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IslesInfo Comments: The Islanders knew that Ottawa, stewing over their Game 1 loss, would come out hard for Game 2 and that they would probably have to weather the storm for the first 10 minutes of play. They were right. But in knowing that, the Isles sat back to much during that span waiting to see what the Senators would throw at them. And that cost them the game. It didn't help that Steve Webb was sent off for charging at 5:15 of the first. But the Isles lucked out when Mike Fisher evened up the sides at 4 when he was called for interference at 5:50. Or so you think. While the Isles scored Wednesday night on a four on four situation. Last night the Senators struck first. Bryan Smolinski broke down the right side boards beating the Isles defenseman to the puck. He quickly fired the puck in front of the net where Marian Hossa had a stride on Janne Niinimaa. Hossa shoveled the puck just by a sliding Snow on the stick side as Niinimaa tried to get his stick on it. The goal was Hossa's and the Senators first goal of the playoffs as they took a 1-0 lead at 6:43 of the first. Just 1:41 later the Senators stormed out to a 2-0 lead. As Kenny Jonsson chased down a puck that just crossed the Islanders blue line, he turned and fired it off the boards in an attempt to clear the zone. The puck ended up hitting referee Mick McGeough and remaining in the Islanders zone. That was when Martin Havlat grabbed it and sent a high rising shot in on Garth Snow. The Isles goaltender gloved the shot but couldn't hold onto the puck as it dropped in front of him. Vaclav Varada jumped on the rebound and knocked it in for a 2-0 lead and his first of the playoffs at 8:24. For the rest of the period the Isles were able to close the flood gates. But the damage had already been done. They managed to kill off a final late interference penalty to Dave Scatchard. The period though was an exact mirror of Game 1 where the Islanders dominated the first period and jumped out to a 2-0 lead. Even the shots on goal were similar as Ottawa out shot the Isles 15-5. - The Isles came out in the second period with their best hockey of the game in the first 5 minutes. They almost managed to cut the Senators lead in half on an early power play with Wade Redden in the box. Mark Parrish fed a wide open Niinimaa in the right circle and Janne let go a quick and hard wrist shot on the net. Unfortunately for the Isles the puck clanked hard off the goal post and they remained down by 2 goals. Soon the Islanders would get into some undisciplined penalties. Defenseman Radek Martinek, who at times is hit or miss, took a holding the stick penalty at 7:46 that the Isles survived. But at 13:55 he was sent off again this time for interference as he dragged down Havlat going to the Islanders net at 13:55. Soon confusion would set in thanks to the officials as they continued to call borderline one sided penalties against the Islanders. At 14:16 Adrian Aucoin was about to get called for highsticking. He added to the penalty by taking another for roughing when he turned and took an undisciplined frustration punch into the face of Fisher. With Ottawa now up on a 5 on 3 power play advantage, they would connect just 9 seconds into it to take a 3-0 lead at 14:25. Hossa would notch his second of the game from the right circle. As he attempted to send a pass across the slot to Havlat, the puck redirected off the skate of defenseman Roman Hamrlik and slid by Snow into the net. As the officials struggled with the time on the clock and keeping track of all the penalties they've called, it almost seemed as though they were giving the Isles some payback power play time when they whistled off Radek Bonk and Magnus Arvedson late to put the Isles up 5 on 3. It came a little too late though as the Isles failed to score on what was probably their last chance to get back into the game. Once again the second period mirrored Wednesday night's game but in the Senators favor. They out shot the Isles 16-5 and led overall 31-10. - Once again the third period followed the script of Wednesday night with pretty much nothing happening as the Senators cruised to the 3-0 win. But the Islanders showed perhaps a little more frustration and a few incidents ensued. Almost 5 minutes in, Jason Wiemer was about to be assessed a boarding penalty for checking from behind. As the officials attempted to break up a subsequent between Wiemer and Chris Neil, Wiemer leaned in and attempted to head butt Neil. It didn't really connect too hard but could garner a closer look by the league offices who view every little move much tighter than they do during the regular season(or so they say). The officials hit Wiemer and the Islanders hard, what else is new, with a 7 minute penalty by ejecting the Islander forward. With about 15 minutes remaining, Islanders coach Peter Laviolette then made an odd move by pulling Snow and inserting rookie Rick DiPietro into the net for the Senators power play. More on this later. The Islanders managed to kill the long penalty off and in fact even out shot Ottawa 3-0 as DiPietro aided the cause with two key clearing chances when the Senators tried to dump the puck in. In the closing minute of the game, one of the Senator players bumped down DiPietro and Scatchard was pulled down in the corner which angered the Isles. Scatchard came back to get involved with some stick slashing incidents and Arron Asham was right into the fray as he played a very chippy third period. The frustration culminated in a final bone jarring fight between Eric Cairns and Ottawa's Neil. Unfortunately the officials further made evident the horrible game they officiated when McGeough grabbed Cairns' arm right when Neil jumped in his face. The two went toe to toe before eventually tiring each other out. As the series goes on these two team's are beginning to dislike each other even more and these events should carry over into the intensity when they meet for Game 3 at the Nassau Coliseum Monday night. With the win the Senators tied up the best of seven series 1-1. Now it is a best of 5 with the Isles holding home ice advantage.
