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IslesInfo Comments: The Islanders experienced a bit of good and bad to start their second game of a 4 game road trip against the struggling Los Angeles Kings. The good was that Steve Webb returned after missing the last 21 games. Also, the Isles would get the first two powerplay opportunities of the game and an early chance to grab the lead. Unfortunately the Isles struggled themselves to even register a shot on either powerplay. Jason Wiemer, who had a very aggressive first period, wound up in the box for interference. LA would strike on their first opportunity and take a 1-0 lead at 9:52 off a powerplay goal by ex Islander Mathieu Schneider. The puck ended up in front of Islander goaltender Garth Snow while players from both teams congregated into a scrum. The most dangerous ex Islander, Zigmund Palffy, who the Islanders are rumored to reportedly be interested in, scooped the losse puck back to Schneider for the blast. Schneider, who already has 11 goals this season, powered his 12th by Snow after hitting the Isles goalie in the shoulder with the shot. The puck bounced up over Snow's head and it landed in the net. Kenny Jonsson tried to whack the puck out of the air but missed. Derek Armstrong, yet another ex Islander, also assisted. Seven seconds after the goal, Wiemer went toe to toe with LA tough guy Kip Brennan. At 10:13, Armstrong took a holding the stick penalty and the Islanders went on their third powerplay opportunity of the night. Just 26 seconds later the Islanders finally clicked on the extra man and tied the game 1-1. Arron Asham took a perfect chip pass out of the corner from Michael Peca and walked in for a shot on King's goaltender Jamie Storr. As Asham fell to one knee he shot the puck and slid it through the legs of Storr and off the far post for his 9th goal of the season. Shawn Bates received an assist as well. The Isles were out shot in the first 8-3 but came out of the period with a good 1-1 road tie. - The Islanders struck first early in the second period just 2:19 in when Roman Hamrlik lobbed the puck up into the neutral zone from the left boards in the Islanders end. Jason Blake used his speed as he jumped of the bench and blew past the LA defense for a breakaway. As Blake got in close on Storr he rifled a shot over the goaltender's stick side shoulder, roofing the puck into the net and smacking the water bottle as well. That put the Isles up 2-1 and was Blake's 17th goal of the season tying him for second most on the team with Dave Scatchard. Adrian Aucoin was also credited with an assist. Not even two minutes later, at 4:11, the Islanders increased their attack and jumped out to a 3-1 lead. Oleg Kvasha grabbed the puck at the top of the slot and backhanded it down into the lower left circle to Brad Isbister. Izzy quickly relayed the puck to the front of the net where Asham was waiting to tap it home. For Asham it was his second of the game and his 10th goal of the season. The goal gave the Islanders 3 on only 6 shots on net. Right after the goal another fight incurred when Scatchard went at it briefly with Ian Laperriere. The Islanders held the two goal lead for the next 8 minutes and at times looked as if they would break the game wide open. But that was when they would make a mistake at 12:34. Radek Martinek moved in to keep an attack going on the LA net when a rebound would bounce out to the point. Jonsson, a former teammate of Palffy's, tried to pinch in but Palffy chipped it by the Isles dman. Palffy moved in on a two on one with the lone defender back being a non defenseman in Asham. Arron tried to go down and block an pass, but by going down too early he allowed Palffy to walk right in. You can tell then that Palffy was going to take the shot, and he did as he ripped it by Snow's stick side to pull LA to within one at 3-2 Islanders. By the end of the second period LA held an 18-11 shots advantage in the game. - The LA Kings almost tied it early in the third period when Palffy hit the far post from the right circle. The Islanders were playing with fire by taking two straight penalties, holding on Hamrlik and another questionable call to Wiemer for elbowing. The Isles, playing like a veteran road team, killed off both disadvantages and held their one goal lead right down to the wire. LA's Schneider finally got called for checking Mark Parrish from behind. Earlier in the third he hit Kvasha from behind into the boards but got the benefit of the doubt since Kvasha turned at the last second. The Islanders didn't socre, and with 2:20 remaining Bates got called for slashing which was the worst call of the game. It was a soft backhand check, but the official saw it as a slash. So the Islanders were looking at a possible 6 on 4 situation if LA decided to pull Storr in the last minute. Thankfully that never happened because Armstrong took a holding the stick penalty behind the Islanders net which evened up the sides with a little over a minute left. LA had one more last shot at tying the game up when Palffy and Steve Heinze gained possession under the 20 second mark. Heize tried to rip a shot to the top right corner, but Snow amazingly snagged the shot out of the air and preserved the Islanders 3-2 win. The Islanders improve to 27-23-5-2 overall with the win, 61 points. They remain in 7th place in the East.
