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ISLES INFO |
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ISLES INFO |
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IslesInfo Comments: If the Islanders learned anything, it's that they have proved this season that they are not in the same class as the Atlantic Division leading Devils and Flyers. The Isles have been defeated twice soundly at home by the Flyers including a recent 4-0 flat performance just 3 games ago. Though the last two games they have played much better, the Islanders came out flat once again in their first meeting of the season against New Jersey, getting beat handily 5-0. The Islanders held the shot advantage early on and Arron Asham provided some excitement when he went toe to toe with Devil's rookie Michael Rupp. Asham scored a pretty good win in the fight but once again the Isles failed to use that as momentum. The Isles coaching staff decided to form a line of Trent Hunter, Alexei Yashin and Oleg Kvasha. The line was the Isles best of the night with the majority of the shots on net. The Islanders recalled a few players before the game. Brandon Smith was called up to replace Adrian Aucoin, who is listed as day to day with a groin strain. Raffi Torres, originally believed to be called up to possibly replace an ailing Shawn Bates, instead almost replaced Mark Parrish who hurt his leg in the Isles 4-3 OT loss to Washington. Parrish was able to play though while Torres sat at. Chris Osgood, playing in his 100th game as an Islander, had a good start as well, stoning the Devils on a 2 on 1 opportunity. But at 16:07 New Jersey would take the lead 1-0 and never look back. Joe Nieuwendyk, still looking for his 500th NHL goal, skated down the right boards and found a streaking Jeff Friesen, who was able to shake an Islander check. Friesen chipped the pass up over a diving Osgood for his 11th goal of the season. Brandon Smith left the game midway through the first period after getting hit hard into the boards by Tommy Albelin, but he returned for the second period. - The Islanders failed to score on a powerplay attempt going into the second period. At 11:45 the Devils would take a 2-0 lead off a goal by Patrick Elias, his 12th. Scott Gomez beat Smith to the puck in the lower left circle, wheeled back and found Elias in the slot with a pass. Elias beat Osgood short side on a screened shot. Smith was hit hard once again behind the Isles net as the Devils began to overwhelm the Isles. The Islanders got a couple good scoring chance late in the second after killing off a penalty to Dave Scatchard, but made too many passes on the first play. Osgood made some big saves on the PK before Claude Lapointe and Mattias Weinhandl broke in on a 3 on 1 chance. The Devils were able to cut off the extra man and Roman Hamrlik's smack at the puck was thwarted away from the Devils net. Radek Martinek forced a shot through Martin Brodeur that landed in the Devils goal mouth, but Scott Stevens was right there to clear it out. - The Islanders had 10 shots on goal in the third period, but possibly a third of those shots were taken by Islander defensemen from their own end of the ice. At the start of the period, the Isles had yet another chance to cut the Devils lead in half when Martinek made a pass through the Devils crease to Yashin on the doorstep. Yashin wasn't quite ready but somehow still got a couple shots off that was stopped spectacularly by Brodeur. The flood gates opened for New Jersey at 4:28 on the powerplay when a point shot by Oleg Tverdovsky would tip in behind Osgood off the stick of Mattias Timander. The goal was Tverdovsky's 5th and made it 3-0. At 9:23 New Jersey went up 4-0 when Sergei Brylin broke in down the middle through the check of Hamrlik and Timander to notch his 10th of the season. At 16:10, the Islanders had pretty much given up on the game, when Scott Niedermayer sent a pass on net that Jamie Langenbrunner tipped in for his 12th of the season to make it 5-0 New Jersey. That was Niedermayer's 400th NHL point. Albelin recorded his 200th assist in the game for New Jersey as well. Brodeur recorded his 60th career shutout. The Devils have yet to lose to an Atlantic Division opponent. The Islanders just plain did not show up and drop to 19-18-5-2.
