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IslesInfo Comments: This was a game that the Islanders should definitely log in their memory banks. The talk coming into tonight's game was how Tampa Bay would want to extract revenge after the Islanders drubbed them on home ice 3 weeks ago by a 7-2 score. The Lightning certainly played like it was on their minds, and it was especially evident every time they scored as the Lightning players pump their fists with angry scowls and over exuberant celebrations. But right now the Islanders have more things to worry about. Like how they are going to climb back into a playoff position after now going winless in their last three games, 0-2-1. The match up tonight once again for the Isles got off to a very fast start in the wrong direction as just 12 seconds in Tampa Bay took a 1-0 lead. Defenseman Cory Sarich received a pass from Brad Richards and skated down a wide open right side of the ice thanks to Jason Wiemer's foray into the neutral zone. Sarich wound up with all he got and blew the puck right by Garth Snow for his second of the season. It was not a record though for Tampa Bay for the fastest goal from the start of a game. That record is held by Dino Ciccarelli at 11 seconds. It also wasn't the record for fastest goal against from the start of a game by the Islanders. That record is at 9 seconds and was set by Kevin Hatcher back when he was with the Washington Capitals in 1991. Soon after the goal Eric Godard, who was upset yesterday that he was on the ice during the game tying goal against Florida, got into a fight with Chris Dingman to try and help get the Isles going. At 5:35 Eric Cairns would get called for a double minor after getting into a scrum with Andre Roy. The Islanders PK, which had not allowed a powerplay goal in the last 5 games and gone 49-51 in the last 51 advantages against, was fantastic once again as they shut down the Lightning for the entire 4 minutes. But the Lightning kept up their pressure on the Islanders. Lecavalier would end up with a breakaway opportunity on Snow with and Islander on his back. He made about 3 or 4 moves but Snow held the line. Shortly after, Lecavalier would end up with yet another breakaway and this time he took his time. The legs bent and he slowed down his moves, but Snow kept with him. As Lecavalier took the shot, Snow blocked it but gave up a rebound. Before Snow could get his glove on the puck Lecavalier managed to get his stick on it one last time and trickle it over the line off of Snow's glove. Lecavalier paid the price to score the goal as Brad Isbister came back and smashed him down face first into the ice behind the net. The goal was Lecavalier's 13th of the season at 13:57 of the first. The Islanders had the tables turned on them in the opening period as they were out shot 14-7. - The Islanders would go on the powerplay for the first time to start the second period. But they would soon find themselves down 3-0 when Lecavalier would score his second of the game shorthanded. Kenny Jonsson, who had been on the ice for a while, could not handle the puck at the Lightning's blueline. As he headed back to retrieve the puck at mid ice, Lecavalier raced right by the Isles defenseman who was almost out of gas. Lecavalier moved in on Snow despite Jonsson on his back and side stepped the goaltender before backhanding the puck into the open net. Barely missing the crossbar with his head, Lecavalier angrily slammed his stick at the puck before celebrating with his teammates. About 4 minutes later, Lecavalier almost got into a fight with Cairns but the officials jumped in and broke it up. At 8:21 Sheldon Keefe took a double minor for highsticking Isbister and bloodying his nose. The Isles failed to score on the first advantage. On the second try the Islanders would get on the board and make it 3-1 at 11:46. Shawn Bates, who had a very good weekend, received a pass down in the corner from Alexei Yashin. Bates carried the puck to the net and tried to bounce it in by passing it into the crease. Mark Parrish was right there to stuff the puck through the legs of Nikolai Khabibulin who was 2-6 lifetime against the Islanders. For Parrish, it was his team leading 9th goal of the season. The Isles seemed to be possibly mounting a comeback until 3 minutes later at 14:48. Defenseman Dan Boyle, who was horrible in the Islanders 7-2 win 3 weeks ago, sent