This was Matt Moulson night in Islanders Country. Not only did NHL.com feature him today on their main site, but the Islander Tweeps used the hashtag “#MightyMattMoulson,” coined by @MattClausen, to trend on Twitter.

It paid off big cosmic dividends as not only did the Islanders win in regulation for a change, but Moulson walked away with his 9th and 10th goal. He almost skated away with his 11th goal, but as he told MSG’s Rob Carlin, “I didn’t touch it. Johnny would have killed me.” He was kidding, but maybe only a little. The Islanders, or should I say Matt’s, third goal of the game was actually JT’s goal from the right of the net while Matt was in the paint. He didn’t have to touch it. The puck went off a skate and headed into the net.

Matt’s two goals of the game came at 6 minutes into the first period, for that all important tone-setting “first” goal of the game and then again at the 18:49 mark of the second. That second goal was probably even more important than the first as Boston’s Daniel Paile tied the game at 1 at the 14:56 mark of the second. You know. That dreaded second period where the Islanders seem to find a way to collapse, lose a lead and dig a hole for themselves. Yeah. That one.

It looked like it would be a repeat of all the previous second periods when Moulson was called for interference at 4:03 of the second, but Recchi was called for cross-checking a little more than 30 seconds later. Dwayne Roloson had already been brilliant in net killing off a 5 on 3 in the latter stages of the first period. The more than veteran goalie stopped a few 90 mph shots from Boston’s Zdeno Chara.

“He made some incredible saves. I don’t know how he stopped them, but he did!” Matt told Rob Carlin with a big smile. Scott Gordon said Rolson made the difference in a tough game coming on the heels of playing 3 games in 4 nights. Not bad for a 40 year-old goalie.
So Trent Hunter was given a gift of an empty netter for the fourth goal of the game, Andrew MacDonald had a solid effort for coming up from Bridgeport and a hobbling on a sore foot Richard Park had a three point game. All notable facts, but it was still the Matt Moulson show.

“It was weird! I was ready to play another five.” Matt laughed about their regulation win. “We played a good team game. We kept it pretty simple. We had all four lines contributing. That’s big in this league. We’re going to be a tough team to stop.”
Not only are they going to be a tough team to stop, but their doing wonders for a few fantasy leagues out there. Including the one that Matt’s future brother-in-law is in right now.

When Scott Gordon was asked about Matt Moulson’s play, he told Rob that “His play has been consistent since day one. He’s more comfortable in our system now. He’s a smart hockey player who knows where to be. I consider him a low maintenance guy.”

I’m sure about now, Garth Snow considers him another excellent move. I’d say he’s right up there with the Mark Streit signing.

Matt’s buddy, John Tavares said Matt just has a nose for the net, “He’s always been that way. He’s been able to prove a lot of people wrong.”

Tonight, he proved a lot of Islanders fans on Twitter RIGHT. And on a personal level, I’m pretty happy with him as he is now half way to my estimated goal for him of 20 goals by January.

Come on Matt! I know you can do it!

Two days of practice at home and I will try to get there at least one day in order to get some sort of information about the balance of this extended road trip and why all of a sudden their face off percentage has gone down so dramatically. It was at 30% tonight and Joshn Bailey won only one of 11 for 9%. NINE percent? That's a SINGLE digit. Not good!

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