More stats: The Islanders series record is 22-2 when winning the first game. Even better, they are 7-0 all-time when winning Game 1 on the road....The Senators out shot the Isles 34-16. 31 of those 34 shots came in the first 2 periods....The Senators have not lost 2 games in a row at home all season....Ottawa ended a 3 game playoff losing streak as they lost Game 1 to the Islanders and Game's 6 & 7 against Toronto last year in the Eastern Conference Semifinal....They also ended a shutout streak of 147 minutes dating back to Game 6 against Toronto....The Islanders now have not scored a goal of their own in over 90 minutes....Patrick Lalime posted the 5th shutout of his playoff career. Next Up: Game 3 is scheduled for Monday night as the series shifts to the Nassau Coliseum for the next two. The Islanders did not lose at home last season in the playoffs as they defeated Toronto 3 times. They will look for the same type of dominance this year in front of what will most undoubtedly be the loudest fans in the entire NHL. But it won't come easy especially since the Senators are undefeated in their last 15 visits to Long Island, having not lost since 1996. But that was the regular season. As far as the Islanders, they are undefeated at 6-0-2-0 this season following games in which they've been shutout. The Isles have not won at home in a while though. The last win came March 1st in a 2-1 OT win over Buffalo. The fans are being urged to once again wear white to the games. And be LOUD! Fight Card: Eric Cairns vs. Chris Neil. Neil has been angering a lot of the Islander players and he finally dropped the gloves in the final minute after delivering a nasty slash to the back of Cairns' legs. In fact, there is some rumblings going around that Neil's actions could be review-able by the league since he possibly left the Senators bench to go at it with Cairns. The fight was a great one as they both through right repeatedly with both connecting. Cairns was much bigger than Neil but they both threw punches until they couldn't no more. If you listened to Islanders' radio announcer John Wiedeman all you heard was "Cairns throws a right and another right, now Neil throws a right, Cairns hit Neil with a right. Now Neil counters with a right of his own." And I think there were a few lefts thrown in there as well. Neil of course celebrated by pumping his fists to the home crowd. But the fight was almost marred when referee Mick McGeough grabbed Cairns' arm and held it as Neil jumped in his face. At least Neil gave Cairns a chance to regroup after the Islander yelled at the referee. Decision: Draw. Commentary: One Ottawa writer quoted Laviolette as saying that this was a bad loss for our organization. I really have trouble even believing that he said that, as I did not hear it. But it was hardly that. We would have loved to have won both games coming home. But the most you could have expected was for the Islanders to at least get a split against Ottawa. They didn't win the President's Trophy for nothing. To expect the Isles to win both games would have been a minor miracle. At the same time the Islanders really shot themselves in the foot by sitting back and worrying too much about what the Senators were going to do. That's exactly what Ottawa was guilty of with Alexei Yashin in the first game. How the Isles could make that mistake is beyond me. They game out in Game 1 on fire and should have done the same thing last night. None of this stuff about we know they're gonna come out flying in the first ten minutes so we have to be ready by sitting back and weathering the storm. Screw that! Make your own plans, your own game plan and stick to it. Jump out right from the start. Don't let them know what we are going to do! Now that these two mirrored games are out of the way and we got the split, we have to grab a hold of the momentum coming back to our building because we got what we wanted, home ice advantage. Don't worry about the momentum they may have gained. Nassau Coliseum will take care of that. The Isles need to feed off the fans. They need to repeat what they did in 2002 and not allow any team to come into our building without leaving with bruises and a loss. They really need to win both these next two if they are really serious about winning this series. The closer it gets to Game 7 the harder it will be to win. We have to end it before that even happens. Fort Neverlose, here we come!
