Monthly Archives: October 2011
Monday at practice I was able to catch up with Islanders goalie Al Montoya who has started three of the Isles’ four games this season. The team heads to Florida for games against the Lightning and Panthers later this week.
KS: With Tampa and Florida coming up, which one would you rather face if you have a preference?
AM: There’s no preference. We’re getting ready for Thursday against Tampa. We played both teams, we had some strong games against both. We want to continue what we’ve been doing here going as a team and going in the right direction. We’ll be focused on that game Thursday against Tampa.
KS: Is there anything you would like to do differently against Tampa this time around?
AM: No, we know they’re going to be gunning for us. But at the same time we just need to go out there and play our game in the first period and we need to establish our game, which is the forecheck, getting in there, getting our shots and getting four lines rolling.
KS: Are you upset at all about not getting the start Saturday against the team that drafted you?
AM: No, not at all. I’m here to play when I’m called upon and when I’m not to support my teammates. It was a great win, a big win for the team.
KS: How does it feel to lead the league in GAA?
AM: [laughs] I’m not even there. Not even thinking about that.
PROGRAMMING NOTE FROM THE EDITOR
Over the next two weeks real life is going to take me away from the blog a bit. You may see other folks writing here, especially when it comes to post-game reports. Please give them your respect and attention as you would anyone else — we’re all trying to do the best we can. Things will be back to normal for me as of October 31st.
ISLANDERS NEWS AND NOTES
+ A good story from The Score on hot starts and what they mean (or don’t). Isles/Tavares mention in there along with the main Leafs angle. It’s worth a read if you don’t automatically vomit at the mention of the Leafs.
+ The Shawinigian Cataractes of the QMJHL have acquired the junior rights to Kirill Kabanov who is currently in Sweden on a tryout for Farjestads. The saga continues…
#NYIPB’s OFF DAY #TWITTER QUESTION
To everyone out there in Twitterland, here’s a query for you:
Who should be the Islanders’ healthy scratch at forward for Thursday’s game against Tampa Bay?
Let us know what you think on twitter and chat along with other readers by using the hashtag #NYIPB or @ing me @schultz88. Of course, you’re always welcome to respond in the comments as well.
CAPTION CONTEST WINNER(S)
You guys completely destroyed the caption contest I posted earlier in the week. My hat is off to all of you. I couldn’t choose just one caption, so here is an assortment of the best that I picked out.
BJ —
“If I knew the ice girls were this hot, I would have reported to the team last year”
dedshark —
”no wonder DP has bad hips”
Mission9000 —
How do you say Giggity in russian?
James —
“Why did I ever sit out last season… no one told me of these lovely ice wenches.”
And I don’t know what to make of this but it was too full of win to leave out:
Staten Islander –
“if they put on a few pounds they could work on my uncle’s farm outside Minsk”
By Alan Avital
After amassing over 3,000 yards through the air and on the ground and totaling 37 touchdowns his senior year at Edina (MN) High School, Anders Lee briefly flirted with playing football on the collegiate level. Yet, despite receiving scholarship offers from North Dakota State, Harvard and the University of Minnesota, Lee was able to yield to temptation and secure an offer that he could not turn down – a hockey scholarship from the University of Notre Dame.
“I had always played football in the fall, but I couldn’t see myself giving up on hockey,” said the 6-foot-3, 227-pound Lee, who followed a stellar high school hockey career at St. Thomas Academy and Edina where he accumulated 238 points (106 goals and 132 assists) – second all-time for a Metro player in Minnesota history – by winning a United States Hockey League championship in Green Bay for the Gamblers in 2009-10, scoring a league-high 35 goals. “Hockey was always a year-round sport for me.”
That scoring dexterity made former Islanders assistant general manager and scouting director Ryan Jankowski take notice, as he took a sixth round flyer (152nd overall) on the power winger in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft.
