PHILADELPHIA 3, ISLANDERS 1
Islanders power play kills Islanders
5:30 pm, The NVMC - The Game: Another game the Islanders dominated in puck possession and scoring chances, another loss - in part because of their inability to finish, in large part because of their own power play.
One minute after the Islanders failed to score on a full two-minute, 5-on-3 power play, Daniel Briere came down the right side with Brett Skinner in front of him and fluttered a shot past Joey MacDonald for the 1-0 Flyers lead at 13:40 of the second. Mike Richards scored shorthanded mid-third.
The Islanders first unit power play, out for a big chunk of the 5-on-3 and for the shortie against in the third: Doug Weight and Mark Streit on the point, Bill Guerin, Trent Hunter and Frans Nielsen at forward.
Martin Biron, Islanders killer, struck again with 35 saves. The Islanders are now 2-6-1 at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
Power Play: Philadelphia 0-4, Islanders 0-8; Shots on goal: Philadelphia 32, Islanders 36.
No. 2 Story: Islanders 2008 first round pick Josh Bailey made his NHL debut. He centered a line with Jon Sim and Tim Jackman and played 12:30, including 3:01 on the power play. He was 7-4 on faceoffs and took two minor penalties, include a high-stick late. Bailey led the Islanders out for warmups.
No. 3 Story: Mike Comrie missed today’s game with a hip injury, called “nothing major” by Scott Gordon. The center missed yesterday’s practice to visit doctors about the hip that was surgically repaired in the offseason. Officially, the team has labeled Comrie “day-to-day.”
Radek Martinek sat out another game with his shoulder injury.
Post-Game Sound
Scott Gordon: ”We controlled the play 5-on-5 but the power play was the difference. That may have been as close to a 60-minute effort as we’ve had, but it’s tough to put a positive on a game like that.”
(on Josh Bailey’s debut): “He looked like he belonged. Outside of the penalties, I can’t be too critical of anything he did. He didn’t do anything to make us think he couldn’t play at this level.”
Joey MacDonald: “The power play has to out-work the penalty kill, and today I don’t think it did.”
Josh Bailey: “When the coach shows confidence in you like that, you get confidence as well.”
(On how long he expects to be here this season): “I know the team has my best interests at heart. Regardless of what happens, it’s not going to be a bad thing.”
3 Standout Islanders (Not Named Stars):
Sean Bergenheim: Created plays, forced Flyers turnovers, hit people. If you’re going to go down, good to go down fighting like Bergenheim.
Trent Hunter: The most consistently good Islanders veteran this season.
Josh Bailey: The 19-year old did not look out of place in his first NHL game. Great kid, so good for him.
What We Learned Today:
- Could be time for a change on the first-unit power play, starting with Chris Campoli at one of the points alongside Mark Streit.
- For the second time in two weeks, we’ve seen an opposing defender make an impossibly awful behind-the-back pass in his own end, proving the forecheck can be a nightmare when on all cylinders. Today was Matt Carle’s turn. Two weeks ago it was Dmitri Kalinin of the Rangers.
Game Rating (out of 5 stars): 2.5 - The matinee crowd certainly did not seem into it for long stretches, and we can’t blame them.
Islanders Performance: 2.0 - No extra credit for being better than the other team 5-on-5 but not scoring until 56:20 in.
Event Rating: 5.0 - General Colin Powell and Islanders owner Charles Wang took part in the ceremonial opening faceoff on Veterans Day and Islanders Military Awareness Day. Soldiers rapelled from the Coliseum ceiling down to center ice to present the flag. Care package donations were accepted for the Wounded Warriors. It was all beautifully done.
This was the second time this calendar year that Powell, a friend of Wang’s, has been to an Islanders game at the Coliseum. Earlier this year he dropped the puck on Martin Luther King Day.
Official Attendance: 13,447
Losing Ground Fast: The Islanders are now 2-8-2 this season against the Eastern Conference, 1-3-2 against teams in their division.
Just Sayin’: Jeff Tambellini, 0 goals; Kyle Okposo 1 goal.
Just Keepin’ it…While you don’t want to reward lack of production, it’s not like the veteran options are tearing it up. Why not give Tambellini, Okposo and (gasp!) the deserving Andy Hilbert more power play time?
Scouts in Attendance: Florida, Vancouver, Minnesota, Pittsburgh.
