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ISLES INFO |
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ISLES INFO |
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IslesInfo Comments: The Islanders were also out shot Friday night when they defeated the Edmonton Oilers 4-2. But this was a much different team the Islanders were playing today in the Dallas Stars. The Stars are loaded with prolific scorers in the like of Mike Modano, Bill Guerin and Pierre Turgeon to name a few. So this would surely be the Islanders biggest test of 2002-03 to date. The Stars came in tied for the most points in the NHL with 20 after compiling an 8-3-3-1 record. But on the road they were only 3-3-3-0 so the Islanders were hoping to exploit Dallas's problems on the road. Dallas showed early why they are one of the favorites in the Eastern Conference. They created a lot of offensive chances with their passes and nose for the net. But the Islanders matched with solid defense. The Isles then started taking a few bad penalties including a roughing penalty midway in by struggling Radek Martinek. Dallas would eventually take a 1-0 lead late on the powerplay. Turgeon would grab the puck up by the point near the Isles bench. The Islanders penalty kill really had a bad few seconds as Turgeon was able to thread a pass diagonally down into the corner to Modano who was waiting at the side of the net and Chris Osgood. The Islanders were paying special attention to Modano, the Stars leading scorer, early in the game. But once Modano received the pass on the powerplay he quickly sent it across the goal mouth to a waiting Jere Lehtinen. Lehtinen bounced it in off Osgood for his 6th goal of the season. Just when you thought that the goal might propel Dallas into taking control of the game, the Islanders hung in. After a failed powerplay attempt for the home team, the Islanders once again found themselves down a man. With Dallas controlling the puck at the blueline, Darryl Sydor sent a very hard pass over to Sergei Zubov who couldn't handle it. Shawn Bates jumped all over it and used his speed to jump out ahead of the defensemen. As Bates closed in on Marty Turco, he ripped a shot over the goaltenders shoulder that was reminiscent of April 24th, 2002 against Curtis Joseph and the Leafs. Bates notched his team leading second shorthanded goal of the season and 4th total. The Islanders were outshot in the period 13-6 but the game was tied 1-1 after the first period. - Don't look now, but the Islanders are improving in their second period play. The game remained tied 1-1 until late in the period. But that had much to do with the play of Osgood, who was stellar in net for the Islanders. Ozzie finally looks like the goaltender from last October as he stopped shot after shot taken by the Dallas Stars. Dallas out shot the Islanders 16-10 in the period and after two led 29-16. But late in the period, with Philippe Boucher off for holding, Richard Matvichuk would get a high sticking call on Arron Asham. So the Islander went up on the 5 on 3, something they haven't been all too successful on as of late. Alexei Yashin got the puck to Roman Hamrlik at the point and Hammer wound up for the shot. The puck headed towards the net a bit high, but suddenly dropped in the crease after hitting a Dallas defenseman right in the face. Eric Manlow, playing in his fourth game for the Islanders, was Johnny on the spot and pounced on the rebound. Manlow slammed home his first career NHL goal to give the Islanders the much needed 2-1 lead going into the third period. - The Islanders came out in the third period and probably played their best hockey defensively. But that didn't stop Dallas's Lehtinen from potting his second goal of the game at 5:51. The Islanders got running around in their own end and were missing defensive assignments. Every time an Islander tried to catch up, the Stars got the puck to an open man. Lehtinen fired the puck into the net from the slot stick side on Osgood for his 7th to tie the game 2-2. The Islanders kept plugging away. Usually when they've had the lead as of late, they are relentless to either keep it or gain it back. 1:52 after Dallas tied it up, the Islanders put on some pressure. The puck strayed out of the Dallas end, only to be directed back into their zone by a Dallas player. The play was kept onsides and Bates made a play at the puck. The puck squirted out into the slot where Manlow skated in to blast a shot on Turco. The goalie made the save, but Jason Blake sped down low to get the rebound. He backhanded it into Turco and bounced it into the back of the net. Blake pumped his