More stats: The Islanders are 15-7-0-2 in their last 24 games....The Isles are 3-3-0-0 in the month of February....The Isles move back to a game over .500 on the road, 11-10-3-2....The Isles will not face LA anymore this season....Since Chris Osgood went down January 22nd with an ankle sprain, Garth Snow and Rick DiPietro have combined to allow only 20 goals in 10 games. Averaging 2 goals a game against, Garth Snow has allowed only 13 goals in his last 7 starts, less than 2 goals a game....The Isles are 68-51-13-6 under coach Peter Laviolette since he took over in 2001-02....LA drops to 24-26-4-4, 56 points. They are 8 points behind Edmonton for 8th in the West. They drop to 15-13-1-0 at home and the win by the Islanders snapped a 4 game home winning streak....Garth Snow started his 5th straight for the Islanders while Jamie Storr started his 7th straight for the Kings....Zigmund Palffy was named the second star of the game with a goal and an assist....All of LA's points were recorded by former Islanders....The Islanders are 4 games over .500 for the third time this season....The Islanders, behind the goaltending of Snow, won last year at the Staples Center by the same 3-2 score....The Isles snapped a 3 game road losing streak and have now won 3 of their last 4 games. Next Up: The Islanders play the third of a 4 game road trip, continuing their California visit in Anaheim Monday night. The contest, beginning at 10:30 pm Eastern time, stands to be the toughest of the trip for the Islanders as Anaheim is the only one currently holding a playoff spot. The Mighty Ducks are 27-20-7-2, 65 points. That's good for 7th in the West. The Islanders have faced a bevy of former Islanders on this road trip so far. The only former Islander with Anaheim is Jason Krog, who is having a career year with the Ducks. The Islanders will be in San Jose Wednesday to end the trip. There are no former Islanders with the Sharks. The Standings:
The Islanders remain in 7th place in the East with 61 points. Montreal
also have 61 points after defeating Edmonton at home 3-2. The Isles hold the tiebreaker in wins,
27-24. Tampa Bay remains one point behind both the Isles and Canadiens
with 60 points after defeating the Boston Bruins at home 5-2. The loss by
Boston keeps them at 63 points and only 2 points ahead of the Isles.
Pittsburgh moved back into a tie for 10th place with 55 points and kept
their slim hopes alive with an impressive 4-1 in New Jersey. It was the
first time they had scored in three games since trading away Alexei
Kovalev. The Rangers, 55 points, lost in Buffalo 5-4 in a game in which
Miroslav Satan scored on a penalty shot. There are no games slated in the
Eastern Conference for Sunday. Fight Card #1: Jason Wiemer vs. Kip Brennan. Seconds after LA took a 1-0 lead in the first period on a Wiemer penalty, both he and Brennan dropped the gloves. Wiemer connected on some close in shots on Brennan's face. Neither player backed up very much so it was a very close in fight. Brennan came back in the second half and hit Wiemer with some shots. The officials broke it up and Brennan raised his hands garnering support from the fans. But it was pretty much an even fight. Decision: Draw. Fight Card #2: Dave Scatchard vs. Ian Laperriere. Soon after the Isles made it 3-1, Laperriere was looking to spark his team. A smallish player who is not afraid to take on all comers, Laperriere took on Scatchard who is equally as fearless. Scatch tried to throw some punches early on and eventually his momentum overwhelmed Laperriere. Scatchard ended up on top of Laperriere giving the Islander a very small slight edge. Decision: Scatchard by a hair. Funny Moments: Joe Micheletti during the Islanders telecast: "Milbury should make the deal for Palffy right away! He can include me!" Which prompted Howie Rose to quip: "Oh, that was you quoted in the paper huh?"....Not so funny but quite entertaining was Garth Snow's open and very animated anger towards King's goaltender Jamie Storr. Snow observed from his own goal crease that Storr was taking liberties on Islander skaters with his goal stick. Later on during a play stoppage and after both goaltenders had gone to their respective benches, Snow was caught pointing to his stick and getting animated with Storr at center ice. Storr just nodded his head up and down. Later during the post game interview, Snow openly called Storr "frail" and said that it's good to have long careers, meaning he hopes to see Storr again someday for a little payback. Commentary: Fantastic win! I was a bit worried coming into this game that if the Islanders had lost it would be very hard to get back to .500 on the trip. And it could have been a bad sign of a tailspin. But the Islanders always seem to rise to the occasion when things are on the line and they need a win and points the most. Now they at least need to win one of the next two for a successful road trip. Coach Laviolette said don't settle for mediocrity but .500 on a West Coast trip is not bad at all. Would be great if we can win both. Was not happy with some of the calls in the game, particularly the one late on Bates. But with all 15 Eastern Conference teams in action Saturday it was inevitable that some inexperienced officials were going to be in action. Palffy was just fantastic. If I was Charles Wang I would tell Milbury to get him back in an Islander jersey fast. As long as the Islanders don't have to give up DiPietro or Weinhandl I would be happy. But how bout the look on Palffy's face at the end of the game? Did that bring back old memories or what? And how bout the play of Garth Snow? Unbelievable. And his teammates love the guy. He even sticks up for them as shown in his little interaction with LA's goaltender Jamie Storr. Now the Islanders need to prepare and play their best game of the trip against a very good Anaheim club.
