Author Archives: Keith Quinn
And in the blink of an eye, they can look relatively competitive.
Having your starting goaltender and best overall defenseman back in the lineup can do that. By no means were the Islanders going toe to toe with the eastern conference leading Rangers, but they got a good jump early, effective goaltending, some physical play and except for a couple of instances, sound defensive play, to earn a hard fought victory.
Matt Moulson (Tavares, MacDonald) got the Isles on the board at 6:07 with his 26th bunkered down in his zone on top of the crease. The goal came off a John Tavares faceoff win that MacDonald corralled and dished to PA Parenteau. Parenteau sent the puck across ice to Hamonic who sent back to Amac who missed the net on a rush. Tavares gathered the puck behind the net, put a spin move on a Ranger defender and put a pass on Moulson’s tape for the tap in.
A little over two minutes later, the Isles would extend their lead to 2-0. The Rangers committed a neutral zone turnover (into the chest of Tavares) and as soon as the puck hit the floor, he put a backhand between the legs pass to an area of the ice where only Parenteau could reach it. He gained the offensive zone, wound up and unleashed a cannon of a slap shot from the top of the circle to Martin Biron’s left that went high blocker side for his first of two on the night. Somehow, Travis Hamonic got an assist on the play, but it didn’t appear he touched the puck on the play. (more…)
In what was one of, if not the most physical game the Islanders have played in this season, Mark Streit cashed in an overtime game winner after taking a feed from Matt Moulson at center ice and walking through the majority of the Kings en route to a beautiful backhander past Jonathan Quick. And Streit definitely made the impending soreness worthwhile.(ed. note, at some point, I will learn to embed…I promise)
Bearing in mind that hit stats can be variable arena to arena and day to day, the official scoring had 88 total for the afternoon (48 Isles, 40 Kings) and there weren’t too many softies in there. It makes you wonder how the Isles will look tomorrow afternoon with a quick turnaround against the “above them in the chase” Florida Panthers. (more…)
Updated: 11:00pm
Brian Compton
@BComptonNHL
Hamonic was taken to the hospital to be checked out, according to Capuano. He’s hoping to have an update later tonight.#Isles
The Islanders looked every bit the team on the tail end of back to backs tonight…which is really unfortunate because the Devils, Maple Leafs, Capitals and Lightning all won. (In regulation at least so there weren’t any “extra points” doled out to others in the chase.) In what can only be described as the favor of the hockey gods, the Isles found themselves with a 3-1 lead after a first period in which they were dominated by Buffalo and outshot 17-9.
Things would only get worse really as Travis Hamonic (of “best Islanders shutdown defenseman” fame) took a deflected slapshot to the face in the third and did not return. No updates have been given at the time of this writing, but you can rest assured that if Hamonic misses any time, the Islanders will struggle significantly unless they catch lightning in a bottle via a Bridgeport call-up. The puck looked to have gone upward underneath his visor and hit him on the nose. There was an awful lot of blood, but he was able to skate off with assistance. (more…)
The Islanders again allowed a goal in the first five minutes of the game (the 10th time this season 1-7-2 in those games according to the broadcast) and were shutout for the 8th time.
Bad line changes seemed to be the theme of the evening. On the Leafs’ first goal, a long shift left Isles defenders scrambling to get back into the play as Jake Gardiner stopped along the boards above the circle and left a pass that Matthew Lombardi fired through traffic. Some pinball action off the rebound must have put it in because originally, the goal was credited to Nazem Kadri who was in the vicinity. Upon further review, it looks like Mark Streit kicked it past Evgeni Nabokov.
For a couple of minutes, it looked like the Isles would respond with John Tavares threatening to increase his scoring streak flying down the middle from center ice, splitting the Leaf defenders, gaining a partial breakaway, but sailing the puck high and wide. That’s kind of how the rest of the night went. (more…)
After three consecutive games against strong opponents in the Predators, Capitals and Flyers tonight’s game against a “beatable” opponent became a must win to prove that the Islanders are focused and heading in the right direction and not an anomaly.
