Since your 26-11-1 New
York Islanders have not won in Edmonton since March of 2003 and the Oilers are struggling
to win a game at 8-22-9 (2-14-8 in last 24) and looking to avoid a three game
losing streak, the Isles had better be ready to play fast & hard. John Tavares should continue his resurgence
and Jaro Halak will look to be strong in his 300th NHL game tonight.
Forwards: Bailey-Tavares-Okposo, Lee-Nielsen-Strome, Grabovski-Nelson-Kulemin,
Martin-Cizikas-Clutterbuck.
Defensive Pairings: de Haan-Hamonic, Leddy-Boychuk,
Hickey-Visnovsky.
Jaro Halak gets the
start with Chad Johnson backing up.
In the first period, Edmonton
jumped out to a 3-0 shots advantage with some nice early saves by Halak. While there was a lot of back and forth, the
period had a strange, numbing flow to it.
The Isles generate a few chances, but Scrivens comes up with some good
stops to keep the game scoreless. Halak
gives the puck away and Hendricks gets the Oilers a 1-0 lead with 3:00
remaining. Tough break there for Jaro & New York. Hall
goes off for tripping drawn by Josh Bailey. Isles to the PP, but fail to do
anything. Isles were better as the period
went on and outshot EDM 10-5, but need to come out with more jump in the second
to change the flow of this game.
Eberle scores just 8 seconds into the second
period, 2-0 Edmonton. It’s another weak goal surrendered by Halak and a
sluggish defensive effort by the Islanders.
Halak takes another hard shot off his mask. Isles to the PP off a Ferrence hook against Josh
Bailey. The hometown boy, Johnny Boychuk
(Leddy & Tavares) gets the Islanders on the board with a PPG, 2-1
Oilers. Okposo gets hit in the ribs by a Leddy shot
and skates to the bench in discomfort to shake it off. Thomas Hickey breaks his stick, coming close
to a chance to the game, then Roy & Purcell can’t generate anything on a 2
on 0 for Edmonton going the other way.
Lee goes off for hooking, Isles to the PK against the 29th
ranked Oiler PP. Cizikas gets called for
goaltender interference. Oilers will get a 56 second 5 on 3 PP chance. Halak makes a couple of strong saves behind
the Isles PK to kill off Lee’s penalty, back to 5 on 4 until the period expires
with 36 seconds remaining to the Isles PK.
Edmonton with a 14-9 second period advantage in shots to knot the two
period output at 19-19. Again, the
Islanders need to be better in the third to avoid the loss to a weaker team tonight. Oilers are in control at this point.
Isles kill the remainder of the Cizikas minor
and return to 5 on 5 play to start the third period. Visnovsky gives the puck away and Roy makes
it 3-1 Edmonton. Islanders respond with
a few good shifts, attacking the offensive zone. John Tavares is stopped by Scrivens past the
halfway point. Ference off for hooking against Tavares, Isles to
the PP, but can’t get it done with time running out. Cizikas & de Haan with some good pressure
against Edmonton while the Isles mount another surge late in the game. Capuano calls a time out and Halak goes to
the bench. Hendricks gets the empty net goal to make it 4-1 Oilers. Fraser beats Halak & the dead horse to
make it 5-1 Edmonton. Yakupov called for
a slash with 1:04 remaining, Isles to the PP. Brock Nelson adds a PP goal to
make it 5-2 Oilers with just over 30 seconds left. Time expires, the Isles lose 5-2. Credit Scrivens & the Oilers for bringing
it tonight. The Isles outshot Edmonton
14-4 in the third & 33-23 in the game.
They were 2 for 4 on the PP, 2/2 on the PK and finished 30-28 in face-offs. Tavares & Boychuk have 2pt nights.
Erick Hornick summed it up well when he said,
“When I was 18, Jiggs gave
me a phrase I've never forgotten: "That's why they play the game". These are the kind of games some teams can
look past if they aren't disciplined enough for whatever reason. I don't like
it, but it happens. The Isles were off
from the start and showed signs of life, but weren’t able to fully recover. Several factors contributed to the result
tonight. Secondary scoring was missing while team turnovers were big & the
complete team effort just wasn’t there. The
transitional game was misfiring all night as well. Jaro Halak (18/22 with an .818Sv%) was definitely
off, but this was a team loss & it was not a big deal in the grand scheme
of the season. It may serve them well as
a huge learning experience with minimal damage overall, similar to their misstep
against the Sabres.
John Tavares called the loss "unacceptable" and said, "it all starts with me." Capuano said he was
disappointed in a few guys tonight & there may be some minor lineup changes
coming in the Vancouver game on Tuesday.
Grabner? Isles still sit at 26-12-1. What will change on Tuesday?
We shall see.
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