arm as he rounded the corner. It was his 2nd of the season and gave the Isles a 3-2 lead at 7:43. Manlow got the lone assist on the goal. The Islanders later in the period had a glorious chance to get the insurance goal when Brad Isbister missed on a wide open point blank shot off a rebound. In the last minute of the game the Islanders let Blake stay out there to kill off the clock while Dallas had an extra man out on the ice. The Isles gained the 3-2 win and improved to 5-9-1-0 and 11 points with an impressive win over a very good team. - Next up will be the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday night, who the Islanders have not beaten at home in the last 7 games which dates back to 1995. Following that game the Islanders will head out on a 5 game road trip that will see stops in Boston, Pittsburgh, Florida, Tampa Bay and will end with a showdown in Madison Square Garden. The Islanders will return home from the trip in late November to play the same Ottawa Senators. With the win, the Islanders leapfrogged over the Toronto Maple Leafs and into a tie for 11th in the Conference with Ottawa. Fight Card: none. Commentary: This was a great win for the Isles. Not only is it their second in a row, but a boost to beat such a good team as Dallas. The Islanders swept the season series in 2001-02 by winning both games. But this is clearly a different Dallas team. And finally the Isles beat a good team, a team over the .500 mark. They still have some work to do to get back to the .500 level. Not only does this help give them confidence, but it also helps the team come closer together by building a winning streak, the first of the season. Hopefully they can keep this thing going. Especially Osgood. If he keeps playing this way, like we all know he can, then the Islanders definitely will make some noise and earn some wins.
Report Card: Brad Isbister: Had a pretty good game. Should have buried that shot though late in the third period. But Turco was up to the challenge. Give him credit. Alexei Yashin: Maybe it's just me, but Yashin just seems to be sluggish out there. Could he be tired? Or could it be the linemates thing? We've all heard the recent trade rumors to try and bring Yashin some "friends". The Russian kind. But like Milbury said, those were things he should have done over the summer. Shawn Bates: Another fantastic game. Who would have ever thought when the Islanders signed Bates that he would be leading the team in scoring one day. Well right now he is and over the last two years has supplied Islander fans with probably some of the most exciting goals in team history. He's the only player so far even averaging close to a point per game. Mark Parrish: Played pretty well defensively today. Could have gotten a few more offensive chances on the powerplay though. But he did have 3 shots. Yashin only had 1. Dave Scatchard: After his great game against Edmonton, the Islanders are crossing their fingers right now that Scatchard won't miss any serious time after leaving the game in the first period. He took what seemed to be a pretty weak shot from Brad Isbister right on the back of the skate heel, where there's not a lot of protection. Reports after the game was that Scatchard had his foot x-rayed and further news will be given when known. Last season Scatchard missed part of training camp and the start of the season with a broken foot. He took a long time to recover from it once he returned to the ice. Jason Wiemer: Seems to be getting more involved physically latey, but doesn't get a whole lot of ice time. He did replace Scatchard on the Isbister, Asham line after Scatch left the game. Jason Blake: Was named the third star, but easily could have been named the first star. He's all over the place and simply puts in 100% every game. His goal was timely and well deserved for a guy that works so hard. And a BIG minus goes out to TSN.ca for referring to Blake as "John Blake". Claude Lapointe: Lappy is probably the best player in the league with no hands. He made a beautiful play in the second and took the puck right to the net, but fanned on the tuck in. It was a good play though as he drew a penalty on the play. Steve Webb: Took the body well on a couple of shifts. Eric Manlow: Not bad for a "minor leaguer". Great to see. This was Manlow's best game of his career. Peter Laviolette has prior knowledge of Manny and used him right at the right time. Congrats to Eric for notching his first and hopefully he can notch a few more. Played well defensively too. Mattias Weinhandl: scratched. Arron Asham: This was one of his better games as well. He drew a couple penalties