An independent blog on the New York Islanders, the NHL and AHL by a guy from New York.

Saturday, April 11, 2015

Islanders Fall In Finale


Your New York Islanders host the Columbus Blue Jackets at the NVMC for the franchises' final regular season game at Fort Never Lose (phrase coined by Bill Gallo).  Next season, it’s the Barclays Center, but not before the Isles lace them up one last time and begin a playoff push against the Washington Capitals next Wednesday.  The Islanders have a chance to clinch home ice with 2 pts tonight thanks to the Rangers defeat of the Capitals earlier today, but they have more to play for than home ice advantage.  They want to leave the old barn with a win and close out this building on a positive note.  John Tavares can stake his claim for the Art Ross with a strong showing.  To commemorate tonight's event, the Islanders are wearing 1972 versions of their original jersey with orange numbers & lettering.
 

 
 
Game 82 will mark the 27th sellout out at the Coliseum this season.  Coaches and players have all commented on the enthusiasm of the fans this season, paying particular attention to the Yes! Chant phenomenon started by Tom LoFaso and Section 329 a couple of seasons back.  Capuano on the fans this season, “…Their support has been tremendous all year.” 

Photo by Joe Nojunas


Tonight’s game will be exciting, thrilling, sacred & sad to many of us who will watch history close a bittersweet chapter in Isles history.  Enjoy the moment and be glad we were around to experience it.  Seeing Claire Arbour drop the ceremonial face off was awesome.
 

 

Kulemin-Tavares-Okposo, Lee-Nelson-Strome, Grabner-Bailey-Clutterbuck, Boulton-Cizikas-Kennedy.

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

Jaroslav Halak gets the start with Kevin Poulin serving as the backup goaltender today.

Brett Cyrgalis said Travis Hamonic was seen at the Coliseum “with a significant limp. Isles also recall G Kevin Poulin; Neuvirth (undisclosed).”  Calvin de Haan is in for Travis Hamonic.


 

The Islanders come out hard in the first period and generate some pressure.  Johnson hits Casey Cizikas late & from behind by the Columbus net, Eric Boulton takes exception and somehow gets the extra 2:00 putting the Isles on the PK.  Cizikas goes to the locker room for extra attention.  Brock Nelson has a clear shorthanded breakaway and rings it off the post.  Cal Clutterbuck and Johansen go the box on matching minors.  John Tavares gets a breakaway out of the box, but gets denied by McElhinney.  New York is fired up and the crowd is buzzing.  Casey Cizikas returns to the bench.  Savard cheap shots Tavares after a stoppage in front of the Blue Jackets net, Isles to the man advantage.  Nikolay Kulemin moves in and ducks behind the CBJ defens, but fires wide.   The Islanders can’t convert on the PP.  Hartnell cheap shots Tavares again & the Isles go back to the PP, get some good chances, but can’t solve McElhinney.  Boulton & Prout drop the gloves in the final minute to cap off a very physical period.  Casey Cizikas called for hooking with 21 seconds remaining and Atkinson scores with 9 seconds remaining, 1-0 Columbus. Another late goal (8th time this season) surrendered by New York, despite out chancing & outshooting their opponent 20-10.

 

The Isles open the second period with another break away by Michal Grabner, but the Isles fail to convert again.  Brock Nelson goes into the boards awkwardly and gets up slowly as he skates to the bench.  Kyle Okposo goes off for hooking, but Isles kill off the penalty.  Despite how well the PK has been lately, the Isles have developed a bad habit of taking too many lazy penalties in recent weeks.  Tavares gets in on another breakaway chance and is stopped again by McElhinney.  Josh Bailey with a nice feed to a streaking Kyle Okposo (Bailey & Kulemin) and the Isles even the game at 1-1.  Savard off for cross-checking, but the Isles fail to even manage a shot on the next PP chance.  Johnny Boychuk has been hitting everything that moves tonight.  Isles had an 11-10 edge in shots, 3-20 after 2.



The chippiness continues into the third period as the Islanders pepper the Columbus net with shots.  Eric Boulton (Kennedy & Leddy) puts one in behind McElhinney for a 2-1 Isles lead.  Just a tribute to the gutsy style of game these guys play.  Credit them for never giving up and clawing back into this game.  John Tavares (Okposo & Leddy) ties Jamie Benn with 85 points (but has tie breaker in goals scored so far) in the NHL scoring race with a goal to make it 3-1 Islanders.  “MVP” & “We want home ice,” chants can be heard from the sellout crowd.  Dubinsky puts in an odd goal from behind the net to make it a 3-2 game.  That is the meaning of a fluky goal.  Even worse than the one in Philadelphia.  The Blue Jackets tie the game 3-3 on a delayed penalty and the Islanders blow another late 2 goal lead.  Nikolay Kulemin (Visnovsky & Tavares) puts in the rebound for a 4-3 Islanders advantage with under 5 minutes remaining.  The assist by Tavares puts JT alone at 86 points in the Art Ross race.  McElhinney goes to the bench for the extra skater & Hartnell ties the game at 4-4, forcing the game to overtime.  The Isles can still clinch home ice with an extra O.T. or shootout point.  Shots were 16-12 Islanders in the 3rd, 47-32 for the game.  Halak was 26-29 with an .897Sv% in regulation.  New York’s PP was 0/3 and they were 2/3 on the PK.
 

 

In overtime, Columbus gets the better chances through most of the period.  Isles call a timeout with 1:31 remaining.  The Islanders pour it on late, but this game will require a shootout to determine a winner.  Shots were 5-5 in O.T.



John Tavares scores!

Halak with the glove and makes the save on Letestu.

Kyle Okposo puts it off the post.

Halak somehow stops Johansen.  Puck resting on the line, but wasn’t fully over the line.

Nikolay Kulemin is stopped.

Wennberg beats Halak.

Cal Clutterbuck is denied.

Cam Atkinson scores and wins the game for Columbus in the shootout, 5-4.

 

The Islanders came out buzzing and continued to play hard throughout the game, even when they were stopped on several breakaways and fell behind.  Once they were able to take the lead, Columbus fought back to tie the game twice in the third period.  Their resilience and compete level is awesome and the character in the room right down to guys like Boulton is great.  But late goals and blown leads along with a struggling PP are a big weaknesses for the Islanders and won’t help them win games in the playoffs.  It was a heartbreaking loss at the old barn, but a tremendous effort by the home team finishing the season with 101 points and a 47-28-7 record.  I am proud as to what they were able to accomplish this season. 
 
 
John Tavares (named 2nd star of the game) was edged out of winning the Art Ross trophy by Jamie Benn who scored his 4th point of the night with 10 seconds remaining in his game.  Sort of the way things are going right now for the Isles. 


The Islanders surrender home ice to the Washington Capitals in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.  Definitely a hurdle for the Islanders to contend with, who have had issue with the Capitals this season.  But the next step in their return to legitimacy will start there.  Road Warriors.  Challenge accepted.


I’ll have an Isles playoff preview up in a few days.  See you then.

 

East:
 
PIT vs NYR (3-0-1 NYR)
OTT vs MTL (3-1-0 OTT)
DET vs TB (3-1-0 TB)
NYI vs WSH (2-0-2 WSH)


 

Isles Notes:


Anders Lee played his 100th NHL game tonight.

 
Per @NHLhistorygirl, “On this date in 1975, Isles won their first playoff series in team history, beating NYR on a J.P. Parise OT goal.”

 

Sound Tigers Notes:

 
Sound Tigers sign Calder Brooks to an ATO contract.  


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