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IslesInfo Comments: If this was the season opener for the New York Islanders you would have never known it. They played very uninspired hockey and already showed a possible lack for scoring. Not quite as evident during the preseason, but that's the preseason. The Islanders began the game with a bang as Dave Scatchard scored their first goal of the season on the powerplay just one minute in. Roman Hamrlik and Mattias Timander played the puck to each other at the blue line before sending it in where Scatchard was waiting on the doorstep. Scatch would jab at Buffalo goalie Martin Biron and push the rebound underneath to the back of the net. Shortly after, the momentum totally changed to the Sabres side. This game was penalty filled right to the very end, and seemed to last longer than most average games have lasted this year. The Sabres tied the game three minutes after Scatchard's goal when they got a pretty powerplay goal from Stu Barnes, who took the penalty Scatchard scored on. The Isles allowed the Sabres to make three passes to set up the goal down low. At 13:13 of the period Arron Asham made a terrible flub of the puck off the glass and the puck went up into the air and landed in the crease where Chris Gratton jumped all over it. He ended up taking a wide angle shot but it was a blast top corner over Chris Osgood's glove. Another minute later and Buffalo is up 3-1 thanks to a similar shot goal by Jochen Hecht who rifled one by Ozzie top shelf once again.

- In the second period two former Islanders came back to haunt the team. Tim Connolly had a great game and he put Buffalo up 4-1 at 9:44 of the second. It was another hard shot from the point and Osgood was screened by two different Islanders. At 17:01 Jean-Pierre Dumont made it 5-1 when he was basically allowed to walk right in on Osgood and deke one into the open side of the net. Once more penalty after penalty was being called by the referees. So many that the off ice officials could not keep up. The Islanders blew a chance to get back in the game when they were granted a three minute major advantage after former Islander Taylor Pyatt very uncharacteristically speared Ray Schultz in the chest. But the Isles never even got the opportunity to see it because of canceling penalties of their own.

- The third period was very uneventful and a continuation of players making trips to the penalty box. In fact, this game saw a combined 150 penalty in minutes by both teams which is the most involving a game by the Islanders in 20 years. All those penalties included 4 different fights, which I will get to shortly. Coach Laviolette during his post game comments stated that he was nauseous at the Islanders overall effort and you can pretty much count on it that Friday will be a long day of practice for the New York Islanders. To look at this on any kind of light side, there still is 81 games left to go.

Fight Card #1: Arron Asham vs. Eric Boulton...This was the first of four fights on the night and it happened pretty early in the game when the Islanders were down only 2-1. Asham got in a few good punches, but it seemed like he was a bit overpowered by Boulton who eventually took Arron down to the ice. Decision: Boulton.

Fight Card #2: Eric Cairns vs. Eric Boulton...Things were a little different this time as Boulton went up against the Isles big boy of fists. Cairns never let Boulton get his hands loose or in a position to do anything. Cairns threw punches down at Boulton's head and somewhere in there landed a punch to the nose that bloodied it. Cairns took Boulton down decisively. Win: Cairns

Fight Card #3: Ray Schultz vs. Rob Ray...It still surprises me that the NHL tries to enforce all these rules yet they never really dish out the appropriate calls to players like Ray. He went crazy on Steve Webb earlier in the game for a push and started wailing on him with punches. About 17 PIM's later, Ray was back in the game. With the Sabres leading 5-1 late in the third he went at it with Schultz, who had a pretty bad game. The fight wasn't much better as Ray got the first good punch in and eventually took Schultz down to the ice. Decision: Ray.

Fight Card #4: Jason Wiemer vs. Eric Boulton...Boulton decided to get his third fight in with 2 minutes remaining, which is an automatic game ejection. With his nose all red and stuffed with a plug he grappled with Wiemer who basically punched the back of Boulton's head silly. Not much of a fight but Wiemer had the upper hand. Decision: Wiemer. 

Commentary: What else can be said about this game besides the fact that it was boring for any Islander fan to watch, atrocious and as Peter Laviolette stated, nauseating.

