R.I.P. Papa Joe
This afternoon, your New York Islanders face
the Washington Capitals at the NVMC for what could be their final game at the
storied arena. The Islanders are down
3-2 in the series and must win at home today to force a game 7 in Washington
for the right to face the New York Rangers in the second round of the playoffs. If they are to win this game, it will be
without Travis Hamonic, Lubo Visnovsky and now Calvin de Haan on defense. Per Capuano, Matt Donovan is in for sure and
either Ryan Pulock or Scott Mayfield will dress as the 7th defensemen. Pulock is an offensive-defensemen while
Mayfield is known for his shut-down capabilities on the blue line. Just prior to game time, it was announced
Mayfield will make his NHL playoff debut along with Matt Donovan. Colin McDonald returns to the lineup for
Anders Lee who was scratched for an undisclosed injury. Coach Capuano has juggled the line in hopes
of an offensive jumpstart. Jaroslav Halak
is 5-1, 1.84gaa & a .953Sv% in eliminations games over his career and he
will guard the Islanders net again today.
He will need more help than he received in game 5 if New York expects to
force a game 7 on Monday.
“We know what it means to our fans. That
can’t be the last game there, it can’t be the last game for them,” Thomas
Hickey said Thursday. “We’re going to come with our heads on and be ready to
play and make sure that it’s not the last game there. We have to find a way.” Hopefully, the Islanders will focus on team
defense and get a more concentrated effort on offense, especially by their top
players. John Tavares will have to lead
the way and the Islanders will need to play their game, not falling prey to the
distractions of Ovechkin’s quotes in the press or the sarcastic smirks of Tom
Wilson. Like I have said before, winning
the series will be the best way to even the score with the Capitals. The Islanders need to leave it all on the ice today & not worry
about tomorrow, because without a win, there won’t be any tomorrows left for them
at the NVMC.
Nelson-Tavares-Strome,
Bailey-Nielsen-Okposo, Kulemin-Grabovski-McDonald, Martin-Cizikas-Clutterbuck.
Leddy-Boychuk,
Hickey-Strait, Donovan-Mayfield.
Jaroslav Halak is in net with Michal Neuvirth
backing up.
In the 1st period, the Islanders come out
hitting everything that moves and have certainly dialed up their intensity. Despite being outshot early, they have kept
the puck moving in the Washington zone.
Jaro Halak makes a big save on Ward after a Donovan miscue. John Tavares
(Strome & Leddy) beats Holtby on a screen by Brock Nelson, 1-0 Islanders. Credit the 4th line for once again
setting the pace in the first period for New York. Strait called for high-sticking and the Isles
respond with an aggressive and well defended PK. Nikolay Kulemin to the box now for
cross-checking and the Isles go back to the kill. Halak makes several good PK saves, especially
on Ovechkin, to reserve the lead. Caps
are now 1 of 24 in the series on the PP.
Islanders take a timeout with 1:23 to rest after the PKs. And John Tavares takes a bad slash to give
the Caps another PP chance opportunity with 30 seconds remaining. Carlson scores with 4.3 seconds left for a
1-1 tie. A tough break to kill off all
the momentum built by New York over the period. The Islanders need to stay out of the
box. You can only blame bad officiating
so much. Shots were 16-9 Washington.
New York comes out hard and generates
pressure in the Caps zone. Beagle off for
hooking on Kyle Okposo. Isles with
another ineffective man advantage and are now 0-13 on the PP. Halak settles things down with a big save at
the 13:00 mark. The Islanders are
suddenly scrambling in their own zone.
They need to tighten up on defense again. Boychuck, and then Leddy come close to a go
ahead goal. Mikhail Grabovski rips a rising shot that rolled up
and behind Holtby and trickled just wide of going inside the post. Colin McDonald & Green off for roughing, nothing happens with the 4
on 4. Martin & Latta go off for roughing,
4 on 4 washes again thanks to some heroics from Jaro on Kuznetsov in close. Grabovski sets up Kulemin, but Holtby makes
the save. Matt Donovan is surrounded and
abused but comes up with a 10 minute unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and sent
off the ice in the final minutes of the period, Isles to the PK. Shots were 17-10 Isles in the period and are
tied at 26 after two. New York has
generated chances throughout but are still nursing a 1-1 tie going into a very
crucial third.