And win they did.
Not that it was a statement game by any means. The Isles came out sluggish, not moving their feet, reaching for pucks and making terrible “up the middle” type passes for the entirety of a first period in which they were outshot 15-9 against an opponent on the tail end of a back to back. The Hurricanes drew first blood when Bryan Allen drove a slapshot on Evgeny Nabokov from outside the blue line. Nabokov kicked out a gigantic rebound toward Mark Streit who had his stick lifted by Zac Dalpe who kick-passed over to Jeff Skinner for his first goal since returning from a concussion (13th of the year).
Good, we were getting pretty sick of hearing about the Islanders 13 (lucky) game skid in Philadelphia and the fact that they haven’t won there since April of 2007. Don’t look now, but the Isles have won 4 of 6 and it’s too early to say “they’re playing loose” or that “the games aren’t meaningful”. Even the previous loss against the Flyers was a game they could have won if not for an otherworldly Bobrovski. And the teams that they’re beating are all at the tops of their divisions and in playoff positions (except for the Sabres).
But tonight, amidst talk of retribution for Steve Staios’ unpenalized clean hit and the perpetual failure against the Flyers, the Islanders carried play for much of the game really only seeing serious shots against in the third when they had a big lead.
The first period looked like the start of a chippy game. A couple of early Flyer hits were followed by some chirping toward Islander players…notably, Max Talbot giving PA Parenteau an earful after knocking him down at the blue line. The Islanders again showed some of that “team toughness” that Garth Snow said was in the locker room. They brought the physical play right back.
Matt Moulson looked to have gotten the scoring going in the first, but a Toronto war room replay reversed the on ice call. The video showed a very adept soccer kick/re-direction and the two teams took to the locker room scoreless with the Islanders outshooting the Flyers 12-8 and dictating play.
The Islanders struck early in the second. The guy who is at least 26th on one list had may have moved up a slot or two on the play. Tavares sped down the right wing passed a Flyer defender and cut toward the net dragging the defender with him. He made another beautiful behind the back pass to the slot where Kyle Okposo and Matt Moulson were waiting. Okposo let the puck through to Moulson who was lonely and wristed a shot past Bobrovski. The Isles would have a couple of breakaways (Tavares, Grabner) turned away in the period and it looked like Bobrovski would hang tough until the 12 minute mark.
With Dylan Reese off for a holding penalty, Matt Martin created a turnover at the blue line springing Josh Bailey for a short handed breakaway. He used the patented Frans Nielsen backhand of judgement move to put the Isles up 2-0.
Toward the end of the period some Flyer frustration was starting to show as Claude Giroux and Dylan Reese battled in front of Evgeny Nabokov. Giroux took a couple of two handers to Reese’s shins and Reese responded with a couple of cross-checks and the two dropped the gloves in a mostly uneventful bout that saw Giroux land more often, Reese land the hard shot and score the takedown. Best part, no Giroux for five minutes and into the third period. (RETRIBUTION!!)
Philadelphia came out of the gates hard in the third with a tremendous forecheck and effective cycling. With about six minutes gone by in the third, there was a scrum off to Nabokov’s right where Tavares was put in a headlock by a Flyer and Braden Schenn took a couple of cross checks to his back while he was being held. Kyle Okposo snapped and made a bee-line for Schenn, rag dolling him a little bit and stringing together some expletives to let him know it will not stand. That is the kind of fire and physical presence and standing up for each other that the coaches and fans want to see out of the alternate captain. Okposo and Schenn received matching minors and shortly after that, Tavares drew a tripping call on Kimo Timmonen to put the Isles on a 4 on 3 advantage.
Off a faceoff a few seconds later, the Isles won the puck back to Mark Streit for a slapshot that put them up 3-0. That’s when the Flyers really started to amp up their play. Matt Read finally solved Nabokov on a tip in ending his 6 straight shutout periods dating back to the Buffalo win (his 300th). The Flyers continued to pressure the Isles, but Nabokov was stellar making 15 of 16 saves in the period until Michael Grabner iced it with an empty netter with one second remaining.