Report Card:

Brad Isbister, Oleg Kvasha: Did they play in this game???

Alexei Yashin: Did all he could without much help. When the score was 3-1 he hit the post with a wide open net that could have changed the momentum of the game.

Shawn Bates: Took a couple bad penalties.

Mark Parrish: Had the most chances offensively but never was able to truly wind up and get a good shot on net.

Trent Hunter: Did not do too much. If that continues he could find himself in Bridgeport at about the 10 game mark.

Dave Scatchard: Got the goal, but with all the penalties in the rest of the game, did not see much icetime.

Arron Asham: Threw a big hit early when the game was scoreless. Made a terrible clearing attempt that led to Buffalo's game winning goal.

Jason Wiemer: Not very noticeable with all the penalties, even as a penalty killer.

Jason Blake, Claude Lapointe, Steve Webb: As usual this line provided the most spunk, but that's not always enough.

Defense:

Roman Hamrlik & Mattias Timander: besides the assists they drew on the powerplay goal, they both were pretty quiet. Hamrlik hit the crossbar late in the first that could have made it 3-2.

Adrian Aucoin: once again averaged about 30 minutes of icetime.

Eric Cairns: Won his fight over Boulton. Isles will have to deal with his slow-footedness.

Kenny Jonsson: jumped into the play offensively a couple of times.

Ray Schultz: As nice a kid that he is, can he really be the Isles 7th defenseman? He was beat cleanly by Taylor Pyatt to the net before Pyatt was ejected for spearing. Schultz might be slower than Cairns. Maybe they should try Tomi Pettinen on Saturday in the home opener. Radek Martinek can not get back soon enough.

Goal:

Chris Osgood: Was not that great tonight. Could have made the save on Gratton's shot. Was not given much help though. 

Garth Snow: a bright spot as he came into the game and didn't allow a goal in the third. Perhaps he gets the start against Nashville at home next week.

Coach:

Lavvy has every right to be sick of this performance. Too many penalties, especially after the Isles were about to go a man up.

Sabres Pound Islanders 5-1

By KEVIN SNOW
.c The Associated Press 

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) - Chris Gratton and J.P. Dumont had a goal and an assist each as the Buffalo Sabres opened the season Thursday night with a 5-1 victory over the New York Islanders.

The Islanders jumped on Buffalo early when Dave Scatchard scored a power-play goal on the game's first shot. He banged a loose puck between the pads of Sabres goaltender Martin Biron at 1:01.

Buffalo responded minutes later, when Stu Barnes completed a great passing play by redirecting a feed from Dumont past a sprawling Chris Osgood.

Gratton, with the third opening-night goal of his career, and newcomer Jochen Hecht scored 1:31 apart late in the period to put Buffalo ahead 3-1.

Tim Connolly and Dumont rounded out the scoring for Buffalo.

Biron turned aside 22 shots to get the win. He was especially sharp in the second period, making several key saves in close on Mark Parrish, Alexei Yashin and Jason Blake.

Chris Osgood, who won 32 games for New York last season, gave up Buffalo's five goals on 20 shots in just two periods. He was replaced by Garth Snow in the third.

Notes:@ The crowd of 12,224 was the lowest opening-night attendance in the seven-year history of HSBC Arena. ... Buffalo's record in season openers now stands at 18-12-3, while the Islanders are 8-15-8. ... Miroslav Satan played in his 246th consecutive game, tying him with Nashville's Greg Johnson for fourth spot among active players. ... Buffalo forward Maxim Afinogenov worked out symptom-free for a second consecutive day Thursday. Afinogenov missed training camp with a concussion after being hit above the right eye with a puck during a scrimmage in Russia on Sept. 5.

Ales Kotalik, Dmitri Kalinin and Brian Campbell were scratched from the Sabres' lineup. ... Tomi Pettinen was the lone New York scratch.