More stats: The Islanders are 7-2-0-2 in their last 11 games, but are also 1-2-0-1 in their last 4. Chris Osgood lost his first game in regulation in his last 11 decisions. The Isles are 3-2-0-2 in the month of January. Next Up: The Isles travel to St. Louis for the third game of this 4 game road trip Tursday night, the second of back to back tilts. The Isles lost 6-1 at home to St. Louis back on November 2nd. That was the game Michael Peca made a 27 second cameo return. One bit of good news, the Islanders have not lost in St. Louis since December of 1995. The Islanders are 2-0-2 in four trips to the Kiel Center since a December 19th, 1995, 4-1 defeat. The Standings: The Islanders fell back to 9th in the Eastern Conference with 45 points. The Pittsburgh Penguins, 46 points, defeated Carolina 2-0 vaulting them over the Islanders and Lightning into 7th place. The Rangers have now pulled to a tie in points with the Islanders after winning their third straight with a 2-1 OT win in Washington. The Islanders still have 4 games at hand. Montreal lost last night 1-0 in Atlanta, the Thrashers getting a win under new head coach Bob Hartley. The Canadiens remain tied in points with the Islanders as well, in 11th place. The Florida Panthers, 43 points, finally won a game 3-0 over Boston, moving them ahead of Carolina into 12th place. The Islanders remain 4 points behind the Bruins for 6th place and 6 points behind Toronto for 5th place. Washington gets a point in their 14th consecutive game and are 5 points ahead of the Isles. TV Stuff: Howie Rose is reportedly hoping to get back into the TV booth for Sundays game in Atlanta, which means John Wiedemann will again fill in for him in St. Louis. With last nights game being a home game for New Jersey, Doc Emrick and Chico Resch handled the TV assignment while Wiedemann was back on radio. Against St. Louis, Chris King is expected to fill in once again for play by play. Alan Hahn of Newsday was mentioned as a possible color commentator for the night. Jean Potvin and Chris Botta have already been fill ins this week. Funny Moments: Chico
Resch and Doc Emrick almost orgasmed themselves when Michael Rupp made a
nice end to end rush which resulted in a shot on goal. They were playing
up his potential all night. But they rather downplayed the fact that a
much smaller Arron Asham whooped his ass early on in the game. Fight Card: Arron Asham vs. Michael Rupp. Resch stated that it seemed as though the Isles went after Rupp in an attempt to neutralize him. Maybe so. Or maybe that is just already over-rating a player who has had one good game in the NHL up to this point. Rupp at 6-5, 225 lbs seemed to have an obvious physical advantage on the much smaller Asham at 5-11, 209 lbs. Rupp began to throw some punches on Asham by the New Jersey bench and it wasn't looking good. Suddenly Asham began to throw back and was landing flush on Rupp's face. Rupp turtled a bit and turned away, while Asham just kept on swinging. When the officials pulled them apart Rupp's nose and lip was cut and bloodied. A few minutes later he went off the ice to get fixed up. Asham, who hasn't fought in a while was very impressive in whooping Rupp's ass. Unfortunately the Isles did not feed off that. Win: Asham. Commentary: This was a really disappointing loss. We were totally dominated by the Devils tonight. And recently dominated by the Flyers. The Islanders can talk about challenging for the division title all they want, but they have recently proved that they cannot play with either team. The fact that New Jersey just overwhelmed the Isles in the third period with their trapping style really bothered me. The defensemen must have taken 7 or 8 shots from their own end on Brodeur, as if to say we can't even get across the neutral zone, so why bother?? It was really disgusting. They better come out with a better performance against St. Louis. I don't want to hear anything about being tired because they didn't even play tonight at all. That was a sorry, sorry ass performance. They really missed Aucoin though.
Report Card: Brad Isbister: Sat out fifth straight game with sore ankle. Perhaps the more bigger bad news for Izzy is the Isles are proving they don't need him to win. Which is what has brought on the recent rumors, heavy rumors, that he is going to be sent to Boston in exchange for D Kyle McLaren. Stay tuned on that one! Alexei Yashin: Had a team leading 4 shots on goal, but was a -2. He is now -21 on the season and has only scored 2 goals in his last 19 games. Shawn Bates: Reports have it that Bates is still struggling with the sore groin. He is not skating at full strength, but is making the best of it as he tries to play through the pain. The Islanders called up Raffi Torres from Bridgeport before the game. Mark Parrish: Took a hard hit from behind in the game against Washington and smashed his knee into the boards. It has been bothering him ever since and almost couldn't play tonight. But Parrish fought through it as well. Torres almost took his place in the lineup. The hurt knee may have been why Parrish missed some powerplay time against Washington. Dave Scatchard: His line didn't generate much tonight. Nobody did. Jason Wiemer: Wasn't really noticeable until late in the game. Had a few chances to score late in the game. Jason Blake: Played hard as usual all night, but couldn't get anything going. Claude Lapointe: Limited duty on the fourth line tonight. Steve Webb: Sat out his ninth game with chronic back spasms. Isles could use him back in the lineup. But as I said previously, a crop of other forwards have filled in nicely for him on the fourth line. He reportedly is not healing very fast either. Arron Asham: Quiet night offensively