Jankowski’s hunch was certainly verified to be a shrewd one last fall in South Bend, as the freshman Lee led the upstart Fighting Irish with 24 goals, including an overtime-winner against Merrimack in the opening round of the 2011 NCAA championship tournament. Notre Dame would upset New Hampshire in the following round, before bowing out to Minnesota-Duluth in the Frozen Four.
“Ryan did a great job scouting Anders,” said Notre Dame head coach Jeff Jackson. “The reason why he fell into the sixth round was because of his skating. But he definitely saw the potential.”
Coincidentally, Jackson served as Steve Stirling’s assistant coach on Long Island for three seasons (2003-2005), before leading the program at Notre Dame. He continues to keep a keen eye on what’s going on in Uniondale.
“Both (general manager) Garth Snow and (scout) Eric Cairns played for me when I was on Long Island,” said Jackson. “I still root for them (the Islanders). It also isn’t a coincidence that the relationship is very strong between Anders and the Islander organization.”
Lee, who patterns his game after six-foot-four San Jose Shark Joe Thornton, gave Islander fans a glimpse of his future potential this past July by netting two goals in the team’s Blue-White Scrimmage at Nassau Coliseum.
“I really enjoyed playing in front of the Islander fans,” said Lee. “They have given me great support, and I wanted to show them how I am not afraid to go into the corners to get the puck.”
But while Lee’s eventual goal is to play a top-six wing for the Islanders in the next couple of years, he still has unfinished business at Notre Dame.
“I am very happy to be here at Notre Dame,” said the 21-year-old Lee, who has begun his sophomore season by scoring five goals in the team’s first four games. “I know that the next step is to play in the NHL, but this is a special place to be at right now. I am getting a great education and we want to win a National Championship.”
Lee was designated as one of the team’s alternate captains prior to the season by Jackson, an honor that the sixth-year head coach believes is well deserved.
“Anders is one outstanding young man,” said Jackson. “He has a tremendous work ethic. He approaches practice with full intensity, and he is well liked by all of his teammates. He is simply a leader.”
Alan will be contributing weekly.
John Tavares will not be Player of the Week. He was beaten out by Toronto’s Phil Kessel.
Andy MacDonald did not skate with the team today along with Nino, DiPietro and Jurcina.
Matt Martin skated on the fourth line today with Pandolfo and Reasoner. Gillies rotated in.
Rick DiPietro was cleared by team doctors and skated on his own this morning along with Milan Jurcina. Jack Capuano did not rule him out for the road trip this week. Cap on whether or not DiPietro could play this week:
“Yeah, I don’t know. I have to wait and see what [team doctors] say. It’s the first time he skated… It’s a good sign that he was on the ice for sure.”
Capuano on the decision to scratch Blake Comeau Saturday night:
“I’m going to keep that between the player and myself.”
On Comeau possibly moving back to the left wing:
“[Comeau] and Rolston, I know they talk quite a bit about switching left or right. If they feel more comfortable that way, then so do I.”
On the penalty kill:
“The guys take a lot of pride in it. For me, we made a lot of mistakes on the PK Saturday against the Rangers. Your goalie is your best penalty killer, Al and Nabby have done a great job for us. It’s the little things, we’ve cleared pucks, we’ve won some key faceoffs.”
On Nino replacing Parenteau when healthy:
“I don’t really think about it. I think day-to-day obviously. Nino is progressing well but when he comes back we’ll decide at that point. Obviously the last few games Parenteau has played real well.”
John Tavares on being physically stronger this season:
“I definitely feel stronger. I’m a little heavier this year. I do a lot of things, I do some yoga in the summer too that helps with flexibility and strength as well. When you’re reaching and off balance, if you develop strength in the right areas, sometimes even in those awkward positions you’re able to keep your balance and keep pushing yourself through checks, giving yourself an extra inch or couple seconds of room that allow you to make a better play or give you a better opportunity.”
On being able to complete the hat trick Saturday night:
“It was nice you know those are big situations. You’re up by a goal late in the game and the coaching staff trusts me to go out there — that’s a big responsibility and I take a lot of pride in that. Getting the goal was just a bonus but it was a special way to finish the night.”
