Black & Blued

Tonight, your New York Islanders get another shot at the Blues in St. Louis.  They will need to play their style of game, get traffic in front of Allen in the Blues net and keep tight defensively in front of Halak.  After surrendering two 3 goal leads to the Wild & the same Blues team, the Isles The news of the day included that the Isles have activated Eric Boulton off IR to replace Josh Bailey, Matt Donovan will be in for Griffin Reinhart & Jaroslav Halak will get the start in goal.  Arthur Staple reports, "Bailey injury is a "nagging" lower body problem, according to Capuano." Also says Reinhart has played well, wants experienced guys in tonight."  So all that means that Brian Strait will remain in the line up for tonight's game.  The main thing is that the Islanders have still played well enough to be within 1pt of first place in the Metro division.

Forwards:  Kulemin-Tavares-Okposo, Grabovski-Nielsen-Clutterbuck, Grabner-Nelson-Lee, Martin-Strome-Boulton.

Defensive Pairings:  Leddy-Strait, Visnovsky-Hickey, de Haan-Donovan.

Jaro Halak is in net with Chad Johnson on the bench.

A few minutes in to the first period, the Isles take a penalty (Strait) and Steen puts the blues up 1-0.  New York is soft of their positioning and St. Louis makes them pay for it.  Blues are 4 for 6 on the PP so far vs the Isles.  Jaro  Halak goes down hard after taking a Bakes shot off his mask, but looks to be ok.  Boulton drops the gloves to go after Reaves, but the officials jump in to break it up and send both to the box.  Donovan draws a penalty and the Isles will go to the 4 on 3 PP.  Isles are able to generate some pressure, but can score.  Blues make it 2-0 off a blown play by Strait.  I hate to beat this horse, but Brian Strait has been in the box for the first goal and was a contributing factor to the second.  Isles go back to the PP and generate some pressure, but fail to convert.  Even John Tavares continues to struggle with turnovers tonight.  The Islanders look flat as the period expires. Capuano juggles lines going with 29-91-21 & 40-84-86 to end the period.  Blues out shooting Isles 9-8.

 

84-51-15 start the second period for the Islanders. Halak keeping the score at 2-0 for the Isles and had made some big saves early in the period.  Eric Boulton with a nice shot on goal and some more rough stuff after the stoppage.  The Isles are having a tough time moving the puck and playing as a team over this rough patch.  Nelson draws a penalty, so the Isles back to the PP mid-way through the period, but fall short again.  0/3 so far tonight & completely disorganized.  Halak with a nice poke check to do his own house cleaning on a Schwartz breakaway opportunity.  Grabner is now out with Tavares & Okposo.  Nice sequence by the Grabovski-Nielsen-Clutterbuck line there late in the period.  Isles generating some pressure and putting shots on Allen.  John Tavares (Okposo) gathers in a muffed puck and puts it in to get the Isles on the board, 2-1 Blues.  40-29-86 combination is on the ice after the goal.  Mikhail Grabovski (Nielsen) ties the game a 2-2 with seconds remaining.  It started with Halak making some big saves early in the second, Capuano making some adjustments, the forwards generating pressure and the captain & Grabo getting the goals.  Lets hope this is a turning point.  Isles lead 22-17 in shots & tied 23 all in the circle.  Eric Hornick points out that the Isles won 43% of face-offs in 1st pd, 58% in 2nd pd.

In the third, the Islanders come out with purpose and looked to have tightened up defensively until Steen gets his second of the game off an Oshie rebound, 3-2 Blues.  Three Isles forwards to one side left Steen wide open there.  Halak makes the stop off a de Haan giveaway.  Donovan continues to work hard on defense for the Islanders & has made some nice plays tonight.  Halak bails out his team mates with a huge save off a Visnovsky giveaway to Oshie at the blue line. Ken Hitchcock calls their time out with 5:22 remaining.  36-91-21 & Oshie goes high and makes it 4-2 Blues late.  Those are kind of decisions that make me think that Cappy feels he's got it more figured out than anyone else. 36-91-21 final the minutes & down by 1?  Isles to the PK (Clutterbuck).  Stastny makes it 5-2 Blues with a PPG.  Blues are 2/2.  Kyle Okposo (Donovan) gets a goal to make it 5-3.  Halak (26/31 with an .839Sv%) goes to the bench for the extra skater.  Tavares goes head first into the empty net trying to stop the puck he inadvertently knocked in and gets up slowly skating to the bench. That sums it up.  6-3 is the final.  Blues outshoot Isles 16-6 in the third and 33-28 in the game.  Isles ell behind 37-30 again in face-offs and were 0/3 on the man advantage.

Isles drop this one after the last two games, but are still in good position as far as the standings are concerned.  They came out with a much better effort in the second half of the game despite the players missing from the roster, but fall short again in final five minutes.  John Kreiser sums it up well.  "The Isles have scored 11 goals in past three games - and won none of the three. Hurry back, Johnny Boychuk and Travis Hamonic."  I really think steps were taken towards getting back in this thing, but there needs to be a much better effort on Saturday to get after another elite team like Chicago.  Lets hope they can make all the right moves on and off the bench this time.

