Halak got the call again as the Isles faced the Edmonton Oilers. Line-up was the same as Friday which means that Michael Grabner still doesn’t have a spot in the line-up. And so it began at 9:30 pm on a Sunday night.
At 16:59 of the first period, Halak was caught out of position behind the net and the Oilers scored first. Very unlike him, but he should know better. On the other side of the ice, Ben Scrivens was leaving some dangerous rebounds for the Isles, but they weren’t that lucky to actually bang them in.
Taylor Hall took the first penalty of the night but the Isles managed only one shot on net with it. The first period ended with just one goal and it belonged to Edmonton. The second period started and it seemed to take more time than usual to drop the puck. It took Edmonton less time than usual to score another goal: eight seconds and the puck was in the back of the Isles net. (The Oilers announcer sounds like he was doing Yosemite Sam cartoons.)
Butch and Jiggs put the blame on John Tavares for the Eberle goal and I had to wonder if Halak was losing confidence – or just getting angry. Maybe Travis Hamonic was getting disgusted, because he went to the dressing room immediately after. No one really knew why at the time.
At 16:53 of the second, the Isles were on the power play. Forty seconds in, Boychuk scored causing his Mom and Dad to jump to their feet applauding. They quickly sat down as their Isles stadium jerseys stood out in the crowd. Leddy and Tavares with the assist points.
As the second period was winding down, Lee took a hooking penalty and Casey Cizikas was called for goalie interference less than a minute later. The Oilers had a five on three power play for 55 seconds. The Isles managed to survive long enough to go to the break. When they’d return for the third, the Oilers would still have some power play time. New game plan?
The power play time gave the Isles nothing, but at 2:33 of the third, the Oilers struck again as newcomer Derek Roy scored his first Edmonton goal. That made it 3-1. In an effort to make it respectable, Capuano pulled Halak with 3:05 left. I hate that move. It never seems to really work. It didn’t. Matt Hendricks scored an empty netter and then 17 seconds later Matt Fraser would seal the deal with the Oilers fifth of the night.
This happens sometimes. New coach, new players can make a losing team hit the ground running and get out of their funk. That is what the shake-up is designed to do. Last night, it worked.
As the clock wound down to the final seconds, Brock Nelson did score on a very late power play that had Nail Yakupov in the box for slashing. It was Brock’s 15th of the season, but too little too late for the Isles. Halak let up four goals on his own on a total of 23 shots. The Isles were understandably upset with themselves.
Art Staple called it the worst game they have played so far this season and it was Halak’s 300th NHL game. He’ll want to forget about it.
Staple Tweeted:
Capuano: "I thought we were pretty good, just a couple guys were downright very bad. We gave them 3 gifts and an empty-netter."
Tavares was a little more upset:
Tavares: "It's just unacceptable, that's the only way to describe it. Slow, outworked, not good enough and it starts with me."
Well, all streaks come to an end. Last night it was Edmonton’s losing streak.
New York Islanders Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»