Remember to follow me on Twitter for up to the minute updates. @schultz88
There is one huge hurdle that the Islanders have to clear to have a successful 2011-12 campaign. The beginning, the end and everything in between during this Islanders season will rest on how they fare against the rest of the Atlantic division (and in the on deck circle is injury, waiting to pounce). By beating the Rangers on Saturday night the Islanders successfully completed the first of 24 divisional games they will play this year.
It’s no secret that the Atlantic is a tough division, if not the toughest in hockey. As the perennial doormat of the division, the Islanders need to make strides against teams they either cannot beat or have had trouble beating. Their records against the Flyers and Penguins are atrocious, even worse on the road. The Devils and Rangers are close rivals that always come ready for a fight. We’ve all heard the recitation of statistics a million times about how long it’s been since the Islanders beat the Flyers. I’ll go into some numbers later but I’ll try not to further the beating of that dead horse.
The point I’m getting at is the sobering reality that despite all the optimism that comes with a new season, all the improvement you can expect out of an entire freaking roster of young and up and coming players, every other team in the Atlantic has improved or at least stood pat. Even if the other teams didn’t significantly improve, there’s still the mental hurdle that comes with failing against a team so much for so long.
As for their opponents, the Rangers added Brad Richards and as we saw Marian Gaborik will wreak havoc on defenses. The Flyers turned over the whole roster — make no mistake they replaced stars with stars — and finally may have a functioning All-Star caliber netminder in Ilya Bryzgalov. Regardless of Sidney Crosby’s health and the fact that they stood pat, the Penguins are still the Penguins and every report out of Pittsburgh is that we’re going to see a whole new, Evgeni Destroyer of Worlds Malkin this year. And the Devils? It’s impossible to say what they’ll be. They certainly won’t be the last place horror show they were under John MacLean and it’s too early to tell if they’ll keep up with the best second half record pace they had at the end of last season. Chances are it’ll be somewhere in between. And that “somewhere in between” is right in the wheelhouse of where the Islanders will be as well.
We know this Islander team isn’t going to sit at the bottom of the conference all season — at least they shouldn’t. But there’s also a ceiling here. They’re likely not winning this division by any stretch of the imagination. John Tavares has improved light years from where he was a year ago. Between Al Montoya and Evgeni Nabokov, the Islanders seem to have found some very solid netminding, now the rub is staying healthy. Having Mark Streit back and cranking at 100% has been enormous thus far. So we’ve seen the worst of them on opening night and, presumably, their best against the Lightning. Now the question is, what is the reality? It’s probably somewhere in between the two — but where exactly is that point?
As much as we want to say this is the year, this is the playoff competitive team that will finally get over the hump after years of waiting it’s hard to think that they’ll be anywhere in the top six of the conference without taking care of business against their division. It’s simply the nature of the schedule and league setup that all five teams in a division will not make the playoffs. As much as this team has seemingly improved from last year, there are two factors that above all will contribute to their success or failure this year. The looming factors are, in my opinion, the injury bug and divisional play.
If I’m Jack Capuano and staff, I’m doing whatever I can to find a way to beat the four teams that we play 30% of our games against. I can sit here and talk goaltending or how much the kids improved this summer all I want. Those will be difference makers this year for sure as we have seen but the beginning and end of the season is going to be how the Islanders handle their divisional opponents. 24 games: nearly a third of the entire season against four teams! There’s a cumulative impact when you have prolonged and consistent troubles like the ones they have had against the Atlantic. This season will depend heavily on if the Islanders can beat the teams they have not been able to beat in recent years.