tonight and had a good scoring chance stopped on a partial breakaway. Oleg Kvasha: Played well with limited ice time. Laviolette is slowly working him back in. He did see powerplay and penalty kill time though tonight, unlike Friday night. Defense: Roman Hamrlik: Has been playing some of the best defense lately he has played in a long time. Recorded an assist on the Manlow goal. Adrian Aucoin: Saw a lot of ice tonight once again with the absence of Kenny Jonsson. He leads the league in ice time, but probably leads in missed shots as well. Also, Aucoin has been making some bad decisions lately. If you are going to get all that ice time, and be an impact on the game, he has to start making better decisions. Eric Cairns: Played well defensively and positionally. Kenny Jonsson: out with flu. Some have questioned if it has anything to do with his concussion history, especially after the hit by Mariusz Czerkawski Thursday. Jonsoon reportedly told doctors that his head was bothering him along with his back. Stay tuned for more on that. Hopefully it has nothing to do with concussions and he returns without any problems. Radek Martinek: Struggled in the first period and took a bad penalty after getting whipped into the boards. But he got stronger as the game went on. Laviolette is well aware that Martinek has struggled after returning from his injury. But feels the only way he can get his game back is to play him. Mattias Timander: Had an exceptionally good third period defensively. Was making plays in the defensive end and getting the puck out of the zone. Along with blocking a few shots. Sven Butenschon: Assistant coach Jacques Laperriere mentioned that he was very impressed with the play of Butenschon against Edmonton. Butenschon played well again in limited duty. He used his big reach to knock the puck off of Modano's stick to break up a scoring chance. Goal: Chris Osgood: He finally stole some points for the Islanders. He has been like night and day in the last couple games compared to his play in October and early November. Very focused. He said he's not happy with where the Isles are at and he seemed focused to get them back to where they want to be. Can he keep it going against Ottawa Tuesday night? Coaches: Laviolette said he was kinda unhappy with the Islanders play against Edmonton, saying that they gave up too many chances and were not as good as they could be defensively. At time you could think that about today since Dallas had such a control of the shot clock. But as we've learned in 2002-03, leading in shots doesn't equate to a win. Lavvy took a good timeout in the second period and didn't say anything to his players. He let them know that he didn't like what was going on and they needed to focus more. PK & PP Both teams went 1-5 on the powerplay. Manlow got the big go ahead goal in the second on the 5 on 3, where the Islanders have struggled lately. Bates scored the awesome shorthander in the first. The Isles gave up a bad powerplay goal to Dallas where they were allowed to make tick tack passes until it ended up in the net. In all, not a bad game on the specialty teams. GM: Is Milbury, even though he's in Finland, contemplating a deal with Florida for Russians Viktor Kozlov and Dmitri Yushkevich? Like I said on the rumors page, Kozlov is big and would look nice next to Yashin. But he's never scored more than 17 goals in a season. Yushkevich is tough but just coming off that weird blood clot injury to his leg with the Leafs last season. Val Bure is still mentioned as a possible. Isbister is mentioned as the key going back in any deal. Scatchard too, but now he is hurt. Yashin may need some friends, but I doubt it would matter if they were from Russia. Just get someone who can put the puck in the net(Shawn McEachern?) and he'll be happy. If Scatchard is out: The Islanders could re-insert Mattias Weinhandl who has been a healthy scratch rather then sent back down to Bridgeport. Perhaps the Islanders want him to learn some by watching a few games. Bridgeport though is in a series of 4 games in 5 nights and could probably have used him. But if Scatchard is out he may or may not get back in there. Trent Hunter, who seems to score in every Bridgeport game but not in the NHL, could get yet another chance if the Islanders feel he can finally produce. With Scatchard being a center iceman, other players will have to fill in up the middle. This is all conjecture and hopefully Scatchard will return soon if not Tuesday night.
Islanders Edge Stars 3-2
Lineups: ISLANDERS DEFENSE GOALTENDERS DALLAS STARS DEFENSEMEN GOALTENDERS
Power-play Conversions:
DAL - 1 of 5, NYI - 1 of 5.