The Islanders return home against the Blackhawks on Saturday & Devils on Monday.  Both are 7PM starts.

 

 

Isles Notes:

 

Wild Coach, Mike Yeo on Matt Martin's hit on Ballard: "he's seeking him out. He's on a mission there."  I am not sure what play he watched.  It appears, and justly so, that Matt Martin will not have a hearing for the check that injured Keith Ballard.  "Matt Martin and Keith Ballard exchanged texts yesterday. No issues between them," per Arthur Staple.  Thankfully though, Keith Ballard is out of hospital.  Unfortunately he suffered multiple facial fractures & a concussion on his collision with the bench rail and ice surface.

Wild's Marco Scandella was suspended two games for his hit on Isles Brock Nelson.  "Brock Nelson said he's been feeling fine after Scandella head hit. Nelson and other Isles more angered by Scandella slash to Tavares' leg." per Staple.

 

The Islanders announce that Clark Gillies will be on ice with team at the Saturday morning skate prior to Hawks game and will be available to the media after that.

 

Sound Tigers Notes:

Jason Bast has been released from his Professional Try Out.   

Isles Mauled By Wild

Jiggs McDonald will be in the booth as your New York Islanders are in Minnesota to face the Wild tonight.  Brock Nelson will be playing his 100th NHL game while it will be a home coming for Islanders named Okposo, Nelson, Lee & Leddy.  Jaroslav Halak is on the bench (upper body during morning skate), so Chad Johnson is back in goal tonight.  Lubomir Visnovsky comes off the IR and replaces Matt Donovan on defense. Why Brian Strait wasn't scratched instead of Matt Donovan is a mystery to me.  Josh Bailey replaces the injured Casey Cizikas, but Ryan Strome will start as the 4th line center to replace Cizikas. Per the team, Travis Hamonic (upper), Johnny Boychuk (upper) and Casey Cizikas (upper) all stayed behind on LI.  Team depth will surely be tested throughout the season.  Will it factor into tonight's game?

 

Forwards:  Kulemin-Tavares-Okposo, Grabovski-Nielsen-Bailey, Grabner-Nelson-Lee, Martin-Strome-Clutterbuck.

Defensive Pairings:  Leddy-Strait, de Haan-Reinhart, Hickey-Visnovsky.

Chad Johnson is in net with Jaro Halak backing up from the bench.

 

In the first period, the Isles come out with a few good chances but are stopped by Backstrom.  Griffin Reinhart turns the puck over, but  Isles remain good on the defense.  Ryan Strome with a good look to Matt Martin.  Michael Grabner (Lee & Reinhart) with some strong play early gets the Isles on the board for a 1-0 lead at the 8:31 mark.  That is a Reinhart's first career NHL point.  Isles successful on their first PK of the game.  Backstrom with another big stop on Anders Lee.  Isles to the PP on a Pominville penalty and Brock Nelson (Leddy & Tavares) converts a PPG & and grabs a 2-0 lead in the game.  Have the Isles solved Backstrom?  Yes.  Not long after, Thomas Hickey puts a shot on net & it deflects off Matt Martin.  It’s a dreaded 3-0 Islanders lead.  The Islanders are leading in shots by an 11-3 margin after 1.

The Islanders' Brock Nelson draws another PP chance just 2:26 into the game, but they fail to convert.  Weak pressure that time by the Isles.  Matt Martin hits Ballard hard into the bench, but Ballard hits his head and goes down hard on the ice.  Thankfully, Ballard left the ice under his own power, but Minnesota is angered by the event and should come out hard for the rest of the game.  That is a clean hit with a bad result for Ballard.   The same way the Lee hit wasn't “dirty” in the St. Louis game.  Kyle Okposo is waylayed by Granlund, retaliates and gets noticed for the penalty.  Wild go to the PP & Pominville puts it over Johnson. The score is 3-1 Isles.  Matt Martin is challenged by Brodziak and a brutal fight ensues.  Ex-Isle, Vanek jumps in after Johnson stops Parise in close.  Bad blood is officially here.  Vanek called for the penalty, Isles to the PP.  Strome with another penalty, Isles kill off the penalty.  Minnesota outshooting Isles 9-0 in the period & have pulled ahead in shots by a 15-11 margin with under 4 minutes remaining.  Isles are struggling in their own zone with Johnson holding the fort so far.  Josh Bailey scores on a backhander just after the 17:00 mark to give the Isles a 4-1 lead on their first shot of the period.  Yes, their first shot of the period.  The Isles were outshot 12-1 in the period and now 15-12 in the game, but still add the goal.  That was a huge gut check by your depleted Islanders team in the second period.  That doesn’t happen last year.  They need to improve in the face-off circle & be dialed in defensively for the third.  And they need to maintain aggressiveness in the offensive zone without taking stupid penalties to control play for the rest of the game.  Thankfully, Keith Ballard is conscious and was taken to the hospital for further evaluation & observation per Wild PR.

