The New York Islanders visited St. Paul on Friday night for a rare appearance against the Wild with familiar faces from the past and a face for the future, a face of a once great Islanders franchise that has struggled mightily in years’ past, but is destined for better times not at some point in the future, but starting now. The Islanders are currently 9th in the Eastern Conference and even with the Senators, Lighting and Rangers with 23 points. Familiar names and faces from this current Long Island team include all-star goaltender Dwayne Roloson, assistant captain Richard Park, assistant captain Kyle Okposo, and big man on the blue line Andy Sutton, not to mention Jack Hillen, a native of Minnetonka and Tim Jackman who played at Mankato.
The Islanders are in the midst of a 7 game road trip and have notched at least 1 point in the last 5 games having gone 3-0-2 against Atlanta (W), Washington (OTL), Carolina (W), Florida (OTL), and Boston (W). Not bad for having playing all but the Atlanta game on the road. After tonight, the Islanders play tomorrow night in St. Louis before wrapping up their road trip on Wednesday in Toronto before returning home for Thanksgiving and a 2 game home stand against the Flyers and Penguins before taking to the road again for another 5 game road swing. You gotta think at some point on these 2 killer road trips that the Islanders pull a Bruce Springsteen and wake up in 1 city, but think they are somewhere else.
Out for Minnesota were Brent Burns (illness?), Kobasew (upper body injury) and Havlat (hamstring). Emergency call up Nathan Smith made it from the Wild’s minor league affiliate, the Houston Aeros, to play center and, as such, James Sheppard was moved from 4th line center to 2nd line wing.
Great moments are born from great opportunity.
And that's what you have here tonight, boys.
That's what you've earned here, tonight.
One game.
If we played 'em ten times, they might win nine.
But not this game. Not tonight.
Tonight, we skate with 'em.
Tonight, we stay with 'em, and we shut them down because we can!
Tonight, we are the greatest hockey team in the world.
You were born to be hockey players -- every one of ya.
And you were meant to be here tonight.
This is your time.
Their time -- is done. It's over.
I'm sick and tired of hearin' about what a great hockey team the (Islanders) have.
Screw 'em!
This is your time!!
Now go out there and take it
That is how the night began with YouTube phenom Josh Sacco who has over 2 Million hits for his rendition of Herb Brooks' speech to the 1980 U.S. Olympic Team before they faced the Soviet Union. Josh led Wild fans in their nightly ritual of screaming "Let's Play Hockey" before the opening faceoff. Even the "You Can Do It Wild" fan was in the house for this one.
Meanwhile, Islander phenom and the first overall draft pick in last summer's draft drew a Wild penalty against Miettinen for hooking giving New York the first powerplay of the game. During the first PK of the night, Cal Clutterbuck announced his presence with some thunderous checks in an attempt to slow down the Islaners in their powerplay effort. Backstrom was solid notwithstanding giving out a huge rebound and the Wild survived. Survival was the appropriate word choice as emergency call-up, Nathan Smith, then survived his first NHL fight with Nate Thompson.
At the first break in the first period, the Wild's notorious "slow start" was evident in the shot count with the Islanders leading the Wild 5-1. The game then went into snooze mode with only the Wild registering 1 shot where Biron made a good save on a scoring opportunity before the Wild woke up buzzing Biron forcing him to make 2 more good saves beore letting in a bad goal from behind his goal line on a passing attempt by Owen Nolan that bounced off of Biron's leg and into the back of the Islanders net.
