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ISLES INFO |
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ISLES INFO |
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IslesInfo Comments: No, Michael Peca did not make any cameo's in this game. Instead the Islanders called up Trent Hunter for another go around, Eric Manlow and talented Mattias Weinhandl. To make room for them the Islanders opted to send Raffi Torres and Justin Mapletoft down to the Sound Tigers. Arron Asham sat out in the press box once again. The Isles were not all that bad in the first period as Laviolette tried inserting the new players into different combinations. It's surprising that the Islanders didn't pull off a true shakeup and sit some of the underachieving forwards on this team, namely Brad Isbister, Dave Scatchard and almost any other Islander you can think of. Instead they replace youth with youth. The Flames got onto the board first grabbing the 1-0 lead. Rob Niedermayer sent the puck in front of the net and Garth Snow as the Flames put on the attack, cycling down low in the corner. As the Islanders luck has been this year, the puck found the skate of Adrian Aucoin, who was chasing Niedermayer, and under Snow into the net. The rookie Chuck Kobasew was originally credited with the goal but it was later given to Craig Conroy. Conroy missed all of the second and third periods after blocking a shot by Radek Martinek. Despite the Islanders once again outshooting the Flames 7-4, Calgary held the lead at the first intermission with the Islanders worst period coming up. Laviolette did not want to team Weinhandl, Hunter and Manlow together like they were in the AHL because of this being a different level. He didn't want the three AHL'ers together. So Hunter and Manlow basically played with Shawn Bates all night. Weinhandl played the wing with Alexei Yashin. - The second period has been horrible for the Islanders this season. They have been outscored 9-0 in the last four games in the second period. But when this period was over the Islanders had actually outplayed the Flames. The Isles led in shots 14-6 largely in part to their physical play as they took the game away from the Flames. But not before Calgary went up 2-0 on a goal by Mathias Johansson, his first in the NHL. Johansson, a 28 year old rookie, took the puck to the front of the net from behind and tucked the puck low once again underneath Snow at 2:37. Kobasew got an assist. But the Isles then started to finally put some pressure on Flames goaltender Jamie McLennan. Aucoin blasted a shot on McLennan but the goaltender made the save virtually by being in front of it. Aucoin grabbed the rebound and circled around the net. As soon as he could Aucoin sent the puck at a sharp angle back out in front to an open Roman Hamrlik. Hammer slammed it by McLennan for his first goal of the season, cutting the Flames lead in half to 2-1. The Isles thought they had tied the game up when Aucoin later rushed the net. As he tried to get his stick on a rebound in close he turned his skate. The puck bounced off his skate and into the net, setting off an angry McLennan. After video replay the referees announced no goal. It was a very hard call to make, but it didn't seem that Aucoin made a distinct kicking motion. Some may think so like the video goal judge, but it seemed like he just led into the puck with his skate. Very tough call. The Islanders continued to battle and skated along with the Flames until late in the period. One of either Aucoin or Hamrlik lobbed the puck up high into the Flames zone. One of the Flame players looked like he was about to play a pop fly and missed it while skating backwards. Weinhandl, who had a good NHL debut, jumped on the player and caused the puck to be coughed up. Mark Parrish grabbed it and sent it back to Yashin in the left circle. Yashin, who has struggled a bit, just threw the puck on net and it found the inside of the far net to tie the game at 2-2 going into the third. - During the second intermission, Flames players were commenting on how the Islanders took the game to them and turned up the physical side of the game. They planned on returning the favor in the third and the Islanders needed to be ready. They needed this game once again. Unfortunately, it was the Flames that carried through. Go to guy Chris Drury showed why the Flames traded for him as he scored his 5th of the season 1:36 into the third. The Flames came out much more physical in the third. So did the Isles but the Flames got the goal. A poorly checked Drury shot it by Snow down low with an assist to a red hot Martin Gelinas. At one point in the second period the Islanders had 10 straight shots on goal. In the third down 3-2 they were finding offensive opportunities few and far between. At 13:36, thanks to another moronic giveaway by Hamrlik on a blind defensive zone pass, the impressive young Kobasew skated in practically on a breakaway. He faked Snow out and backhanded the puck into the back of the net for a 4-2 lead and at that point seemingly iced the win. The Islanders lost their 5th straight and dropped to 3-8-1-0 on the season, a far cry from the start of 2001-02. They also lost their 4th straight on home ice to the visiting Calgary Flames. The Isles head to Montreal for Thursday night. Montreal may start another former Islander goaltender Jeff Hackett. Fight Card: Eric Cairns vs. Craig Berube. Two former teammates. The fight started out good with both players throwing punching, just barely landing. That was before the taller Cairns managed to pull Berube's jersey up over his head. A very perturbed Cairns skated off to the box after the linesmen immediately jumped in to break it up. Decision: Draw. Commentary: Another loss goes by with what seemed like yet another managerial/coaching blunder. At one point, you can see why the Islanders would send down Torres and Mapletoft for the three new guys. Torres was scoreless in the last 5 games playing on the second