In less than 3 minutes into the third period, Koivu beats the defense & Johnson to make the score 4-2.  Reinhart is called for hooking and the Isles are back on the PK.  Momentum seems to be shifting in a big way since the Ballard injury.  Having Michael Grabner back on the Isles PK is a very good thing & the Isles thankfully kill off another one. Haula scores off a skate deflection for the Wild.  It’s 4-3 Isles with 8:57 remaining.  Erick Hornick points out that the Islanders have just 3 shots in the last 32+ minutes.  Vanek gets his 3^rd goal in 26 games to tie the score at 4-4.  Its his first 5 on 5 goal of the season.  Islanders getting outshot 26-14 at this point.  John Tavares draws a penalty off a blatantly ridiculous two handed slash across the back of his legs.  No major called.  Isles to the PP, then Nelson called to negate the advantage.  It is by no way an excuse, but the Officiating has been weak in the game tonight.  Niederreiter makes it 5-4 wild after Vanek tied the game.  You can’t make this stuff up.  Strait is a -3 so far and has been awful again tonight.  Isles to the PP with 2:28 remaining.  Isles pull Johnson late in the period but generate nothing.  The Wild recover from 3-0 lead to defeat the Islanders 5-4.  It’s the second consecutive game they have done that.

 

Tonight’s loss was a bad one.  I know the Wild rallied behind the Ballard injury, but the Islanders were outshot 12-1 & 15-7 in the second and third periods for a lopsided 30-91 shot total for the game.  And this was after a commanding 11-3 1^st period effort.  The Islanders were a dismal 1/5 on the PP & went 4/5 on the PK.  They have struggled in the face-off circle all season long and it let them down again tonight by a staggering 44-20 margin.  Strait (on for last 9 of 11 Isles goals against) was played instead of Donovan tonight and he was brutal on defense for New York.  John Tavares continues to put up positive numbers, but isn’t dominating games like he should.  Chad Johnson had a rough game, especially on rebounds but got very little help defensively.  Watching Vanek and first star, Niederreiter score big goals was tough to watch.  Thomas Hickey said it all.  "We got what we deserved tonight. Things don’t go your way when you don’t work for it. Out-played, out-competed, out-executed. We were on our heels for 40 minutes &left the G out to dry. It’s unacceptable.”  Gut check time.

 

The positive things for the Islanders are that they still stand at 19-9 and a point out of first place.  While the injuries have hurt, they still have had guys fill in and do a decent job.  Hopefully, Coach Capuano will rethink his defensive pairings and do a better job at remembering how to keep these 3-0 leads from spiraling out of control.  Kevin Poulin has been hot in Bridgeport and Matt Donovan or Ryan Pulock deserves a serious look to crack the lineup.  While there is plenty of fight in these guys, they can’t win every night.  It’s another opportunity for everyone in that room and on that staff to evaluate their game. As long as the correct adjustments are made, they can build on these kinds of terrible efforts and improve on the next one.

 

The Isles-Blues rematch is next.  That’s a great game in which to recover some snarl.

 

Isles Notes:

Islanders forward Anders Lee was not suspended, but has been fined $2,286.29 which is the maximum under the CBA, for elbowing St. Louis defenseman Carl Gunnarsson.  The fine for Anders Lee  will classify him as a repeat offender if he's ever summoned by @NHLPlayerSafety again per Arthur Staple.

Isles prospect Linus Soderstrom (2014, 4th round, 95th overall) was named to Sweden's World Junior Championship roster.

 

Per Larry Brooks, " ... three sources told me Barroway was backing out of deal. None has recanted."

Isles Falter Against Blues

This afternoon, your New York Islanders will face the St. Louis Blues.  The organization will honor Mr. Islander, Bob Nystrom.  Nystrom said of the day's event, "It's moving and it will bring back some great memories".  Jaroslav Halak will not need any motivation to play his former team & show them that they made a mistake in trading him last season.  Another win today would increase the franchise winning record that Halak now holds at 11 straight games.  Ryan Pulock (13pts in 20 AHL games) may join Griffin Reinhart on an Isles blue line that has had a rough few days after Johnny Boychuk & Lubo Visnovsky were placed on IR.  Travis Hamonic (upper body) was also placed on the team's IR list retroactive to 12/2. 

Ken Hitchcock on playing the Islanders, "They took their lumps and allowed guys to grow. Now the rest of us are taking our lumps from them."

 

Forwards:  Kulemin-Tavares-Okposo, Grabner-Nielsen-Grabovski, Lee-Nelson-Strome, Martin-Cizikas-Clutterbuck.

Defensive Pairings:  Leddy-Donovan, de Haan-Reinhart, Hickey-Strait. 

Pulock skated in warm-ups as the 7th D & has been scratched.  He has been back to Bridgeport. Staple says that means Visnovsky will most likely be ready for Tuesday.

Jaroslav Halak is in net with Chad Johnson in the back up role.