for him, but surprisingly beat Devil rookie Michael Rupp in an early fight handily, bloodying the big mans nose and mouth. Oleg Kvasha: After his recent good stretch, tonight at times he seemed to do some floating. He worked hard in the offensive zone, but defensively left much to be desired. He finished -2 on the game. Michael Peca: Was very quiet on the night. Not even a big hit to get his team going. Can't expect it every night. The entire team failed to show up. Mattias Weinhandl: Seems to have hit the rookie wall. Remember, Europeans only play about 40 games overseas. Sometimes they hit the wall in the long North American seasons of 80+ games. Eric Godard: Scratched for the third straight. Trent Hunter: Had 4 shots on goal and a couple of the more quality chances the Isles had on the night. Hunter played on the Isles top line with Yashin and Kvasha. Even though he's played very well, racking up the assists lately, the goal scorer has still struggled to find the back of the net. Defense: Roman Hamrlik: Was a -2 on the night. Was one of the Isles defense that was taking shots on Brodeur from inside the Islanders zone. Adrian Aucoin: Scratched with a groin strain. Is listed as day to day. Brandon Smith was called up from Bridgeport to replace Aucoin. Eric Cairns: Wasn't too bad on the night. Was a -1. Kenny Jonsson: Coach Laviolette said that Jonsson, Hunter Yashin and Kvasha were the only Islanders to show up. While Jonsson did have 4 shots on goal, his -2 drops him to -11 total on the season. Radek Martinek: Had some good moments generating some offense. Had some bad moments on defense though too. Mattias Timander: Another one taking shots on Brodeur from the Islander zone. Brandon Smith: I don't EVER want to see this guy in an Islander uniform ever again. He played timid and as soft as a professional hockey player could play. He was SO overmatched in the game that the Devils just keyed on him, taking the puck from him every chance they had. Plus, they plastered him into the boards, including one hit in the second period where Smith looked like a paper doll. He may be good for Bridgeport, but not the Islanders. Sven Butenschon should have gotten the call. The Islanders need to stop worrying about getting everyone in the organization playing time and worry about what will get them wins. Sound Tiger coach Steve Sterling may have told the Islanders brass that Smith was playing well right now, but the Islanders should know a little more then just taking his word on the situation. Smith was horrible in his lone preseason appearance for the Isles and once again he was out of place last night. Goal: Chris Osgood: Was pretty good in the first and second period. Ozzie made some big saves to keep the Isles in it. Things went downhill in the third at it seemed like he gave up with the rest of the team after the 4th goal the Isles gave up. This was the first regulation loss for Osgood in his last 11 decisions. Will be interesting to see if he gets a rest against St. Louis.
Coaches The coaching staff has got to do something to get these guys to come out and play their best games against New Jersey and Philadelphia. How do you come out flat against the two teams in your division you are trying to catch? Those should be considered the most important games. The biggest tests. And so far the Islanders have failed them. At the same time, it shouldn't be up to the coaching staff to get the players pumped up for these games. The players should be doing it themselves, knowing what's at stake. Special Teams Specialty teams were so so again tonight. The Islanders powerplay, ranked 24th in the league, went 0-1, getting only one opportunity all night. The Devils are very good at not taking penalties. The PK went 2-3 and dropped a few spots, now ranked 13th in the NHL.
Lineups: ISLANDERS DEFENSEMEN GOALTENDERS NEW JERSEY DEVILS DEFENSEMEN GOALTENDERS
Power-play Conversions:
NYI - 0 of 1, NJD - 1 of 3.
IslesInfo Pregame Preview Preview Osgood, Isles Prepare for Devs Jan 15: The Islanders have been providing some offense as of late, but tonight's game could be a low scoring affair. The Devils are stingy defensively, but they also do not score many goals themselves. An early lead could be integral. Isles vs. Devils Preview: Despite their standing as division and geographic rivals, the New York Islanders and the New Jersey Devils will be meeting for the first time this season Wednesday night at Continental Airlines Arena. In a quirk of the NHL schedule, the Islanders have already played the Florida Panthers four times but have yet to face New Jersey, one of their closest rivals. The Islanders and Devils meet once in February and conclude the season series with three matchups in March. Both teams are in the midst of hot streaks. New York is 7-1-0-2 in its last 10 games while the Devils are unbeaten in a season-high four straight (3-0-1). Michael Peca's goal with 4:17 left in regulation earned the Islanders a point, but red-hot Jaromir Jagr scored on the power play with 36.4 seconds to play in overtime to lift the Washington Capitals to a 4-3 victory over the Islanders on Monday. Jason Blake continued his strong play with an assist for New York, which has points in four straight on the road (2-0-0-2). "All points are big points right now,'' coach Peter Laviolette said. "We needed to get points and we got one. We needed two, so I am disappointed.'' Blake, already with career highs of 14 goals and 30 points, has six goals and five assists in his past seven contests. While Blake is providing unexpected offense, star center Alexei Yashin has just two goals in his last 18 games. Injury Update: Adrian Aucoin is listed as day to day with a groin injury. There has been some