Report Card: Brad Isbister: Assisted on the Islanders game winning goal. The coaching staff felt that Izzy was a bit rusty Thursday night against Nashville. The pass he sent across the crease to Asham was a great play. Besides that he had no shots on goal. Alexei Yashin: Had one shot on goal. Yashin was demoted to the fourth line with Claude Lapointe and Steve Webb for the game. The Islanders are openly unhappy with the play of Yashin this season and are trying to shake him out of his season long funk. Hopefully this move will embarrass him enough to get him going. For all the criticism Kvasha got for seemingly loafing, Yashin has been even worse of late. Perhaps he and Kvasha had a brain transplant last month without us knowing? After the game Yashin said he abides by whatever decisions the coaching staff makes for the team to be successful. He said he was happy with the win because he is still part of the team. Shawn Bates: Assisted on Asham's tying goal. No shots on net. Mark Parrish: Had 1 shot on goal and took a nasty from behind hit late in the game by former Islander Mathieu Schneider. Parrish was ok. Dave Scatchard: Was a +1 with 1 shot on goal. King's head coach Andy Murray said, like so many coaches have of late, that Scatchard's line was the one to stop. They were not all that successful as Blake scored a key goal in the second. Jason Wiemer: Was a +1 and had no shots on goal. Wiemer was involved physically from the get go in this game. He was throwing the body and getting into it with many King's players. He dropped the gloves with Kip Brennan and almost went at it with Brennan a second time. He got called for a bad penalty, albeit questionable, when he got his stick up to protect himself from a hit in the third period. Jason Blake: Scored a beautiful goal early in the second off a breakaway by rifling the puck over the stick side on Jamie Storr making the water bottle jump. Blake was a +1 and had 3 shots on goal against his former team. And how good does that trade look now? Blake was acquired by the Islanders for a conditional 2001 draft pick that was later transferred to a 5th round pick in 2002 possibly because Blake had become a serviceable player with the Isles. LA drafted Joel Andresen, a defenseman from St. Albert's of the Alberta Junior Hockey League. Andresen is currently a freshman with Nebraska-Omaha of the CCHA. Claude Lapointe: Made some great defensive plays especially in the last few seconds of the game when he blocked a shot on net. Steve Webb: Returned after missing the last 21 games with back spasms and various other body injuries. Webb had a shot on goal, and it was a good one off a rebound. But he couldn't get enough on it and lobbed it into Storr's glove. Arron Asham: Had two shots on goal and they both went in. Scored the game tying goal and the game winner. Asham recorded his second two goal game as an Islander and the third of his career. Later in the second period, just before Palffy scored to make it 3-2 Islanders, Asham almost notched his first hat trick of his career. He was named the first star of the game by King's media. Great effort on both goals, especially the first one. Oleg Kvasha: Recorded an assist on the Isles game winning goal by Asham. He fed Isbister the pass and Izzy relayed it over to Asham for the tap in. Took a hard hit from behind early in the third period from Mathieu Schneider and stayed down for a while on the ice. He later left the bench but returned. He seemingly hurt his shoulder when Schneider drove it into the glass. Michael Peca: Made a nice chip pass to spring Asham into open ice setting up the tying goal. Peca led the Islanders with 4 shots on goal. Mattias Weinhandl: Was sent down to Beifgeport on a two week conditioning stint. Weinhandl is young enough I believe that he wouldn't have to clear waivers or anything if the Islanders decided to leave him down there for longer than 2 weeks. Eric
Godard: Was scratched in favor of Steve Webb making his return.
