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ISLES INFO |
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ISLES INFO |
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IslesInfo Comments: The Islanders returned to the place where the 2002-03 season began. You may remember how they played a very lackluster game on opening night, falling to the now lowly Buffalo Sabres by a 5-1 score. But things were different last night. Much different. In fact the Islanders are a totally different team since then. And they were playing for something, that .500 mark. Shortly before the game, the Isles learned that Buffalo had recalled their young upcoming goaltender Ryan Miller from Rochester to replace Martin Biron. This game would turn out to be a defensive duel from the get go with both teams trading powerplay opportunities without either one capitalizing. The Islanders were playing with fire early as they took the first three penalties of the game. But the stingy PK was up to the task once again and killed off every chance. The penalties killed a bit of the momentum that the Isles had started the game with. There was a good chance to get on the board first when Radek Martinek had a shot blocked on an open net. As the puck bounced back in the opposite direction Buffalo's Curtis Brown skated in on a breakaway on Chris Osgood, whose hot play has had him starting once again. Ozzie made the save. Besides a short powerplay opportunity for the Islanders that lasted about a minute, they had a glorious chance to take the lead when Jason Blake broke in on a breakaway after blocking a Henrik Tallinder shot at the blueline. The puck bounced up off Blake's stick and hit him in the chin, cutting him for a few stitches later on. The speedster Blake tried to make a forehand fake on Miller but was moving so fast that the shot just didn't materilize and the goaltender played him pretty well. Buffalo out shot the Isles 16-9 in the first period. - The second period was more of the same, an exciting defensive battle. The Islanders finished off their 4th penalty kill to Michael Peca, who stood up for his goaltender late in the first by shoving J.P. Dumont to the ice after the Sabre took a couple of wacks at Osgood. Peca was booed most of the night by Sabre fans, but it died down later in the game. The Islanders had a good chance on their 2nd powerplay opportunity of the game. Alexei Yashin was fed the puck in the high slot and blasted a shot in on Miller who was up for the challenge. On the Isles 3rd powerplay, Roman Hamrlik fired another one timer from high in the right circle only to clank the post to Miller's right and send the puck into the crowd. By the end of the second period the game had turned into a specialty teams battle with the Islanders 0-4 and the Sabres 0-5. Hamrlik and Kenny Jonsson were great all night on the PK, as was Adrian Aucoin and Mattias Timander. The Isles out shot Buffalo 9-7. - The third period saw Jason Wiemer bust down on a 2 on 1 early on only to see Miller close the door once again. The Islanders would get two more chances on the powerplay only to end up going 0-6. In fact it was Buffalo who would get the better chances as Osgood had to come up with some spectacular saves. There was one play late in the period when the Sabres were swarming around Ozzie and he had to make some unbelievable stops. The type that he didn't always see but somehow was there. Jonsson made some real good blocks on defense as well. The Islanders killed off one more Sabre chance on the powerplay as well as they were 0-6 also. The Islanders gave up a lot of blood in this battle, including a few chicklets. Mark Parrish, standing in his usual spot in front of the net, lost several teeth when the puck was deflected up into his mouth. After staying down for a minute he got up and didn't miss a shift. Though you could clearly see a new gap where teeth use to be when he was being examined on the bench. The Islanders had one last harrowing moment when Denis Hamel broke in on a breakaway and seemed to shoot the puck wide of Osgood. But on later review Ozzie apparently got just the tip of his glove on the shot and thwarted scoring chance. Buffalo out shot the Islanders 14-6 in the period as the Isles entered OT for the second straight night. - There were three shots taken in the OT session, two by the Islanders. The second one would prove to be the game winning goal off a spectacular effort by Blake, who missed his opportunity to score back in the first period. In an interesting match up on the 4 on 4, coach Laviolette had Blake out on the ice with Oleg Kvasha. With Jonsson and Martinek on defense, Jonsson relayed the puck up to Blake in the neutral zone as he gained speed. Blake broke down the right side of the ice around a Buffalo defense who tried to push Blake to the outside. But Blake let go a vicious backhander and sent the puck over the glove hand of Miller. The puck hit twine top left corner and ricocheted back out to give the Islanders the 1-0 win at 1:36. The goal was Blake's 9th of the season. Blake pumped his fist and was mauled by his teammates, much like Hamrlik was the night before at home against the Florida Panthers. The Islanders achieved their goal set to reach the .500 mark by the new year and start fresh in 2003 as they start their hunt to make the playoffs. More stats: The Islanders are 5-1-1 in their last 7 games, including 4 straight wins. Chris