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ISLES INFO |
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ISLES INFO |
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IslesInfo Comments: The Islanders got a boost coming into this game as RW Mattias Weinhandl returned to the lineup after missing a little over 2 weeks, 8 games, when he sprained his shoulder in practice. Also back in the lineup was Oleg Kvasha, who had some success last season against the Red Wings. RW Eric Godard was returned to Bridgeport earlier in the day and RW Arron Asham was once again sat out after slumping recently. The Islanders came out and had some jump as they were looking to stop recent trends of giving up leads early. They also knew how deadly their opponent could be. It paid off early when Radek Martinek would score his first goal of the season from the point as he powered a shot by Detroit goaltender Curtis Joseph at just the 54 second mark. Joseph, returning to the Nassau Coliseum for the first time since the playoffs in April, saw Martinek put a clean shot right through his legs for only his 2nd goal of Martinek's NHL career. Alexei Yashin and Shawn Bates drew the assists. Things got a bit feisty midway through when two chippy guys, Jason Blake of the Islanders and Sean Avery of Detroit, tried to draw the other into taking a penalty. The entire meeting between the two was kind of a bit comical, but both players are intense players and Blake did not like Avery crosschecking him in the back over and over again along the boards. Some more intense play went on as Darren McCarty blasted a shot of the left goal post from the right wing side. Dave Scatchard laid a nice hit on a Detroit player coming into the Red Wing zone after the Detroit player attempted to line him up. At 16:48, the Islanders grabbed an impressive 2-0 lead when Blake would skate into the Red Wing's high slot. As he let a pass go down into the slot to Jason Wiemer, the puck managed to elude Wiemer's stick and then Joseph's pads and it traveled into the net. Wiemer tried to take the pass but his stick just feathered over it. It turned out good for the Islanders and Blake as he was credited with his 8th goal of the season. The goal tied his NHL career high of last season. - The Islanders continued the jump early in the second period and were getting noticeable contributions from every player. Eric Cairns was even jumping up into the play and keeping the puck down low, setting up chances against the high powered Red Wings. Detroit came into the second period without Joseph as former New York Islander and current Detroit Red Wing coach Dave Lewis pulled the goaltender and placed Manny Legace in net. Legace was just coming off IR. Midway through the period, the Isles had a glorious chance to go up 3-0 when Yashin, Weinhandl and Bates broke in on a 3 on 1. Yashin floated a pass over to Bates at the top of the slot. Bates wound up with everything he had but unfortunately missed the net with the high shot. Not too long thereafter, Detroit would cut the Isles lead in half when Igor Larionov, the oldest player in the NHL at 42, would score his second goal of the season when he slammed home a roof job by Chris Osgood after receiving a pass out of the corner by Brendan Shanahan. Larionov was all alone and unguarded out front. Detroit out shot the Islanders in the second period 14-6. - The third period saw the Islanders' Michael Peca continue to keep Detroit's Sergei Fedorov off the board. Peca kept close watch of Fedorov the entire game. Osgood was making spectacular saves and keeping the Islanders up by one. But Detroit turned on the heat and the Islanders were not playing with the same jump they had earlier in the game. At 6:56, Fedorov would finally get a point when he and Luc Robitaille, the all-time leading scorer among left wings in NHL history, banged away at the puck in Osgood's crease. Robitaille would direct a rebound off the shoulder of Osgood and tie the game up at 2-2 with only his 4th goal of the season. It was his first goal in 10 games. The Islanders continued to play more conservative like they didn't want to give up another goal. With 1:23 remaining in the game, Chris Chelios would trip