Report Card: Alexei Yashin: Had 3 shots on goal. Of course Ottawa fans booed him almost every time he had the puck. Alexei did not have the kind of room he generated in Game 1 as the Senators possessed the puck more in Game 2. They didn't target him as much physically as they did in Game 1 either. He only really had one good shot on goal off the power play all night as Randy Robitaille and crew could not get him the puck. This could change back at the Coliseum for Game 3. It has to. Randy Robitaille: Only had 1 shot on goal. Did not see the ice until the Isles first power play attempt early in the second period. Shawn Bates: Was a -1 with 2 shots on goal. Mark Parrish: Did NOTHING. Absolutely nothing! All he had was one good chance early in the third period when he broke down the right wing side during an Ottawa line change, waited too long and shot the puck wide. Parrish has 2 goals in the last 30 games. He HAS to turn his game around at home if the Isles are to win this series. Dave Scatchard: Was a -2. Scatch showed some frustration late when he and Asham got into some sting swinging with Mike Fisher and Shaun Van Allen. He nor any of the Islanders were able to fire as many shots, whether from odd angles or not. Jason Wiemer: Had 2 shots on goal after having a very strong game in Game 1. Wiemer showed some of his frustration in the third when he checked a Senator from behind into the boards. He then got into a verbal with Chris Neil and followed up with a marginal head butt motion. He hardly connected with Neil but many are wondering if he will receive some sort of disciplinary action from the NHL. We will see but I don't think it was that major to warrant anything. Wiemer has not been playing with Scatchard and Blake but rather with Parrish and Peca. Jason Blake: Was also a -2 like Scatch. Recorded only 1 shot on goal after registering 8 in Game 1. Steve Webb: Took a couple penalties but they were either rubbed out by ensuing Ottawa calls or matching minors. He was involved in most of the scrums including in the final minute. Webb mixed it up a little with Zdeno Chara as well. With the series switching now to the Nassau Coliseum Webb should get more of a chance to throw his booming hits. Arron Asham: Asham had no shots on goal last night and only 2 in the first 2 games. He is another Islander who needs to step it up. Maybe he can carry over the third period he played where he came out playing nasty and angry. Oleg Kvasha: Had just 1 shot on goal. The Islanders acquired Kvasha three years ago because GM Mike Milbury felt he would develop into a star. Well so far Kvasha has only proven that he can disappear for large portions of the season and be a streaky player. Last year he got hot down the stretch, as he did this season. But last playoffs against Toronto Kvasha hardly did anything. So far he has not shown up as an offensive threat for the Islanders in this series. They NEED him to step up. He has the ability to be a major factor in winning a game. We can only hope to see it. Michael Peca: He had one good open chance in front in the first 10 minutes of the game and missed the net with the shot. IF he had scored and given the Isles the lead things would have been much different as the Isles would have taken the fans out of it and set in some doubt. Even if he had hit the net it might have changed the momentum a little. Instead Peca did not record a shot on goal and he has not notched a goal in 22 games. Some fans are rumbling that perhaps he has some sort of secret injury because he just hasn't been himself in the tail end of the season. As he struggles, Parrish struggles. Of course Peca's game is not always to score, but in Game 2 he got hit more than what he threw. That once again has to change. Justin Papineau: Was a healthy scratch for the 2nd straight game. Papineau may get some ice time in this series at some point. Some have questioned why he hasn't played, but Papineau is a player of the future for the Islanders. If Wiemer gets suspended perhaps Papineau gets in if the coaching staff decided to try and generate more offense on home ice. Eric Godard is eligible to return as well. There's also Mapletoft to consider. But don't count jump on Laviolette for not playing Papineau. Let's face it. The kid really only had one game, against a weaker Chicago, where he actually got it done. He hit the post a couple of times in his second game with the Isles, but that's about it. Mattias Weinhandl: Unfortunately broke his toe in the game Saturday against Atlanta in the Isles 3-2 loss. He played Sunday in the 2-1 win in Carolina. But now he is out indefinitely. Weinhandl scored 6 goals this season in his rookie year. 3 of the goals came against Ottawa and Patrick Lalime. Eric Godard: Is eligible to return to the lineup after a one game suspension for his Game 1 highstick on Ottawa's Chris Neil. Godard will most likely get re-inserted into the lineup, whether Wiemer is suspended or not. Unless Laviolette decides he doesn't need the toughness as much on home ice and goes with Papineau. But don't count on that. Justin Mapletoft: Played