Lots of Islanders scouts here to see Josh Bailey, including assistant GM Ryan Jankowski, Eric Cairns and Toby O’Brien.
Ex-Isle News: Shawn Bates made his season debut today for HIFK Helsinki in the Finnish League.
Islanders Press Coverage: Greg Logan, Arthur Staple and Katie Strang of Newsday, Dan Martin of the Post, Brian Bohl of the Daily News.
Next Up: The Islanders have a home-and-home with Daniel Alfredsson and the Ottawa Senators - in Canada on Thursday, in New York on Saturday.
Next Monday night at the Coliseum it’s Roberto Luongo and the Vancouver Canucks.
THE LINEUP
Bergenheim - Weight - Guerin
Hilbert - Park - Okposo
Tambellini - Nielsen - Hunter
Sim - Bailey - Jackman
Sutton - Streit
Campoli - Gervais
Pock - Skinner
MacDonald
Danis
Discuss the game in Comments.
52 Responses to “PHILADELPHIA 3, ISLANDERS 1
Islanders power play kills Islanders”
Please Wait
I agree Greg, I felt that Tambellini and Okposo played well today and our powerplay was very poor and Gordon kept the same unit out most of the time. It’s very upsetting to watch the team thats supposed to be undergoing a youth movement and our coach isn’t giving the youngsters a shot on our powerplay.
At what point do you become concerned with Kyle? I am not saying i expected him to tear it up, but i was hoping for more than one goal.
Nick: you can call me Chris. Greg’s the guy from Newsday. LOL…CB
Question: What does “Josh Bailey was 7-4 on faceoffs” mean?
no argument here. I would rather go 4-76-2 playing tambellini, okposo hunter, nielsen bailey the entier game then play the older guys so much and go 15-65-2 the older guys are not getting it done either. Playing the older guys with this roster will result in a net of about 10 more wins. there is not point to that. if baily played so much power play time then okposo and tambellini should as well. also you need to take weight off of the point on the power play what is the point of campoli if you wont use him. I would not be surpirsed to see the older guys like guerin and weight begging to be traded to a contender at the deadline or sooner. That is fine with me, that way you get some picks they can help in any way possible.
I’m okay with changing up the power play as well. Okposo - I think it’s a little early to tell anything just yet.
7-4 means he won 7 faceoffs and lost 4. You could also say he won 7 out of 11, same thing.
It looked like there were alot of empty seats at the game. Most people worked today, but it’s almost depressing to see that we are having problems getting people to the games. And the way it looks it might be this way for the whole season. I remember Ted Nolan said something last season about that putting a quality product on the ice will attract more people, unfortunatly Garth Snow never got that message.
CB: You were spot on about Bergenheim. I was at todays game [yes I admit it] anmd Bergenheim and Hunter were all over the place. I can’t watch Weight on the point anymore…it seems as if Streit has to work that much harder, knowing a true D-man isn’t alongside him.
Bailey playeed well and Okposo was also all over the ice. It was nice to see them play together in the third. As for KO, we shouldn’t expect him to light it up when he’s playing with Park and Hilbert on the third line. [Just sayin]
All in all, todays game was terrible. The fans weren’t in it because the team played lackluster at times. Blowing 2 five on three’s and not getting a quality shot on net is unacceptable.
Tambellini played well, once again but he has to finish! As for Nielsen, his faceoff percentage was horrid. He lost most of the defensive zone faceoffs.
When is Blake Comeau going to get a second chance at the NHL level? He seems to be progressing well under “the system” at Bridgeport. Maybe he can provide a spark on offense that seems to be lacking right now.
Wish Bates all the best
was there today and it was good day at the coliseum simply for the Veterans Day ceremony and opportunities given to the military personnel at the game to be interviewed and enjoy themselves..also nice to see the air force “cadet”? oath given to a new class between periods…if only the product on the ice could have lived up to the day….
weight is not doing anything…hopefully these guys either start producing or we give their minutes to the kids..we can just as easily lose with comeau and jackman than comrie and weight
I know I’m always overly optimistic, but considering the energy in the third, I really had a glimmer of hope of them coming back all the way up until the empty net goal.
Josh did VERY well his first time out. Sean did everything he could, but they just couldn’t capitalize on their chances. But great job by the Islanders of putting on a good day for the Veterans and the families. I did walk away smiling… and for oh so many reasons!