up Brad Isbister as the Isles forward tried to retrieve a puck that drifted into the neutral zone. If the Isles didn't score they would be on the powerplay going into overtime. But Detroit also leads the NHL with 9 shorthanded goals and would be a threat late in the game as well. Yashin lost the puck in the Red Wings zone and Kris Draper found himself all alone on a breakaway with his best friend Osgood. Draper faked to his backhand and Ozzie came up huge with the save to keep it 2-2. In the last 30 seconds Fedorov made an attempt to end it when he streaked in, but Kenny Jonsson made a good defensive play to break it up. Fedorov is the all-time leader in OT goals ever since the NHL reinstated overtime back in 1983-84. He already has 2 this season. - The Islanders failed to score in the final 30 seconds of the powerplay entering the overtime session. The teams went back and forth with each getting two shots on goal. Legace was solid for the Red Wing's from the point he entered the game and the Isles could not beat him. Maybe Joseph just seems to struggle against the Isles, especially at the Coliseum. But Legace almost seems to be the better goaltender. Osgood came up huge in the extra session as a couple of times he made some blind toe saves to keep the game tied. Isbister was tripped up in the final minute and there was no call much to the Islander fans dislike. Isbister would have had a clear open shot on Legace but may have taken too long to let it go. He may also have not gotten a call since he already got one with less than 2 minutes to go in regulation. Give the Islanders some credit for playing a team to a tie that often would skate 5 men out on the ice that will be future hall of famers. The Islanders did a good job at keeping a few of them off the scoreboard. It was a bit of a disappointing tie because the led 2-0. But against Detroit you take the point and move on. The Isles are now winless in their last 4 at 0-2-2. They have struggled as of late with third period leads. They are now 9-0-2 when entering the third period with a lead. The two ties coming recently against Florida and Detroit. Next Up: The Islanders travel to Minnesota to take on the red hot Wild. Coach Jacques Lemaire has the Wild playing the best of any of the recent expansion teams. The Wild right now have the second best record in the NHL with 43 points after defeating Edmonton 4-3 in overtime tonight. The Islanders will have to play just as well or maybe even better against the 18-8-6-1 Wild, especially on their home ice. The Standings: The Isles move to 5 points behind the Maple Leafs for a playoff spot. They are 6 points behind Carolina for 7th in the East and 7 points behind Montreal for 6th. The Canadiens lost 3-1 to San Jose tonight. Pittsburgh lost again 5-2 tonight in Phoenix and the Isles move to within 2 points of Florida, Pittsburgh and Washington. They are 4 points behind the Rangers, who won 2-1 in OT against San Jose with guys like Billy Tibbetts and Gordie Dwyer in the lineup. - Carolina hosts Tampa Bay in a
battle for the Southeast Division Wednesday night. The Leafs are in
Florida to face the Panthers in a game the Islanders will have an eye on. Almost Fight Card: none. Not in this game. Though Jason Blake and Sean Avery had a nice little get together. That would have been an interesting battle of the mighty mights. Commentary: Another tough point lost. But it was impressive that we had jumped out to a 2-0 lead. If Detroit had kept Curtis Joseph in there the Islanders would surely have skated away with a win. Legace came in and stopped the flood gates. Lately, when there is one line for the Islanders gelling, the other lines are struggling. After starting the month of December strong, the Islanders are now 3-2-2 and just continue to hover around 5 points out. Keep an eye on the trade deadline which is set at Thursday because of the holiday freeze coming up. Though don't expect anything to happen. I was worried about this game but the Islanders played well and came away with a point. Now I feel the same way about Thursday night against Minnesota. Maybe even more with the Isles traveling there. They'll need a another great effort against Marian Gaborik and crew.