rumblings around the internet that the team has called up D Brandon Smith from Bridgeport. If this is true you have to question why they didn't call up Sven Butenschon. The Isles always look to get in all their signings, whether this is a good move or bad is yet to be seen. Perhaps they look at him to replace Aucoin's offensive part of the game. And maybe he's playing the best among the defensemen in Bridgeport right now. But the Islanders have not confirmed this move yet. also, LW Raffi Torres may have been called up if LW Shawn Bates cannot go because of his recent groin injury. It may still be bothering him. LW Brad Isbister is supposedly close to returning. RW Steve Webb is still out with a sore back. Trade Rumors Continue: According to a Boston newspaper source, Brad Isbister was apparently told by the Isles that he was traded to the Boston Bruins in exchange for D Kyle McLaren recently, before Boston backed out of the deal at the last second. Believe what you may with this story. There is a lot of stories and trade concoctions floating around right now. Surprisingly though, the Bruins on Monday dealt goaltender John Grahame to Tampa Bay to backup Nikolai Khabibulin, leaving the Bruins with Steve Shields and minor leaguer Andrew Raycroft. This seemed as though it could have been the first of many moves, but nothing else materialized. A report out of Tampa Bay late Monday had veteran players approaching management because they were concerned with the move, since they reportedly really like now former backup Kevin Hodson. Another report Tuesday had Tampa Bay GM denying that this situation ever happened and he stated that their acquisition of Grahame was not some sort of precursor to more bigger deals that could have involved the Islanders. The latest rumor has the Islanders acquiring McLaren from Boston and Fredrik Modin from Tampa Bay. Leaving the Islanders would be Roman Hamrlik back to Tampa Bay. Boston would receive either Isbister, Chris Osgood, both or Rick DiPietro. A possibility of Grahame coming back to the Isles has been mentioned. These rumored deals don't help the Islanders one bit. Why would they want to downgrade on defense by going with McLaren over Hamrlik? Why would they give up Osgood to Boston, if he is their best chance in the playoff race? If Boston did not want Modin from Tampa Bay straight up for McLaren, why would the Isles give up so much to get Modin? And why would the Islanders take back a goaltender in Grahame who they pasted for 8 goals last week in an 8-4 win over Boston? All of these rumors have been generated by Boston and Tampa Bay media and sound more like pipe dreams than legitimate trade possibilities. What's at Stake?: The Islanders, 45 points, can move into 7th place in the Eastern Conference tonight with a win over New Jersey. That's because Tampa Bay, 46 points, was annihilated by Ottawa 7-0 last night. The Islanders can also cut the Devils lead over them in the Atlantic Division to 6 points. Montreal, tied in points with the Isles, will be in Atlanta. Pittsburgh, one point behind the Islanders with 44 points, will be in Carolina who are 3 points behind New York with 42 points and slipping fast. The 11th place Rangers with 43 points, will be in Washington, who have 49 points. Florida, 41 points and another team slipping fast, will host the 6th place Boston Bruins who have 49 points. Tidbits: The Isles are 3-1-0-2 in the month of January....The Devils took last year's series, 3-2, though the Isles won the most recent match, 4-2, on Shawn Bates' game-winning goal....Osgood's record is 4-4-1-1 on the road and he is 4-7-1 all-time against New Jersey....Trent Hunter has 5 assists and is a +7 in his last 3 games....The Isles play 23 of their last 39 games on the road....The Isles were 1-0-1-1 at the Continental Airlines Arena last season....The two teams have not met in almost a year. They will meet once again in February and 3 times in March during the Isles final 20 games.
Isles Head Into the Swamp Pat Burns has continued the New Jersey tradition of being a stingy defensive team that will trap you to death and play that same old boring style hockey. It may not be fun to watch, but they are successful at it. So the Isles will need to break the defense tonight.
Notes: New Jersey has allowed a league-low 85 goals and has started to get its offense going during the current unbeaten streak. Michael Rupp scored twice in his NHL debut on his 23rd birthday and Jeff Friesen added a pair of goals, leading the Devils to a 6-2 victory over Florida on Monday. Rupp, originally drafted by the Islanders in 1998, didn't know he was going to play until Jay Pandolfo was scratched from the lineup because of general soreness. "I want to stay up here as long as I can,'' said Rupp, who spent the last 2 1/2 seasons with Albany of the AHL waiting for a chance. "I just want to play the style I was told to. I'm going to try and do that game in, game out.'' The Devils have 14 goals in their last four games after scoring only 11 in the previous seven contests. Forwards Patrik Elias and Friesen have three goals and five points apiece during the unbeaten streak. "It was nice to be in a more offensive type of game tonight,'' Friesen said. "It's a lot more fun out there playing with a lead.'' Martin Brodeur's record all-time against the Isles is 23-10-3, with two shutouts. Devils' center Joe Nieuwendyk enters tonight's game with 499 career goals: 314 with Calgary, 178 with Dallas, and seven with New Jersey. He is looking to become the 32nd player in NHL history to reach the 500-goal mark.
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Lets Go Isles! |
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1998-2003 Tom Mascioli