 

In the first period, the Lee, Nelson, Strome line opens play with some solid pressure in the Blues' zone & Halak with a few good saves early in the game.  The Islanders seem to be dialed in so far.  Isles go to the PP, but fail to generate much until their next one a few seconds later.  Frans Nielsen (Okposo & Nelson) scores his 6th of the season to give the Isles a 1-0 lead.  Isles are back to the man advantage for third time in the last five minutes.  Nothing doing that time.  Jaroslav Halak takes a stinger off a Tarasenko shot, but looks ok.  Isles go to the PK.  Halak has been good, especially on that PK. Isles are doing some aggressive things on defense & it's working so far.  Great save by Allen on Grabner's rebound shot.  Isles capitalize on a Blues turnover & Ryan Strome comes off the bench to make it 2-0 Islanders.  Michael Grabner gets another big rebound, but buries this one.  3-0 Islanders.  Isles ahead, 12-10 in shots and were 1/3 on the PP, 1/1 on the PK.  New York did a great job jumping all over the usually mistake free Blues in that period.  Lets see what happens in the second.

The second period begins with Martin Brodeur in the net for St. Louis to a chant of," Marty, Marty, Marty," before he even faces a shot.  Isles back to the PK off an Ott dive & Stastny gets St. Louis on the board. 3-1 Isles.  Berglund makes it 3-2 off a nice deflection in front.  Jack Capuano calls a timeout to rally the troops.  Blues are out working & out shooting the Isles 6-0 to this point.  Anders Lee lays out Gunnarsson trying to set the tone for the second half.  I don't think he went for the head as much as Gunnarsson was low as he skated to the puck.  Need to keep your head up there.  Isles back to the PP, but fail to generate much.  deHaan called for holding & Isles to the PK again.  Shattenkirk gets the equalizer on the PP.  3-3 half way through the second.  The Islanders need to get back to passing the puck and play a more disciplined, physical game.  Isles somehow return to the PP as Donovan loses his edge.  John Tavares scores on the PP to give the Isles back the lead at 4-3 going into the second intermission.  Isles get lead back on iffy PP call. They need to regroup & refocus for the third, playing a physical, but controlled game.  They got away from what they did right in the first. 

The Isles go to the PK again after just a few minutes into the third period.  Thomas Hickey stands up Tarasenko, but Tarasenko follow through hits Cizikas.  Zeeker looks fine.  Isles do a better job on the kill, but get tested against another kill soon afterwards.  Oshie ties the game on the Blues PP, 4-4.  First time Isles have allowed 3 PP goals in a game.  Isles need to do better job of clearing the puck man down.  Casey Cizikas heads to dressing room.  A scrum ensues to the left of Brodeur's net, JT thinks the puck is in but the Official waves it off. After a review, no goal.  There was no conclusive video evidence to refute the call on the ice.  After, Halak is slow on the lateral move and Stastny left alone in front of the net combine to a 5-4 St. Louis lead with under 6 minutes remaining.  Brian Strait has had a bad game today on defense.  Tarasenko burns the Isles again on a bad change to grab a 6-4 lead with less than 3 minutes remaining.  Islanders look lost in the third period.  Halak (34/40 with a .850 Sv%) goes to the bench in the final minute to no avail.  The Isles were 2/5 on the PP and 2/5 on the PK. 

Eric Hornick, "As Howie just mentioned, Isles looking to do something they've never done - be 1st in NHL to 20 wins."  When the Isles had a 3-0 lead after the first, that was a probable outcome.  But after seeing them outshot 30-15 in the second & third periods, it was obvious that would not happen.  They needed to put more shots on the oppositions net and create traffic in front to mount a real comeback.  Brodeur ended up being good enough in relief behind a resurgent Blues team that eventually woke up and turned the tables on the Islanders.  It was definitely one of the worst loses of the season, especially because they surrendered a 3-0 lead, came back to force the tie, then gave up the lead again.  It was a tough one to take, but perhaps another footnote in the teams level of maturity.  It was their poor defensive play, lack of discipline and a scattered attack in the offensive zone spelled doom for the Isles today. 

There were a few scapegoats in the game, but this was clearly a team loss.  The Blues are a good team that simply took it to the Islanders after being embarrassed in the first period.  The season is hardly in jeopardy.

 

 

Rematch is on Thursday.

 

Isles Notes:

 

Josh Bailey & Cory Conacher were scratches for today's game.


The Isles face the Wild @8pm on Tuesday, 12/9 in Minnesota.

Sole Possession

Tonight, your New York Islanders are in Ottawa to face the Senators for game 2 of their home-at-home series.  Former Sens Captain, Daniel Alfredsson will take the pre-game skate with the team after announcing his retirement from the NHL.  The Sens should be able to garner some inspiration from the ceremonies, especially after losing to the Isles in O.T. a couple of days ago at the NVMC.  The Islanders shouldn't need any inspiration to continue their quest to pile up the points in their divisional & conference standings.  Michael Grabner has been activated from IR & Griffin Reinhart has been recalled on an emergency basis from the BST.  Travis Hamonic (upper body) & Cal Clutterbuck (lower body) have been listed as day-to-day, Boychuk and Visnovsky placed on IR.  Josh Bailey was reported to be on a maintenance day today, but Staple believes, "Bailey took a shot off his foot/ankle on Tuesday, tested it this AM and couldn't go."  Tonight will be a big test for the patchwork Isles defense tonight.  And an even bigger one for Halak.  Ready?