Report Card: Brad Isbister: Not bad. Tried to control the puck on a few plays and drew the late penalty. Had a glorious chance taken away late in the OT. Alexei Yashin: Had an assist on the Martinek goal. Has had a few point streaks as of late but for some reason he can't seem to score. His 8 goals has him on pace to score in the low 20's on the season which would be very low for Yashin. Shawn Bates: Bates is finally hot as he notched another assist and is once again second on the team in scoring behind Yashin. He didn't get many chances shorthanded to score. Mark Parrish: Had one good chance to score when he took the puck to the net in the first period. But otherwise he was pretty quiet on the night. Dave Scatchard: Had one good hit in the first period when a Detroit player tried to line him up. Scatchard has been a bit quiet as of late offensively compared to his linemates Jason Wiemer and Jason Blake. Jason Wiemer: Good game with an assist tonight. Luckily he didn't touch that Blake goal or else it could have not gone in. Wimer had 5 shots on goal in the game, but at time he still makes glaring defensive plays and bad passes. Jason Blake: Was once again the best Islander forward on the ice. It's amazing how much his puck control has improved this season. And it's all at high speed. Blake scored his career tying 8th career goal and is only one off of team leading Isbister and Parrish who both have 9. Claude Lapointe: Had a couple shifts on the top line, with one great chance to score on a rebound. Played well defensively. Steve Webb: Played ok but never really had any big chances to line somebody up. Sean Avery took a penalty for elbowing Webb early on. Arron Asham: Like I mentioned last update, his MO is to get scratched and then come back with a vengeance. Eventually he cools off and the cycle continues. Now he's caught in the numbers game with Weinhandl getting back in the lineup and the uncertainty of Oleg Kvasha staying in the lineup. Oleg Kvasha: Inserted back into the lineup after being scratched for two straight and 3 out of the last 5. Oleg played mostly on the fourth line with a few appearances on the top line with Yashin. He was booed by the Islander fans early on. He basically did nothing but lose the puck a few times. With Jason Blake in the penalty box during the first period, he got some penalty killing time as well. Michael Peca: Shadowed Sergei Fedorov and was quite effective at it limiting the Red Wing to just one assist. Fedorov still had 4 shots on goal and Peca wasn't much of a factor offensively. Mattias Weinhandl: Got back into the lineup after missing 8 games and didn't look out of place in the first period. As the game went on and became more crucial he got less ice time. Perhaps Laviolette didn't feel he was at his game 100% yet. Eric Godard: sent to Bridgeport. Defense: Roman Hamrlik: Out with separated shoulder. Adrian Aucoin: Led the Islanders with 6 shots on goal. Added an assist on the Blake goal. Eric Cairns: One of his best games of the season. He was solid at both ends of the ice and made some nice offensive plays especially in the second period. Kenny Jonsson: Not as good as he was in the previous two games. Was not jumping into the offense and struggled a bit around his own net. Radek Martinek: Nice shot that he scored on against Curtis Joseph. Martinek has gained his confidence back and has been a steady defenseman for the Islanders for the last month. He is starting to gain some offensive confidence that will help the Isles immensely. He's also been suffering from a bit of the flu lately. Mattias Timander: Was ok. But needs to get more involved offensively. Goal: Chris Osgood: A good showing against his former team. Ozzie finally recorded his first point against the Red Wings since coming over to the Islanders off waivers before last season. Osgood is 2-2-2 in his last six games and his GAA is steadily improving. Look for him to be right back in there when the Isles travel to take on the tough Minnesota Wild.
Coaches Laviolette called a timeout late in the game before going on the powerplay that could have won it. The Isles didn't score and have struggled on the PP in crucial moments. Kelly Miller is in charge of the powerplay. But you can't fault him. The Islanders just don't have enough finishers or creativeness on the extra man. Special Teams The 21st ranked powerplay went 0-4 on the night. The red hot 20th ranked penalty kill went another perfect 6-6 and have now killed 29 straight over the last 7 games. Shawn Bates and crew were unable to get any offense going while shorthanded.
Detroit Red Wings Tie N.Y. Islanders, 2-2
Lineups: ISLANDERS DEFENSEMEN GOALTENDERS DETROIT RED WINGS DEFENSEMEN GOALTENDERS
Power-play Conversions:
DET - 0 of 4, NYI - 0 of 6.