Lineups:

ISLANDERS
FORWARDS
(17) Shawn Bates-(79) Alexei Yashin-(37) Mark Parrish
(15) Brad Isbister-(38) Dave Scatchard-(21) Trent Hunter
(45) Arron Asham-(28) Jason Wiemer-(12) Oleg Kvasha
(55) Jason Blake-(13) Claude Lapointe-(20) Steve Webb

DEFENSE
(29) Kenny Jonsson-(3) Adrian Aucoin
(4) Roman Hamrlik-(39) Ray Schultz
(33) Eric Cairns-(2) Mattias Timander

GOALTENDERS
(35) Chris Osgood
(30) Garth Snow

SABRES
FORWARDS
(37) Curtis Brown-(41) Stu Barnes-(25) Vaclav Varada
(71) Jochen Hecht-(18) Tim Connolly-(17) JP Dumont
(24) Taylor Pyatt-(77) Chris Gratton-(81) Miroslav Satan
(26) Eric Boulton-(22) Adam Mair-(32) Rob Ray
(17) JP Dumont

DEFENSE
(74) Jay McKee-(4) Rhett Warrener
(10) Henrik Tallinder-(44) Alexei Zhitnik
(5) Jason Woolley-(3) James Patrick

GOALTENDERS
(41) Martin Biron
(35) Mika Noronen

 

FINAL	1	2	3	Total
New York Islanders	1	0	0	1
Buffalo Sabres	3	2	0	5

 

Period Summary
Shots on Goal	1	2	3	Total
New York Islanders	8	7	8	23
Buffalo Sabres	9	11	1	21
First Period
Scoring: 1, Ny Islanders, Dave Scatchard 1 (power play) (Mattias Timander, Roman Hamrlik), 1:01. 2, Buffalo, Stu Barnes 1 (power play) (Jean-Pierre Dumont, James Patrick), 4:36. 3, Buffalo, Chris Gratton 1 (Unassisted), 13:13. 4, Buffalo, Jochen Hecht 1 (Tim Connolly), 14:44. Penalties: S Barnes, Buf (tripping), 0:32; A Yashin, Nyi (tripping), 2:49; A Asham, Nyi (major fighting), 5:32; E Boulton, Buf (major fighting), 5:32; S Webb, Nyi (roughing, fighting major), 10:25; R Ray, Buf (instigator, fighting major, misconduct), 10:25; R Schultz, Nyi (slashing), 13:48; H Tallinder, Buf (hooking), 13:48; E Cairns, Nyi (double minor elbowing, roughing), 16:35; C Gratton, Buf (roughing), 16:35; A Zhitnik, Buf (holding), 17:24.
Second Period
Scoring: 5, Buffalo, Tim Connolly 1 (power play) (Alexei Zhitnik, Miroslav Satan), 9:44. 6, Buffalo, Jean-Pierre Dumont 1 (Chris Gratton, Miroslav Satan), 17:01. Penalties: J Woolley, Buf (tripping), 2:12; R Schultz, Nyi (roughing), 7:46; T Pyatt, Buf (spearing major, match), 7:46; T Hunter, Nyi (obstruction hooking), 8:30; S Bates, Nyi (interference), 10:18; A Mair, Buf (obstr holding), 14:05; A Asham, Nyi (roughing), 17:59; E Cairns, Nyi (major fighting), 17:59; J Mckee, Buf (double minor roughing), 17:59; E Boulton, Buf (major fighting), 17:59.
Third Period
Scoring: None. Penalties: J Blake, Nyi (interference), 5:29; R Schultz, Nyi (roughing), 8:19; A Asham, Nyi (roughing), 8:19; E Boulton, Buf (double minor roughing), 8:19; J Hecht, Buf (hooking), 10:33; R Schultz, Nyi (fighting, instigator major, misconduct), 13:48; R Ray, Buf (major fighting), 13:48; Bench, Buf (too many men served by J Dumont), 15:06; J Wiemer, Nyi (slashing, fighting major), 17:50; E Boulton, Buf (major fighting game misconduct), 17:50; J Blake, Nyi (roughing), 18:17; T Connolly, Buf (double minor roughing, unsportsmanlike cond), 18:17.