Forwards:  Kulemin-Tavares-Okposo, Grabner-Nielsen-Grabovski, Lee-Nelson-Strome, Martin-Cizikas-Conacher.

Defensive pairings:  Leddy-Donovan, de Haan-Reinhart, Hickey-Strait.

Jaroslav Halak is in net with Chad Johnson backing up.

 

In the first period, the Isles came out generating some good chances early.  Michael Grabner is involved in an odd man rush and inadvertently runs into Anderson.  Isles to the PK.  When an Isles goaltender is run over in a similar scenario, the "offending" player is always said to be playing hard. Weak call on Grabner.  Isles to the PP as de Hann draws the advantage.  Isles with good movement on the PP, but misfire or fan on their shots.  Both teams with some ugly plays in the period and the Isles with a 5-4 shot advantage.  Something to build on in the second.

The second period is more of the same.  A little slow with some good chances on both sides.  Kulemin draws a penalty to put the Isles on their second PP of the game.  Isles get good movement on the man advantage & Brock Nelson (Nielsen & Leddy) is left alone in front and puts it over Anderson for his team leading 12th goal of the year, 1-0 Isles.  Cory Conancher comes close seconds after.  Isles to the PK off a cross-check by Nelson.  Strait called for a questionable high stick to give the Sens a 5 on 3 for 1:10.  Zibanejad scores to tie the score at 1-1.  Remaining PK time expires as Cizikas plays without his stick while al over Karlsson.  Sens come close again & hit the post behind Halak.  Neil levels Brock Nelson with a clean hit near the end of the period.  The second ends with the Isles generating more in the offensive zone, out shooting Ottawa 13-5.

The third is even slower paced than the previous two.  Just after midway through the period, Casey Cizikas and Thomas Hickey combine for a nice goal at the 13:33 mark, 2-1 New York.  Isles go to the PP late at the 18:28 mark and Ottawa pulls Anderson to keep their man power even on the ice.  Capuano calls a time out with 16.9 seconds remaining to settle things down.  Karlsson hits the post as time expires and throws his stick in frustration.  Islanders win 2-1 and improve to an NHL leading 19-7-0 with 38 pts. on the season.

 

New York completes their sweep of the Ottawa Senators with the win tonight.  The Isles were 1/2 on the PP and 2/3 on the PK.  They have won 8 of their last 9 & 13 of their last 15 and take sole possession of first place with a Pens loss tonight.  Jaroslav Halak (19/20 with a .950Sv%) breaks Billy Smith's (10) franchise record with 11 straight wins (and counting) with a victory tonight.  His patchwork defense limited the Sens in shots & blocked 22 that Halak didn't need to turn aside.

So defense wins championships, right?  Well, Nick Leddy & Thomas Hickey were very good for the Isles tonight.  Griffin Reinhart played an efficiently quiet game tonight in his first call up of the year & Matt Donovan gave another quality effort.  The defensive depth came up big in the win, especially when you consider the absence of 3 of their top 6 D, like Boychuk, Visnovsky & Hamonic.  Michael Grabner worked hard & looked to be getting back into his groove as the game went on.  John Tavares was solid on both sides of the puck tonight.  Brock Nelson has been consistent as one of the best players for the Isles this year & Casey Cizikas continues to make noise.  I have stated many times that I feel Ciziaks can be a Nystrom-esk player for this team and be a much bigger piece of this rebuild than many think.

 

 

Credit the Isles for staying with it and checking hard to get themselves back into a very slow moving game when they had to.  Jack Capuano is far from done, but he continues to prove to all of his detractors (including me) that he may have figured this NHL coaching thing out.  He has to be in consideration for one of the most improved coaches in the league and as far as Garth Snow is concerned, his consideration for GM of the year should be a lock with what he has already done coming into the season. 

The Isles have been not only been resilient, but competent so far this season.  Their experience has finally rounded out their game and as long as they keep playing their style, 1st in the division wont be the only achievement they can unlock.

 

 

Isles face the Blues @ 1pm on Saturday.

 

Isles Notes:

Per Eric Hornick, "Visnovsky skated on his own yesterday and today. Boychuk has not resumed skating yet. No update on Hamonic."

"Only 1 Isles defenseman has had more OT goals than @thomas_hickey14 -- Roman Hamrlik had 3. (Aucoin/Berard/Streit also had 2)."

Come out to the NVMC & donate blood to the Red Cross on 12/20 & receive a voucher for two Isles tickets. More details can be found here.  

 

Per Brett Cyrgalis, "Dan Boyle: "I think the hockey gods are not happy I signed here...I don't know if they're Islander fans or Detroit fans..."

BTW, it's too early to quit on Chad Johnson. I know his winning pedigree is shallow, but several fans wanted Halak out when he struggled & wanted CJ as starter early in season.

 

Sound Tigers Notes:

The Isles have loaned Sebastian Collberg to Stockton for some conditioning and more minutes.