line and Mapletoft, like Torres, is young and learning. But both were probably the only two players playing with heart and vigor. The shakeup they really should have made was sitting out somebody like Isbister or Wiemer in favor of two or three of these new guys. But instead, Laviolette said he was going with the best lineup to win the game. That being said, they couldn't have started all 5 youngsters including Manlow. But someone should have sat tonight. On another viewpoint, perhaps the Islander regulars were all in the lineup to showcase for a possible future trade, since it was mentioned that many scouts were at the game. -Let's face it folks, Isbister is never going to come through for the Islanders. We don't want to see him end up like the next Todd Bertuzzi, but I would be shocked if he ever turned out to be that good later on if we should get rid of him. Same goes for Kvasha, who is back to skating lightly. Oddly enough, we miss him right now. But he contributes nothing to the team when he's on the ice anyway. - The heading says "we stink". Maybe that's an emotional outburst. Maybe it's an emotional outburst to say we are playing like the worst team in the NHL. But after watching them play, how can you say they're not. They are losing in almost comical ways. Finding ways to lose. Sort of reminds you of two, three years ago doesn't it? They are just not playing as a team at all right now. What happened to the chemistry on this team? Does it have to do with the player changes over the summer? Attitude and morale are very low right now. It's amazing how losing can change everything. - The Islanders should definitely bring back Mapletoft for Thursday night. The only one of the three call up I would leave in there from tonight was Weinhandl. With the Isles lack of offense they need all the skill they can get.
Report Card: Brad Isbister: When he plays well he uses his power and carries the puck to the net. He doesn't do it enough and it really is only one move he has in his bag of tricks. He doesn't go to the net regularly, but just has one strong move to the net from the outside. When he can't make that move his effectiveness is gone. He gets stood up at the blueline far too often. Alexei Yashin: Struggling, but finds a point or two here and there. Still isn't Yashin types of performance. But who are his linemates? Shawn Bates: Has played well offensively, as goon as any Islander or maybe better. But his effectiveness is so much better with Michael Peca on his line. Mark Parrish: Misses Peca as well. Is probably the most offensively gifted scorer on the team after Yashin. Played tonight on Yashin's line. Dave Scatchard: Is making some dumb plays as of late. His early season scoring touch has pretty much disappeared lately. Though he has no regular linemate, except for Wiemer who only has one goal. Nice line tonight: Isbister, Scatchard, Wiemer. Three underachievers. Scatchard less than the other two. Jason Wiemer: See above. Jason Blake: The penalty kill was pretty good tonight, only allowing one goal in 7 tries. The Islanders only had 3 advantages in the game. Referees have it out for us? Claude Lapointe: killed penalties well. Steve Webb: had a couple of good up tempo shifts. Not enough to excite the rest of the team though. Eric Manlow: Not bad. Played well on one particular powerplay when Laviolette reunited him with Weinhandl and Hunter. Later fanned on a scoring chance in front of the net. Then took a 4 minute highsticking penaly with less than 4 minutes remaining in the game. Sealing the Islanders fate. Don't be surprised if he is returned soon to Bridgeport. Mapletoft and Torres could also find their ways back to the Islanders before Thursday's game. Trent Hunter: Had one good shot on McLennan on the powerplay with Weinhandl and Manlow. Later he hesitated 3 or 4 times before taking a screened shot on goal while being open. His defensive game is horrible. At one point in the game it looked like he was almost going to pathetically lose his check deep in the Islanders zone. Mattias Weinhandl: Made a very nice NHL debut. Did take a bad offensive zone holding penalty early in the game that led to the Flames going up 1-0. But later on he showed his offensive creativity and didn't look out of place most of the time alongside Yashin. Deserves another look, the only one of the three call ups, hopefully in Montreal. Defense: Roman Hamrlik: Scored a great goal to get us back into the game and on the board. Then took it away by making a bonehead pass in his own end that made it 4-2 Flames. Adrian Aucoin: Had a very good game and was probably the best Islander on the ice tonight. Eric Cairns: Played well in a few shifts. Held the puck in the offensive zone during a period of pressure. Kenny Jonsson: Was VERY quiet tonight. Is not having a very good season. Where's the KJ that we know who carries the puck out of the zone and makes the smart pass? Is he still hurting from the finger injury? Radek Martinek: Could he be playing timid because of the knee surgery he had last season? That's what the coaching staff believes. But really, besides the great debut Martinek made for us last season before getting hurt, he played in only 23 NHL games. Not much experience at this level. Can he regain form? Mattias Timander: Is not making this team better. Has not really been noticable lately at all. What does he bring to this club? Goal: Garth Snow: The Islanders goaltending woes continue. The only reason Snow's GAA is not as bad as Osgood's GAA is at least Snow's games are somewhat close. Snow gives up 3, 4 goals and loses. Osgood gives up 5 or 6. Snow gave up two pretty soft goals to let the Flames up 2-0 and in the end the Isles lost by two. Coach: Was it the right move to sit out youth for youth instead of benching one of the many underachievers on the team? Laviolette has never had to really bench someone since becoming head coach of the Islanders before 2001-02. He may have to do it for the first time VERY soon.
