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ISLES INFO |
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ISLES INFO |
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Menu NYI Database Transactions
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IslesInfo Comments: Coach Peter Laviolette said that this game was not about the Atlanta Thrashers. It was about the New York Islanders, and how they would play after some inconsistent play throughout the first 4 games of the season. The Isles looked poised to jump all over Atlanta, who played the previous night in an 8-5 loss in Tampa Bay. Dave Scatchard scored just over three minutes into the came as he grabbed a loose puck along the far left boards. Some good forechecking by Arron Asham led to a rocket of a wrister from Scatchard that Atlanta goaltender Milan Hnilicka never had a chance to see, let alone save. As he looked around in bewilderment, Scatchard was celebrating his goal. He purposely was shooting high as he told Stan Fischler during the first intermission since that was the scouting report on Hnilicka. The Islanders lead was short lived as 41 seconds later Patrik Stefan would score his third of the year when Atlanta rushed the net. Chris Osgood was back in net for the Isles and seemed to struggle once again amidst not seeing much action in the game. The game remained tied at 1-1 until the 17:53 mark of the first period. That was when the Isles began to take over the game. Jason Blake, who had another spectacular game, utilized his speed and sped into the offensive zone before feeding the puck to Scatchard. As he rounded the net Scatch sent the puck into the slot where Kenny Jonsson was waiting to fire it over a sprawled Hnilicka. - The Islanders totally dominated the second period as they outshot Atlanta 21-5. At times it seemed like the Isles were on a powerplay even when they were skating even strength. The Isles were getting to every loose puck and playing their game in the offensive zone. Unfortunately they were only able to get one goal out of it. Raffi Torres carried the puck into Atlanta's end and waited along the right side boards before shoveling a pass over to Shawn Bates. Bates skated in down low avoiding a check and when he reached far enough Bates sent over a goal mouth pass to Mark Parrish. A tough play but Bates some how got it across and Parrish finished it up high for his team leading 3rd goal of the season. He is tied now with Scatchard. Torres got his third assist in as many games and Parrish scored in his third straight game. Chris Osgood made a huge diving save in the second to keep the Islanders ahead by two goals going into the third period. - 2:37 into the third the Thrashers got what they were looking for as they attempted to get back into the game. Dan Snyder recorded the second goal of his career to make it 3-2. It was another play in which Atlanta rushed and crowded the Islanders net. Things were not looking good for the Islanders when at 5:13 Kirill Safronov would get the first goal of his NHL career to tie the game at 3-3. Safronov got an easy tap in at a wide open net when the puck was sent through Osgood's feet down low. The Islanders didn't let up at that point even after Oleg Kvasha took a tripping penalty to put Atlanta on the powerplay. Blake continued to shine with his excellent speed and penalty killing for the Isles. At 7:49 of the period the Isles would gain a lead back when Jason Wiemer would score his first as an Islander. He received a pass from rookie Justin Mapletoft and skated into Atlanta's zone. Wiemer floated a shot on net and defenseman Adrian Aucoin managed to screen Hnilicka to put the Isles up 4-3. The Islanders would go back up by two, 5-3, at 11:57 of the third on a nifty pass from behind the net by Mapletoft to Claude Lapointe. Mapletoft, with his first 2 NHL points, showed a lot of patience before finding Lapointe in the slot. Claude punched the puck into the net to give the Isles an insurance goal. And they needed it. With 1:51 remaining in the game Atlanta drew to within one when Vyacheslav Kozlov scored on the powerplay. Torres took a double minor for highsticking that enables Atlanta to be a man up. Luckily for the Islanders, the goal was scored on the second advantage. With a little over a minute and a half left the Islanders played great defensivle and didn't give the Thrashers much of a chance after they pulled their goaltender. The Islanders pulled out the 5-4 win and improve their record to 2-2-1-0. Fight Card #1: Jason Wiemer vs. Francis Lessard. This fight took place late in the first period. Lessard is known for his fisticuffs. Wiemer held his own with Lessard as both players attempted to trade punches. Wiemer landed a punch early on Lessard's face that gave him a slight cut on the cheek. Lessard landed some at the end and managed to get Wiemer down to one knee. Slight edge goes to Lessard. Fight Card #2: Eric Cairns vs. Lessard. You can pretty much always count on Cairns to come through in a fight. Lessard looked like he had Cairns at one point when he threw some heavy punches. But Cairns held him at a distance and came back with some haymakers of his own. This fight was pretty even with a slight edge going to Cairns. Commentary: The Islanders needed this win, especially against Atlanta who have not won yet this season and were hungry to get one. They showed a lot tonight by regaining their 2 goal lead. Also, it's nice to see that the fourth line could chip in with two goals at crucial times, proving that the Isles are more balanced than in the past. The Islanders could have been leading this game 8-1 after the second period. They hit the post twice including an in front shot on the powerplay by Parrish that would have been his second of the game. Coach Laviolette showed alot of confidence in Justin Mapletoft as he killed penalties regularly. He was also on the ice in the closing seconds of the game when Atlanta pulled their goalie. All in all, the Islanders are back to .500. They are undefeated in the last three and will be looking to go over .500 for the first time this season Tuesday night against Carolina at home. The Isles next four games are at home. Martinek Returns: Radek Martinek made his season debut tonight. He returned early from bruised ribs. This helped to fortify the Isles defense. Ray Schultz sat out the game. The game was Martinek's first since November 27th of last season. He played well sparingly at times. He has a knack of getting into hairy situations and got rubbed hard into the boards during the second period, resulting in a cut lip.
