|
|
ISLES INFO |
 |
|
|
ISLES INFO |
|
|
Menu NYI Database Transactions
//// //// //// //// |
IslesInfo Comments: The Islanders continued their barrage of shots on goal over their opponents in the first period over Carolina, outshooting the defending Eastern Conference champs 15-2. For all their work, when the period was over the Isles found themselves trailing 1-0 thanks to a goal by Kevyn Adams at 9:19 of the first. Radek Martinek failed to rub out the oncoming Adams as he turned towards the net on a one on one. Adams let go a shot that surprised starting goaltender Garth Snow before crashing into the net. Former Islander goaltender Kevin Weekes got the start for Carolina. Even though he faced so many shots in the game, 37 in all, none of them were really quality shots as Carolina kept most of them towards the outer reaches of the zone. It is becoming more and more evident that Alexei Yashin, who had 4 shots on goal in the first period, does not have capable linemates or finishers to feed the puck to. - With the Islanders firing as many shots on net as they are you figured that if they kept it up eventually they would get on the board and take over the game. Early in the second period Jason Wiemer was called for a holding the stick penalty that ended another Islander powerplay prematurely. Shortly after Wimemer's call, Roman Hamrlik would get called for a crosschecking penalty that would eventually set up a 5 on 3 advantage for the Hurricanes. Sami Kapanen, who does not score as many goals these days as he use to, got an easy goal on the two man advantage when Carolina worked the puck around. He had an empty net after Snow was pulled out of position. 23 seconds later and on only their 4th shot of the game Carolina would score on the ensuing one man advantage to go up 3-0. Rod Brind'amour would grab a rebound down low with Snow stretching to make the save. Brind'amour tucked it in for his 5th of the season. At 9:44 the Islanders fourth line, which has been their best line since the third period of the Atlanta game, would work to get the Isles on the board. Wiemer would circle around the net only to be met by two Carolina defenders. Somehow the puck found it's way through to the crease and Claude Lapointe chipped it over the large body of Weekes for his second of the season. - In the third period the Islanders had so many chances to mount a comeback but weren't able to capitalize. The Isles were given a gift 5 on 3 advantage when the trailing ref called Adams for highsticking Adrian Aucoin. It was on that powerplay that the Isles got their best shot of the night when Aucoin ripped a point blank shot that Weekes was just plain in front of. The Islanders, besides their 37 official shots on net, must have had 37 miss the net as well. This continues to be a problem as well. Carolina would get a breakaway chance later in the period but Bret Hedican, just out of the box, made a bad move by holding onto the puck too long and shooting wide. The Isles outshot Carolina 13-2 in the third but Weekes was there to make the saves. The penalty kill gave up three goals on eight powerplay chances for Carolina. The third came with the Isles down a man in the final seconds of the game. Aucoin failed to stop Kapanen from making a crazy diving shot to direct the puck into the empty net. Aucoin struggled defensively in this game. Shawn Bates, who had a point in each game of the season up to this point, struggled as well as many of his passes found Hurricane sticks. Nothing seems to be going the Isles way right now. When coach Laviolette expressed this following the win over Atlanta, he should have saved it for this game because it was never more evident than tonight. Fight Card: None Commentary: This is not a good start to the home stand. Perhaps they can right the ship with Florida coming into town Thursday night. But if they don't work on anything else Wednesday in practice, they MUST work to improving the special teams. I want to say right now that they should concentrate on the powerplay more, but if the penalty kill falters then it's not going to matter what you do on the powerplay. Also, they have to get more creative on offense. They are getting all these shots, but the goaltenders are seeing them all. Webb Practicing: Steve Webb is back practicing after suffering his latest bout with his sore back. Laviolette didn't want to rush him back into playing without some practice time first.
Report Card: Brad Isbister: Did not take the puck to the net enough tonight. And though it seems he is trying hard, he only has one goal to show playing on the top line with Yashin. Oleg Kvasha: He had 4 shots in this game? Maybe they should look at this again. I don't think anyone will be able to recall 4 shots on goal in this game by Oleg Kvasha. Six games and no points. He wants to play on the top line? 14 out of 15 regulars have at least one point for the Islanders to this point. Kvasha is the only one scoreless. Now he left the game with a bruised ankle after blocking a shot late in the second period. So his status for Thursday night will probably be up in the air. Alexei Yashin: He only has 2 goals and no assists. But the reason he has no assists is because Isbister and Kvasha can't score. Shawn Bates: Struggled tonight. 5 game point streak ended. It tied the longest of his career. Many passed he made tonight ended up on Hurricane sticks. Mark Parrish: Played ok. Three game goal scoring streak ended, Isles unbeaten streak ended. Raffi Torres: good game. played with grit and through some big hits that got under some of the Hurricane defensemen's skin, especially Glen Wesley. Dave Scatchard: bit of a quiet night. Got some time on the powerplay without any results. Arron Asham: after almost seeming to turn his luck around, Asham once again had a very poor game. In the third period he had the puck stripped off his stick clean while Carolina went back the other way for a scoring chance. Jason Wiemer: Not a bad game. Should have gotten an assist on the Lapointe goal that wasn't credited. Jason Blake: Had a bunch of shots, 5 in all. But none of them went in. Blake got some powerplay time as well, but he just can't finish. Claude Lapointe: Lappy played well with his second goal in as many games and I guess was the Isles number one star tonight. Justin Mapletoft: is getting more and more responsibility from the coaching staff. His smarts and poise has Joe Micheletti raving that he'll be a good player in this league. Defense: Roman Hamrlik: struggled to keep the puck in the offensive zone two different times in the second period on the powerplay. Adrian Aucoin: struggled defensively in the game a little, but perhaps that's because he gets so much icetime. As of writing this i'm not sure how much ice he saw tonight. Eric Cairns: played limited duty. Kenny Jonsson: Never shoots the puck on the powerplay. Always dishes it off to either Yashin or Aucoin. SHOOT Kenny!! Radek Martinek: played a little more than his 7 minutes against Atlanta. tonight he got about 10 minutes. Obviously he didn't take care of Adams on Carolina's first goal which set the tone. Mattias Timander: average game. not too flashy. Goal: Garth Snow: Laviolette said Snow would get more games this season. But with this important home stand getting underway you would think that maybe Osgood would get a chance to start it and turn his fortunes to this point around with the crowd on his side. Then Snow could have started against the weaker Florida squad. But Snow got the call, which is ok. But he wasn't as sharp as he was in Philly last week and it showed. Though it's hard to fault him on the two powerplay goals in the second. But when you don't give up many shots in the games you play, yet the opponent is winning....you have to start questioning the goaltenders. Coach: Lavvy is clearly upset with the way the bounces have gone thus far. He could have pulled Garth after the third goal but hive him credit for leaving him in. Even though the Isles are widely outshooting their opponents, as we have seen 20 shots is still enough to win a hockey game if you are not getting it done defensively and on the special teams when it counts.