Has played well in previous games physically and drawing penalties as
well. Defense: Roman Hamrlik: Played 25 minutes and was a +1 with 2 shots. Made a beautiful clearing play that ended up being a pass right on the breaking stick of Jason Blake. Blake scored on the breakaway to make it 2-1 Islanders. Adrian Aucoin: Played 29 minutes, was a +1 with 1 shot on goal. He recorded the secondary assist on the Blake goal. Eric Cairns: Missed 10th game with dislocated shoulder. Will miss the next 4-6 weeks, as of January 22nd. Kenny Jonsson: Played 26 minutes and was his usual solid self defensively. If he had swatted that puck away from the net before LA went up 1-0 then the Islanders could have won by more. This was Jonsson's 500th game as an Islander. Claude Lapointe played in his 500th as an Islander earlier this season. Jonsson has 198 points in his 500 games. Radek Martinek: 13 minutes, 4 less than the Nashville game. Mattias Timander: Played 18 minutes. 3 more than in Nashville. Both he and Martienk seem to be taking turns between the 4th and 5th defense slot. Sven
Butenschon: Played about 6 minutes, 4 less than in Nashville.
When things got tight he wasn't on the ice. Goal: Garth Snow: Made 31 saves, his second consecutive game with 30 stops. Garth was once again awesome in leading the Islanders to the win. He even got involved in a shouting match with opposing goaltender Jamie Storr. Snow's save percentage has been steadily going up above the .910 mark and his GAA is dropping to below 2.30. He will most definitely be in net against Anaheim. Is Snow the new #1? The way he is playing, Ozzie may have to wait a while. The thing about Snow is, if nothing is on the line he's not very effective. Like he was to start the season. But now there is something at stake every night and he is leading the Islanders in the crease big time.
Coaches Most interesting decision to demote Yashin to the fourth line. Maybe this will wake him up. If it doesn't I don't know what will. You can't really sit him a game. He did make a couple good defesive plays on the fourth line. But the Isles need his offense. No ifs, ands or buts about it. Special Teams The Islanders PP, ranked 22nd in the NHL and dropping, went 1-5 on the day. Arron Asham with an excellent effort scored on the powerplay to tie the game 1-1. The PK, ranked 15th and slowly rising went 5-6. The PK has not been what it was through November and December. They are not as focused. LA scored on their first advantage, as did Nashville, to make it 1-0 off a Mathieu Schneider goal. But just as in Nashville the Islanders killed every chance after that.
Lineups: ISLANDERS DEFENSEMEN GOALTENDERS INJURIES: D Eric Cairns (dislocated shoulder, 4 to 6 weeks as of Jan. 22) and G Chris Osgood (ankle sprain, 3 to 4 weeks as of Jan. 22). LOS ANGELES KINGS DEFENSEMEN GOALTENDERS
Power-play Conversions:
NYI - 1 of 5, LOS - 1 of 6.