Past two seasons (not including Saturday’s game):
vs. Devils: 4-6-2 overall (1-4-1 road)
vs. Rangers: 5-7-0 (2-4)
vs. Flyers: 1-10-1 (0-5-1)
vs. Penguins: 3-5-4 (0-5-1)
The first thing to notice about those numbers is that they don’t have a winning record against any of those teams. Let me restate this for emphasis: the Islanders do not have a winning record the last two seasons against anyone in the division. They are a combined 13-26-7 against the division the last two seasons with a 3-18-3 road mark good for 28% and 12.5% win percentages, respectively. Compare that to their numbers against non-divisional opponents the last two seasons and I think you’ll see my point.
The team’s record against non-divisional opponents is 51-50-17 (43%) and 21-26-11 (36%) on the road. There’s nothing scientific about this math and I know it’s basic. But what really sticks out is that the Islanders are an NHL .500 team against non-divisional opponents the past two years! 20-game losing streak included! Being .500 alone will put you in the mix for the playoffs. It won’t get you in, but it’s a lot closer than the Islanders have been these last few years. From the numbers, they’re 15% more likely to win any game, home or away, against non-divisional opponents. So study those gametapes and light a fire under them coach, the Rangers win was a big one but there are still 23 more to go.
I promise something more analytical and constructive tomorrow. For now, a few tidbits to clean up anything I may have missed from Saturday night.
While you were watching the Islanders and Rangers do battle last night the AHL versions of the two teams — the Sound Tigers and the CT Whale — were taking part in the Battle of Connecticut. The Sound Tigers were down 2-0 in the second before coming back to win the game 5-4 in a shootout. If you’re keeping score, that’s Islanders/Tigers 2, Rangers/Whale 0.
Goaltending whiz kid Kevin Poulin started for Bridgeport and made 41 — YES FOURTY ONE — saves on the night (was the defense asleep at the wheel?). Justin DiBenedetto scored his fifth goal in three games although it was of the less-than-pretty variety. Ty Wishart actually banked a shot off of DiBo, who got credited for the goal.
Remember to check in with Mike Fornabaio of the CT Post for more.
CB’s WEEKLY TRI-STATE ROUNDUP
Please read and respond to his latest at the NYT.
FIRST THE LEADERBOARD, NEXT THE WORLD
It’s still early in the year but we might as well take pride in things like this because you never know how long they’ll last. If you head on over to NHL.com’s stats leaders page you’ll see some familiar names. Al Montoya’s photo noting that he leads the league in GAA and John Tavares’ name as he is tied for the league lead in goals and points. Montoya is also second in save percentage. Sometimes it’s the little things…
HIGHLIGHT OF THE NIGHT
I missed naming a highlight of the night in yesterday’s post-game report, so please accept this video of Mark Streit’s second incredible shot-pass this season as my apologies. Having Streit back and going at 100% has been amazing to watch. He’s the team’s power play quarter back and practically and fourth forward on the ice jumping into the rush whenever possible. Not to mention everything he does for the team defensively.
CAPTION THIS PHOTO
Photographer Bruce Bennett captured this shot of Nabokov’s…err…nice view during Saturday’s win. Let’s hear your best captions in the comments! (Keep it PG-13 please)
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
From time to time I’ll try and feature the best in commenting on the blog. Sometimes, it’s the short and sweet posts that really get the message across. This week’s selection is from Staten Islander on last night’s game thread.
I REALLY enjoyed Rangers in 60 tonight!
I’ll allow it. Just don’t start watching the Dark Side every night!
With a win tonight at the Coliseum against the Hated Rangers, the Islanders move to 3-1 to open the season. They now have four days off before heading to Tampa Bay on Thursday night for the first away game of the year. The Isles carried the momentum from Thursday’s win over to tonight’s game and came out on fire in the first period. They took three one goal leads with the Rangers evening up those leads on two occasions. Make no mistake the Rangers played a good game tonight and gave the Islanders a run for most of the final two periods. Marian Gaborik wreaked havoc with the defense before taking a bad penalty with four to go in the third. But the top line continued to dominate and helped chip in two power play goals. Nabokov was strong in his Islanders’ debut as well.