Flames 4, Islanders 2
Lineups: ISLANDERS DEFENSE GOALTENDERS CALGARY FLAMES DEFENSEMEN GOALTENDERS
Power-play Conversions:
Calgary - 1 of 7, Ny Islanders - 1 of 3.
IslesInfo Pregame Preview Preview Isles Looking for Answers Nov 4: The Islanders face the Calgary Flames tonight at the Nassau Coliseum for a rare Monday night match up. The Flames hold a four games winning streak on the Isles home ice, while the Isles have lost 4 straight. Can the Isles turn this thing around? Isles vs. Calgary Preview: Coming off their most recent loss Saturday night at the hands of the St. Louis Blues, the Islanders should be an embarrassed bunch. Perhaps that and some pride will put a fire under them tonight. If not, the Calgary Flames certainly will. The Islanders have a 2-5-0-0 record on home ice thus far this season. So not only are they squandering away points in the standings, but they are losing an opportunity to make good of a slew of home games early on thanks to scheduling. It may get harder later on in the season if they have to go into opponent's home ice to gain crucial points. Up to this point, the Islanders goaltending has been terrible, but over the weekend everything broke down for the Islanders. Defensive coverage was bad, specialty teams were bad and the Islanders showed no offensive creativity at all. Some players counted on to fill in during the absence of Michael Peca have not stepped up. Mike Milbury put a lot of confidence in wingers Brad Isbister and Oleg Kvasha over the summer. Isbister is only 3-1-4 in 11 games played and Kvasha has missed half the Isles games with a broken foot. Before that he was scoreless in 6 games, the only regular without a point. The Islanders can look back to 2001-02 as a promising note when playing Calgary. Last year they beat the Flames in Calgary and ended an 8 game drought against them. Don't expect to see Michael Peca in the lineup tonight. Laviolette took a stab at motivating the team and getting them to think about other things. Instead the stunt backfired and wreaked of a desperate move in what is still yet a young season. Young Stars Have Flames Improved The Flames come into the Coliseum tonight with a record of 3-3-3-2. The Isles will have their hands full tonight especially with the reigning 2001-02 scoring champ coming into town in Jarome Iginla. Newly acquired Chris Drury round out a dangerous attack. - Drury, playing second line center for the Flames, is 4-10-14 in 11 games. Another new addition that has the Flames doing very well this season is winger Martin Gelinas. He leads the team in goals going 6-6-12 in 11 games and is a plus 6. Iginla is averaging a point per game at 3-8-11 in 11 games. His linemate, Craig Conroy is 4-5-9 in 11 games. All four have put up more points than any Islander, including Alexei Yashin's 8, except for Shawn Bates who is 2-7-9 in 11 games. With the trade of Derek Morris to Colorado, the Flames top defense pairing is Toni Lydman and Robin Regehr. Keep an eye out for rookie Chuck Kobasew who put up big numbers in Kelowna of the WHL last season after a year with Boston College. Bob Boughner, who often likes the rough stuff, will surely be looking for guys like Eric Cairns and Steve Webb. Turek out: The Flames have placed their number one goaltender Roman Turek on injured reserve as of Sunday. Turek broke a finger on his catching hand with about 6 minutes remaining in the Flames 3-0 win over Buffalo Thursday night. His backup, former New York Islander Jamie McLennan started their last game Saturday night in what was a 4-4 tie with Colorado. It is most likely that McLennan will get the call again tonight. All time he is 1-2-0 against the Islanders. It will be an interesting scene to see if the Isles can end their recent woes against their old friend Noodles. Another former Islander, all be it for a very short period, Craig Berube, will be in the lineup to add some toughness for the Flames. Former New York Islander Greg Gilbert has been a very good coach for the Flames. To backup McLennan the Flames have called up Dany Sabourin, who just over the weekend lost back to back games for the Saint John Flames against the Islanders farm team Bridgeport 6-3 Friday night and 1-0 Saturday night with Rick DiPietro getting the both wins and the shutout.
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Lets Go Isles! |
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1998-2003 Tom Mascioli