a diagonal pass through the Isles zone down low to the side of the net where Vaclav Prospal was waiting to tap in his 7th of the season to make it 4-1. It was an unstoppable shot for Snow. Lecavalier also assisted to give him 3 points in the game. The Isles would gain it back at 18:47 of the second while shorthanded. Michael Peca would throw the puck up ahead to Bates who broke down the left side with a Tampa Bay defenseman all over him. As Bates turned towards the net, he threw the puck ahead and at the last minute chipped it up over the arm of Khabibulin for his 6th of the season, making it 4-2. For Bates, it was his team leading 4th SH goal of the season. He scored 4 for the Islanders in 2001-02. Bates has not scored at even strength yet this season. - The Islanders tried to battle back in the third but in the end were only able to muster up one of the two goals they needed to force a tie and overtime. Jonsson would score his second goal in as many games since Roman Hamrlik went down with a spearated shoulder. At 12:22 he received a pass from Yashin in the slot and Jonsson roofed it up over Khabibulin to make it 4-3. It was Jonsson's 5th goal of the season. Parrish got his second point of the game with an assist. Sven Butenschon took a holding penalty at 17:15 to put a bit of a damper on the Islanders comeback bid. They killed it off and pulled Snow for the extra man with 45 seconds remaining, but were unable to get the puck in front of the net for a scoring chance. The loss snapped an Islander 3 game winning streak in Tampa Bay. Bad Weekend: The Islanders only gained 1 out of 4 points in their Florida trip. Unlike last weekend where everything went their way, this weekend the Islanders have taken a small step back. Even though they put themselves the closest they've been in a long time to 8th in the East by climbing to 4 points back after Friday night's tie, both Toronto( 4-1 over the Rangers ) and Montreal ( 4-2 over Boston ) won. That puts the Islanders 6 points out and both teams have 32 points to the Isles 26. Things could get worse Monday night when Toronto visits lowly Atlanta. Montreal will be in Ottawa. The Hurricanes are in 6th in the East with 33 points and are in Minnesota Sunday night. The Rest: Washington lost in San Jose tonight 2-0 and remain 2 points ahead of the Isles. Pittsburgh lost in overtime 3-2 in LA and move up to 29 points with the one point gained. The Penguins are in Anaheim tomorrow night. The Caps are in Colorado Monday night and the Rangers will host San Jose. Next Up: The Islanders will host the
defending Stanley Cup Champion Detroit Red Wings Tuesday night. The Isles
were 0-2 against Detroit last season. In an exciting home opener for the
Islanders last season, Detroit came back to win in overtime 6-5. The
Islanders lost 2-1 in a close game at Detroit. The Red Wings defeated
Columbus tonight 6-4 at home. They are 17-8-4-1 with 39 points, first
place in the Central Division. Fight Card: Eric Godard vs. Chris Dingman. Godard threw some hard punches early and late in the fight. He also took Dingman down to the ice. Win: Godard. Almost Fight: Eric Cairns vs. Vincent Lecavalier. It would have been nice to see Cairns put the slap down on Lecavalier for scoring two goals against the Isles. It was obviously a nice thing for the Lightning to see their offensive leader get so involved. But be no question about it, if the officials did not jump in and break this one up Cairns would have put a beating on the kid. Commentary: Another frustrating game. The only way you could understand is think how hard it is to get up for a game sometimes on a night when you played so hard the previous night. But that's the Islanders job and every team goes through it. The Islanders have stagnated a little as of late and need something new to get them going. Could that be the return of Mattias Weinhandl to the lineup? Hopefully this is a possibility for Tuesday night against Detroit. But I got to tell ya, it was hard watching the Lightning with their over exuberant celebrations tonight like they had some kind of vendetta against us after we shellacked them 7-2 three weeks ago. The Islanders need something to boost them further because right now they are just going nowhere as they hover between 4-7 points out of the playoffs. They can't keep doing well for 3 games and then blowing it in the following three. That is nonproductive.