Osgood moves to 3 games over .500 with his 13th win of the season.. He has allowed only 1 goal in his last 3 starts and 3 in his last 4. The Islanders finish the month of December 8-3-2 , their best December since 1993. The season series against Buffalo stands at 1-1-0 for the Isles with both games having been played at the HSBC Center. Peter Laviolette won his 58th game as coach of the New York Islanders, passing current GM Mike Milbury for second most all-time in Islander history. Laviolette is second now to the great Al Arbour, who coached 739 wins. Next Up: The Isles come back home to face the Boston Bruins on Friday night. They will attempt to go a game over .500 for the first time since mid October. They then will travel to Pittsburgh Saturday for the second of back to back nights and the first game of a home and home with the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Standings: The Islanders moved into 11th in the Eastern Conference with 37 points, one point ahead of the idle Florida Panthers and the New York Rangers who won in Carolina last night 2-0. The Islanders move to within one point of both Pittsburgh, who lost last night 5-2 to Columbus, and Carolina with their loss. With Montreal gaining a point after a 1-1 tie with Calgary, the Islanders move to within 3 points of the final playoff position. Washington, in 7th place, is also 3 points ahead of the Isles with 40 points. The Islanders moved to within 6 points of Philadelphia and Toronto for 5th place, who came back to defeat the Canucks in Vancouver last night 5-3. Funny Moment: When Blake scored the
emotional game winner in OT he circled the net and pumped his fist. As
Oleg Kvasha closed in on Blake to congratulate him, Blake suddenly made a
complete stop to turn around and celebrate with Kenny Jonsson who followed
Blake up and from whom Blake received the pass from before breaking in to
score off the backhand. Kvasha ended up sliding awkwardly into the boards
and fell down. An embarrassing moment for Isles fans favorite whipping
boy. He did get back up though and right back into the pile to
congratulate Blake and the guys. Fight Card: If you remember game one, there were about 4 fights in that one involving Arron Asham, Ray Schultz, Eric Cairns & Wiemer. Of course 3 of those fights for Buffalo involved Eric Boulton, who was scratched from last night's game and the 4th included Rob Ray, who played about one shift in the game after being a healthy scratch the game before. So tonight, no scraps. Commentary: What a great run. We finally are back to .500 and with the new year we can look forward to climbing above the even mark. The only worry though is dropping back down, so the Islanders will need to refocus and set another goal to reach, which shouldn't be that hard. Just knowing they are so close to a playoff position should be enough. They need to grab one of the positions and set some space between them and the teams below. There are seven games coming up against all Eastern Conference teams including a home and home against Pittsburgh and games against Philadelphia and Washington. 4 of those games will be at home, 3 away. But it really is impressive that the Islanders were able to attain their goal and reach the .500 mark with 4 straight wins to close out 2002. Hopefully they can keep the winning streak and ways going into the new year.
Report Card: Brad Isbister: Still ailing from that ankle injury, which is bad news for the Islanders winger. This may be something he has to deal with and play through. But it doesn't help his cause. Obviously the hot streak for Izzy is over. He did play most the night on the top line with the old BAM line. But they haven't been "BAM" for a while. Alexei Yashin: Played well, always is right up there in the team lead in shots. Unfortunately he's just not finishing and his shots don't seem as creative as we all know Yashin can be. Shawn Bates: Scratched sixth straight with groin strain. Will he be ready for Friday? Mark Parrish: Ouch! Mark lost several teeth in the third period when the puck was deflected up into his mouth. He stayed down on the ice but got up and amazingly didn't miss a shift. Signs of a warrior. On the bench during the examination you could see that Parrish has lost some teeth and his mouth was bleeding for the rest of the game. Hopefully his new fiancé won't mind this too much. :) Where's the mouth guard? Dave Scatchard: Solid game. You may remember Scatch scored the first goal of the Islanders season in the HSBC Center. Jason Wiemer: Had a good game. Failed to complete a 2 on 1 chance early in the third period. You can see how strong he is when he shakes off opposing defenders. Jason Blake: Great game by Blake and great goal in OT. That backhand shot was one of beauty. Great PK, and used his speed all game. Now tied for second on the team in goals with Yashin and Isbister. Took a few stitches on the chin late in the first period which set up a failed breakaway chance. Claude Lapointe: Was very good once again on the penalty kill and on a few shifts with Yashin on the top line. Steve Webb: Sat out his second game with chronic back spasms and was replaced in the lineup by Eric Godard. Arron Asham: Had a very good game with 3 shots and hustled playing on the second line. Played up tempo. Oleg Kvasha: Had a pretty good game and provided a bit of comic relief on the game winning goal when he was upended by Blake's sudden