With under 5 minutes to go in the first period, the Wild were called for too many men on the ice by clearly having six skaters plus Backstrom. Robbie Earl, perhaps the offending rookie, wet straight to the sin bin. Okposo had a great opportunity all alone in front of Backstrom on a sweet feed from Tavares, but he whiffed on it. Then Okposo tipped one past Backstrom on a shot from the point, but hit the post. Tavares and Okposo were on the ice for all but the last 25 seconds of their power play opportunity. J.T. then hit the ice after sitting out 1 shift. Hnidy then got "jacked" by Tim Jackman who got a good hit in and sent Sugar-Shane to the ice. For his role in starting this, Hnidy received the extra penalty for instigating and a 10 minute misconduct, leaving the Wild shorthanded on the blue line and sending NYI on the PP again. Enter J.T. again, this time with Hunter and Nielsen, and not for nearly as long as their last PP opportnity. The Wild killed the penalty with a couple of good saves by Backstrom. And with that, the period ended 1-0 in the Wild’s favor, but the Islanders outshooting the Wild 12-8. On the period, Tavares was 3rd in ice time (8:00) behind Streit (9:29) and Nielsen (8:04)
Early in the 2nd period, the Islanders struck when Trent Hunter picked up the puck at the red line and flipped a nice, back handed pass to Jon Sim who shot a wrister past Backstrom. Sim was due as he was playing a very effective game all night. Soon thereafter, the Islanders’ Mark Streit took a tripping penalty putting the Wild on the power play. Then, Sean Bergenheim took a penalty less than 30 seconds later giving the Wild a wonderful opportunity. During the 5-on-3, it was as if Islanders goalie was in a shooting gallery and, had it been a carnival, the Wild players would have won a prize for hitting him 3 times. In fairness, Biron then came up with a great save moving laterally and the Islanders successfully killed the 5-on-3 PP opportunity. So far on the year, the Wild’s power play has been awful as verified by their 19th rating in the league on the power play. It was then the Islanders turn to go on the power play. While the Wild successfully killed it, minutes later, Josh Bailey sniped a near side corner shot over Backstrom’s right shoulder to put the Isle up 2-1. The goal was assisted by Jon Sim and Mark Streit. Meanwhile, Shane Hnidy continued to sit in the penalty box on his misconduct penalty from the first period. With 8:03 left in the 2nd period, the Islanders were outshooting the Wild 22-13. With 7:30 left, the Wild went on the PP on a Clutterbuck dive that went uncalled. The Wild had a great chance on a shot down low and to the right of Biron to the extent that Biron was looking behind him for the puck, but no such luck; luck being the only thing helping the Wild score goals in this game. With that, the Islanders killed another Wild power play opportunity. Late in the 3rd period, Clutterbuck and Earl started to pick up the physical play. With 2:36 left, Miettinen hit Koivu driving the net and a solid save by Biron. On the next series, Johnsson ripped one from the point and, yet again, was denied by Biron on a stick save resulting in Biron requiring a new stick. The Wild continued to buzz with Belanger getting a backhand on net, but saved once again by Biron. With 33.6 seconds left in the 2nd period, the Islanders skated off to the penalty box, putting the Wild on the PP yet once again in this game where thus far the Wild have been 0-3. A Wild defenseman launched a rocket from the blue line only to be denied by Biron before the period came to an end. At the end of 2, the Wild had snuck back into the shot contest, trailing New York 24-21. However, where it counted, the Wild were down by 1 goal, 2-1 on a 2 goal come back period by the Isles. As the season long stats are concerned, while the Wild are 5-3-1 when scoring first and 4-2-1 when leading after the 1st period and while the Islanders are 2-4-4 when their opponent scores first and 0-3-2 when trailing after the first period, the Islanders are also 7-0-3 when leading after 2 periods and the Wild are 2-9-1 when trailing after 2 periods. The way Biron is playing coupled with how the Wild have played lately makes me think that the Wild will have to work very hard in the 3rd period to even have a chance at winning this game outright, in regulation. It should be noted that Tavares’ ice time was greatly decreased standing now at 12:30 on the game. Sutton, Hillen and Okposo all registered more time on ice in the 2nd to jump ahead of young J.T. in total time on ice.
The Wild began the 3rd period with 1:27 remaining on the power play. Russo tweeted that the Wild are 3-34 on their power play in their last 10 games and 0-20 at home since October 28th in 5+ home games. OUCH! The silver lining? At least their not giving up as many short handed goals as they were. However, that may be why their not scoring on the power play. Because they fear giving up another shortie. Gotta love the new offensive system, eh Wild fans? And guess what, the Wild failed to score on the power play again. Then, instead of shooting on net, Biron is apparently in their head so the Wild’s last couple of shots early in the first were wide with no one standing to the side of either side of the net. Not to mention the fact that the Wild have tried more than a few times banking it off of Biron from behind the goal line. Biron won’t make that mistake twice. At this point, the Wild may need a good psychologist rather than more “new offensive system” coaching from Richards. Then Boogaard makes a horrible drop pass to an Islanders player and then gets knocked down. Can’t say that I’ve seen Boogie getting knocked down by another player all that often. Brunette couldn’t pull the trigger on top of Biron! What is going on? Then the Wild went back on their inept power play with 13:27 remaining in the game with NYI leading in shots 26-24. Then they strike. After I had to resort to name calling. Koivu scored a beauty on passes from Miettinen on the left board, mid ice, to Brunette down by the goal line to the right of Biron, across the ice to Zidlicky who passed to Koivu who was all alone in the middle with Biron having gone from his right to his left leaving the net mostly open. Koivu’s goal came at 6:58 of the 3rd period.
