Knight of Cups: Islanders Skin Coyotes

Your New York Islanders will still be looking for win #40 as the Arizona Coyotes visit the NVMC tonight for the final time. The Isles will be playing their 6^th game in 9 nights and even though the Coyotes have lost 6 in a row, it should be a good test for the Islanders. If the Isles can get back to staying out of the box, it will help their chances of success immensely in the game, as Arizona quietly has the 5th ranked PP. Another huge hurdle is their struggles on the PP recently. They simply must improve soon. Chad Johnson will be in net for the second time in the last three games and thankfully, Frans Nielsen has been OK’ed to play. Per reports, Kyle Okposo is close to skating & Casey Cizikas is still wearing a medical boot on his foot. He has yet to get back on the ice. Former Islander, Dylan Reese will be in the lineup for Arizona.

Forwards: Lee-Tavares-Bailey, Grabner-Nielsen-Strome, Kulemin-Nelson-Clutterbuck, Martin-Mouillierat-McDonald.

Defensive Pairings: Leddy-Boychuk, de Haan-Hamonic, Hickey-Visnovsky.

Chad Johnson is in net with Jaroslav Halak on the bench.

In the first period, The Islanders were able to generate some good pressure in the o-zone, but Mike Smith was equal to their efforts. Capauano responds with mixing up lines to try and generate something. Grabner with Nelson & Clutterbuck, Bailey with Tavares and McDonald then Nelson with Lee & Strome to name a few. I’d love to see the kid line get some more shifts moving forward. The period ends with a 12-6 advantage in shots for New York, but nothing to show for it. The Islanders forced turnovers, but couldn’t convert.

Anders Lee (Hamonic & Nelson) scores his 20^th of the season with the reunited kid line to give the Islanders a 1-0 lead in the opening minute of the second period. New York continues to enforce their physical brand of hockey in the game and the defense continues to “activate” offensively. Chad Johnson has quietly done his job well up to the half way point of the game. Ekman-Larsson gets called for boarding on Nelson. Should have been more. Isles generate some pressure on their first PP of the night, but fail to score. Coyotes find their legs late in the period and Arcobello converts on a 3 on 2 fast break chance, game is tied at 1-1. Arizona took the edge in shots for the second period 14-13, but Isles hold the advantage after two, 25-20.

Capuano continues to mix with Lee, Nelson & McDonald start the third, then Bailey, Tavares & Strome. However, the Isles having some trouble clearing their own zone. Matt Martin (Kulemin & Mouillierat) puts it top shelf after seizing a loose puck to give the Islanders a 2-1 lead. Its Martins 8^th of the season, good enough to tie his career high in goals set last season. Isles break out with a 4 on 2 opportunity less than a minute later, Tavares dishes to Boychuk (Tavares & Strome) and its 3-1 Islanders. Clutterbuck & Crombeen go off for unsportsmanlike conduct, 4 on 4 for two minutes. Kael Mouillierat (McDonald & Kulemin) takes a Dylan Reese giveaway and makes it a 4-1 Isles lead. That’s Mouillierat’s first NHL point. Things have changed in a hurry. Brock Nelson (Bailey & McDonald) follows up a huge Bailey rebound to make it a 5-1 Islanders lead. That’s four Islanders’ goals in less than 7 minutes of play. Tavares is called for hooking on Vermette. Isles kill the penalty. Shortly after, Anders Lee is called for a hooking call (Martinook) late in the game, then Cal Clutterbuck gets a weak cross checking call, but it doesn’t matter. The Isles PK holds & the Islanders win by the score of 5-1 with a 14-8 third period. Shots were 39-28 for the game.

So, the game started as a slow and boring, turn over rich environment. After teams exchanged goals in the second period, the Isles exploded in the third period to suddenly ventilate Mike Smith and the Coyotes defense. Credit Capuano for changing things up to generate some energy and it worked. I loved seeing the Nelson, Lee & Strome line reunited and it was cool to see Mouillierat score his first NHL goal. Colin McDonald now has 8 points in 10 games since being recalled from Bridgeport. Seeing Brock Nelson continue to get rewarded for his hard work is an awesome thing as well. Credit the defense and especially Chad Johnson (26 of 27 with a .963 Sv%) for holding the fort. The Isles out hit Arizona 52-32 for the game.

The Isles overcame some sloppy moments and were able to refocus, especially after giving up the 1 goal lead to score 4 unanswered goals. Clearly, it was a huge 3^rd period and turned out to be a great effort by the Islanders to secure their 40^th win of the season, 20^th at fort never lose, 82 points and are tops in the eastern conference.

Brock Nelson, Kael Mouillierat, Chad Johnson were named the 3 stars of the game.