The #ADevils have signed former BST D, Mike Keenan to a PTO. Keenan, who was playing with @OrlandoHockey, has been assigned #37

Isles Best Sens In Our Time

Tonight, your New York Islanders opened a home at home series with the Ottawa Senators in front of 13,888 Isles fans on a cold Tuesday night in Uniondale.  Jaro Halak was named first star of the week by NHL.  Halak "posted a 3-0-0 record with a 0.95 goals-against average, .964 save percentage and one shutout to help the Islanders (17-7-0, 34 points) win three of four starts and complete (Isles) best November in 34 years. "  The great Billy Smith has a 10 game streak that Halak can tie with a win tonight.  Halak said, "It feels good. It's a reflection on everyone."  The struggling Sens, losers in their last 4 of 5, are a dangerous test for the Isles.  They play their best hockey when taking advantage of their opponents turn overs.  They should however, allow a lot of scoring chances for New York.  Game on.

Forwards:  Kulemin-Tavares-Okposo, Grabovski-Nielsen-Bailey, Lee-Nelson-Strome, Martin-Cizikas-Clutterbuck.

Defensive Pairings:  de Haan-Hamonic, Leddy-Donovan, Hickey-Strait.

Jaroslav Halak is in net with Chad Johnson on the bench.

 

Early in the first period, the Isles out joust the Sens in scoring chances, but fail to convert.  Anderson is looking strong for the Sens against some decent pressure by the Isles.  An uncovered Hoffman puts Ottawa up 1-0 around the 10 minute mark by cleanly beating Halak.  Islanders need to limit mistakes and play a better defensive game tonight.  Ryan Strome in close with a great chance, by Anderson robs him of a goal.  Period ends with a 9-5 edge in shots for New York, but a 1-0 lead for Ottawa.  A few mistakes, but not a terrible period, but the Isles need to be better.  Matt Donovan looks good in relief for the Islanders.

In the second period, The Isles came out with more energy.  Come close again off a de Haan rebound.  John Tavares trickles it wide and off the post.  The Lee, Nelson & Strome line has been the best for the Isles so far tonight and will probably be the ones to score first.  Senators using a defensive-first mentality tonight coupled with a solid effort by Anderson. It has been problematic for the Isles thus far.  Cal Clutterbuck goes into the dressing room.  Brock Nelson (Okposo) scores a nifty goal, up high while coming off the change, game tied at 1-1 with less than 2:00 remaining in the period.  Isles to the PP with 52.4 remaining, but neutralize it :31 seconds later.  Casey Cizikas scores the go-ahead goal at the buzzer, but the play is under review. It wont count as it crosses the goal line with 1/10 of a second after the counter reaches zero.  No goal, tough break for New York.  Both teams get 6 shots on net in a period that saw the Isles raise their "battle level" and almost took the lead because of it.  The third should be interesting.

 

Ryan Strome (Hickey & Strait) scores at 1:07 of the third period to give the Isles a 2-1 lead off a Thomas Hickey wrap-around shot from the left post.  I Hope Clutterbuck is ok. If not, he will be the casualty for Grabner's return.  Travis Hamonic takes a "questionable" hit from Niel & grabs his shoulder at the bench after drawing PP for the Isles.  Cal Clutterbuck returns to the ice, but goes back in the locker room after Hamonic.  Harrowing scene.  Sens kill the penalty.  Hamonic returns to the bench.  You can all breathe.  Macarthur converts a de Haan turnover & ties the game at 2-2 with 8:46 left in the period.  Halak had no chance on that one.  Travis Hamonic leaves the bench again.  Not good.  Losing Boychuk, Visnovsky, Clutterbuck & Hamonic would be very, very bad for the Isles.  Turris hits the post in the final minutes.  Ottawa has been much better in second half of the period.  The game will go to O.T., our time.  See what I did there?  Isles lead 24-18 in shots and were 0/2 on the PP and 1/1 on the PK.  Halak was 12/13 with a .923Sv% through regulation.

 

In overtime, the Isles had 4 shots on goal.  The fourth one went in.  Thomas Hickey (Matt Donovan & Nelson) wins it for the Islanders, 3-2!  Jaro Halak ties Billy Smiths 33 year old franchise winning streak record at 10 and the Isles improve to 18-7-0.  They are the only NHL team still undefeated in O.T.'s & the shootout and still have room for improvement.  "It's business-like in here...It's wasn't rah-rah. We know we need to be better," - Hickey.

It would appear that the injury bug has caught up with them.  If Boychuk, Visnovsky, Clutterbuck & Hamonic are all injured, the team will struggle defensively and be limited on the rush.  Clutterbuck & Hamonic are day-to-day at this point.  We should know more tomorrow.  Pulock would be interesting to see if a call up is mandated, but he is untested in the kind of pressure cooker the Isles have been playing in.  It would be a deep deficit to overcome, even for them.

 

Zeeker was big and Butch's "Kid" line looked great again, Thomas Hickey had a great game prior to O.T. and Calvin de Haan was good as well.  I want to give another mention to Matt Donovan.  He was solid on the Isles blue line in relief and even got an assist on the game winner.  The Islanders dug down deep, corrected some suspect play and won another big game with flair.  How much better can this get?