With the game tied, all sorts of fears started to creep in: will the Wild have a let down right away like last game resulting in an opposing goal? Can the Wild score on Biron 5-on-5 without resorting to lucky bounces? Will the Wild have another late game collapse after coming back to tie the game in the 3rd period? Can the Wild stay out of the penalty box? Well on that last question, we soon found out that the answer was a resounding no give Miettinen’s tripping penalty. On the PK, Backstrom made a couple of good saves, but gave up juicy rebounds, one of which resulted in a scoring opportunity that went wide of the Wild’s goal. The Wild killed the penalty and proceeded to just miss a great chance from Hnidy to Miettinen. The momentum was clearly in the Wild’s favor as they continued to skate ad pass well creating opportunity after opportunity. The Wild continued to pass the puck well and with 4:11 left in the 3rd period, the game was tied and the Wild trailed in shots only 28-27. Then in the next series, the Wild took a delay of game penalty when Zanon flipped the puck over the glass in the Wild’s defensive zone. The Islanders power play on the night thus far had been 0-5. During the PP, Owen Nolan made a fantastic shot block. With 2:37, New York took it’s timeout. The Wild killed the penalty, but with 2:00 left, Okposo entered the Wild zone and ripped a shot at Backstrom, but Backs was equal to the task, snatching the puck out of mid-air with his glove. Coming back from the TV timeout, the Wild’s PR staff got the crowd on their feet, followed by a rousing “Let’s Go Wild” chant. Given the way the Islanders have played lately, I wouldn’t be surprised if this game goes to OT and they get yet another point in their current streak. On the very next series, Nolan is decked in front of the Islanders goal and held down by Biron. The Isles try to clear the zone, but an outstanding effort by Belanger on the blue line keeps the puck in. He rips it high to Nolan who palms the puck to the ice and then slides it past Biron into Biron’s right lower corner. The goal came at 18:53 of the 3rd period. Shots even, 29-29. Nolan’s 5th of the season and 2nd of the game, worthy of 1st star honors. With 30 seconds left the Isles pull Biron, but to no avail. Wild win! Wild win! Whew!!!!!!!!!
How about that? A come from behind win in regulation by a Wild team very much in need of a BIG win and they got a HUGE one here. Led by their ultimate warrior and oldest player, Owen Nolan, who provided a key blocked shot on the penalty kill and then was in position to get the game winner after getting absolutely creamed in front of Biron. It should be noted that in post-game interviews, Nolan showed us his bleeding foot which no doubt was stinging as he scored the game winner. Coach Todd Richards commented on Nolan’s “great composure” on the game winner, as well as his having taken a few high sticks in this game, not to mention the blocked shot. Richards also talked about the good penalty kill in this game where the Wild killed all 6 penalties. In interviews with Biron, Tavares and Islanders head coach Scott Gordon, they all commented on the failure to score on the power play and breaking out too early on the play where Belanger kept the puck in the zone on a great individual effort as being the difference in tonight’s game. Biron said that on the first goal, he was in position but that the puck hit off his stick’s paddle and re-directed behind him into the net. Speaking of great individual efforts, coach Richards also pointed out Kim Johnsson solid play, his 32 minutes of play given the injuries on the blue line and Johnsson as being the guy that started the power play goal for the Wild even though he wasn’t on the ice when the Wild scored the goal. Richards also talked about the Wild’s ability to move the puck well in the third coupled with their shooting the puck. “When you’re a threat to shoot, they have to overextend and that’s what opens up seams and you’re able to make plays through their box.” Richards acknowledged that the power play still needs a lot of works. He specifically commented on the failed 5-on-3 power play opportunity. “Usually when you don’t score in that situation, that’s the difference in the game, but our power play found a way to score later on.” “Bottom line, you gotta find a way to win and tonight we did.”
Nice win for the Wild. Next up, Boston in a Thanksgiving’s eve game on Wednesday night, followed by a matinee on Friday against the white hot Avalanche in St. Paul and then off to Colorado for another game against the Avs the next night. Rest up Wild fans. Get well Wild players. It’s gonna get a lot tougher in the next few days.
How fitting was that Herb Brooks speech looking back on tonight's game? Granted, the Islanders weren't the Soviets, but they might as well have been for this struggling Wild team. Here's one last look at Herb's words for a comeback win that Herbie would have been proud of the home town team for having done.
Great moments are born from great opportunity.
And that's what you have here tonight, boys.
That's what you've earned here, tonight.
One game.
If we played 'em ten times, they might win nine.
But not this game. Not tonight.
Tonight, we skate with 'em.
Tonight, we stay with 'em, and we shut them down because we can!
Tonight, we are the greatest hockey team in the world.
You were born to be hockey players -- every one of ya.
And you were meant to be here tonight.
This is your time.
Their time -- is done. It's over.
I'm sick and tired of hearin' about what a great hockey team the (Islanders) have.
Screw 'em!
This is your time!!
Now go out there and take it
And take it they did!
P.S. Given all of the Minnesota connections, the bowels of the arena were overflowing like I have never seen before in the area ropped off for friends and family to meet with and visit with visiting players. Gotta love an organization that recognizes the value of guys that play in the State of Hockey. Remember, Aaron Ness is an Islander draft pick too!
P.S.S. In looking at how both teams were built, both had 9 players that they drafted on their respective roster. You would think with all of the high draft picks the Islanders have had over the years recently, that they would have the lowest average (lower signifying earlier draft picks). However, I was surprised to find that not the case. Of each team's 9 drafted players, the Islanders averged out at 82.5555556, while the Wild averaged out at 43.555555. Go figure huh?
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