Yesterday’s Isles vs. Kings game was nerve wracking. Not just because it seemed to be quite boring at first, but when the game became physical, the Isles were on the losing end.
Art Staple even commented on Twitter that the Isles were being thrown around like rag dolls.
Arthur Staple@StapeNewsday
#Isles getting rag-dolled around by Kings and their only tough guy isn't coming back out today.
Or so we thought. It started with Matt Martin laying out a hit against the boards but getting the worst of it when his chin hit the dasher ledge and almost knocked him out. While he wasn’t unconscious, he was very shaky being helped off the ice by his team mates. To the quiet room with him.
Then only a few moments later, Matt Moulson, the Isles resident “Iron Man,” took a beating in his brother-in-law’s crease and skated to the bench doubled over. Once the door opened up, he collapsed on the floor. The trainers quickly tended to Matt who remained doubled over. He never left the bench though.
John Tavares was knocked down a few times which is par for the course and PA Parenteau (as big as he is) was knocked on his rump with no call either. There was also no retribution for any of this. With Matt Martin putting his brains back in place in the quiet room, there was no one on the bench to give any one of the Kings a good “Now wait a minute” on the ice.
Matt Martin returned to the ice to a round of thunderous applause. He is loved. (Jack Capuano called him 'a gutsy kid.') Luckily Matt Moulson missed only a few shifts before he was back on the ice. However, you could tell he wasn’t 100% comfortable by the way he was skating.
After the OT win with a Mark Streit game winner, I decided I actually could head to the locker room for post game. Finding out how the two Matts were was foremost in my mind.
As soon as we all crammed through the door, you could hear Moulson wisecracking his team mates with a laugh in his voice. He has a big smile on his face as he was taking off his gear. Why shouldn’t he? His team managed to salvage two points and a game that almost got away from them.
The reason he was doubled over so badly was that he was cross checked in the ribs and then “my face went off someone’s helmet.” Yikes. And… Where was the call on the cross check? But considering Matt has been taking a beating in the crease for years, as long as the ribs weren’t cracked, he was back at it.
When Meg Jarrell and I did our game preview at Champions, we wondered if there would be another wager between Jonathan Quick and Moulson. “No, no wager. I think I still owe him dinner from the last time.” I walked away so Art Staple could interview Matt.
Josh Bailey and Matt Martin were talking quietly in their stalls. I quickly asked Martin if he was okay. Of course he was. I then turned my attention to Josh, who has been playing very well lately. Well enough to be noticed.
Not knowing how to actually word the question, I danced around it, but got a response non-the-less from a young man who exudes professionalism.
“I think I’ve just been trying to work hard. I’ve tried to keep a good work ethic all year. I never want hard work to be an issue. I think nothing’s really transpired. I think production is the biggest thing. I just want to produce more. That will only help our team. I’m trying to do the things that will give us scoring chances. This is the most important time of the year. It’s exciting to be in the hunt, so it’s really easy to get excited for games. The best players show up when it’s most important so there’s a lot of motivation behind it. So I’m just trying to play hard and win some games.”
Blog Boxer Chris Arnold was interviewing Andy MacDonald in the corner. Without his partner Travis Hamonic, Amac has put in a lot more minutes and some mentoring time of Aaron Ness.
Amac told Chris the game was “indicative of how playoff hockey is…” and you have to be prepared for the intensity.
You can read Chris’ report at
www.islandershockeyblog.com. (Chris does some excellent reporting.)Strike that: I got my Chris's mixed-up. The excellent Blog Boxer who was interviewing AMac was Chris Hessel from NYIFYI at http://www.nyifyi.blogspot.com/.
After Chris was through with Andy, I asked him a few questions about his D partners. I asked him what he felt Aaron Ness has learned these past two games. (I would have asked Ness himself, but he wasn’t in the locker room.)
With a smile on his face, Amac told me “I think he’s learning to be consistent. I talked to him a little before the last number of games and told him to try to keep it simple and play solid defensively. Keep guys in front of him, and play off the puck. I think he’s done an excellent job of handling himself and now he’s getting quite a few more minutes than he has in previous nights. I thought he did an excellent job.”
I would be remiss if I didn’t ask him about his usual partner who is recovering from surgery. “He is doing good. He came by yesterday and today. He’s anxious to get back out. I’m not sure what his time line is, but his spirits are good. He’s got his Mom in town looking after him so I don’t feel too bad for him.” He laughed. I felt better.
My buddy Stan Fischler from MSG sat in front of me during Jack’s post game press conference. He turned and asked me if I was making a cameo appearance. I never thought he’d notice I had been missing. But then again, the Maven misses nothing. Here is Stan’s post game with Matt Martin and Mark Streit.
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