Your New York Islanders
faced the Predators in Nashville last night.
The Preds came into the game on a 4 game losing streak, but boasted a 25-5-1
record going into the contest. The
Islanders have had their struggles lately as well, but have managed to grab
points in most of their recent games. Eric
Boulton and Casey Cizikas were removed from the team's IR list to reinforce the
Islanders recent bouts with injury.
Lee-Tavares-Bailey,
Kulemin-Nielsen-Strome, Grabner-Nelson-Clutterbuck, Boulton-Cizikas-McDonald.
de Haan-Hamonic,
Leddy-Boychuk, Hickey-Visnovsky.
Jaro Halak got the start
with Michal Neuvirth backing up.
John Tavares (Bailey
& Visnovsky) and Anders Lee, PPG (Leddy & Tavares) scored in the first
period to give the Isles a 2-0 advantage with less than 2 minutes remaining in
the first. While New York took the lead,
Nashville came out buzzing, but Jaro Halak was good early, and he needed to
be. The Predators outshot the Isles 15-5
in the first and had several good chances to dictate the play early in the
period. Unfortunately for New York, they
gave up another goal late in the period with under two seconds remaining when
Wilson put Nashville on the board to make it 2-1 going into the first
intermission.
The Isles came out
firing (12-5) in the second, but neither team was able to find the back of the
net. More scoring came in the third,
when Nick Leddy (Nielsen & Boychuk) made it a 3-1 lead for New York. Ribeiro scored a controversial deflection
that went to review and stood. Smith followed
up with another Preds goal less than 30 seconds later to tie the score at 3-3. It was another meltdown via turnovers and
another blown lead in the third period, but the Islanders proved resilient yet again. Brock Nelson (Grabner & Boychuk) put the
Isles ahead for good, cashing in on a huge rebound by Rinne, for an exciting
4-3 win. Shots finished 31-26 in favor
of Nashville. The Isles were 1/2 on the
PP and 1/1 on the PK. The victory in
Nashville was the first in the last 6 attempts, going all the way back to when
Garth Snow played in net for the Isles.
Tavares put on a stick
handling clinic throughout the game, while putting himself among the leaders in
points with 67 after a goal and assist on the night. Nick Leddy also had 2 points on the night and
proved a key component in the win. They
were named the first two stars of the game.
Jaro Halak finished 28 for 31 with a .903Sv%, improving to 34-13-1 on
the season.
The Islanders improved
to a 42-21-3 record with 87 points. Good enough for a two point lead in the
metro (Rangers) and second in the east behind Montreal (88pts). Eric Hornick mentions, “Isles are now 7+ over
NHL 500, both home and road for 1st time in Post-Cup era.”
Kyle Okposo will make
the trip to Florida and is planning to take the morning skate with his
team. This is good news for the
Islanders who could really use a boost, returning regulars to the lineup. No disrespect to guys like McDonald, Mouillierat
or even Boulton, but the Isles have struggled firing on all cylinders with
regularity in several facets of their game.
We know getting guys like K.O. & Zeeker should definitely help the situation. Speaking of key injuries, New York is in
Florida to face the Panthers on Saturday.
Both Florida goaltenders, Roberto Lunogo & Al Montoya are on the IR
list. I'd hope for Michal Neuvirth to be in net for New York in this one.
It’s a must win for the
Isles.
Isles Notes:
Isles rookie, Anders Lee
is tied for 25th in the NHL with 22 goals, 20th in NHL with +14.
Son of ex-Islander
seeking no-jail deal after charges in Boogaard overdose.
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