Let’s break down the rest of the game in +/-. Be sure to leave your own observations in comments.
Plus: John Tavares must have gotten a hold of some of Toad’s mushrooms from Mario Brothers. He is flat out on another level this season. Three goals and an assist tonight. That gives him five and three in the last two games. He’s like the President of the offense. Every new goal needs to go through him.
Plus: Don’t overlook PA Parenteau with three assists tonight, six on the year.
Plus: Nabokov looked sharp in his first NHL game in nearly two years. It’s hard to blame him for the two goals; hung out to dry on a Gaborik breakaway and an odd bounce off Nielsen’s skate.
Minus: As good as the defense handled Stamkos and St. Louis on Thursday, they got roasted by Marian Gaborik’s speed. Gaborik had three separate breakaways. Mike Mottau in particular was a victim.
Plus: Mark Streit’s shot-pass is awesome. It’s what all this kids are doing.
Minus: Michael Grabner, zero shots, needs to shoot the puck.
Plus: The second line has looked good and has been creating a lot of scoring chances.
Minus: No goals from the second line tonight.
Plus: The penalty kill was solid yet again. They are 13-of-14 on the year.
Plus: The power play looked alright, not great to start off. They were able to hold the zone much of the time but didn’t manage many shots. By the end of the night I had crossed off “alright” in my notes and written good. Two goals although a nail in the coffin on Gaborik’s penalty at the end of the game would have been nice.
Plus: Putting Matt Martin in front of the net on the PP.
Plus: Got all they could handle from a tough Rangers team and came out on top.
Plus: Travis Hamonic’s poke check on Anisimov towards the end of the second.
Minus: Isles were a little sloppy and back on their heels during the final 10 minutes, prior to the Gaborik penalty.
Minus: 2:47 of ice time for Trevor Gillies makes you wonder if putting Comeau in the sky box tonight was really worth it.
Plus: It’s still early in the season, but this looks like a team to get excited about.
Update, 1pm: Nabokov gets the start tonight. Trevor Gillies activated from IR.
The Rangers visit the Coliseum tonight for the final game in a four-game homestand to open the season. After laying an egg on opening night against Florida, the Islanders have righted the ship with a solid win against Minnesota and a downright impressive one on Thursday against Tampa Bay. With a win tonight, the team will have earned six of a possible eight points to open the season. That’s a great way to start it off. On the other hand, a loss would put them at .500. Good, but not great.
A convincing loss tonight would be even worse against the Hated Rangers than it would be against any other team. It would mean losing two of the toughest kind of regular season games right off the bat; a home opener and a game against their biggest rival. That would set a precarious tone for the year. You would certainly have to take it with a grain of salt four games in — it’s a long year. But arguably the biggest pre-season question mark was whether or not this team could win important games. Losing two in the first week, while not a playoff eliminator by any stretch, would be tough to sit through. Two poorly played games are even worse, a potentially serious concern about character.
Let’s see if they can match the intensity they showed on Thursday. As nice as it would be, a win isn’t a necessity. However, another strong effort is a must.
NASSAU/SUFFOLK PBA MEMORIAL GAME
In the midst of all the Rangers/Islander animosity, let’s take a second to consider a greater cause. Prior to the October 29th game against the San Jose Sharks, the Islanders are hosting a charity game for the Nassau and Suffolk PBAs at 1pm. The Islanders have reduced ticket prices in certain sections for this event, which includes access to a pre-game family skate on the ice at 4pm and tickets to that night’s Islanders/Sharks game at 7pm. That’s right, not only can you help support the families of local police killed in the line of duty but they’re rewarding you for doing so with tickets for that night’s game, and a pre-game skate. I’ll let Officer John Kannengeiser explain further:
We, as fellow Police Officers and hockey players have the unique opportunity to combine our love of the game with an inherent need to help the families of our fallen brothers.