IslesInfo Pregame Preview Preview Isles Fight the Champs Oct 17: The Islanders come into tonight's game against the defending Stanley Cup Champions desperate for a win. As they head into a tough week against some strong opponents, there's some healthy competition going on in the Islanders lineup. Isles vs. Detroit Preview: The Islanders desperate for a win? What else is new this season? Tonight will be no different as the Isles host the Detroit Red Wings at the Nassau Coliseum. Winless in their last 3 games at 0-2-1, the Islanders may get some extremely good news tonight as Mattias Weinhandl is listed as probable to get back into the lineup since sustaining a shoulder sprain in practice a little over 2 weeks ago. The Islander doctors still want to do some final testing on the shoulder. With Weinhandl's possible return, that again raises questions of what will happen with Oleg Kvasha. The enigmatic Russian has been the subject of some controversy this week. Scratched for 3 of the last 5 games, Kvasha was recently quoted as stating "I don't care" when asked how does he feel about Wienhandl's imminent return as well as the call up of tough guy Eric Godard both combining to make Oleg the odd man out. Kvasha recently rephrased the meaning of what he said by stating that he has nothing to do with the addition or return of any player, but can only worry about getting himself back into the lineup. Getting lapped by Weinhandl and assistant coach Kelly Miller in a recent practice during skating drills certainly does not help the often lazy Kvasha's cause. But it's possible he could find himself back in the lineup tonight against the high powered Red Wings. Last October 13, 2001 in an exciting Islander home opener, Kvasha had a career game as he led the Isles with 2 goals and 2 assists. They almost pulled that game out before Detroit tied it up late and Steve Yzerman won it 5-4 in OT. But for Kvasha, he scored more points that night than he has in 17 games this season, where he is 1-2-3. As for Godard, Detroit does have a few good heavy hitters in Darren McCarty and Kirk Maltby. But the Red Wings are heavily filled with skilled players and it could be more of a finesse game. That would suit Weinhandl just fine as his return could possibly reunite the BAM line with Brad Isbister and Alexei Yashin. He would also get a chance to shine against his friend, Detroit rookie Henrik Zetterberg. - Chris Osgood will get his third try to beat his old team tonight. Besides the OT home opener loss last season, the Islanders lost in Detroit 2-1 in November of 2001. Ozzie is 2-2-1 in his last 5 games with a 2.37 GAA. - The top two shorthanded threats in the NHL will be on the ice tonight. Both Shawn Bates and Detroit's Kirk Maltby lead the NHL with 4 shorthanded goals each. Standings: The Islanders come into tonight's game 6 points out of a playoff spot. They trail the Toronto Maple Leafs who surprisingly were shutout by the Atlanta Thrashers last night 1-0. The Islanders are 7 points behind slumping Carolina who are in 7th place in the East. The Isles will have to win this game tonight just to keep up with the three teams ahead of them as Washington, Pittsburgh and Florida all have 29 points. The Rangers with a win last night have 31 points. Pittsburgh is in Phoenix tonight.
Fedorov Leading in Yzerman's Absence Sergei Fedorov always seems to step up his game when Steve Yzerman is out of the lineup. With the Detroit captain not slated to come back until February, Fedorov has plenty of time to shine. His clutch play is evident in his 2 OT goals this season.
Notes: The Red Wings are 5-1-1 in their last 7 games and are coming off a 6-4 win over Columbus Saturday night. Fedorov notched 2 goals and an assist in the win. He scored the game winner and now leads the league with 7 game winning goals. Curtis Joseph will return to the Nassau Coliseum for the first time since leading the Toronto Maple Leafs to a 7 game playoff series win over the Isles back in April. He does not usually fair well on Long Island. Joseph has given up at least 3 goals in each of his last 5 games. Rookie Henrik Zetterberg has a 4 game point scoring streak and is hot on the tail of Chicago's Tyler Arnason for top rookie scorers. Detroit's powerplay is ranked 3rd in the league, which will be a test for perhaps the hottest penalty killing unit in the league. The Islanders have killed 25 straight opportunities over the last 6 games. Not only that, but the shorthanded goals are starting to come for the Isles. But Detroit is no slouch in that area as well. Detroit leads the Central Division with 39 points, one more point than St. Louis. They have a record of 17-8-4-1.
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Lets Go Isles! |
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1998-2003 Tom Mascioli
