Islanders Fall to Senators

The Islanders didn’t get the start they were looking for in their current 4 game road trip, as they lost their first game 5-2 against the Ottawa Senators. The road only gets harder for the Isles as they must now head to Washington, Philadelphia, and Boston, and can’t truly afford to get another regulation loss if they are to count this road trip a success.

The game started out on a good note as not even a minute in, a bad pinch by Erik Karlsson, led to the Islanders getting a 2-on-1 rush and finished with John Tavares going five hole on, Senator goaltender, Robin Lehner to give the Islanders an early 1-0 lead. The Islanders would continue their pressure throughout the first, but just failed to get anything else past Lehner, and as is so often the case in hockey, the lack of ability to finish off their opponent only ended up giving the Senators life in the second period.

Fast forward a couple of penalties and the Senators come out of the second period with a 2-1 lead, off goals by Milan Michalek, a result of a stupid penalty in the faceoff circle by recent call-up David Ullstrom, and Jason Spezza, who was given way too much space by Milan Jurcina and took advantage of it by firing a bullet past Nabokov.

Although down by one, the Islanders entered the third period with belief that they could come back… cue Mike Mottau. Coming from behind the net, the returnee made a blind pass to Nielsen, which very quickly turned into a turnover right on O’Brien’s stick in the slot and right past Nabokov. 

However, the Islanders simply refused to go down without a fight, and a little bit under five minutes later a great keep in by Andrew MacDonald turned into PA Parenteau carrying the puck down the slot and putting it past Lehner to keep the Islanders in the game. 

The Islanders continued to battle and battle, but tonight just wasn’t their night. Two scoring chances, one after another, turned into an Ottawa goal as Mark Streit broke his stick on a shot and was caught helpless on an Ottawa rush going the other way. Chris Neil deflected a puck midair and past Nabokov and basically ending the game. Kyle Turris would bury an empty netter, and close the game at 5-2.

While in the middle of a playoff race, the Islanders simply can’t afford to lose games that they should have in the bag after the first period. They can’t afford to not bury scoring chance after scoring chance, and keep teams around, simply because it will come back to haunt you as it did tonight. The Islanders need to fix their penalty kill, which has been a huge problem the past 2 games, as they allowed 4 PPG. Capuano mentioned the issue in his post game interview, “That’s an issue right now. It’s something that we really have to take a look at. We aren’t the highest scoring team in the league so our PK has to be good.”

Defenseman Travis Hamonic, who had 2 assists on the night, said the game was lost after Ottawa cashed in on their two power plays during the second period. “It’s frustrating trying to play catch up in the rest of the game,” Hamonic said. “When you have to play catch up like that, it’s unfortunate.”

The Islanders head to Washington on Tuesday night next, and can hardly afford another regulation loss to another team in the playoff hunt with them.

Islanders Rise Above Jets

In as important a game as they’ve had in the last couple of years, the New York Islanders wouldn’t be held down as they obtained a 3-1 victory over the Winnipeg Jets, cutting the deficit from the 8^th place in the Eastern Conference to 6 points with one game in hand. The win also gave the Islanders their first four game road winning streak since January 2008.

After a very rough night against Florida on Sunday, the Islanders weren’t about to let up another huge game slip by their fingers. The first period was a rough one, as Winnipeg outshot and for the most part outplayed the Islanders, obtaining the lead after a bad rebound from Nabokov and worst defensive coverage from Staios gave Thorburn all he needed to give the Jets the lead late in the first. However, although the Islanders didn’t start out the game they were necessarily hoping to, they rebounded early in the second after a one-two between Matt Moulson and John Tavares ended in a power play goal for the Islanders, tying the game at 1. The rest of a second was a battle throughout and would end tied at 1, as both teams refused to give up in the slightest way in a battle for a spot in the playoffs. This would change however early in the third, as a heads up play by Milan Jurcina enabled a tip in the slot by PA Parenteau giving the Islanders a 2-1 lead. The battle would continue for the remainder of a game, but the defense and Nabokov refused to give up absolutely anything, and an empty netter from Martin would close the game at 3-1. 

Capuano described the first period as one that they had to battle through, and that “it was gut wrench time for us, and I thought we played much better in the second and third period”. The Islanders certainly did that, blocking shots throughout, skating harder and plain out wanting the game more than the Jets tonight. 

Every game is huge at this point in the season for the Islanders, but games against teams in the race with them are even bigger, as they can hardly afford to give up opportunities to jump up in the standings. Andrew MacDonald definitely noticed that, “everyone tried to do a little bit extra tonight, cause there was a lot on the line.”

The Islanders now look to St. Louis on Thursday, who’s seemed to be almost impossible to beat in their own building, but Capuano thinks of it as a “good test”. It certainly would be as a win against a team that has only lost 3 games in regulation in their own building would go a long way as far as confidence goes.

A few other quick points about tonight’s game:

-Refereeing almost cost the Islanders again, as the referees made 3 bad calls which could’ve easily cost the Islanders had it not been for Reasoner, Pandolfo, and MacDonald’s work on the PK.

-Staios had a rough night at the office. Bad coverage led to first goal, and almost cost the Islanders on the PK when a failed attempt at clearing the puck led to Byfuglien hitting the crossbar on a slapshot. Possibility of Wishart making season debut on Thursday, but only a possibility as Capuano said Wishart call up was more for insurance purposes.

-Bailey had another great game. He’s really impressed me this season, points may not show a lot, but he’s been playing with as much confidence as anybody, and is single handedly making that 3^rd line dangerous. The Parenteau goal was a result of his refusal to give up the puck in the boards, and turned in yet another goal in which he was crucial but was given no credit.

-Aaron Ness has been excellent the past few games. He’s been the best defenseman for the Islanders after MacDonald, and is definitely making a case to stick around after Hamonic returns. Look for Snow to be more open to trading a defenseman following his recent play.

-Pandolfo was probably the hardest worker on the ice tonight, killing penalties and skating as hard as anybody.

-Wishart’s call up seemed to give Jurcina a bit of a wake-up call. Jurcina was probably the worst defenseman for the Islanders the last few games, and now that there’s a chance of him being a healthy scratch, he made very few mistakes in his own zone and was the main contributor to the Parenteau goal.

-Nabokov was huge for the Islanders tonight. He let up a bad rebound on the first goal but was lights out the rest of the way through. 37 saves tonight, probably the best player on the Islanders the past few weeks.

-Parenteau was huge as well tonight. If you thought his goal was impressive take a closer look at the empty net goal by Martin. PA was in the middle of a long shift, and after the puck was dumped in the Winnipeg zone everyone skated for a change, everyone except PA that is. Instead he outskated the Jet defenseman, got the puck, waited and dangled the puck in the corner for the Islanders to change and basically handed Martin a goal.

-Reasoner was a very respectable 55% on faceoffs in his return; covering up a hole he left when he broke his hand, and which was only partially covered by Pandolfo.

- I saved the best for last. Pat Flatley was once again between the benches for the Islanders tonight, and at one point during the third period, he started talking about how John Tavares’ work ethic and pure determination would one day push him to being the best player in the NHL. Couldn’t agree more with Flatley on that one.