Bottom Line….The More We Suck The Better Chance We Have At A Top 2 Pick..A 5,6,7 Overall Will Not Help Us Out At All…..They Will Take 3 Years To Get To The N.H.L…..Lets Lose Them All…And Then If We Are The Worst Team Overall, Atleast We Are Guarenteed The 2nd Pick….Hedman Or Tavares Will Do Wonders For Our So Called “Rebuilding Process”
Whats Sim getting paid? Whatever it is, its wayyy too much.
“Just Sayin’: Jeff Tambellini, 0 goals”
Snow has to eat crow with this kid.
I wonder if Jeff Tambellini ever looks at his career stats: 4 goals, 18 points in 92 career NHL games. The light is not going to go on by some miracle at some point, and there aren’t even signs that it might.
@Ray
It’s not hard to find info on face-offs. If you looked, you would have seen that Nielsen went 2 for 3 in defensive zones face offs. Park lost most of his, not Nielsen.
Everyone has to remember that there is a reason that LA traded Tambellini. He’s just not that good.
Well Im just saying that being there live, it looked as if he lost the majority of his faceoffs. Remember, statistics online aren’t always right.
According to Newsday (Watchdog), the Isles’ will have a pregame show on their TV broadcasts beginning on Saturday night.
I agree with most of the comments. Why not play the kids on the power play. I think they should put a line of Bailey with Okposo and Tambelini and see if they could get some points. No worse then the team is scoring now. They let Weight and Guerin play the PP when they should be on the bench and letting the kids play. Let Tambelini and Okposo have a chance. This team isn’t going any where so let the kids play at this level and see if they can cut it. Then we will know if we have players or just picks that are stiffs. Bergenhiem also deserves time on the Power play. He is like the Tazmanian devil out there, skating hard, hitting and shooting. His goals will come and he deserves to be rewarded for the way he has stepped up his game this year. Tambelini should watch Bergenheim and play a similar style of hockey and he would probalby get out of his funk.
Tamby just isn’t NHL material, give it up, hes gotta go. He’d be an all star in the AHL, Garth needs to send him back there or see if someone else wants to grab him on waivers. Sim is not an agitator, I dont know why the guy is on the team at this point. We need an enforcer on this team big time, again, Jackman just doesn’t cut it.
garth snow is a joke,, call bill parcells in miami and ask him how to rebuild a pro team
Is sports betting legal in Finland? I wonder if the Finnish sports books are taking an over/under on when Bates’ groin gives out for the first time this season. I won’t miss his lazy play and lazy eye and his incessant mouthpiece chewing in the NHL.
And another thing - I don’t understand the need for all these matinees. When I was a kid, hockey was a night game. My grandpa had season tickets and I went to a whole lotta games on school nights, games that started at 730 like they should.
Why do teams cater to the kids so much? It’s the adults that have to work to buy the tickets to take said kids to the games. Not all of us were fortunate enough to be off today. Hell, I’m still at work right now!
Definately agree that Bergenheim should be rewarded for his efforts this year. He looks right at home out there.
I’m liking what Neilson’s bringing too.
I wonder if CB could find out from Gordon the reasoning behind why he’s playing the older guys so much more than the younger ones. Seems backwards to me, I think they’d tire out more easily than the younger players.
I hate to be one of those fans that roots for their team to lose so they can get a high draft pick, I always despised those people, but there really is no hope for this team.
Hey, just keep throwing Guerin out there for every second of every power play and watch the same results. Embarrassing!!! Jon it’s not so much rooting against them as not getting mad when they lose because of the big picture. At least that’s how I look at it.
I’m not rooting for the Isles to lose by any stretch of the imagination, but unlike in year’s past, I’m not upset when they do.
Winning is nice, but losing this year is also nice. Every two points lost brings us closer to the goal - top pick in the draft. I believe these guys are trying hard on the ice, but the fact is this is just not a talented team. We haven’t gone shopping for top tier talent because management wants to build from within… smartly. There’s a plan in place here for the first time in a very long time.
Who would of thought that the KNICKS would be more exciting to watch this year than the ISLES.
