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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