over 9 minutes in his first career playoff game. Mapletoft was a big
factor is the Bridgeport Sound Tigers going all the way to the Calder Cup
Finals in 2002. He played well when he got the call. Defense: Roman Hamrlik: Played over 27 minutes and was a -1. As a whole the Isles defense was not as strong as in Game 1. They didn't control the game as much and the top 4 did not play as much either as Radek Martinek and Eric Cairns saw more ice time. Adrian Aucoin: Played almost 26 minutes, 7 less than in Game 1. Aucoin recorded 3 shots on goal which was the most tied with Yashin for the Isles. He was a -1 and apparently he was a target by the Senators who realized that Aucoin was a rock in Game 1 and receives a ton of ice time. Aucoin really needs to watch the frustration penalties. He put the Isles in a big hole with that extra punch in the second period and the Isles gave up a 5 on 3 goal. Janne Niinimaa: Played over 21 minutes and was a -1. Some grumblings that his knee still is bothering him. He sprained it earlier in the year with Edmonton and is supposedly wearing a brace. Niinimaa was excellent in Game 1, blocking numerous shots on net. Last night he was not as good, especially on the Senators first goal when he almost got his stick on the puck. Unfortunately almost doesn't count in the end. Eric Cairns: Played over 9 minutes, 6 more than in Game 1. He recorded 2 shots on goal both in the third period. Cairns was involved in the physical play all night. He received a roughing penalty when he tried to goad Zdeno Chara into dropping the gloves. Chara backed off. Cairns then took on Chris Neil is a heavyweight fight, though Cairns is much more the heavyweight. They both threw punches until tiring each other out with the fight ending in a draw. Kenny Jonsson: Played over 24 minutes, had 1 shot and was a -1. Jonsson was a victim of a misfortunate play when his clearing attempt hit referee Mick McGeough in the first period keeping the puck in the Isles end which led to Ottawa going up 2-0. Radek Martinek: Played close to 13 minutes, 5 more than in Game 1. Martinek had a very shaky second period where he lost his stick and got caught running around. He took two bad penalties in the period. His second was followed by a bad double minor to Aucoin which led to Ottawa taking a 3-0 lead on a 5 on 3. After having a strong Game 1, will he be benched for Timander. Personally I'd rather have Martinek in there. Mattias Timander:
Was a healthy scratch for the 2nd straight game. Just doesn't give you as much confidence
compared to Martinek. But at times, neither does Martinek. Goal: Garth Snow: faced 31 shots and made 28 saves before getting pulled with 15 minutes left in the third period. Snow actually played well in this game before getting pulled as Laviolette decided to put Rick DiPietro in before the Isles were about to kill a 7 minute penalty to Jason Wiemer. Why exactly? Know one knows. Not even Laviolette when asked after the game. But I really doubt that this will rattle Snow's psyche going into Game 3. And he WILL start Game 3. You can count on that. Rick DiPietro: Only had to make 3 saves in relief during the final 15 minutes of the game. He didn't have to make any during the 7 minute penalty to Wiemer. In fact, twice early on the Senators tried to dump the puck in and perhaps forgot about DiPietro's ability to clear the zone. Rick played well but don't expect him to play unless Snow really falters.
Coaches He doesn't know why he pulled Snow? Yes he does. He doesn't know who will start the next game? Yes he does. He doesn't want to tip his hat to the Ottawa media? You bet your ass. Laviolette has been extra quiet in the last few days about some of the moves he has planned. And rightfully so. You don't want to leak your strategy. Perhaps he took Snow out because he felt the game could get chippy and the emotional goaltender may get involved. But I doubt it was that. Snow is an adult and knows when to hold back. You can't just pull goaltenders for that reason and Snow I doubt was pulled because Laviolette may have "felt" he would do something to get himself in a situation. Some would worry that it would send a message that they were giving up the game. Entering a 7 minute man down situation, Laviolette may have not wanted Ottawa to break the game open against Snow. In the end perhaps he thought it could have been a motivational move and alert his team to how badly they were playing as they attempted to protect the rookie goaltender. There won't be a goaltender controversy. Snow will be back for Game 3. Special Teams Before the series started, many critics said that specialty teams would be the main factor in who wins the series. The Islanders were the better team in Game 1 on the special teams. In Game 2, it was Ottawa's turn. Their 2nd ranked power play finally broke through on a 5 on 3 opportunity in the second period. Hossa scored his second of the game to put the Senators up 3-0. The Islanders PK after going 7-7 in Game 1 went 6-7 last night. The Isles power play, after going 1 for 5 in Game 1 went 0-6 last night as nobody could get open, especially Alexei Yashin.