Makes me sick
Joe RVC
that is a great point about Bill Parcells in Miami. They came in and he brought with him a great young GM in Jeff Ireland and a great first year coach in Tony Saprano. They revamped the scouting and coaching staffs and HAVE A MODEL FOR WHAT PLAYERS AT EACH POSITION SHOULD BE. They changed the culture around the team and the turn around is dramatic and getting better all the time. The Isles have done some of the above. There are a lot of comparisions between the two teams. The Islanders haven’t seemed to identitify the types of players they need and they havne’t made any good trades except for picks. Parcells traded a 4th rounder to Dallas and got a starting MLB and starting TE.
The Isles do have the right coach.
THE ISLES DON’T HAVE THE RIGHT KIND OF PLAYERS YET (ESPECIALLY ON DEFENSE).
The Isles are acquiring lots of picks and while I hate losing it is critical to get Tavares or Hedman this year, so it is necessary.
Bergy, Okposo, Tambelleni, Guerin, Sutton, Bailey, MacDonald all played well.
Weight had an off game.
PP should be embarassed. Standing there and being indecisive.
One image I took away from the game was Jon Sim standing there between three much larger Flyers and getting pushed around and bullied. No call. I have never seen this magic ability the Isles claim he has for drawing penalties. The image isn’t a good one or a pride producer. If a contender values Sim I’d ship him off too.
oh, and Parcells realized that Miami led the NFL in injuries last year and the team didn’t have proper conditioning to compete, so he revamped the training and medical staffs and this year the lead the NFL in fewest injuries and their conditioning is top notch. That is one area the Isles failed. Maybe Gordon was hired too late for the training staff to get it right but two years in a row of bad injuries and with guys getting all kinds of practice injuries it makes you wonder.
did anyone else notice the organ being played after the isles goal? I love it! Hope to hear more
OH, wait. Wang should not call Parcells.lol Remember one of the owners had Mike Milbury spend some time with Parcells when he was with the JETS and Milbury some how got the idea out of it to hire 8 or more coaches? Remember that season where they had a coach for every player just about? I am sure Botta could share some stories about that.
KP, lol @ the lazy eye comment.
I’ve been rooting for many many years, but I have to admit, this year I am rooting against them each game (except against the Rangers and maybe Leafs). As I’ve said so many times, the best thing for this team would be to land the #1 or, hopefully at worst the #2 pick in the draft.
That is, of course, assuming that Garth “Smartest Guy In The Room” Snow doesn’t “outsmart” the entire hockey world again and make some more preposterous decisions. Could he look any more smug at the draft or in any other public appearance?
Anyone else thinking that Scott Gordon looks defeated already? Wonder if he wishes he had traded for Tambellini and stayed in Providence? I want to like him, but I can’t shake this feeling that he is in over his head. He was brought in to coach kids and rides some very marginal veterans just as much as Ted did. Isn’t that why the backup ran Nolan out of town? The power play 1st unit for 10 games should be Neilsen centering Tambellini and Bergenheim. Second unit Weight centering Guerin and either Okposo or Hunter. See what you get, because it really can’t be worse than it has become.
Defeated? Nope, not at all. What do you think Al Arbour was doing his first season on LI- kicking cartwheels every time they lost? Gvie the guy a break, let him do his job. He wasnt brought here for some quick fix.
And not for nothing, but man do people need to get over the “evil Rick ran Nolan out of town” thing already. Rick didnt have any control over the mistakes that Ted has made over the years. I liked the guy too but for gods sake be objective and just look at things without the assumptions and media-induced drama! Ted was fired before, no NHL team wanted to touch him for like a decade and he was blacklisted, got hired and fired again, and no NHL team has wanted to talk to him since. The last time Ted had problems with an organization (and for that matter the starting goaltender) Rick was in frickin high school. Cant you see that it is far more likely that the problems he has had throughout his career (refusing to listen to or even talk to other coaches, playing the media card when asked not to, having probs getting along with his bosses, etc) simply STILL EXISTED and it was not all somehow magically caused by Rick DiPietro?
MacDonald hasn’t been bad by any stretch, but he hasn’t been real good either. He has gotten outplayed most nights by his opposing goalie. Today was another example. The Briere goal was awful. Im not at all saying this loss was a result of that goal, it clearly wasnt. However, a good goalie doesn’t get outplayed this much. It’s a big reason for the Isles being 4-9-2.
