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Isles Blow It Again by John Madonia |
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good Morning HBers. I told you I would have someone do the postgame report while I was elsewhere, so here it is. John Madonia writes for Rob McGowan at TCL Isles (The Checking Line) You can check them out at www.tclisles.com.
40 years of islanders hockey, 40 years of blowing third period leads.
Tonight’s game showed exactly why one team is leading their division and one team is falling further and further into the cellar.
Through 40 minutes at the desolate, cold, dank, (insert adjective here), Nassau Coliseum, your.. if you want them.. New York Islanders held a precarious 2-1 lead over the Dallas Stars. If you are keeping score at home, just a mere 20 minutes away from a home ice win and positive feelings heading into a difficult three game road swing. Kyle Okposo had a goal and an assist and Michael Grabner did his best football...soccer impression and had the puck go off his skate for the Islanders first goal. The game was very even after two periods, both teams had some good scoring opportunities, Matt Martin and Josh Bailey both had breakaway chances at the end of the first period on the penalty kill and Kevin Poulin kept the Stars at bay with good positioning and timely saves.
Against Montreal you could say the Islanders clawed back into the game and were unlucky to give a late goal. Tonight, as Poulin said so eloquently ‘ We gave the game away’
The period started beautifully as the Isles’ were able to shoot down the Stars power play and get back to even strength. Unfortunately, Tim Wallace decided his previous stay in the sin bin wasn’t sufficient and took a interference penalty in the offensive zone. Literally three passes and 10 seconds later, Brendan Morrow tied the game at two. It looked as the Isles’ play picked up after the goal but signals got crossed in the offensive zone three minutes later(we haven’t seen this 100 times this year or anything) and the Stars broke out on a 4 on Travis Hamonic breakaway and Jamie Benn ( the best player on the ice) snapped a shot past Kevin Poulin to give Dallas a commanding one goal lead. The next fourteen minutes consisted of two Islanders power shortages, yet another Travis Hamonic phantom penalty and a lot of restless irritating paying customers. The last 90 seconds the Islanders stormed the ‘net but never smelled the tying goal in the dying moments. The Stars and their diehard fans that ‘fill’ their building each and every home game enjoyed a solid come from behind road victory.
Apparently, per the people that keep the statistics, the Islanders took 14 shots in the third period. It must have been during the last 90 seconds because between their dreadful power play and well lack of passion it truly boggles my mind where all these ‘shots’ came from.
There were two sides to this game. The Dallas Stars came into the game with 17 wins to the Islanders 9 and off a huge shutout win at MSG over the other New York organization. They were the hungrier team in the third period and deserved the two points. A telling stat, Steve Ott won 13 face offs tonight, at least three when the Isles’ calvary tried to score a late equalizer. He was always on the ice against our top line and constantly outworked John Tavares on practically every draw. Their power play makes me cringe. Every other team in the league sets up with some purpose and has a plan of what they are looking to do. Mark Streit is scared to shoot the puck, Milan Jurcina might as well be Fulton Reed as one out of five shots hit the net and the top line guys aren’t physical enough to win the 50/50 battles against stronger teams. Three third period power plays and you can count on one finger how many real great scoring opportunities they created. Matt Martin would be a great answer as someone that could play a Tomas Holmstrom role and give the goalie fits, he’s tough and can score the dirty goals. Not enough pucks are being thrown to the net and when they are, its a one and clear
There was some good to come out of tonight’s game. Kevin Poulin looked great in goal tonight. He held rebounds, something Al Montoya struggles mightily with, and saw the puck exceptionally well throughout. He might have overplayed the pass on the game winner by Benn, but he stopped the shots he was supposed to and gave the team a chance to win. They can run with Poulin and Montoya and be very comfortable with either going forward. Montoya has proven his ability to be very good but he does give up some soft goals that bewilder you. Poulin will need seasoning and with the prospects of yet another last place finish staring them in the face, this is time to have him play and get into the speed and quickness of the NHL game. If Evgeni Nabokov is available to play, he should get some time and be sent to the highest bidder, likely a draft pick or considerations. He is not part of the future on Long island and if his whole issue last year was wanting to be with a winner, then send him packing to a playoff contender and let’s ride our talented young goaltender. Dipitero is back on injured reserve just adding to his laundry list of injuries and ailments. I’m sure it’s difficult on him personally not being able to contribute but to be fair he was hurting the team on the ice with his performance. His contract makes it difficult to do anything but keep him in the mix but how much longer?
Another bright spot was call up Calvin deHaan. He seemed to gain the confidence of Coach Jack Capuano as the game progressed. He was on the ice during power play time and was a +1 on a little over 13 minutes over ice time. Dylan Reese was paired with him for most of the evening and they both didn’t look overmatched, which is a rarity these days defensively. Milan Jurcina played 26 minutes tonight and was strong on the puck throughout. He isn’t normally given top two minutes but his play tonight dictated the move from Capuano. Besides the jailbreak on the third Dallas goal, it was a solid effort from all six defensemen. Reese and deHaan should stay with his team going forward.
Games like tonight show how far the Islanders are from being a realistic playoff contender. We can analyze the standings and see that they are roundabout 10 points out of 8th place. 10 points in the Western Conference separates practically everyone except the leaders of the Nail Yakupov sweepstakes, the Columbus Blue Jackets. You have to win games when you lead after two periods, end of story. The back to back penalties obviously hurt their efforts, but the goal Dallas scored was way too easy. Dallas was hungrier, more physical and kept the game at their pace the entire night. The first meeting, at least for the first two periods, was a game that Dallas cannot play. They play a game like the old Devils team of the late 90’s. They won’t outscore you on most nights but they will make it difficult to keep consistent pressure on their defensemen. The young goalie Richard Bachman might be the best goalie they have, and he’s only around because their starter Kari Lehtonen is injured.
Brian Rolston left the game with a concussion, yet another player with a injury to the head. The concussion frequency is truly alarming, on the Islanders alone Nino, Steve Staios (it’s being assigned an upper-body injury moniker), IR staple Rick Dipietro and now Rolston have all had issues this year. League wide it’s also a concern. Philadelphia Flyers captain Chris Pronger is out for the season with post concussion syndrome. This is a serious problem in the league and something they have to rectify for the safety of the players and the quality of the league.
All in all a really frustrating night at the Nassau Coliseum. Apparently some fans voiced their displeasures with current state of the franchise via signage. The powers that be did not take kindly to it per the twitter universe. The place was a ghost town but for a change there might have been 14 Dallas Stars diehards in the crowd. Considering we are used to playing road games in our home building it was welcome change. The referees yet again play a major part in the proceedings. Travis Hamonic is given at minimum one phantom penalty a game. Steve Ott literally falls to the ice and because Hamonic was next to him a penalty where little to no contact was made is called with 6 minutes left in a one goal game. The Islanders have a lot of issues but having so many calls go against them isn’t helping a team that needs a lot to go right to win on a consistent basis.
This is a scary time for the Isles’ season a difficult road trip against Minnesota, Winnipeg and the Rangers isn’t exactly what the doctor ordered. We will have a better idea in the next week to 10 days on where exactly we are heading going into 2012 and beyond.
I’d like to thank Dee for the opportunity and look forward to the comments, good and bad. Thanks for reading!
New York Islanders Blogger • 
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