Report Card: Brad Isbister: played well. Though the Isles top line has not fully gotten going yet with Kvasha scoreless in 5 games and Yashin with just 2 goals. Oleg Kvasha: See above. Played well defensively though. Always feel like something could happen when he has the puck and uses his big frame. Alexei Yashin: Always an offensive threat. Had his share of chances, including a partial breakaway off a drop pass from Bates. Shawn Bates: Recorded an assist on the Parrish goal as he made a beautiful pass. Leads the team in scoring with 1-4-5 in 5 games, averaging a point per game. Mark Parrish: Scored in his third straight game. When he scores the Isles are usually on the win column. Raffi Torres: Third straight game with an assist. Has really filled in nicely on the second line. Throws the body well. Dave Scatchard: A goal and an assist in the game for 2 points. Scored the games first goal to get the Isles started. Arron Asham: Had his best game as an Islander. Got some shots off and played well physically. Has 3 assists in 5 games. Jason Wiemer: Also had his best game as an Islander. Scored a big shorthanded goal in the third to regain the lead. Jason Blake: Kills penalties fast, plays offensively fast. Does everything fast! Claude Lapointe: Scored what would be the game winner. A leader who will only rub off even more on the young Mapletoft. Justin Mapletoft: got his first two NHL points as he assisted on both Islander third period goals. Defense: Roman Hamrlik: Hamrlik had a few good shots on goal tonight. When the night was done he was a +4. Adrian Aucoin: Always steady on defense. Leads the league in average ice time at about 35 minutes. Eric Cairns: Got some revenge on Lessard after the Thrasher decisioned Wiemer earlier on. Cairns got an assist when he helped generate the game winner by Lapointe. Kenny Jonsson: Scored his first goal of the season. The Islanders need his offense and smarts. He knows just when to join the rush. Radek Martinek: was very steady in his first game back in almost a year. Will get more icetime and better as the games go on. Mattias Timander: Not too flashy but steady and adds another strong presence on the Islanders blueline. Goal: Chris Osgood: Once again, did not exactly have a strong game. He did not see much action, especially in the second period. He did make a couple big saves including a spectacular stack of the pads to rob Shawn McEachern in the third period to keep the Islanders ahead. Coach: Lavvy took the Islanders timeout on the second of two 5 on 3 opportunities for the Isles during the first period. The Islanders didn't score on either one, and you know what that usually means when a team doesn't take advantage of a 5 on 3 in a game. But it wasn't a big factor in the game. Lavvy noted after the game that even thought the Isles dominated and should have had a bigger lead, it just seems right now that nothing is coming easy for the team.
Islanders 5, Thrashers 4
Lineups: ISLANDERS DEFENSE GOALTENDERS ATLANTA DEFENSE GOALTENDERS
Power-play Conversions:
NYI - 0 of 7, ATL - 1 of 7.
IslesInfo Pregame Preview Preview Isles Look to Get a Lead Isles vs. Atlanta: The Isles have been waiting in Atlanta for the Thrashers to return home from their trip to Tampa, where they lost a high scoring game Friday night 8-5 to the Lightning. The rested Isles will look to take advantage of a young Thrashers squad. Oct 19: The Atlanta Thrashers spent some money this summer and brought in some veteran players in hopes that together with some of the young talent they have the team will have more hopes of making some noise in the Eastern Conference. But they are still far away from doing that. You still have to come out and give 100% against them, as the Islanders know they need to do against any team in the league. The Thrashers are led by young sophomore guns Dany Heatley and Ilya Kovalchuk. You may remember last season Kovalchuk had his hopes of winning the Calder Trophy dashed when he injured his shoulder in a March 10th game at Nassau Coliseum. Goaltending is shaky with former Islander draft pick Milan Hnilicka as their top guy. Last night against the Lightning Pasi Nurminen was in net as Atlanta lost a 3-1 lead and was pulled when Tampa stormed back to go up 5-3. Atlanta made offseason moves to acquire some more skilled players in Slava Kozlov and Shawn McEachern. On defense they reeled in Richard Smehlik and former Islander Uwe Krupp. But Krupp will not play tonight as he was once again just placed on the injured reserve with a recurring bad back. To replace him the Thrashers have activated Chris Tamer off the IR. Patrik Stefan, another first round pick of the Thrashers that has disappointed thus far to this point in his career, scored 2 goals in the first period against Tampa Bay. McEachern has 4 goals in as many games. In order to win the game tonight the Islanders will have to be strong defensively against Atlanta's top line of McEachern, Heatley and Kovalchuk. It is not known yet if Peter Laviolette will return with Garth Snow or go back to Chris Osgood in net. The Islanders will of course be looking to play with the lead tonight, something they have done very little this year. Instead they gained all their points by being comeback kids in the overtime win against Nashville and tie in Philadelphia. Godard Sent Down: After making his debut Thursday night against the Flyers in what the Islanders felt would be a physical game, Godard was sent back down to Bridgeport so he could take part in the Sound Tigers match up with the Hartford Wolf Pack Friday night. The Sound Tigers defeated Hartford 3-1 on the back of Trent Hunter's 2 goal performance.
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Lets Go Isles! |
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1998-2003 Tom Mascioli
