Your New York Islanders are in Winnipeg to face
the improving Jets. Winnipeg is 7-2-1
in their last 10 and just 2 pts out of
a playoff spot behind new coach, Paul Maurice.
The Isles are coming off back to back games in which they had breakdowns
that resulted in the loss. Staple,
"Okposo, Visnovsky, Hamonic
wearing 'A's." Matt
Martin returns from injury tonight for the Isles while Martinek and Vanek (due
to trade deadline tomorrow) are healthy scratches.
Andrew MacDonald was sent to the Philadelphia Flyers
for 2014 3rd-round pick, 2015
2nd-round pick & C, Matt Mangene.
Eric Hornick points out a vital stat that can
not be ignored. "Isles are 6-0-2 in last 8 games Jiggs has done
(back to last season)."
Forwards:
Grabner-Nielsen-Okposo;
Bailey-Nelson-Clutterbuck; Lee-Strome-McDonald; Martin-Cizikas-Boulton.
D-Pairings: de Haan-Hamonic; Strait-Carkner;
Hickey-Visnovsky.
Anders Nilsson is in
the net with Evgeni Nabokov on the bench.
Nilsson with a few
good saves early in the period, efforts at rebound control seems to be
improving. Winnipeg opens the scoring
midway in the period for a 1-0 Jets lead.
The goal was a result of a faceoff win and a blown assignment by Hamonic
that left Ladd open to fire point blank at the net. Colin McDonald is relentless on the puck and evens the score at
1-1 (Strome & Lee) in the final minutes of the period. That's 3 points in the last four games for
Strome. Boulton and Martin make Jets
answer for liberties taken on Isles behalf.
Matt Martin left the bench and went into the locker room (had fight with
Thorborn in the first period.) He would
return soon afterwards. New York
finishing their hits and playing with good legs in the first period. Islanders lead in shots, 13-9 in the period.
Brian Compton
reports, "Eric Boulton out for the remainder of the game with a hand
injury."
Anders Lee jumps into
the play at the 1:33 mark on the change and taps a bouncing puck into the net
behind Pavlec, 2-1 Isles. Two more
points for Anders Lee so far tonight and 4th goal in 6th game with the
Isles. Two positive observations so far
tonight. 1) Nilsson with some quiet
heroics when called upon in the second period.
2) The Islanders are playing with more jump. Josh Bailey comes up empty on a nice breakaway set up by K.O. Nilsson with a big save in close on a
Winnipeg PP chance with 7:13 remaining in the second. Winnipeg with a lot of pressure mounting in the Isles zone. Winnipeg had a 17-7 shots advantage in the
period and a 26-20 total after two periods.
The Islanders come
out strong again in the third period and continue checking well and creating
offensive pressure, but the Jets are not going away. Both teams working for every inch and waiting for the opportunity
to exploit the other's mistakes. Andrew
Ladd converts a bad Josh Bailey turnover into a breakaway with the Isles D out
of position and a questionable goal against Nilsson, game tied at 2-2 at 14:53.
Nilsson over handles the puck and takes
a delay of game, Jets to the PP late in the third. Isles kill off the penalty and enter the final minute of
regulation. Isles get a point and the
game will go to O.T. Shots were 11-7 in
the period and 37-25 in regulation in favor of the Jets.
Hamonic breaks his
stick in as a 2 on 1 break out opportunity developed in O.T. Shortly after, Okposo's stick breaks at the
tail end of a 1 on 1 break out chance.
Michael Grabner's stick didn't break on his 1 on 1, Isles win 3-2 in
O.T.! Nilsson (36 for 38 with a
.947Sv%) good enough to get the win tonight.
Isles improve to
6-0-0 in road O.T. games. You can't make
this stuff up.
The Officials put
away their whistles and ignored at least 5 infractions against the Isles in the
O.T. period that I counted. That didn't
matter. On the eve of the NHL trading
deadline, the Isles came together and fought hard to over come several mistakes
and keep themselves in the game. After surrendering
the tying goal and committing a stupid penalty, the team and goaltender dug
deep and focused well enough for the win.
Several young guys are getting regular minutes and can focus on playing
in the final stretch of game. Playoffs
are probably not a remote possibility, but lets see what these guys can get
from playing together and going into the summer. With a Donovan call up coming soon and with the play of Nelson,
Strome, Lee & de Haan making a difference thus far, the Isles may have a
few more surprises in store for us.
Isles Notes:
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