Report Card: Brad Isbister: He was a team worst -3 tonight only because he's been getting so much ice time as of late as the Islanders best forward. He didn't get anything going really tonight. Alexei Yashin: Two shots on goal and only has 3 goals in his last 11 games. A return of Weinhandl would do a heck of a lot for Yashin right about now. An interesting remark was made tonight from Islanders color commentator Joe Michelletti regarding Yashin. He said that he doesn't feel Yashin and Parrish should be linemates because Yashin is a finisher that needs to be given the puck. The same goes for Parrish. That is why Weinhandl was so good with Yashin because he is a good set up man. Weinhandl could become an excellent all around player because he can also put the puck in the net regularly. In Sweden he was known as a sniper playing with the Sedin twins of Vancouver. It wasn't until they left for Vancouver that Weinhandl to dish the puck after sustaining his near carerr ending eye injury. Shawn Bates: The man is a penalty killing demon. 4 shorties on the season and 8 in his Islander career. Of course a lot of credit goes to his PK partner Michael Peca. Mark Parrish: Had two points tonight and scored his team leading( tied with Isbister ) 9th goal. Led the team with 4 shots and always plays well against the Lightning. Dave Scatchard: Has been very quiet as of late offensively except for his goal against Chicago Tuesday night. Jason Wiemer: Could have been faulted for the first goal against tonight when he left his lane to make a check in the neutral zone. Jason Blake: Played well on the PK and always utilizes his speed. His 7 goals is just one shy of a career high and two shy of the team lead. He had a career game in november with 4 points in the Islanders 7-2 win over Tampa. He had no points tonight. Claude Lapointe: Had a few good shifts but played mostly on the PK. Steve Webb: Got a couple good hits in. Arron Asham: His MO is to get scratched and come back with a vengeance, only to cool off again. The Asham-Peca-Isbister line has stalled a bit as of late. Could be time to scratch him again and get him angry. Though I don't think that's the answer. Maybe when Weinhandl comes back that will solidify the top line and Asham will gel with another combination. Oleg Kvasha: Scratched for the second straight game and 3rd time in the last 5. It was recently printed by the NY Post that Kvasha was asked how would he feel if when Weinhandl returns and with the addition of Eric Godard, who may be with the team for a while this time, how he would feel being the odd man out. Kvasha replied: "I don't care." It's getting VERY close to being the end of the line here for Nolegs, TMO, heartless Kvasha....whatever you want to call him. Because that's what he is, a huge talent somewhere in that big frame of his but with no heart. Maybe he will realize his potential somewhere else under some other coach, but it doesn't seem like it will happen on Long Island. The recent development with Kvasha has sparked a lot of discussion on if whether the Islanders regret or lost the deal they made with Florida back in the summer of 2000 when they sent Roberto Luongo and Olli Jokinen to the Panthers for Kvasha and Mark Parrish. My opinion is that just because Kvasha has not panned out, does not mean the Islanders lost this deal. Parrish was an all-star last season and is still a threat to score 30 goals a season. And I don't care what anyone says, I would not trade Parrish straight up for Jokinen no matter how much the Panther is having a break out season. Luongo, whether you want to factor in the teams he has played for or not, has never done anything spectacular for the Panthers and is on a lifetime streak of losing two games for every win. He may one day turn out to be a great goaltender and would perhaps benefit from being a backup with a team like Colorado behind Patrick Roy and a good team than with a young team like the Panthers. But in my opinion Luongo has a bad attitude in the long line of many Islanders in the past like Bryan Smolinski, Tim Connolly and Kirk Muller. I don't know what will happen with Kvasha, but he could end up as a package somewhere down the line. I don't know how much the Islanders are interested in Tampa defenseman Pavel Kubina but if Tampa Bay is really interested in getting rid of him a one for one deal would not be all that bad. But Tampa Bay may be looking for more than heartless Oleg and his 1 goal. Michael Peca: Played well on the PK tonight but wasn't very noticeable at even strength. Mattias Weinhandl: Sprained shoulder. Would be nice to see him return against Detroit. The Red Wings have a Swedish rookie of their own in Henrik Zetterberg. Wienhandl knows him quiete well as they played together for Sweden in the 2002 World Championships. Eric Godard: Another solid fight and his third in 4 NHL games. Defense: Roman Hamrlik: Out with separated shoulder. Adrian Aucoin: Played well but hasn't been noticeable offensively. Eric Cairns: Had two double minors tonight but one was a coincidental. He played ok and would have beaten Lecavalier pretty good if the officials had let it go. Kenny Jonsson: Got burned on the second Lecavalier goal. But for the second game in a row he scored a goal and has really stepped up his game after the injury to Roman Hamrlik. Kenny has to do more of the same in upcoming games if the Isles are going to win. Radek Martinek: Solid defensively. Mattias Timander: Played ok. Goal: Garth Snow: Laviolette decided to go with Snow who has been good on second nights of back to back games. And even though Osgood had never lost a game to Tampa Bay, he was rested for Tuesday night when he will face his old team, Detroit. Snow was pretty dolid tonight, but the first goal killed the Islanders momentum right from the get go. And this has been an unbelievable recurring nightmare of allowing goals on the first shot against for the Islanders. This trend has got to stop!