The fans greet the home team with a standing
ovation to start the 3rd. The
4th line opens the period like they always do, generating energy and
getting under the skin of the Capitals. Kyle
Okposo rings one off the post less than two minutes in and the Islanders are
generating some good pressure, hemming the Caps in their own zone. Mikhail Grabovski with another good scoring
chance but goes wide. Ovechkin takes
Tavares into the boards but Nikolay Kulemin (Leddy & Tavares) puts it
behind Holtby for a 2-1 Islanders lead at the half way point of the
period. Beagle puts one past Halak but
it goes off the crossbar and cleared out by Boychuck. Under review, no goal. Bad calls continue with a suspect icing. Capitals call their timeout with 1:31 remaining
and pull Holtby. Cal Clutterbuck scores the ENG with 50 seconds remaining and
the Islanders take a 3-1 lead. Islanders
take exception to late shot at the buzzer and respond by answering some nastiness. Way to stay classy Caps. Both teams tangle and are separated by the officials. Isles win game 6 by a 3-1 score and survive
for a game 7 in Washington on Monday.
Shots were 13-12 in the period and 39-38 Washington in the game. The Isles were 0 for 1 on the PP and 2 for 3
on the PK. Hits were 46-32 in favor of
NY and they were credited with 23 takeaways. Nikolay Kulemin, John Tavares & Cal Clutterbuck were named 3 stars of the game.
The negatives today were that New York needs
to temper their energy and grittiness with composure to avoid giving Ovechkin
and a real good Caps PP so many chances to burn them. They also need to make correcting their PP a
priority - immediately. There is no
excuse for why it can’t work with the guys they have on this roster. I have to vent and say that when officiating
is this bad, it has a chance to deprive the NHL and its fans of the game they
deserve. Some of the calls (& non
calls for that matter) on the Islanders were ridiculous. I still don’t get the 10 minute Donovan unsportsmanlike
conduct call. My rant is over. Also, did Niskanen really throw a bottle into
the stands after the game?
On the Positive side of things, the 4th
line, Nikolay Kulemin, Mikhail Grabovski, Kyle Okposo & Josh Bailey stood
out again for me today. Colin McDonald
deserves a mention, while Matt Donovan and Scott Mayfield did everything that
was asked of them. It’s about time
Donovan gets a chance to earn a spot on this team. Johnny Boychuk and Nick Leddy led in ice time
and were solid in a shutdown role as well as jumping into the rush when
possible. From the forwards through the defense,
the Islanders played a strong game in their own zone and worked hard to keep
the Capitals in their own zone for much of the game. Coach Capuano made some adjustments that paid off
and John Tavares was big in another huge game for his team. "Everybody worked as a team today. It wasn't one guy or two guys, it
was everybody," Nikolay Kulemin.
It was great to see Jaroslav Halak (38 of 39
with a .974Sv%) respond with another solid game and get rewarded behind a
much better defensive effort by his team today. Dan Savarino quoted the updated stat, “Jaroslav Halak is now 6-1 in
elimination games w/ 1.71gaa, .956sv%. Against the Caps: 4-0rec, 1.00gaa,
.977sv%.” Jaro
Halak is my Grail Knight for game 6.
John Tavares said, “I wanted to make sure we gave ourselves a chance to
get back to this building.” It’s all
about chances & it starts with a win on Monday in game 7. Let’s see what Johnny & the guys can do
to set that up.
Isles Notes:
Per NHL Public Relations, “@NYIslanders scored
1st in 5 games of a #StanleyCup Playoffs
series for 2nd time in team history (also 5 from Apr. 7-13, 1982 vs PIT).”
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