Hurricanes 4, Islanders 1
Lineups: ISLANDERS DEFENSE GOALTENDERS
CAROLINA HURRICANES DEFENSE GOALTENDERS
Power-play Conversions:
CAR - 3 of 8, NYI - 0 of 9.
IslesInfo Pregame Preview Preview Opportunity Knocks Oct 21: The Islanders are about to embark on a period of the season that could have big ramifications on their playoff hopes come April. That's because their next four games are on home ice. AND, nine of their next eleven are at Nassau Coliseum. - With this big home stand coming up, starting tonight against the defending Eastern Conference Champion Carolina Hurricanes, the Islanders need to start to gel and refine some areas that have caused them problems throughout the first five games. For one, they need to tighten up defensively. The Islanders have allowed 17 goals so far, which places them around the middle of the pack in the conference. But to climb up the standing the Isles are going to have to start getting stingy and get under a goals against average of three. Secondly, Chris Osgood needs to start getting hot and contribute to that goals against average. Right now his numbers are pretty bad. Maybe he should look at tapes from last October when he was named player of the month. Or at least look to how he played during the preseason when he went 3-0. Thirdly, the defense has to tighten up and prove that they are one of the best corp in the conference. The Islanders have allowed a league low 22 shots per game thus far, but like I mentioned have a GAA over three. That has to change. - One good thing going for the Isles right now is the cohesion of the lines. The offense is starting to gel. Though the top lines needs to produce a little more. Oleg Kvasha has yet to record a point this season and Brad Isbister has only one goal. Though both are doing other things well. Also, Alexei Yashin has just 2 points so far, both goals. The second line is compensating with offense as Shawn Bates leads the team in scoring, Mark Parrish is scoring timely goals and Raffi Torres has jump started the line with some spark and hard edged play. Torres leads all NHL rookies with 3 assists. The third line is playing very well led by rejuvenated scorer Dave Scatchard. Arron Asham struggled early on but is getting better and had three assists in five games. If Jason Wiemer can continue to contribute offensively that line will be alright. And the fourth line is looking very well also with Justin Mapletoft learning defense from the likes of Claude Lapointe and speedy Jason Blake. He has also contributed on the scoreboard and killing penalties. In fact the Islanders need to improve their special teams play. They have logged a specialty teams goal in every game, including 3 powerplay goals and two shorthanded goals. But, they are ranked 28th in the league on the PP going 3-35. The PK is ranked 26th going 25-32. Preview: As mentioned earlier, the Isles begin a four game home stand tonight against Carolina. Florida, Philadelphia and Phoenix also come into town later in the week. The Isles will then visit Carolina for a game before returning for two more games on home ice to start November. Following that the Isles will have three more games at home after a brief trip to Montreal. Carolina has gotten off to a bit of a slow start with a record of 2-3-0-1. They have a good group of young players surrounded by some excellent veteran leadership in the likes of Ron Francis, Rod Brind'amour and Jeff O'Neill.. Arturs Irbe may get the start though former Islander Kevin Weekes played their last three games including Saturday night in New Jersey, a 3-1 win. Some of the young guys the Isles will need to keep an eye on are Erik Cole and Bates Battaglia. Two more, Josef Vasicek and Tommy Westlund, will miss the game with back injuries. The Isles come off a successful two game road trip in which they gained a comeback point in Philly and a win over Atlanta. They are undefeated in the last three going 2-0-1-0. If the Islanders can get on the board early, they may frustrate the Canes since they are struggling offensively ever since the preseason began. It's hard to stress games this early have such big playoff ramifications, but in a league and conference like this game 1 is just as important as game 82. With Tampa Bay playing so well (but for how long?), it seems like every team will have a chance to make the playoffs except maybe Florida and Atlanta.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Lets Go Isles! |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1998-2003 Tom Mascioli