Wanna see?

 

 

Isles Notes:

 

Johnny Boychuk and Lubomir Visnovsky are both still day-to-day.

 

Michael Grabner should return to the line up soon.  Josh Bailey (5 games w/o a pt. coming into tonight's game) is the most likely roster casualty in my opinion.

Senators now confirm that Daniel Alfredsson will join the Sens team on the ice for the pre-game warm-up at 7 p.m. on Thursday.

 

Yesterday, news broke of a 5 yr clause built into the Islanders/Barclays Center contract.  It states that if both sides agree, the clause would allow them to negate the rest of contract.  But what it doesn't say is that it means the Isles would option to move back to the NVMC.  The new ownership would be firmly in place and despite what you might think about Charles Wang, they MAY not go through all the pains Wang did to keep the team in the area.  Nor do I mean to say they would actively work at moving them.  Right now its speculation on a few vague details.  Arthur Staple says, "And for the wishful-thinking crowd, you really think LI will have the foresight to prepare to bring em back? That ship has sailed, folks."

 

Ryan Pulock gets the nod, but Josh Ho-Sang is not invited to Canada's World Junior Camp.  I Wouldn't be surprised if Ho-Sang went Hull route & put things in place to become citizen & play for the US. The chip on his shoulder is likely growing. This is only my opinion.

Sound Tigers Notes:

 

The Isles reassign goaltender Kent Simpson to the Stockton Thunder from the BST.

 

NHL Notes:

St. Louis Blues sign (G) Martin Brodeur to a one-year $1 million, incentive ladened contract.

Weekend Lookback: Washington & New Jersey

This weekend, your New York Islanders finished a home-at-home series with the Washington Capitals & met the New Jersey Devils at the NVMC for a Denis Potvin tribute night. 

On Friday, the Islanders fell to the Caps by the score of 5-2, with Johnny Boychuk (UBI) out of the line up, and saw Lubomir Visnovsky leave the game with a upper body injury.  It was only their second loss in twelve games, but the Isles fell behind 2-0 in the first and struggled to find their stride for the rest of the game.  Other than scoring two nice goals (Tavares & Lee) in less than a minute to tie the score in the first, their sloppy play would eventually cost them while Chad Johnson (22/26 with an .846%) had another rough start.  Despite the Isles outshooting the Caps by a 28 to 27 margin and blocking 27 shots on net, the special teams weren't so special with an 0/2 PP and a 1/2 rating on the PK.

The next night, the Isles came out with a little more urgency.  It could have been because Denis Potvin was in the building in front of another sold out crowd.  Nikolay Kulemin, Cal Clutterbuck put the Isles on the board after strong play in the first two periods. It was Casey Cizikas' short handed, empty net goal that would preserve the 3-1 win.  But the real story of the game, and a microcosm for the season was the solid play of Jaroslav Halak.  Halak played big in net for the Isles, making 34 saves on the night for his 9th win in a row.  In the third period, the Isles were out shot 16-2, and Halak made some huge saves that repelled the Devils attempt at a comeback, especially in the 5 on 3 late in the period.  "I always say, you're only as good as your last game," - Halak. 

 

 

 

Calvin de Haan and Thomas Hickey played well for New York against the Devils and made a major impact on the ice defensively.  A healthy de Haan is fast becoming the type of player the Isles expected and let's just look at Hickey's maturation in the Isles system. A former LA first rounder, then Isles waiver pick-up to a solid NHL D-man. Casey Cizikas was another Islander that had a strong game for me.  His intangibles are always there.  He & his line mates usually make a difference to the Isles beyond the score sheet. 

 

 

Lubomir Visnovsky and Johnny Boychuk were out with upper body injuries (day-to-day). Matt Donovan replaced Lubo Visnovsky and worked hard, even getting some time on the PP.  Credit the Isles for refocusing their play, even on their sixth game in nine nights and have won 11 of their last 13 (11-2-0) for the first time in 24 years, second time in franchise history, and have won 17 times in the first 24 games for the first time in franchise history per Eric Hornick.

The Islanders are 17-7-0 overall, 9-2-0 at home and 8-5-0 on the road.  17 wins put the Isles at the top spot for the most in the NHL and with the win, extends their home streak to 6.  Halak is one win away from tying Billy Smith’s club record for consecutive victories (10), which was set in 1982 - Hornick.  Pure win.

 

 

Isles Notes:

Anders Lee completed his 100th pro game (41 NHL, 59 AHL). He had his 40th pro goal (15 NHL, 25 AHL).

It is impressive to notice that the Isles have no over time losses. Winning those games guaranteed that the Isles gained the extra points.   Teams around them have given those points up in similar situations. That is a major reason that the Isles are at the top of the NHL right now.  Love it.

Former Islander, Oleg Kvasha returns to professional hockey with Barys in the KHL.

 

 

Sound Tigers Notes:

 

 

The Sound Tigers snapped their six game winless streak this afternoon as they defeated the Providence Bruins 3-0 at Webster Bank Arena.  Kevin Poulin (8-3-1) picked up his first shutout of the season as he made 33 saves and was named the first star of the game.

