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Breaking News(4/25): Associated Press and TorontoMapleLeafs.com have reported that Toronto's captain and best player Mats Sundin will miss the rest of the playoffs with a broken wrist. April 24th: The Islanders came out in this game focused on the task at hand. They can thank coach Peter Laviolette a lot for that as he has every Islander believing in his philosophy. The players quickly forgot about Tuesday nights emotional win when they split Toronto's series lead in half. The Isles knew that if they lost Game 4, the Game 3 win would mean nothing. Mats Sundin did not play due to a reported upper body injury. Pat Quinn, Toronto's coach, made what was deemed to be a major mistake by not having an extra man to replace Sundin, who skated in the pregame warmups. Quinn had recently sent down Alexei Ponikarovsky to the AHL after Game 2. The Islanders were somewhat aware of Sundin's absence but went about their business just the same. Midway through the first period, the Islanders were storming the Leafs net. Adrian Aucoin would send the puck to the net where Mark Parrish would tip the puck over to Alexei Yashin who was standing all alone. Yashin pulled the puck over to his right and roofed it up into the top of the net after Joseph sprawled down to protect the lower half. It was Yashin's first goal of the series and first playoff goal since April of 1998. Hopefully this will take some pressure off of him. The Islanders played well the rest of the period, until they got into some penalty trouble late. The referees gave Toronto a two man advantage and eventually Alexander Mogilny would manage to deflect the puck into the Islanders net off of Kenny Jonsson's hand with 16 seconds remaining in the first. The teams went into the second period tied at 1-1. - The Islanders played well in the second period but were not getting as much chances as they would have liked. The Leafs goal that tied it up was the first goal they have scored all series on the powerplay, so the Isles have been excellent on the penalty kill. The teams skated back and forth, but it wasn't until the last minute of the period once again that there would be another goal. Toronto would go up 2-1 when Tomas Kaberle surprised Chris Osgood with a wrist shot from the far left circle. - The Islanders came out in the third period playing desperate hockey. Alexei Yashin was well focused when he told Deb Kaufman during an intermission interview that he had nothing to add when she asked him for final words. He just wanted to get out there and get the win. The Islanders battled and battled until they got a powerplay opportunity more than halfway through the third period. Mariusz Czerkawski passed the puck over to Kip Miller in the low corner and he decided to take the puck to the net. The puck would bounce off Joseph, then again off Bryan McCabe's skate and slid into the net with Yashin there to make sure. Now the Islanders had the game tied at 2-2 with the momentum on their side. That was when 1:40 seconds after Miller scored his first of the series that Roman Hamrlik would put the Isles up 3-2. The crowd was going wild after Yashin passed the puck over to Hamrlik and he skated by the blueline to rifle a shot that handcuffed Joseph. Cujo was unable to handle the puck as it deflected off his blocker and the post and bounced around in the net. This goal clearly showed that Joseph was off his game. He was shocked. The Islanders were congratulating Roman feeling they were close to a win, but this game kept getting stranger by the minute. At 16:34 the Leafs would end up tying it up at 3-3 when Shayne Corson decided to show some offense for a change since he was failing at checking Yashin. - Suddenly it was tied at 3-3 and the crowd was going crazy once again just like Tuesday night. The Islanders HAD to win this game and they much rather do it in regulation time. About a minute after the Leafs tied the game was when the most exciting moment of the game occurred. It will go down as one of the most exciting moments in Islander history. Shawn Bates would skate in wide with the puck where he had a step on former Islander Bryan McCabe. McCabe had no chance to stop Bates from taking the puck to the net, so he dove down and swept his stick under Bates feet. Bates went down and got no shot on net. That was then referee Brad Watson called the penalty and a few seconds later pointed to center ice to signal a penalty shot. The Leafs could not believe it and Joseph noticeably rolled his eyes. He was definitely scared. He was 4 for 5 alltime in playoff penalty shot opportunities. The Islanders have had 2 penalty shot chances before in their history, both unsuccessful. Denis Potvin had one in 1983 and Randy Wood was the other in 1990. In fact, the Islanders have had 4 unsuccessful playoff penalty shots against as well. But this would be different tonight. Yashin chose to leave Bates alone for his own decision. Captain Michael Peca did not tell Bates much except perhaps not to try a fake move because Joseph is normally very good on fake attempts. Bates would once again start out by skating wide after taking the puck at center ice. He later said that he almost lost the puck, but as he got in front of Joseph, Bates just rifled the puck top corner. It was so fast that no goaltender could have stopped it. You could hear a loud THUMP as the puck hit the padding in back of the net. Bates skated back and pumped his arms in such jubilee as he was mugged by Dave Scatchard and the rest of the Islanders. The Islanders would have to kill another penalty for the last minute of the game as Toronto pulled their goalie for a 6 on 4 advantage. The final buzzer would finally sound with the Islanders victorious and yet another scrum caused by frustrated Leaf players. This will definitely go down as one of the most exciting games ever and was a huge win for the Islanders to make this a new series, best of three headed back to Toronto Friday night for Game 5. Shawn Bates Penalty Shot Goal First in
Islander History
- Preview(April 26th Game 5): The Islanders have erased the hole they put themselves in by losing the first two games in Toronto. This is their chance to take the lead in this series and never look back. They have to go into Toronto Friday night and do what they meant to do in Game 1 last Thursday. In order to win this series the Islanders have to win at least one on the road. Obviously if they win Friday night they will have the chance to win it in 6 when they return for Game 6 Sunday. Who knows if Sundin will play. Or if Isbister will play for the Islanders. But the Isles have to keep up the pressure on Curtis Joseph, who is definitely questioning himself now as he looks unsteady. Shayne Corson scored a goal tonight, but the Islanders have not really had to worry too much about offense from Corson, Gary Roberts, Travis Green or Robert Reichel. If they can keep Alexander Mogilny off the board they will be in good shape. Scratches: Jim Cummins, Mats Lindgren, Evgeny Korolev Playoff Injury Update Hunter Rare Sub: When Trent Hunter was called up to replace Brad Isbister in Wednesday nights game he joined rare company among players in Islander history. Only three Islanders have ever made their NHL debut in the playoffs: Dave Salvian in a 1977 game against Chicago, Steve Junker in 1993 against Pittsburgh and now Hunter. Of course Hunter has a chance to make future Islander teams and play in the regular season, just as Junker did. Salvian never played another NHL game. Hunter led the Sound Tigers in their first round AHL matchup against Manitoba with a goal and 7 assists for 8 points in 4 games. During the regualr season he led them going 30-35-65 in 80 games played. He played well for the Isles right from his first shift. Coach Laviolette gave him regular shifts on a line with Michael Peca and Shawn Bates. He didn't look out of place as he used his size well to get to the net and deflect a shot on goal. He also had an early slapshot on Curtis Joseph from just within the blueline and showed no jitters. Isles vs. Leafs II?: The Islanders AHL farm team the Bridgeport Sound Tigers will be facing the Toronto Maple Leafs farm team, the St. John's Maple Leafs, in the second round of the AHL playoffs. Bridgeport advanced last friday when they defeated Manitoba 3 games to 1 in the first round. Game one of the series between Bridgeport and St. John's will be on Friday night.
New York Islanders: 42-28-8-4,
96 points, 5th seed in Eastern Conference Season Series: Islanders won the season series going 3-0-0-1 Schedule:
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News: April 27, 2002 |
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1998-2005 Tom Mascioli
