Jiggs
McDonald will be in the booth as your New York Islanders are in Minnesota
to face the Wild tonight. Brock Nelson will be playing his 100th NHL game
while it will be a home coming for Islanders named Okposo, Nelson, Lee
& Leddy. Jaroslav Halak is on the bench (upper body
during morning skate), so Chad Johnson is back in goal tonight. Lubomir
Visnovsky comes off the IR and replaces Matt Donovan on defense. Why Brian
Strait wasn't scratched instead of Matt Donovan is a mystery to me. Josh
Bailey replaces the injured Casey Cizikas, but Ryan Strome will start as the
4th line center to replace Cizikas. Per the team, Travis Hamonic (upper),
Johnny Boychuk (upper) and Casey Cizikas (upper) all stayed behind on LI. Team depth will surely be tested throughout
the season. Will it factor into
tonight's game?
Forwards: Kulemin-Tavares-Okposo, Grabovski-Nielsen-Bailey,
Grabner-Nelson-Lee, Martin-Strome-Clutterbuck.
Defensive Pairings: Leddy-Strait, de Haan-Reinhart, Hickey-Visnovsky.
Chad Johnson is in net with Jaro Halak backing up from the bench.
In
the first period, the Isles come out with a few good chances but are stopped by
Backstrom. Griffin Reinhart turns the
puck over, but Isles remain good on the
defense. Ryan Strome with a good look to
Matt Martin. Michael Grabner (Lee &
Reinhart) with some strong play early gets the Isles on the board for a 1-0
lead at the 8:31 mark. That is a
Reinhart's first career NHL point. Isles
successful on their first PK of the game.
Backstrom with another big stop on Anders Lee. Isles to the PP on a Pominville penalty and Brock Nelson (Leddy & Tavares)
converts a PPG & and grabs a 2-0 lead in the game. Have the Isles solved Backstrom? Yes.
Not long after, Thomas Hickey puts a shot on net & it deflects off
Matt Martin. It’s a dreaded 3-0 Islanders lead. The Islanders are leading in shots by an 11-3 margin after 1.
The
Islanders' Brock Nelson draws another PP chance just 2:26 into the game, but
they fail to convert. Weak pressure that
time by the Isles. Matt Martin hits
Ballard hard into the bench, but Ballard hits his head and goes down hard on the ice. Thankfully, Ballard left the ice under his
own power, but Minnesota is angered by the
event and should come out hard for the rest of the game. That is a clean hit with a bad result for Ballard. The same way the
Lee hit wasn't “dirty” in the St. Louis game.
Kyle Okposo is waylayed by Granlund, retaliates and gets noticed for the penalty. Wild go to the PP & Pominville puts it over
Johnson. The score is 3-1 Isles. Matt
Martin is challenged by Brodziak and a brutal fight ensues. Ex-Isle, Vanek jumps in after Johnson stops
Parise in close. Bad blood is officially
here. Vanek called for the penalty,
Isles to the PP. Strome with another penalty,
Isles kill off the penalty. Minnesota
outshooting Isles 9-0 in the period & have pulled ahead in shots by a 15-11
margin with under 4 minutes remaining. Isles are struggling in their own zone with
Johnson holding the fort so far. Josh
Bailey scores on a backhander just after the 17:00 mark to give the Isles a 4-1
lead on their first shot of the period.
Yes, their first shot of the period.
The Isles were outshot 12-1 in the period and now 15-12 in the game, but still
add the goal. That was a huge gut check by
your depleted Islanders team in the second period. That doesn’t happen last year. They need to improve in the face-off circle
& be dialed in defensively for the third.
And they need to maintain aggressiveness in the offensive zone without taking
stupid penalties to control play for the rest of the game. Thankfully, Keith Ballard is conscious and
was taken to the hospital for further evaluation & observation per Wild PR.
In less than 3 minutes into the third period, Koivu beats the
defense & Johnson to make the score 4-2.
Reinhart is called for hooking and the Isles are back on the PK. Momentum seems to be shifting in a big way since the Ballard injury. Having Michael Grabner back on the Isles PK
is a very good thing & the Isles thankfully kill off another one. Haula scores off a
skate deflection for the Wild. It’s 4-3
Isles with 8:57 remaining. Erick Hornick
points out that the Islanders have just 3 shots in the last 32+ minutes. Vanek gets his 3rd goal in 26
games to tie the score at 4-4. Its his
first 5 on 5 goal of the season. Islanders
getting outshot 26-14 at this point. John Tavares draws a penalty off a
blatantly ridiculous two handed slash across the back of his legs. No major called. Isles to the PP, then Nelson called to negate
the advantage. It is by no way an
excuse, but the Officiating has been weak in the game tonight. Niederreiter makes it 5-4 wild after Vanek
tied the game. You can’t make this stuff
up. Strait is a -3 so far and has been
awful again tonight. Isles to the PP
with 2:28 remaining. Isles pull Johnson
late in the period but generate nothing.
The Wild recover from 3-0 lead to defeat the Islanders 5-4. It’s the second consecutive game they have
done that.
Tonight’s loss was a bad one.
I know the Wild rallied behind the Ballard injury, but the Islanders
were outshot 12-1 & 15-7 in the second and third periods for a lopsided
30-91 shot total for the game. And this was
after a commanding 11-3 1st period effort. The Islanders were a dismal 1/5 on the PP & went 4/5 on the PK. They have struggled in the face-off
circle all season long and it let them down again tonight by a staggering 44-20
margin. Strait (on for last 9 of 11 Isles goals against) was played instead of
Donovan tonight and he was brutal on defense for New York. John
Tavares continues to put up positive numbers, but isn’t dominating games like
he should. Chad Johnson had a rough
game, especially on rebounds but got very little help defensively. Watching Vanek and first star, Niederreiter
score big goals was tough to watch. Thomas
Hickey said it all. "We got what we deserved tonight. Things don’t
go your way when you don’t work for it. Out-played, out-competed, out-executed.
We were on our heels for 40 minutes &left the G out to dry. It’s
unacceptable.” Gut check time.
The positive things for the Islanders are that they still stand at
19-9 and a point out of first place. While
the injuries have hurt, they still have had guys fill in and do a decent
job. Hopefully, Coach Capuano will rethink
his defensive pairings and do a better job at remembering how to keep these 3-0
leads from spiraling out of control.
Kevin Poulin has been hot in Bridgeport and Matt Donovan or Ryan Pulock
deserves a serious look to crack the lineup.
While there is plenty of fight in these guys, they can’t win every
night. It’s another opportunity for everyone in that room and on that staff to evaluate their game. As long as the correct adjustments
are made, they can build on these kinds of terrible efforts and improve on the next
one.
The Isles-Blues rematch is next.
That’s a great game in which to recover some snarl.
Isles
Notes:
Islanders forward Anders Lee was not suspended, but has been fined
$2,286.29 which is the maximum under the CBA, for elbowing St. Louis defenseman Carl
Gunnarsson. The fine for Anders Lee
will classify him as a repeat offender if he's ever summoned by @NHLPlayerSafety again per Arthur Staple.
Isles prospect Linus Soderstrom (2014, 4th
round, 95th overall) was named to Sweden's World Junior Championship roster.
Per Larry Brooks, " ... three sources
told me Barroway was backing out of deal. None has recanted."
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