IslesInfo Pregame Preview Preview Isles Look to Bounce Back Again Feb 15: The Islanders have been shutout six times this season, 5 of which have come in the last month. But the Isles are 5-0-0-0 in games after getting blanked this season. Tonight they hope to repeat history versus a team just as desperate for points. Isles vs. Kings Preview: Coming off an impressive 6-2 rout of the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday, the Islanders opened a four-game road trip Thursday with a 2-0 loss to the Nashville Predators. New York, shut out for the fifth time in 16 games, dropped into a tie with the Montreal Canadiens for the final two playoff spots in the Eastern Conference. "We've just been too inconsistent,'' center Alexei Yashin said. "If we scored three goals in each game, instead of six in one, we'd have won two games.'' Yashin is one of the biggest culprits for the team's offensive problems. The star center has one goal in his last 10 games, just five in 31 and 13 overall this season. What's at Stake?: Saturday is a busy day in the Eastern Conference as all 15 teams are in action. The Islanders, 59 points and currently in 7th place, need a win to help solidify a playoff spot and keep up with 6th place Boston, 63 points, who won last night in OT 6-5 in Florida. Boston will be in Tampa tonight to take on the Lightning, who are in 9th place with 58 points after gaining a point in a 2-2 tie in Atlanta last night. Montreal, tied with the Islanders with 59 points, are hosting Edmonton tonight. The NY Rangers moved ahead of Pittsburgh last night into 10th place, with 55 points, after a win 1-0 over the Penguins at MSG. 11th place Pittsburgh with 53 points have not scored a goal in two games since trading Alexei Kovalev and will be in New Jersey tonight. 12th place Florida, 52 points after gaining an overtime point last night, host Washington. Tidbits: Mattias Weinhandl was sent down to Bridgeport on a two week conditioning stint. Since he is a rookie it's possible that he could remain in Bridgeport longer if the Islanders chose to. The main reason for sending him down is because it is believed that wrecking ball Steve Webb will finally get back into the lineup tonight after missing the last 21 games straight with back spasms and assorted muscle ailments. Depending on how much he plays, that will be a huge boost to the Isles physical game. The Islanders are slowly getting back to full strength as Chris Osgood also plans to return sometime within the next two games following tonight's, and Brad Isbister returned Thursday night in Nashville....Garth Snow is probable to come back with another start tonight. Rick DiPietro is waiting in the wings for one more start before Ozzie returns. The Islanders played LA twice last season splitting the series with a 3-0 Jan.5th loss at Nassau Coliseum and a 3-2 Jan.19th win at the Staples center. Garth Snow was spectacular in the road win last season. This is the only match up between the Isles and Kings this season....Alexei Yashin, mired in a season long slump, practiced on the 4th line with Claude Lapointe and Webb in practice yesterday. The Islanders coaching staff chose not to comment on the possible message sent. Yashin is on the pace to score 19 goals this season and is currently a -19....Ziggy Palffy on the recent trade rumors involving him returning to the Islanders: "I don't know if they want me back. You'd have to ask Milbury." Both Mike and Ziggy's agent Paul Krause will be in LA today during the game. Palffy is an impressive +10 on an offensive minded team. Jonsson to Play 500th As Islander Kenny Jonsson becomes the second Islander this season to play in his 500th game as a member of the Islanders, tonight against the LA Kings. Claude Lapointe did it earlier this season. Both players are the most tenured Islanders on the roster. - Jonsson was acquired in March of 1996 by the Islanders from Toronto in exchange for Wendel Clark and tonight's opponent Mathieu Schneider. Before joining the Islander Jonsson played in 89 games for the Leafs, making tonight his 589th NHL game. KJ is 51-147-198 in 499 games as an Islander. He is 2 points shy of becoming the 30th Islander all time to score 200 points. Would make it a perfect game if he could do it tonight in his 500th.
Wounded Kings On Hot Streak The Kings are hot on home ice having won 4 straight. Overall they have won 4 of their last 5 after going 3-13-0-0 in the previous 16. Ziggy Palffy, rumored to be possibly coming back to Long Island sometime soon, notched his 600th NHL point Thursday.
Notes: The Los Angeles Kings have begun to make their move in the Western Conference despite the absence of their starting goaltender. The Kings will look to Jamie Storr for another strong performance when the New York Islanders visit Staples Center for the only time this season. Storr had a relatively easy game Thursday, as Los Angeles scored four power-play goals en route to a 4-2 victory over the Calgary Flames. Storr, regularly the backup to Felix Potvin, needed to make just 11 saves for his fifth win in six starts. In those games, Storr has allowed 12 goals. Potvin is expected to miss at least another month with a sprained right knee. Thursday's win marked the second time in four games the Kings scored four times with the man advantage, after getting as many as three power-play goals just once in their other 53 games. "The first period almost killed us, and that isn't acceptable at all for the power play,'' center Derek Armstrong said. "We were a little lethargic and weren't moving the puck like we should have. But then we started trying different things. The second unit came out and scored, and that made us work a little harder.'' Armstrong and rookie Joe Corvo each had a goal and an assist and Steve Heinze also scored for the Kings, who have won five of six but remain 10th in the West. Ziggy Palffy had a goal and two assists Thursday, giving him five goals and six assists during a seven-game points streak.
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Lets Go Isles! |
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1998-2003 Tom Mascioli
