R.I.P. Russel Hayes
The Toronto Maple leafs come to the NVMC to
face your 1st place New York Islanders. Jaro Halak (29-11-0) has already set a career
high in wins, so tonight he will be pushing for his 30th of the
season. While there are a lot of things to be
excited about with the team on the Island, their PK is not one of them. It is the worst in the NHL after
allowing goals on 9 of their last 11 PKs and has allowed 49 goals in
149 man down situations. However, Cal Clutterbuck makes his return tonight replacing emergency call up,
Harry Zolnierczyk in the line up. “I play a certain way and that’s the way I have to play to help the team
be successful. I’m just looking to get back into the swing of things. I missed
a few games, so I’ll try to get my feet wet and help those guys in any way I
can,” said Clutterbuck. He will be moved
up to the 3rd line to play with Brock Nelson & Nikolay Kulemin. Brock Nelson has will be looking to break out
of his slump tonight. He has gone 15 games without a goal, scoring just once in
his last 22.
Forwards:
Lee-Tavares-Bailey,
Grabovski-Nielsen-Strome, Kulemin-Nelson-Clutterbuck, Martin-Cizikas-McDonald.
Defensive Pairings: Leddy-Boychuk, Strait-Hamonic,
Hickey-Visnovsky.
Jaroslav Halak is in net
with Chad Johnson on the bench.
Anders Lee dekes Bernier
with a Leafs defensemen draped all over him for his 17th goal of the
season & gives the Isles a 1-0 lead just 1:11 into the game. A few minutes later, Colin McDonald makes a move on net and Casey Cizikas (McDonald
& Martin) is there to put in the rebound, 2-0 Islanders. That’s 2 goals on 5 shots just 5 minutes into
the game. On the other side of the ice,
Jaro Halak has made a few good saves to keep Toronto off the board. The Islanders are doing a better job of
controlling the play and keeping the opposition on the defensive tonight.
Anders Lee draws a holding penalty from Robidas, Isles to the PP. Strome’s hooking penalty negates the man
advantage and gives the Leafs a PP opportunity to end the period. Halak didn’t see a lot of shots in the first
period, but stayed sharp when he had to be.
Isles led 18-8 in shots for the period.
The Maple Leafs PP
expires to start the second, but they have more jump to start the period. Panik scores at the 1:32 mark to make it 2-1 Isles. New York to the PP as Smith is called for
holding, but they aren't able to generate very much offensive pressure. Back to 5 on 5, Smith
ties the score at 2-2 for Toronto. Capuano calls a time out. Shots are at 7-0 Maple Leafs, and that included an Isles PP. Their first shot doesn’t come
until the 8 minute mark. John Tavares is
called for a delay of game penalty. Isles muff several clearing attempts, but somehow keep
the Leafs without a shot against on the PK. Anders
Lee (Hamonic & Tavares) scores again to make it a 3-2 Islanders lead. With the goal, Lee ties Forsberg for the lead in goals by an NHL rookie.
The Islanders end the period strong and see Nelson
& McDonald come close to scoring. Mew York had a back and forth period, but were good on the fore check and turned
things around late in the 2nd. Toronto
held the 12-8 edge in shots, but the Isles are ahead 26-20 for the game.
In the third period, Halak
gets caught away from the goal trying to play the puck and somehow, Toronto was
unable to put it into the open net. Trevor
Smith lays on top of Matt Martin in the Leafs’ crease, but there is no call on
the ice. A few minutes later, frustration builds as Nick Leddy
is knocked over in the Isles zone. Tavares & Bailey
take exception, JT and Panik sent off for roughing.
Brock Nelson continues to work hard, but can’t seem to find a way to
score. Maple Leafs call a time out with
1:46 remaining in the third. Bernier
goes the bench, leafs up a man. Nelson comes close again with the empty net as time expires.
The Isles hold on to win by a core of 3-2. Shots were 15-14, Isles
in the 3rd and 41-34 for the game.
New York was 0/2 on the PP and 2/2 on the PK.
Toronto had 22 blocked shots.
The Isles were guilty of
some shoddy play in tonight’s game. These
physiological let downs and blown leads are troubling for a 1st
place team. I give them all the credit
in the world for getting the team so high in the standings to this point in the season, but it’s
time for the coaching staff to get these melt downs in check. They seem to control play in these kind of games, but can’t
seem to dominate these teams consistently.
This is especially true against those that are below them in the standings. But they did hold on to win and improved to
18-2-1 taking a lead into the third period.
The Isles are holding strong and have been able to overcome most
adversity that comes their way. Thomas Hickey continues to be a pillar for the Isles blue line and the team's PK was pretty good again as well.
Anders Lee looked good
before his elevation to the first line, but he is making a case for serious
Calder consideration as he transforms into an elite power forward right before
our eyes. He may indeed have found a permanent
home on wing for the first line. The
fourth line continues to play solid hockey for this team. Cizikas had a
goal, Martin made things happen and Colin McDonald had another strong game. Anders Lee & Casey Cizikas were named the
first and second stars of the game.
Jaro Halak (32 of 34 with a .944Sv%) gets his 30th win. Billy Smith, Rick DiPietro & Chris Osgood are the only other Islander goaltenders to have that distinction. Smith reached the mark in 42 games, but Halak was able to do it only 41.
Excited?
Sound Tigers Notes:
The #BST have released Jack
MacLellan from his PTO. Peter Sivak has been recalled from loan from @OrlandoHockey.
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