Power-play Conversions: NYI - 1 of 9, BUF - 2 of 6.
Goalies : Ny Islanders, Chris Osgood (20 shots, 15 saves; record: 0-1-0), Garth Snow (start of 3rd period, 1, 1). Buffalo, Martin Biron (23 shots, 22 saves; record: 1-0-0).
A: 12,224.
Referees: Blaine Angus, Rob Martell.
Linesmen: Scott Driscoll, Steve Barton.

 

New York Islanders
G A + / - SHOTS O Kvasha 0 0 even 0 C Lapointe 0 0 -1 0 B Isbister 0 0 -1 0 S Bates 0 0 -1 1 M Timander 0 1 -1 3 S Webb 0 0 even 1 T Hunter 0 0 even 2 J Wiemer 0 0 -1 2 K Jonsson 0 0 -1 3 A Aucoin 0 0 -2 3 E Cairns 0 0 -1 1 M Parrish 0 0 even 3 D Scatchard 1 0 -1 1 R Schultz 0 0 even 0 R Hamrlik 0 1 -1 0 A Asham 0 0 -2 0 J Blake 0 0 even 1 A Yashin 0 0 -1 2 Totals 1 2   23
Did not Play:   • T Pettinen -- Coach's Decision

 

Buffalo Sabres
G A + / - SHOTS H Tallinder 0 0 even 0 J Dumont 1 1 +1 1 T Connolly 1 1 +1 1 J Hecht 1 0 +1 2 A Mair 0 0 even 0 T Pyatt 0 0 +1 2 V Varada 0 0 even 1 E Boulton 0 0 even 1 J Patrick 0 1 +1 0 R Ray 0 0 even 0 C Brown 0 0 even 3 R Warrener 0 0 +2 0 S Barnes 1 0 even 2 A Zhitnik 0 1 even 0 J Woolley 0 0 +1 4 J McKee 0 0 +2 0 C Gratton 1 1 +2 1 M Satan 0 2 +2 3 Totals 5 7   21
Did not Play:   • A Kotalik -- Coach's Decision   • D Kalinin -- Coach's Decision   • B Campbell -- Coach's Decision

IslesInfo Pregame Preview

Preview, Isles vs. Buffalo: The Buffalo Sabres as a franchise are in a state of disarray right now. Just three years ago captain Michael Peca was leading them to the Stanley Cup Finals. Now they are being run by the NHL and their former owners, the Rigas family, are in legal troubles. But that doesn't mean they will lay down and give the Isles two points to open the season. Old familiar faces are always present when facing Buffalo as former Isles Tim Connolly, Taylor Pyatt, JP Dumont and Darcy Regier will all be looking to take one from the Islanders. They have some shifty players like Maxim Afinogenov but he is questionable after suffering some concussion problems. Miroslav Satan draws the most attention as their deadliest sniper. Buffalo has a good crop of defensemen led by Alexei Zhitnik and Rhett Warrener. Vaclav Varada gets under your skin and the Isles always have problems against goaltender Martin Biron. If the Isles can jump on top and gain some momentum early, they should come out with the win before coming home Saturday for their home opener against Washington. For the first time in many years the Isles won't begin the season with four road games before returning home.

Preview, Part II: Making their Islander debuts tonight will be RW Arron Asham, LW Jason Wiemer and D Mattias Timander. Rookie RW Trent Hunter will make his regular season debut. Surprisingly, rookie D Tomi Pettinen will make his NHL debut tonight. His climb up the Isles depth chart has been dramatic over the last week.

- The Islanders open their 31st NHL season tonight. Seven of the last eight have opened up on the road. The Isles have a lifetime mark of 8-14-8 on opening night.

Last Game vs. Buffalo, Apr. 3: Shawn Bates scored a late goal in the third period at Buffalo, getting gashed in the lip by a stick, as the Islanders battled to to stay ahead of the Devils in the Eastern Conference playoff race.

Lets Go Isles!