Islanders Capitalize In Our Time

Kevin Poulin has been returned to Bridgeport & Jaroslav Halak has been activated off IR.  So tonight when your New York Islanders face Islanders killer, Alex Ovechkin & his Washington Capitals for the final home game & 9^th sell out of 2014 at the NVMC, history will be made. Halak will be in net for New York with the same line up as the Buffalo game.  "It was a good time for us to just give him a couple more days after the small break that we had," Islanders coach Jack Capuano said. "He's healthy and ready to go (tonight)."  The Caps are 18-11-6 and have won 7 of their last 10 games.

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

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

Jaroslav Halak is in net with Chad Johnson backing up.

 

In the first period, Capuano juggles the lines a bit.  Frans Nielsen & Brock Nelson were playing on each-others lines.  Brock Nelson takes a big hit to the face from Latta and goes to the dressing room with a cut over his eye.  No call.  Anders Lee is called for the hook, Isles to the PK.  Caps get called 17 seconds later when Ovechkin holds Cizikas’ stick. More juggling as Kulemin joins the first line for a shift. Thomas Hickey puts the puck on net and Anders Lee (Hickey & Strome) puts the puck past Holtby for a 1-0 Isles lead.  Nelson returns to the bench.  Isles hard on the check throughout the first, especially on Ovechkin.  The Lee, Nielsen, Strome line continues to play well.  Capuano has gotten to be good at this juggling thing.   Nelson goes off for a retaliatory highstick, Isles to the PK. Halak with a big PK save against Ovi & has been solid for the Isles tonight in his first game back. Isles kill the penalty.  Capitals press late in the period and Halak looks dialed in with several key saves.  New York with an 11-6 shots advantage and nicely aggressive on the check.

 

John Tavares is called for hooking just 48 seconds into the second period.  Isles with another good job on the PK.  Halak covers with a scrum in front of the net, no whistle, Isles take exception to the Caps busy sticks.  Hickey with another strong game on defense.  Isles to the PP thanks to Wilson.  Lubo Visnovsky (Nielsen & Grabovski) scores off an Anders Lee screen off Orpik, 2-0 Islanders.  Lee is a monster in front of the opposition’s net.  Matt Martin is taken down by Hillen, Isles to the PP.  Leddy’s shot rebounds to JT and he rings it off the post, Isles aggressive on the PP, but come up empty.  Bailey back with JT & KO.  Kid line solid again tonight.  All three players having standout games.  The Islanders have come to play.  Orpik dumps Nielsen, nothing called.  Nelson called for interference with 13.4 seconds remaining.  Caps will finish the final 1:47 of their PP in the third.  Isles ahead 22-16 in shots and have played a solid game so far.

The Isles finish the remainder of the PK time is convincing fashion and add a shorthanded goal from Calvin de Haan (Tavares & Kulemin), 3-0 Isles.  Its de Haan’s first of the season and 1^st SHG of his career.  Laich skating in the crease and leaning into Halak when Fehr slaps in a loose puck, 3-1 Islanders.  Backstrom skates past de Haan and beats Halak, 3-2 the score.  The Islanders need to find a way to stay disciplined when they build a big lead.  Niskanen is called for high sticking, but the Isles fail again on the PP.  The PP found its way back to its bad habits and uninspired execution.  Johnny Boychuk crushes Laich, the crowd cheers.  The amount of calls missed by the Officials has been mind boggling tonight.  Orpik with the slime move trying to crush Clutterbuck against the boards behind the Caps net, pays the price and gets called for the roughing penalty.  Looks like he hurt his knee.  Isles to the PP.  Islanders tentative on the man advantage, looking for the perfect shot and fail to score.  Nelson losing his temper for getting the brunt of the Caps’ aggressions.  Isles get a few offensive rushes, trying to make something happen but need to put more pucks on net.  Grabovski knocked down in front of Holtby, play continues.  Halak continues to battle, keeping the Isles in the game.  For the second straight game, 4^th time in December, the Isles blow a 3 goal lead.  Ovechkin ties the score at 3-3.  But Kuznetsov high sticks Strome in the face, Isles to the PP for 4:00.  This could be a huge break for New York.  Time expires with 2:56 remaining on their PP going into O.T.  Isles with a point and a big chance to get the second on 4 on 3 man advantage.  Shots were 12-10 in the period and 34-26 in regulation.

 

In overtime, the Isles move the puck, put pressure on Holtby but struggle to capitalize on their golden opportunity.  Islanders call timeout with 1:02 remaining in the PP, Weight angry on the bench as he draws up a play.  Isles move the puck, put 5 shots on net with time expiring on the PP and Johnny Boychuk launches it up high for the game winner and falls to a knee in adulation (or apparently mocking Ovechkin).  The 4:00 minor was major for the Isles who used it to get the win and keep Ovi off the ice.

 

 

 

Islanders win 4-3 and grab a share of 1^st in the Metro with a Penguin’s loss.  A feat not accomplished in the last 25 years!  Johnny Boychuk & Anders Lee were 1^st & 2^nd stars of the game.

In conclusion, the Isles PK was 4/4 and their PP was 2/7. They were 33-28 in face offs. Coach Capuano said the Isles are normally a good face off team in his post-game press conference.  Seriously?  While I have noticed them getting better, they are hardly regularly solid in the face-off circle.  


The Islanders came out hard, played a physical game, checked well and controlled play especially along the boards for most of the game.  Their defense played pretty well in the first half of the game and Jaro Halak (23/26 with an .885Sv%.) was good between the pipes.  Blowing big leads was a deficit of their recent past that they had looked to overcome, but it’s starting to happen to them a lot this season.  But tonight they were able to regroup, settle things down & ride their veterans to get the win.  How huge have Lee, Nelson & Strome been on the season?  Huge.  And I’m not just talking points here.  They are getting better in their overall game and having a major impact on the result.  Anders Lee is starting to shine and deserves all the praise.  He worked hard to get called back up and hasn’t looked back.  I also want to give it up for Thomas Hickey again tonight.  

It was another ugly win, but the character came through tonight.  Hopefully, it won’t have to come through as much when the Isles get a handle on blowing leads.

 

 

The Isles start their road trip with a New Year’s Eve game in Winnipeg @ 5pm on Wednesday.

 

 

Isles Notes:

Michael Grabner skated in today’s optional morning skate.

 

 

Sound Tigers Notes:

 

Peter Sivak and Kent Simpson have been sent to the @StocktonThunder of the ECHL.

 

*****

 

 

 

 

A great shot of NVMC from @Smitty329 on Twitter.