And there was joy across the land.
Noticings
- That boy good. John Tavares had two assists to extend his point streak to 11 games (19 points) and had an outstanding moment in the first period as Max Talbot took a run at him. JT shrugged him off like an ugly coat.
- Might we have a goalie controversy where it’s “who’s going to play greater than the other guy”? That would be better than the usual “who’s not injured” thing.
- Great physical response from the entire team tonight. They didn’t allow themselves to be pushed around and the first line set the tone.
- It’s pretty cool when PA Parenteau taunts the opposition bench and gets them off their game. Also, the Isles “agitator” has 40 points now.
- The Isles are one of two teams with three 40 point players right now. The other is the Blackhawks. We can still wish we had a couple of more guys with 20+ points, but hey, it’s coming.
- Dylan Reese (?) may have stabilized the defense…again.
- Good to see Nino involved and physical despite limited ice time tonight (6:53).
- Another game, another night where Andrew MacDonald and Travis Hamonic held a powerful 1st line in check.
- The next couple of games are against struggling teams (Carolina and Toronto). The Islanders simply must win against opponents like this. It is maddening that they are beating the likes of the Red Wings, Capitals and Flyers but losing to teams like Coyotes and Ducks. They can’t have an emotional let down here.
The Islanders went from frustrated by their opponents to frustrating them in less than 24 hours as they smothered the Capitals with a relentless forecheck and sound positional defense ending the Capitals home winning streak at seven.
Evgeny Nabokov notched the his first Islanders shutout and the Islanders first as a team this season but was rarely tested seeing only 17 shots (season average 29.6 shots against per game), good enough for second star of the game.
John Tavares got things started in the first period on a power play drawn by Kyle Okposo’s work along the boards. Matt Moulson emerged from the corner with the puck and sent a dangerous looking slow pass toward the high slot. Luckily, it was perfectly placed where only Mark Streit could get to it. He launched the now famous fake-shot, slap-pass to Tavares parked to the left of Tomas Vokoun for the tip in.
Then it was the PA Parenteau show.
His first goal was off a strong forecheck and by him and Frans Nielsen that created a turnover deep in the Capitals zone. Nielsen picked up a loose puck and found Parenteau in the right circle where he fired a low glove side wrist snipe past Vokoun.
The second goal was a set of tic-tac-toe passing on a power play after Alex Ovechkin pushed Andrew MacDonald dangerously into the boards from behind (called a cross-check on the ice). Nielsen got the puck down low to Matt Moulson who whipped a hard pass across the crease where Parenteau was left alone for a one time goal that was in and out of the net before Vokoun even had a chance to move.
But the big story of the night was keeping Alex Ovechkin and Alex Semin off the scoreboard. According to the head to head even strength ice time charts, that honor mostly went to the Josh Bailey, Brian Rolston and Matt Martin line with Andrew MacDonald and Travis Hamonic as the primary defenders. That forward line combination comes as a little bit of a shock, but what is further shocking is the Corsi sheet that says Alex Ovechkin was in fact one of the worst possession players on the ice tonight.
Great work third line.
An impressive win for a team on the tail end of back to back games against a rested conference favorite (poor start noted). The fact is, lately (excluding the Nashville debacle) the Islanders have played a strong set of games against some very tough opponents in Detroit, Philadelphia, and now the Capitals and by all metrics, have outplayed them with and without win/loss results. This is a team that needs to be on point, or they will lose…but when they are on point, they are playing some beautiful hockey.
They simply can not afford to come out like they did yesterday for their limited playoff chances, their psyche, and their relationship with their fan base. How many of you would trade a good draft pick to watch more nights like this?
Next up is @ Philadelphia on Thursday and a possible look at some retribution for Steve Staois’ unpenalized, no supplemental discipline, maybe it was an elbow if there was a better angle not from space, alleged “headshot” on Max Talbot.
Trevor Gillies and Micheal Haley have both been playing for Bridgeport, so we’ll see if there’s any lineup/roster changes. Jody Shelley played 9:02 tonight.
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