The proceeds will be donated to the families of Nassau County Police Officers Michael Califano and Geoffrey Breitkopf and Suffolk County Police Officer Glen Ciano, who were all tragically killed in the line of duty over the course of the past two years. These three exemplary officers left behind wives and a combined seven children, many of whom are very young. It goes without saying, the difficulties these families are experiencing each and every day as they try and move forward with their lives.
The New York Islanders have been kind enough to help out by hosting this event. The Islanders have secured sections in the Coliseum for which tickets will be sold at a discounted rate. Certain $84 tickets will be reduced to $40 and certain $40 tickets will be reduced to $30 for this event.
Please note, the discount only applies to tickets bought in advance. Walk-ups will not be discounted. To purchase tickets, contact Cliff Gault at (516) 501-6763 or mail in this form. Alternatively, you can contact the Suffolk PBA Office in Boheima (631-563-4200) or the Nassau PBA Office in Mineola (516-294-6230).
THE OPPOSING VIEW
with the… it hurts to say it… excellent Rangers blog, Scotty Hockey.
KS: Brad Richards. Another year another big free agent. But the thought of this one paired with a healthy Gaborik has the makings of a big time first line or two really solid lines if split up. Who has Brad been paired with so far and what is your prediction for his impact on the team?
SH: While John Tortorella is known for juggling lines a lot, he often will keep players paired together while rotating the third – Prust/Boyle, Stepan/Zuccarello, Gaborik/Richards. Torts is giving the Slovak every opportunity to get used to his new pivot while attempting to find a solution for the opposite wing. Wolski had first dibs but he has been injured, Ruslan Fedotenko didn’t work there during the preseason and Dubi saw time in that slot during the Stockholm games. The obvious person to try to add some ‘jam’ to that line was now famously sent to
Hartford. So it seems like Richards’ success this season hinges on the health of Wojtek Wolski’s groin – at least until the team realizes that he is Wojtek Wolski and unceremoniously dumps him like his other
teams all did.
KS: We’re only a few games into the season but it looks like Al Montoya could be the man in net for the isles both in Saturday’s game and for the long haul. Would the Rangers fanbase be irked by a solid performance from him Saturday?
SH: Aside from the fact that a loss to the Islanders is utterly unacceptable, I don’t believe that the True Blue would be particularly irked by Monty – we never really had much of an opinion of him. He was the guy who got beat up by Rick DiPietro in preseason once upon a time. Montoya’s success might be more meaningful if the Blueshirts
didn’t have one of the top five goaltenders in the world in net. But we do, so you guys can enjoy our Sloppy Seconds.
KS: Can you give us a history lesson as to why it didn’t work out with him at the Garden?
SH: It didn’t work out because of that Lundqvist fellow. Monty saw some success with the Wolf Pack as he got acclimated to the professional game but the best he could do in the long run was to take the backup gig on the Garden bench. The King was already a Vezina finalist and
not likely to go away. So Sather decided to do Don Maloney a favour and give him a possible starting goaltender in return for Josh Gratton and David Leneveu (figuring Hossa for Sjostrom was a wash in the same deal). And Monty surely had to be mad to find himself behind another solid starter in Ilya Bryzgalov … the Isles are finally giving him a time to shine and he is taking it. Any other team and I would say more
power to him.
KS: As objectively as possible, can you give us your prediction as to where these teams will finish in the standings this season?
SH: Objectively? Fourth and fifth in the Atlantic. Pittsburgh and Philly should take the top two spots and I believe that people are underestimating how far Fatso will carry the Devils [ed note, this was written before Brodeur's injury]. New Jersey and the Rangers both have to deal with disappointing blue lines but once Zajac gets healthy, the Devils may very well have a stronger top-six
than the Rangers.
KS: Honestly, the ‘Potvin sucks’ chants are getting a little old aren’t they?
SH: Absolutely. I subscribe to the once-a-game rule: the chant is only acceptable once a game against teams other than the Islanders. But as for the chant itself being old, at least it is better than something boring like ‘Rangers Suck!’ At least it is rooted in reality…
