Your New York
Islanders hold a 3 point lead over the New York Rangers and they will meet
again for the final time for a regular season game at the NVMC tonight in front
of their 19th sell out of the season. The good news for the Isles is that Kyle
Okposo has been removed from the IR after 22 games and will see limited time
tonight, but probably away from the first line. Statistically, coming into tonight’s
game, Okposo has 44 points in 46
games, but will play his first game tonight since January 19th. Kael
Mouillierat has been sent back the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. Earlier today, Arthur Staple added, “Looks
like Grabner will be scratched to make room for Okposo. Grabner skating with
McDonald and Boulton now.” Nick Leddy’s iron man streak will end at 320 games. He will not play tonight. Brian Strait is in.
Bailey-Tavares-Kennedy, Kulemin-Nielsen-Okposo,
Lee-Nelson-Strome, Martin-Cizikas-Clutterbuck.
de Haan-Boychuk, Strait-Hamonic, Hickey-Visnovsky.
Jaro Halak is
in net with Michal Neuvirth backing up.
The Isles open
the first period with some good early pressure on Talbot & Kyle Okposo gets
into a shoving match with Staal, trying to bang in the loose puck. John Tavares jumps to his defense. Johnny Boychuk is everywhere, shooting pucks
and throwing checks. Love the intensity
early by the Islanders. Lubo Visnovsky draws
a hooking penalty on Stepan. Isles to
the PP with K.O. on the first unit, but can’t execute. Anders Lee comes out, winning battles and puts
one in on the wrap-around for a 1-0 lead.
Lee is 2nd among rookies w 23 and 5th in points
with 38. Fast takes a dive on the face
off and Casey Cizikas somehow gets called for unsportsmanlike conduct. Good kill for the Isles. Isles defense are doing a good job at
containing the Rangers on break out opportunities. Don't downplay Halak’s performance thus far. He has made big saves on only 5 shots w
4:02 remaining in the 1st. Isles
bringing a lot of intensity. Hopefully,
they can maintain this pace throughout the game. Remember, the Rangers had last
night off. Isles outshoot Rangers 13-7
in the period and hold a 14-3 advantage in face offs.
The Isles continue working hard to start the second
period. Bailey draws a high stick from
Hayes who draws blood, Isles back to the PP for just 2:00. John Tavares goes to the box for holding. 4 on 4, Rangers will have 1:16 worth of PP
time. Isles good again on the kill. Johnny Boychuk has been blocking shots,
clearing pucks and putting them on net all night long. Josh Bailey called for interference on Glass,
but the Isles good on the kill gain.
Thomas Hickey goes down trying to make a play on a breaking Hayes and
interferes with Halak. The puck goes in as a result, score tied at 1-1. Tough break for the Islanders, who are
getting outshot 7-1, with 7:00 remaining in the 2nd. Capuano makes good use of a time out. Isles respond with some jump. JT & Kennedy break out on a 2 on 1 and
Kennedy goes wide on the shot. Matt
Martin lays out Zuccarello in the neutral zone trying to spark his team. Josh Bailey with a clean break away, but doesn’t
get enough on the shot to matter. Talbot makes some big saves in the final
minutes. The Rangers answered the Isles
first period intensity early in the period, especially in shots, but only finish
with an 11-10 edge in the period. The
Isles need a big third period.
Islanders look tired to start the third period. Nash puts a shot wide, but deflects it in off
Stromes' skate for a fluky goal, 2-1 Rangers.
Brassard holds Nielsen, Isles with another PP chance, but generate very
little. Halak gets caught out of
position, but Calvin de Haan makes the save in front of a wide open net. Capuano mixes lines with Bailey-Tavares &
Okposo getting a few shifts. Brian
Strait goes off for high sticking Miller, Isles to the PK. Yandle takes down Nielsen starting a
breakaway, 47 seconds of 4 on 4, then an Isles PP for 1:10. Isles generate no shots on net. PP hurting the Isles again bigtime. Casey Cizikas continues to work hard to make
something happen. Halak goes to the
bench with 1:14 remaining. Isles with
some good pressure man up, but can’t find a way to even the score. Isles had a 7-4 edge in shots for the third
and 30-22 advantage in the game. Their
PP was a terrible 0 for 4, their PK went 4 for 4 and they were good in the faceoff
circle 32-23.
The Rangers win by a 2-1 score by playing hard and befit
with some very good goaltending by Talbot.
In the end, some good Ranger bounces, shady calls and two strange goals (Hickey
banging into Halak & Stromes’ skate deflection) were too much to overcome this
time. Isles started strong and played
well, but their fatigue showed as the game went on. They still maintain a 1 pt. lead over the
Rangers who have 4 games at hand in the metro.
Standouts for the Isles were Anders Lee (3rd star of the game) & Johnny
Boychuk. And even though Bailey had some missed opportunities, but played a decent game. Jaro Halak (20 of 22 with a
.909Sv%) played pretty well in the loss and the Isles PK has improved of late. It was a tough loss to take, but they can get
a real dose of what they need to improve upon moving into the playoffs.
Isles have Ottawa at home on Friday and face Montreal
& Chicago for just 3 games in 10 days to rest, practice and heal. Keep the faith.
Isles Notes:
Kyle Okposo: “There is always a risk that it could
happen again just with my eyes being the way they are … they had to do some
stuff in my other eye because it was heading along the same path. The doc told
me my vision was not guaranteed to come back...at that point you just start
realizing what's important.”
No comments:
Post a Comment