change in celebration. Michael Peca: Was kinda ornery tonight returning to his old stomping ground. He was booed a bit in the first period but it died down a bit as the game went on. He was booed the most when he showed J.P. Dumont a seat after the Buffalo forward and former Islander draft pick took a couple wacks at Chris Osgood after Ozzie froze the puck. Mattias Weinhandl: Played well and at times even provides some physical play. Though he was a bit quiet offensively the last couple of games. Eric Godard: Had one good shift on the fourth line during the first period. The game did not take a physical turn which pretty much kept him and Buffalo's Rob Ray on the bench. Defense: Roman Hamrlik: After having 4 points in his last two games, Hamrlik did not assist on the winning goal but his defense all night was evident. He almost scored in the second period but clanked a shot off the post. Adrian Aucoin: Another solid game on defense. Eric Cairns: Good on defense and didn't have to drop the gloves tonight. Kenny Jonsson: Strong game defensively and blocked some key shots against especially late in the game. He then fed Blake for the game winning goal in OT. Radek Martinek: Really impressed with how much stronger Martinek's game has gotten from the beginning of the season. He almost scored in the first period on an open net, but the play was blocked which set up a breakaway back on Osgood. Had it jaw smacked into the Islanders net by former Islander Taylor Pyatt which set up a powerplay for the Isles. Mattias Timander:
Strong game defensively and has been playing very well, very reliable as
of late. Goal: Chris Osgood: The man has been awesome in the Islander net. This could be the best he's played as a New York Islander. He is so focused only allowing one goal in the last three games. He's been in net for all of the Islanders 4 game winning streak. Ozzie has played so well that he hasn't given backup Garth Snow a chance to get into the net, even on the second night of back to back games.
Coaches An interesting but obviously great move by placing Blake and Kvasha together during the OT. With Blake's speed and more open ice for Kvasha, Laviolette may have figured the two could make something happen, and they did. Though most of the credit goes to Blake and Kenny Jonsson. With Laviolette's win, he surpasses his boss Mike Milbury for second most wins for a coach in Islander history with 58. He has a long way to go before catching Hall of Famer Al Arbour, who was behind the bench for 739 Islander wins. Special Teams The Islanders powerplay has been struggling a bit ranked 23rd and went 0-6 last night. They still can't seem to score more than one a game and sometimes get none. They seriously need another gun on the powerplay. The PK, ranked 12th, just keeps dominating as they have now killed about 20 straight after the recent streak of 36 straight. Last night they were a perfect 6-6.
Islanders Zap Sabres 1-0
Lineups: ISLANDERS DEFENSEMEN GOALTENDERS BUFFALO SABRES DEFENSEMEN GOALTENDERS
Power-play Conversions:
NYI - 0 of 6, BUF - 0 of 6.
IslesInfo Pregame Preview Preview .500 Within Grasp Dec. 31: Coach Peter Laviolette challenged the Islanders last week to achieve the .500 mark by the New Year. With their exciting overtime win over Florida last night, the Isles have closed to within one game of their goal as they set eye on the playoffs. Isles vs. Sabres Preview: The surging New York Islanders shoot for their season-high fourth straight win as they try to cap a strong December by taking advantage of the hapless Buffalo Sabres at HSBC Arena. The Islanders are 7-3-2 thus far in December, by far their best month of the season. On Monday, defenseman Roman Hamrlik scored twice, including the game-winner with 56.9 seconds left in overtime, as the Islanders pulled out a gritty 2-1 victory over the Florida Panthers at Nassau Coliseum. The victory elevated the Islanders within one win of .500, and moved them out of the Atlantic Division basement, just ahead of the New York Rangers. "It's nice to set goals, but getting to .500 would be really nice,'' said Islanders forward Mark Parrish, who helped set up Hamrlik's goal in OT by getting tangled up with Florida netminder Roberto Luongo. Islanders goalie Chris Osgood made 24 saves, and is riding a 3-0-1 surge. Osgood, who had been struggling prior to his recent run, may have been pushed to perform better when the Islanders called up 21 year old Rick DiPietro from their AHL affiliate in Bridgeport, Conn., earlier this month. The Islanders sent DiPietro back to the minors on Monday.
Isles Look To Avenge Game 1 The Islanders visit Buffalo for the second time this season. A win would definitely help the Isles to forget their first trip which came back on opening day when the Sabres trounced the Isles 5-1. A win tonight would help propel the Isles into 2003.
Notes: The Sabres, who own the NHL's worst record, have lost six in a row, including Monday's 4-3 setback at Washington. Dmitri Kalinin, Miroslav Satan and Vaclav Varada scored for Buffalo, which has won just once in its last 10 (1-8-1). "We have a tough time scoring as it is,'' frustrated Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. "We can't afford to give up four here. We're not going to be able to support that.''
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Lets Go Isles! |
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1998-2003 Tom Mascioli
