9:45 pm: Jack Capuano with at least a dozen stitches in his left eyebrow and a shiner, is relatively happy about the win and the battle level.
9:35 pm: Brent Thompson looked like he was playing Piccasso behind the bench drawing up a plan for John Tavares. With a half minute left of a penalty, Nabby was the best penalty killer coming up big save after save. Even if they weren't pretty.
Tallindaer with a cross checking penalty on Matt Moulson. Isles to the power play.
With Broduer stuck behind his net and the Isles buzzing, Marty can't get back in net though he tries to crawl into it while Islanders are swatting at the puck. Salvador lays across the goal line but Boyes whacks at the puck until it finally skips over him. Brad Boys with a power play goal and the game winner!
9:29 pm: They are going to give me a heart attack. With 1:29 left of the third, there are at least eight Isles on the ice. Dumb penalty, but only Brent and Doug are behind the bench.
The Isles call a time out and work out their PK strategy so they can at least get a point out of this game. They would have been on the power play had the ref actually made the right call on a trip on Tavares.
9:15 pm: It seems that Mark Streit from the blue line with an assist from Larsson of the Devils. We'll take it. 4-3 Islanders.
Casey Cizikas trys to clear the puck but hits Jack Capuano in the face. He throws a
Are you kidding me??? With 6:10 left of the third, Adam Henrique ties the game at four with Nabokov swimming in the paint.
9:12 pm: Casey Cizikas is making a name for himself and that name is "work horse." He is out hustling the Devils on almost every shift.
8:56 pm: Start of the third period and I'm curious to see how much ice time Kyle Okposo gets after his puck clearing fails during hte second period.
Hmmm, According to Art Staple, after Kyle had been removed from the top line, he was back out on it to start the third. Jack has a lot of patience.
8:37 pm: Michael Grabner on a shorthanded breakaway loses the puck in his skates for a moment and recovers to shoot it at a sprawled Broduer, but it clanks loudly off the right post. Broduer got lucky that time.
8:30 pm: An exhausted Isles squad stuck on the ice give Tallinder enough room to score on Nabokov making it all even again at 3.
As @AaronCrocco asked, when will this team learn how to NOT give up leads? Hopefully, soon.
8:13 pm: Wow, a goal by Keith Aucoin was short lived euphoria when the Devils scored two quick goals to even the score at two. But John Tavares, using his strength on his skates and skill manages to pull away from Salvador and get a shot off while Brouduer is four feet out of his net. JT trips over Marty and then Salvador falls on him. Poor Marty. He lost his helmet and takes a few moments to recover while JT91 celebrates his goal. 3-2 Isles.
David Ullstrom is called for interference, or they should have called it 'getting back for running over Broduer', but the Isles PK kills off another one.
Kovalchuk is not finding the hole in Nabokov. With luck, he won't for the rest of the game.
7:40 pm: John Tavaras proving the Devils' coach right. The most beautiful play from Frans to Boyes to Tavares to behind the pads of Marty Brodeur. Classic.
7:20 pm: A slash on Grabner, a Boulton fight (that lasted forever), a Nabby tripping penalty and another successful PK. Let's go Islanders.
2:16 pm: I suppose newcomer Brian Strait did enough to impress as he has just agreed to a three-year contract with the Isles.
Deal all one-way and $775K per year. Not bad!
1:40 pm: Well, another coach feels the Isles are 'dangerous' while Jeff Marek believes they are 'fool's gold.'
NJ Devils coach Peter DeBoer told reporters this morning that he is a huge fan of John Tavares. He knows what he can do as he had him on a world junior squad. "He's starting to burst through and be one of the top players in the league. I'm a big fan."
When he was asked about playing the Isles tonight, DeBoer said he thought back to the first game they played this season, "They are a different tea. I think everyone is better. I also think they created some dangerous chances. Marty was very good that night. We're going to have to be aware of them and we're going to have to do a good job on that group."
The way they'll do that is to be structurally tighter. Which may mean it will be one of those one goal games that frustrate the heck out of us.
12:05 pm: Jack has spoken, and Art has Tweeted, it will indeed be Nabokov in net tonight for the Isles to face the Devils. Eric Boulton will replace McDonald and goal scorer Casey Cizikas will play RW with David Ullstrom and Keith Aucoin.
The Defensive pairings are staying the same which must mean that Travis Hamonic says "Put me in Coach!"
The keys to tonight's game are:
1) Get an early goal on Brodeur as that throws him off completely.
2) Keep someone on Kovalchuk's back the entire game.
3) Keep the puck away from Patrick Elias during the last minutes of the game since he manages to find a way to score at crucial moments.
7 am: IF it's Thursday, it must be gameday. And here we are. The last of five away games before the Isles return to the Coliseum have the Isles facing the Devils in NJ.
They have been doing so well that they are only one point away from the Devils in the standings. Can they play the same way they did against the Penguins and earn another two points? What would everyone say then? They're already being called "Dangerous," maybe then they'd be called "contenders."
Travis Hamonic may be a game time decision still nursing that ankle of his. Will we finally see Radek Martinek? He knows this team well, it may be a good idea. Martinek has been effective against top players like Elias and Kovalchuk in the past.
Will Rick DiPietro be able to face Marty Brodeur or will it be Nabokov once again? We'll know sometime around noon today how the line up shakes out. We know who WON'T be in the line-up and that's Colin McDonald serving the first of a two game suspension.
So go put on your colors and head to work.
New York Islanders Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»