Tonight, your New York Islanders welcome the
Vancouver Canucks for their final regular season visit to the NVMC before
another sellout crowd. New York wants to
get back to their winning ways after a close shoot out loss to Washington
yesterday. Lubo Visnovsky will be back
in the lineup for Brian Strait. The
Isles will also be looking to get some payback after losing to the Canucks by
the score of 3-2 in January. Vancouver
is currently 2nd in the Pacific division with 69 points.
Forwards:
Lee-Tavares-Bailey,
Grabner-Nielsen-Strome, Kulemin-Nelson-Clutterbuck,
Martin-Mouillierat-McDonald.
Defensive Pairings: de Haan-Hamonic, Leddy-Boychuk, Hickey-Visnovsky.
Jaroslav Halak is in goal with Chad Johnson
backing up.
The Islanders come out buzzing again in the
first period, giving Miller all he can handle, outshooting Vancouver 4-1 in the
first 5 minutes. On the other side of
things, Jaro Halak with a few big saves on Isles turn overs. The sheer will of John Tavares draws a hooking
penalty from Horvat. New York able to
generate some good o-zone pressure & shots, but unable to score on the
PP. Vancouver has returned some of the push in the
second half of the period. Kael Mouillierat trips Sbisa, Isles
finish the period on the PK. Shots were
9-8 in favor of N.Y. who started strong, but faded fast. No doubt are feeling the effects of their 5th
game in 7 nights.
Kassian puts a rebound off Halak and it
dribble over the goal line for a PPG, 1-0 Vancouver. Ryan Miller is run into by Hansen and looks
hurt. Possibly his knee. Miller goes off for evaluation. Lack in the net for Vancouver & is tested immediately by Tavares &
Bailey. Clendening
called for delay of game, Isles back to the PP.
With 10 seconds remaining, H.Sedin is called for tripping. Isles with a brief 5 on 3 then another PP
chance, but can’t get things going. Their
PP continues to be awful. Mouillierat
called for cross checking, Isles to the PK.
New York is being frustrated and it's starting to show. Another PP goal for Vancouver from Vrbata,
2-0 Canucks. Horvat makes it 3-0 against
Halak who has struggled along with his team in the period. Vancouver is the one that calls the time
out. Go figure. Tavares will serve for a too many men call
against the Islanders, but their PK kills it off. Frans Nielsen hit by Dorsett and goes down
hard holding his leg. Skates to locker
room in obvious pain. The Canucks are
called for too many men with 19 seconds remaining in the period. Isles outshot 10-9 in a horribly played
period for them. Losing Nielsen may be
too much for a banged up Isles team.
Cross your fingers. Bad things
happening, but they can do this.
Frans Nielsen returns to start
the third period. Isles finish off their
PP chance without a goal, but start to generate some offensive pressure again. Capuano shuffles lines to try and jumpstart
his team. Thankfully, Nielsen looks to
be back to normal. Matt Martin is
stopped, crashing the Vancouver crease and Cal Clutterbuck takes a finger to
the eye from Kassian. Isles back to the
PP. Halak goes to the bench with just
under 4 minutes to go, but they can't convert with the extra skaters. Bailey is stopped cold by Lack. Weber makes it a 4-0 win for the Canucks with
the ENG. It’s a 2 game sweep for
Vancouver. Shots were 19-6 for the
Islanders in the third period and had a 37-24 advantage in the game. They
were only 1 of 3 on the PK and a dismal 0 for 5 on the PP.
Tonight, the Islanders started well, but got
tired fast. Their sloppy play turned
into penalties, and those turned into goals against. The Isles PP look horrible again & even
Jaro Halak (20 of 23 with an .870Sv%) had
an off night. He will have to wait for win #33. Special teams really need to be addressed. Again, as good as this team is, it will really start to cost them wins and be a major weakness looking towards the payoffs. It was just a bad game
overall, but not for lack of trying. The
Isles efforts were evident and that just amplified their frustrations. Two empty nets and nothing to show for it didn't help. It seemed to be one of those games where
every bounce went the other way. Give credit
to Eddie Lack. He was solid since coming
into the game in relief for Miller after his sudden injury. Start the Nielsen watch and hope he is OK.
Let’s just take tonight’s game for what it
is. One loss. Hopefully the Islanders
can now look ahead to Tuesday’s game & try to bounce back after some well-deserved
rest.
The Isles face the Arizona Coyotes for
their only visit to the NVMC on Tuesday, 2/24 @ 7pm.
It will be the 6th game in 9 nights for New York.
Hockey Notes:
Today is the 35th anniversary
of the "Miracle On Ice." The surviving
members of the 1980 U.S. Hockey Team has gathered in Lake Placid, N.Y. to
remember the historic game in which they defeated the heavily favored Russians
by the score of 4-3. Al Michaels’s also
made sports history when he called out “Do you believe in miracles?”
Isles Notes:
Ryan Strome’s stellar play this season has
earned him a team leading +20 rating with 4 goals in his last 5 games prior to
tonight.
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