Islanders Blow Gasket In Edmonton

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 300^th 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 29^th 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.