2015 Playoffs: "We Didn't Deserve It" In Game 2

Your New York Islanders are looking to take a 2-0 advantage in their series against the Capitals with a W tonight at the Verizon Center.  After a 4-1 win in game 1, the Islanders know what they can expect tonight from Washington.  “That's going to have to raise our game, raise our play, raise our intensity and focus, and the things that need to be done to get a win,” said islanders Captain, John Tavares. “Our focus has to be one game at a time.”  That focus will need to be dialed in to beat a frustrated and embarrassed Capitals team again tonight.

Per Mark Herrmann, “Caps Matt Niskanen: `They were a lot better. That sounds simple, but they played a lot better than we did. We think it's going to be a long series, if we respond in the right way.”

G, Phillipp Grubauer has been recalled for the Washington Capitals and will get the start in net.  Braden Holtby is not feeling well, and isn’t expected to play tonight.  Justin Peters is backing up for WSH.  Per Yahoo Sports NHL, “Grubauer will be 8th goalie to make NHL postseason debut in these playoffs, joining Bishop, Darling, Dubnyk, Hammond, Lack, Mrazek, Pavelec.”

 

Kulemin-Tavares-Strome, Bailey-Nielsen-Okposo, Grabner-Nelson-Lee, Martin-Cizikas-Clutterbuck.

Leddy-Boychuk, de Haan-Strait, Hickey-Visnovsky.

Jaroslav Halak is in net with Michal Neuvirth serving as back up.

 

 

In the first period, Casey Cizikas breaks in on a 2 on 1 with Cal Clutterbuck (Martin) who wrists it past Grubauer for a 1-0 Islanders lead.  “Let’s go Islanders,” chants heard quite clearly from the stands.  Green goes off for high sticking on Matt Martin, but the Isles PP stalls again.  Shots are 5-1 New York at the midpoint of the period.  Halak plays the puck behind the net, loses his stick but recovers in time to make the save.  The coaching staff needs to have him make adjustments to his game in regards to how he plays the puck.  Kyle Okposo gets a partial breakaway but can’t control the bouncing puck and sends it wide.  Halak makes a good stop on Carlson going back the other way as the period winds down.  Shots were 7-5 Isles in the period, but Capitals were aggressive, leading 31-13 in shot attempts.  The Islanders have the lead, but need to step it up over the next two periods in order to assert dominance.

 

New York silences the crowd at the Verizon Center a few minutes into the second period off a Ryan Strome (Tavares & Visnovsky) goal to give the Isles a 2-0 lead.  Washington responds on the fore check and more aggressive pressure in the Isles zone.  Matt Martin breaks his stick, Washington closes in and Alzner puts it past Halak & makes it a 2-1 game.  The crowd is alive again only to be silenced by a huge goal by Kyle Okposo (Bailey & de Haan).  Okposo breaks a stick and Ovechkin gets a 5 on 4 goal, 3-2 the score.  Capuano calls a time out with just under 3 minutes remaining to scream at his troops.  Washington responds with another good scoring chance but sees Halak cover up.  Huge save off an Isles turnover, Halak comes up big on Backstrom.  Time expires with an 18-7 shots advantage for Washington for the second and 23-14 after 2 periods.  The Islanders continue to battle, but are dominated by their opponent for most of the period.  They need to tighten up here to contain the constant Caps surge.  They have played two pretty good road periods though and still maintain the lead.

The Capitals go to the PP off a bad slash by Strome, generating tons of pressure until Backstrom walks in unmolested past Hickey and ties the game at 3-3.  The Isles pick the worst possible time to be passive and come up short.  Nick Leddy & Frans Nielsen cough up the puck and Chimera scores on the rebound to give the Capitals their first lead of the  game and the series, 4-3.  The Isles top players are looking flat and the team is struggling as a result.  Shot attempts are 78-33 WSH near the midpoint of the 3^rd.  Halak goes to the bench with 1:20 to go in the game to try and generate something late, but the Islanders lose game 2 by a 4-3 final after 3 unanswered goals by Washington.  The "lifeless" Verizon Center got loud and stayed that way by the end of the game.  Shots were 12-7 Caps in the period and 35-21 in the game even after New York blocked 27 shots.  They simply spent too much time in their defensive zone to effectively manage the outcome of the game.  Both the Isles PP & PK was 0/1.

 

 

 

The Islanders showed the best and worst of their game tonight.  They were resilient and aggressive enough to regain and momentum and grab a 2 goal lead in the game.  They got pretty good chances and capitalized with some opportunistic goals as a result.  It’s tough when 2 of your teams’ 3 broken sticks result in Washington tallies.  But they also slowed down at different points in the contest until they were almost a passive observer, being badly outshot by Washington at times.  While they were off their game, they seemed to attract bad bounces and broken sticks far too often for my liking.  They were able to skate hard in game 1 and use their speed, so you knew the Capitals were going to be even more physical in game 2.  New York was playing catch up tonight for much of the 2^nd & 3^rd periods and allowed a 3-1 lead to turn into a 4-3 deficit before the midpoint of the 3^rd period which would be enough for a WSH win.

 

 

The Islanders were worn down by the size of their opponent this time and were simply outworked by their desperation in trying to protect a rookie goaltender in net who the Isles never truly tested.  Despite doing some good things in the game, it was a really bad loss.  If the Islanders can’t find a way to build a lead and finish off their opponents, pressure mounts on every PK surrendered and each mistake made on the ice.  When this team gets away from their game and doesn’t play within their system, someone in front of or behind the bench has to be accountable enough to bring them back.  After tonight's loss, Capuano said "We didn't deserve it," when asked about his team's effort.  They will take the series split back home on Sunday and if they can use home ice to their advantage and if they find a way to counter the adjustment made by Washington for game 3, they can change their fortune. 

The Capitals were desperate for game 2.  The Islanders will need to play desperate in games 3 & 4 to have a chance to recapture momentum.

 

Grail Knight of game 2 goes to Kyle Okposo.  K.O. had another strong effort and scored a goal in tonight’s loss.

 

 See you on Sunday at Noon.

 

 

Isles Notes:

Per Rob Taub, “Source: Grabovski "very close to returning" possibly game 3 or 4.”

 

Sound Tigers Notes:

The BST have signed forward Ross Johnston to an Amateur Tryout Contract.