Your New York Islanders got their 17th
road win last night in Buffalo to tie them for the best road record in the NHL
with the Chicago Blackhawks. Tonight,
they will face the Edmonton Oilers at the NVMC without the services of Kyle Okposo, Cal Clutterbuck, Michael Grabner
& Calvin de Haan who are all out due to injury. Colin McDonald & Harry Zolnierczyk will
remain in the line up to try and extend the Oilers Island losing streak to 8
games for their final visit to the Coliseum.
Even though Edmonton is struggling, the Isles better be ready to play at
a high level because the visitors will be playing with something to prove.
Forwards:
Lee-Tavares-Bailey,
Grabovski-Nielsen-Strome, Zolnierczyk-Nelson-Kulemin, Martin-Cizikas-McDonald.
Defensive Pairings: Leddy-Boychuk, Strait-Hamonic, Hickey-Visnovsky.
Jaroslav Halak is in net with Chad Johnson on
the bench.
In the first period, The Isles came out with
some jump and dominated time of possession & shots on net, but Fasth is keeping
his team in it. Anders Lee gets called
for a suspect hooking call & Hamilton makes it a 1-0 game for the Oilers
after beating Halak on a soft goal. The
Isles come close off an Anders Lee tuck attempt, but fail to score on their
first PP chance of the game. Colin
McDonald (Martin & Hamonic) finds a way & puts in his second goal in as
many nights for the Islanders, evening the score at 1-1. Islanders
start strong, then struggle to find their rhythm though the rest of first
period. They finish the period with an 11-8
edge in shots.
The Islanders come out strong again, but can’t
convert on some quality scoring chances.
A much better effort is needed by the Islanders to close out “weaker”
teams earlier in the game. To make it
worse, they seem unable to jump on numerous rebounds given up by Fasth. Matt Martin with a nice feed to John Tavares
who can’t convert, but Josh Bailey (Hickey & Lee) deflects a Thomas Hickey
shot from the blue line, 2-1 Islanders.
Officials missing several would be penalties that could be called on the
Oilers. Hendricks goes after John
Tavares, Josh Bailey goes back at him, standing up for the captain. Isles to the PK. Strait plays way too deep and Lander ties the
game at 2-2 with a PPG late in the period.
PK has been awful again and is a real problem for this team. Shots are 23-21 after 2.
Isles come up empty with 49 seconds on PP
time to start the period and fall behind in shots 8-0 by the midpoint of the
period and are playing a weak defensive game.
Colin McDonald repeatedly works the puck to Casey Cizikas who puts a one timer past
Fasth for a 3-2 Isles lead with 5 minutes remaining in the game. Empty net for the Oilers in the final minute. Jaro Halak (34/36 with a .944Sv%) makes a
huge save with time running down to preserve the lead and secure the 3-2 win. Edmonton able to finish with a 36-28 advantage in
shots, including a 15-5 edge in the third period. Isles were 37-25 in face-offs.
Colin McDonald, Casey Cizikas & Thomas
Hickey were named the 3 stars of the game.
The Isles started the first two periods with
energy, but trailed off against another inferior team tonight. It is a huge point of concern for the Islanders
who need to finish the season well to secure a solid playoff position. Aside from the play of Thomas Hickey, the PP was weak (0/2), the defense
was soft for most of the game and the PK (1/3) was uninspired. But there were some positives. Anders Lee had another strong game. Colin McDonald continues to inspire the team
with his hard-nosed, relentless work ethic over the last couple of games. The fourth line was definitely a bright spot tonight. Both Matt Martin & Casey Cizikas grind the
opposition until the brink of frustration.
It was a great comeback win & this team is thick with character, but
their depth will be tested throughout the remainder of the season. Good thing the Isles are 14-5-0 when John
Tavares is kept off the score sheet. It’s
going to be hard to send Colin McDonald back to Bridgeport if he keeps this
up. Good for him.
Another big thing to look forward to is that 18
of the final 29 games are at home where the Isles are 18-6-0. Isles are in 1st place with 71 pts. They will test that stat again on Thursday
against Toronto.
Isles Notes:
Former Islander goaltender, Evgeni Nabokov
has been traded back to San Jose from the TBL for purposes of retiring as a
Shark.
***
Thanks to Michael Alexy (@MichaelAlexy) for the cool KoC graphics!
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