ducks.  Anaheim would take advantage of the Isles in the second period, tying the game at 2-2.  The first goal coming on a PP off a tip in from Beleskey at the top of Halak's crease.  The second off an odd bounce of the puck that landed on the stick of Etem who turned and fired a shot past a partial screen to beat Halak.  The Isles continue to struggle in the second period and holding on to leads.

There was no scoring or penalties accessed in the third period.  Beleskey sent a puck on net while Travis Hamonic slid into the Isles goal, knocking it off its moorings.  Toronto ruled that although the puck ended up under Hamonic after the net was dislodged, it didn't cross the goal line while the net was in place.  Controversy around an Isles net not manned by David Leggio.  See what I did there?

 

John Tavares scored the 3-2 PP O.T. winner off a Calvin de Haan rebound at 2:18 of the extra session.  Tavares was awarded the first star of the game for his efforts in the game.  John Tavares is the first player in Islanders history to record 5 career OT goals (Bossy, LaFontaine, Okposo and P. Turgeon all have 4.)  "It's a good feeling," Tavares said. "It's just nice to get the win, first and foremost. I think everyone battled really hard. We had everyone going tonight. I thought we were skating well. We were hard on pucks and did a good job in a lot of areas, so you like to be rewarded, especially [because in] the last few games, things haven't been going our way."

Jaro Halak had a strong game (32/34 with a .941Sv%) for the Isles when they needed him.  The Islanders came out on top their first win of the road trip (1-2-0) and ended of their 3 game skid.  They were 2/3 on the PP and 1/2 on the PK in the contest.  Two points on the road with a chance to build on it tonight against the L.A. Kings. 

 

 

 

Stay tuned.

 

 

Sound Tigers Notes: 

Darren Dreger mentions the AHL rule change or as Isles Twitter calls it, the #LeggioRule:  Game Misconduct to offending goalie, penalty shot can be taken by anyone on ice, and replacement goalie faces the shot.  The captain of the non-offending team will select the player who takes penalty shot. 

 

@KeithLHHockey: Note that cross-checking a guy in the face is often still a two minute minor.

 

The AHL got miffed player was able to outsmart them with their own rules. Maybe next, they can suspend player for diving to draw a penalty.