IslesInfo Pregame Preview Preview Can Ozzie Keep it Going? Nov 10: The Isles finally got the win they desperately needed, but they still have a long road ahead of them. And the opponents do not get any easier. Fresh off the heals of their 4-2 win over Edmonton, Chris Osgood will look for another against Dallas. Isles vs. Dallas Preview: Good news all around for the Islanders as they head into Sunday's Matinee game against the very strong Dallas Stars. First, they ended their 6 game losing streak with a solid effort from Osgood and gang Friday night against the Oilers. Friday was a light night in the NHL, so the Isles were able to gain some much needed ground. Saturday night, every team in the Eastern Conference played, except for the Islanders. Luckily, every team in the Atlantic Division lost their respective games, which gives the Isles yet another chance to gain some ground on Sunday. They also will be the only Eastern Conference team in action. But it will not be easy. The Dallas Stars are currently tied for the most points in the NHL with 20 as they have compiled an 8-3-3-1 record. On the road though, they are an average 3-3-3-0. The Islanders will really need a strong game from Osgood as he will face some very prolific scorers in the Stars lineup. Defense will be key, and staying out of the box. The powerplay will be integral for the Isles. If the Isles can pull out a win they can leap frog over Toronto and tie Ottawa for 11th in the conference. Both teams lost their games Saturday night as well. With Montreal winning their game, they improved to 16 points and moved into 8th place. That once again puts the Isles 7 points out. Kenny Jonsson is still listed as day to day after suffering from a virus. It will be interesting to see if Dave Scatchard and Brad Isbister can keep up their good play as of late. Both have been mentioned in trade rumors recently and seem to be playing better together on a line with Arron Asham. The Islanders are also looking to keep improving their home record which is currently 3-6-0-0. Revamped Stars in for Matinee The Dallas Stars are never one for saving money. In the summer of 2001 Dallas shelled out some bucks to sign former Islander Pierre Turgeon, Donald Audette and Valeri Kamensky. Only Turgeon remains after Dallas failed to make the playoffs in last year. So what did Dallas do in the summer of 2002? They just about signed every key free agent that was available with another spending spree. Their biggest signing was that of prolific goal scorer Bill Guerin. Add to that the signings of Scott Young, Ulf Dahlen and Philippe, and you got a team looking to challenge once again in the West. First and foremost though, Dallas already had the biggest piece in place, and that's their scoring leader Mike Modano. Through their first 15 games Modano has gone 8-10-18 and is currently 6th in the NHL in scoring. Guerin is 5-9-14 in 15 games played. Their top defensman is Sergei Zubov who has gone 1-12-13 in 15 games. Dahlen has been one of the biggest surprises for them as he has contributed 7 goals along with 4 assists for 11 points in 15 games. On player finally starting to come into his own for the Stars is Brendan Morrow(no relation to Ken). He has gone 5-5-10 in 15 games. The Stars have 5 players with over 10 points already. Add to that another 9 points by both d-man Darryl Sydor and normally defensive forward Jere Lehtinen, who has 5 goals. Boucher has a goal and 8 points. - Another big surprise, but maybe not to Islander fans, is the 5 goals that former Isles Rob DiMaio has chipped in so far. And Islander fans will get a chance to practice their boo calls everytime Jerk....ahem, Kirk Muller gets out on the ice. Isn't it amazing how Muller and Turgeon, traded for each other back in 1995, have ended up as teammates? Turgeon has perhaps struggled a bit offensively so far going 3-3-6 in 15 games. In goal for the Stars will most likely be Marty Turco. You may remember the Isles defeating the Stars when they went on their 11-1-1-1 start last season. It was thanks to an overtime goal by Michael Peca when he roofed the puck into the net over Turco's glove hand on a breakaway.
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Lets Go Isles! |
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1998-2003 Tom Mascioli