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From Craig at New York Islanders Hardcore:

THE 2ND ANNUAL NYIHC "TOYS FOR TOTS" TOY DRIVE WILL BEGIN THE DAY AFTER THANKSGIVING. ALL TOYS MUST BE UNWRAPPED. THNX IN ADVANCE!!!! NYIHC .... you can contact me or Victor Grappone for drop off location and I will also be collecting at The Barn. 

 

 

 

 

Islanders Cap Off Another Big Win

On the night before Thanksgiving, your New York Islanders will face Alex Ovechkin & the Washington Capitals.  The Isles are 15-6-0 & won 9 of their last 10 games.  Jaro Halak & Mikhail Grabovski will no doubt be ready to face their former team and help the Isles get another 2 pts.  The Isles are in their stadium series inspired 3rd jerseys tonight.

 

Forwards:  Kulemin-Tavares-Okposo, Grabovski-Nielsen-Bailey, Lee-Nelson-Strome, Martin-Cizikas-Clutterbuck.

Defensive Pairings:  Leddy-Boychuk, de Haan-Hamonic, Hickey-Visnovsky.

Jaroslav Halak is in net with Chad Johnson backing up.

 

In the first Period, the Isles came out buzzing and converted their 8th shot on net.  Anders Lee (Strome & Nelson) puts in a back-handed rebound off and behind Holtby for a 1-0 Isles lead.  Nelson ties Tavares for the lead in team points.  Isles to the PK on Martin's hooking call.  Ovechkin ties the game at 1-1.  Isles to the PP, but look out of sink, until Travis Hamonic (Clutterbuck & Cizikas) sends a wrist shot through a screen on the PP for a 2-1 lead.  The period ends with the Isles leading in shots 12-9.  Each team got a PP goal. The Isles need to do better in their own zone and stop turning over the puck.

The Islanders are very disorganized and are stumbling through the first 5 minutes of the second period here. Its dangerous to tempt fate like this.  Orpik hits the post while Halak is screened.  Hamonic takes exception to Ovechkins' goonery on Tavares, both go off for roughing minors.  Hammer has been agitating Ovi all night.  Anders Lee and Tom Wilson drop the gloves with 1:53 remaining in the 2nd period.  Its the first fight of Lee's NHL career.  Lee handled himself well there.  Anders Lee gets an extra 2:00 for some reason and Ovechkin scores his second on the PP, evens the score at 2-2. Isles lead again in shots 11-10 and getting job done 5 on 5, but keep giving Washington life on the PP.  Not the best 2nd period this season, but also not the worst.  Hamonic:"They have a pretty deadly PP- we've got to go back to what've we done...We want to have a big 3rd."

The Islanders come out in the third with more energy.  The crowd at tonight's game has been reported as a sellout.  Someone tell Boomer.  Isles to the PP.  Visnovsky in for Boychuk on 1st PP unit.  Isles held without a shot on net that time.  Clutterbuck opportunity denied by former Isles, Jack Hillen.  Isles buzzing in final few minutes, but fail to score.  Isles get at least 1 point and his game is going to overtime.  Isles finish regulation with a 37-27 shots advantage.  Ovechkin needs to be contained now.  He has killed the Isles in the O.T. period.

In O.T., the Isles get some good chances.  Backstrom holds Nelsons' stick and the Isles are going to a 4 on 3 PP at 2:22 of O.T.  John Tavares (Strome & Boychuk) scores the 3-2 game winner with 23.2 seconds left.  Credit Johnny Boychuk with a great screen on the Tavares shot.  The O.T. winner is the sixth for John Tavares and extends his franchise record in that category.

 

 

 

The Islanders had 5 shots to none in O.T.  Halak finishes the game 25/27 with a .926Sv%.  The first place Islanders gain a second point and reach a 16-6-0 record on the season, winning 10 of last 11 and riding another 5 game winning streak.  Jon Tavares & Anders Lee got named the first & third stars of the game.

While the PP remains a glaring concern and the PK suffered against a good PP unit, several things were done well tonight.  Travis Hamonic did a good job on shadowing & frustrating Ovechkin.  Johnny Boychuk & Nick Leddy were everywhere and factored in to much of the Islanders success tonight.  As mentioned in prior articles, Lubo Visnovski remaining healthy has been another bright spot for the Islanders.  His transitional game, defensive play & leadership have been a big part of the teams success this season.  Anders Lee has been solid, especially lately on a line with two players like Strome & Nelson.  I would assume he shouldn't see Bridgeport again.  The 4th line made some noise tonight and have really started to make Jack Capuano good for playing them in key situations.  And finally, Jaroslav Halak continues to play big for the Isles and earned his his 8th straight win.

Credit the fans in the building tonight. Between the chants, cheering and added energy, you guys were unreal for the guys on the ice. Way to get after it.  Don't tell Esiason.

"We have the best atmosphere in the league by far and want to feed off that energy," - John Tavares

 

Isles Notes:

On @Bossy5050's point, I feel the Isles turning point on intimidation was "storied" war w Pens when they answered on scoreboard & w fists.