Lineups: ISLANDERS DEFENSEMEN GOALTENDERS OTTAWA SENATORS DEFENSEMEN GOALTENDERS
Power-play Conversions:
NYI - 0 of 6, OTT - 1 of 7.
IslesInfo Pregame Preview Preview Game 2: No Settling for Split Apr 12: Most team's would be happy with a split and stealing away home ice advantage when starting a series on the road. But not the Islanders. What would be better, than coming back home up 2-0? Isles vs. Ottawa Game 2 Preview: The underdog Islanders had a near-perfect effort, killing seven Ottawa power plays and making very few mistakes against the Presidents' Trophy winners. Garth Snow stopped 25 shots for his first career playoff shutout and Dave Scatchard and Alexei Yashin scored first-period goals for eighth-seeded New York, which finished the regular season with 30 fewer points than Ottawa. "I was surprised by their lack of discipline,'' Islanders coach Peter Laviolette said. "They took some shots to prove they were tough and that ended up costing them.'' The victory had to be particularly pleasing for Yashin, who took a beating from the Senators on Wednesday and is still hated by Ottawa fans for sitting out the 1999-00 season in a contract dispute. Yashin was acquired from Ottawa by the Islanders on June 23, 2001. Including the regular season, Yashin has 13 goals and 21 points in his last 15 games. Laviolette knows it will be much more difficult in Game 2 for the Islanders to beat the desperate Senators, who cannot afford to head to Long Island in a two-games-to-none hole. "There are a lot of people in hockey who pick Ottawa to win four of the next five games,'' Laviolette said. "They are still a very confident team and a great hockey team.'' While Snow was perfect in Game 1, Ottawa's Patrick Lalime allowed Scatchard's centering pass to get by him 7:59 into the contest. That goal set the tone for the rest of the game, as the Senators were unable to generate much offense against the disciplined Islanders. Snow improved to 9-4 in the postseason, while Lalime dropped to 7-10. The Islanders will be without enforcer Eric Godard in Game 2 after he was suspended one game for high-sticking Ottawa's Chris Neil in Game 1. Godard had just over one minute of ice time in the series opener. The series shifts to Nassau Coliseum for Game 3 on Monday. PLAYOFF TEAM LEADERS: Islanders - Three with 1 goal; Roman Hamrlik, 2 assists and 2 points; Mark Parrish and Godard, 4 PIM. Senators - Chris Phillips, 4 PIM. White Out: When the Islanders return home to Long
Island for Game 3 (on Monday) and Game 4 (on Wednesday), the WHITE OUT is
back as all fans will be encouraged to wear white to the games in the same
fashion as they did in last year's postseason.
Senators Called Out The Senators have been grilled for the last couple of days and their belief is that they just played a clunker Wednesday night. Will the Senators return to the finesse game that won them the Presidents Trophy? And will that be enough? Notes: The Ottawa Senators did not lose consecutive home games throughout a very successful regular season. Ottawa hopes to continue that trend and even its Eastern Conference quarterfinals series with the New York Islanders at one game apiece when the teams face off in Game 2 at the Corel Centre. Eager to prove they can play a physical style, the top-seeded Senators instead played an undisciplined game in Wednesday's surprising series-opening 3-0 loss. Ottawa abandoned the skilled play that allowed it to set team records during the regular season with 52 wins and 113 points. "Everybody tried to be so physical, but that's not our game,'' right wing Marian Hossa said. "We were expecting that from them and we just have to play our game.'' Lalime and the Senators, however, has been in this situation before. Ottawa lost Game 1 of the quarterfinals against the Philadelphia Flyers last season before Lalime recorded three straight 3-0 victories and a 2-1 win in Game 5.
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Lets Go Isles! |
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1998-2003 Tom Mascioli