Coaches What can Laviolette do to have these guys better prepared right from the get go. It just feels like every game you can tell right from the first shift if they are not ready to play and a goal is coming any moment now. And these games are happening too often. Special Teams It's hard to believe that the Islanders are not climbing up the standing even faster with the way the special teams have been over the last month. Especially the last 10 games as the Islanders tonight once again won in both categories. They went 1-4 on the PP. And the PK was a perfect 4-4. The Islanders have not allowed a powerplay goal in the last 6 games and are 53-55 on the last 55 advantages against.
Lightning Squeak Past N.Y. Islanders 4-3
Lineups: ISLANDERS DEFENSEMEN GOALTENDERS TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING DEFENSEMEN GOALTENDERS
Power-play Conversions:
NYI - 1 of 4, TAM - 0 of 4.
IslesInfo Pregame Preview Preview Isles Inching Closer Dec 14: The Islanders skate into familiar territory tonight as they face the Tampa Bay Lightning for the second time this season on the second of back to back nights in Florida. The Isles hope history repeats itself, as they came away 7-2 winners last month. Isles vs. Tampa Bay Preview: If history does repeat itself then things should go well tonight for the Isles against one of the surprise and hottest teams of 2002-03. On November 20 the Isles visited the Panthers on a crucial road trip. The game ended in a 3-3 tie and the next night the Islanders came in and manhandled the Southern Division leading Lightning by a 7-2 score. It may not be as easy tonight as the Lightning were most undoubtedly embarrassed in front of their home fans and have been looking forward to a second crack at the Isles. Mark Parrish, you may remember, scored probably the Islanders prettiest goal of the season in that game when he totally undressed Tampa defenseman Dan Boyle before scoring on Nikolai Khabibulin. The Isles have had some success against Khabibulin in the past and are hoping they can continue the success. Once again the team will be decked out in their orange 3rd jerseys. They are 1-1-2 in games where they don the orange. The Islanders are 3-1-1 in their last five games, and boast a 4-1-1 mark in their last six on the road. - The Islanders, at 11-14-4 and 26 points, climbed to within 4 points of Toronto and Montreal for 7th in the East. A win tonight could very likely move the Isles even closer to a playoff position as some teams that had good starts are starting to falter. They have a chance to move into a tie for 12th with a win and a Pittsburgh loss in LA. Now that the Isles are within the .500 range they cannot afford to drop back out of distance with a loss. The goal is to hopefully reach the .500 mark by Christmas time. If they keep playing well at least for 3 game stretches as they have recently then eventually they will climb up the standings.
It's St. Louis in Tampa Bay Martin St. Louis is one of the surprising players in the NHL this season leading one of the surprising teams. Thursday night he notched a goal and 2 assists, including the game winner, in a 3-2 win in Montreal. But the Lightning have cooled down of late.
Notes: Tampa Bay, one of the league's perennial bottom feeders, raced out of the gate with a seven-game unbeaten streak (5-0-2-0), and held a solid 12-6-2-1 mark on Nov. 23. But the Lightning have hit hard times since, going 1-4-1-2 before Thursday's 3-2 triumph at Montreal. The win over Montreal ended a three-game losing streak, and capped a four-game road trip for Tampa Bay, which will play six of its next eight at home. Lightning netminder Nikolai Khabibulin has also been struggling of late, but he made 18 saves Thursday for just his third win in 11 starts after posting a stellar 7-0-2 mark during Tampa Bay's early season run. Tampa Bay has not won consecutive games since taking three in a row from Nov. 11-17.
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1998-2003 Tom Mascioli