I agree with the Army, clean house with the medical and training staff. Something is seriousy wrong there.
First of all i liked the way Josh Bailey looked yesterday. IM NOT CRowning he guy, but he did look good. I saw glimpses of his vision out there, nice crisp passes and real good on faceoffs.
But i also have one question, where the f*** is BLAKE COMEAU?
This guy is one of our best prospects. There has got to be a way to get him up here. I think it would benefit Okposo as well. I thought they had a good cemistry together at the end of last year. Hope i see him up here soon
and one more comment on this Ted Nolan talk. Regardless of what the record says the style scott gordon brings to this team is way more entertaining than what ted nolan brought. The immortal dump and chase style. We are losing this year. I root for them to win but i dont care if they lose. i dont mind, we are rebuilding. you need high draft picks to rebuild.
JOHN TAVARES HERE WE COME>
thats what we need. talent.
OK, anyone see the carry over from last year on a poor power play? Maybe it’s not the players, but the coach responsible for the power play? We had a poor power play last year and guess what it’s not working much better this year. Maybe it’s not the players but the man (coach) in charge of the power play. We changed the players, but no better, maybe we need another coach to be in charge of the power play?
watched the game on hockeywebcasts.com while at work…not too bad. i think the difference was obviously our lack of a powerplay/ getting outworked on our powerplay. I too don’t want them to lose and agree it doesn’t hurt nearly as much anymore when they do. Does anyone else feel like we get a ton of chances and just can’t finish?
Watching games basically goes like this:
1st period: into it, interested
2nd period: mildly surprised we are still in it, love the hustle.
3rd period: where did the energy go and waiting for the one bad thing to happen to start the ‘here we go again’ routine. Somehow we pulled it out at MSG…love to beat the Rags
Do I think Scott Gordon has that defeated look? NO. I’ve seen him with a WTF look a few times though.
Good question Dan. Who IS our power play coach?
My take thus far,
Seriously, I think Okposo has some time before he’s NHL ready. He looks lost out there to me. A year in Bridgeport would do him wonders and get him some confidence. Comeau is not the answer but his puck carrying skills and skating ability seem to fit this system, bring him back! Bergie has been awesome this year and needs ice time. His goals will come. Nielson has been the stand out youth as far as I can see. Great vision and confidence. Should be here to stay and only get better. Tambellini has the skills, give it a little time. Too many times we give up to fast to wacth these kids become stars somewhere else. You can’t question his hustle. And finally, whether it’s vets or youth change something on the power play!! Quite a few game were lost on the pp. Campoli at the point or Martinek when he’s back and Bergie, tambie, and even Okposo if he stays get some time.
and one more gripe. I know this is a youth movement, but they don’t develope by getting beat every night and not get a taste of winning. We have a problem scoring goals and we let a guy like Parrish sign elsewhere (debuted with a Hat trick) and dress Fritz for 4 minutes a game??!!!? That was a powerplay answer right there. Soemone with great hands who got dirty in front of the net!!
CB- In your opinion, how long will this Jeff Tambellini experiment go on? He’s not NHL player. When will his spot open up to someone who can or possibly can contribute?
Let’s see, Okposo should be sent to Bridgeport for a full year? Negative, while his production’s not shown it, he’s 75% better the last 4 or 5 games. Carrying the puck and looking like he wants to make something happen. The point production will follow. Other teams develop their star 20 year olds at the NHL level why can’t/shouldn’t we? The key word is “star.”
Tambellini: give up on him and he will be producing and helping some other team before the season’s over.
Bailey: Give him the full 9 game look. If he’s all they thought in terms of his personality profile, his skill level will speak for itself and he’ll be able to compete on this level.
Comeau’s puck carrying skills: Gordon has spoken of his obvious skill set however it doesn’t matter if he was so far behind everyone else in executing the system. In view of the fact that the system was new to 95% of the players there was no excuse to have stood out in such a negative manner. I’ve maintained that he’ll be back soon and will get in close to 60 games ( and ultimately have a good season).
Chris Tmc, when I said the backup ran him out of town, I was referring to snow, not dp.
My response applies no matter who it is blamed on. It is far more reasonable to think that the problems Ted demonstrated throughout his career simply still exist rather than think that someone else caused Teds problems everywhere he has worked.
Well said, finally a good report on this stuff