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IslesInfo Comments: The Islanders took a 1-0 lead with a good start in the first period. At 4:36 Claude Lapointe circled back high in the Capitals zone and dished the puck off to Mattias Timander for the shot. The puck found it's way through the forecheck of Trent Hunter and Mark Parrish, and eventually found it's way through Olaf Kolzig's pads as well. Hunter originally began the play by stealing a Washington clearing play before giving the puck to Lapointe. But the lead for the Isles would be short lived as they would get into penalty trouble. Parrish got called for tripping and not too long after Jason Blake jumped out on the ice too soon after a clearing play that led to a too many men on the ice call. The Isles would be down 2 men for 1:21. Chris Osgood could only hold off the Washington attack for so long with diving pad saves before finally letting one up to perhaps the best offensive defenseman in the league, Sergei Gonchar. The goal was his 10th of the season with assists going to Jaromir Jagr and Robert Lang to make it 1-1 at 6:37. The game would remain tied until 16:02 when Jagr would score his 22nd goal of the season. He circled in off the right faceoff circle and bumped into Arron Asham. Asham made a bit of a weak check as he just kept going, and so did Jagr. The Caps leading scorer grabbed his own loose puck and fired it top right corner. Osgood had no chance on the shot. Former Islander Kip Miller assisted on it along with Brendan Witt. Things were not looking good for the Islanders when at 18:50 Washington gained a 3-1 lead when Michael Nylander began a tic tac toe passing playing to Jagr that followed a triangle down in low to Miller. It was tipped in for Miller's 7th of the season. The Islanders did have some interesting chances in the first. Mattias Weinhandl was stoned in front by Kolzig after a pass from behind the net that kept it tied 1-1. Second later Osgood made a save that trickled across the goal line. Radek Martinek blasted a shot that on Kolzig that hit the goaltender flush underneath the goalie mask and stunned him, laying him out on the ice for a few seconds. - The Islanders drew to within one at 6:37 to make it 3-2 when Oleg Kvasha would continue his hot hand. After an angle shot from up high by Adrian Aucoin, Kvasha would skate in for the rebound and put it into the open net for his 4th of the season and 3rd in the last 4 games. Kenny Jonsson also assisted on the goal. But the Islanders failed to score on three powerplay advantages in the second period as well. The Isles were much better in the second period defensively as they shut down Jagr to just one shot on goal after he had three points in the first period. Jonsson was called for holding at the 20 minute mark to put Washington on the powerplay for the start of the third. The Islanders out shot Washington in the second 12-6. One of the Washington penalties earlier on in the period was taken by Jeff Halpern after he checked Parrish from behind hard into the boards. Parrish fell into the boards knee first and then went off limping a bit. But he returned on the ensuing powerplay. One piece of bad news in the second was that Aucoin left the game after what seemed to be a possible groin pull. He pulled up through his stride and seemed to lose his stride like a blown tire. He did not return for the rest of the game and if he has to miss any time will be sorely missed by the Islanders. - It was getting pretty late in the third and it seemed as though the Islanders were headed for a loss. But if they could get a late goal they could perhaps squeak out a point in regulation. And they did thanks to the captain. Michael Peca broke out from the corner after a pass from Blake due to fierce forechecking once again. Peca walked out into the slot and put a low shot through the legs of Kolzig to tie the game up at 3-3. The goal was scored at 15:43 and was Peca's 5th goal of the season. Hunter got his second assist of the game on the goal. The Islanders would get to the end of regulation with the point and a chance to look for more in the OT. - The Islanders were out shooting the Caps 3-2 in the period and the officials were allowing everything in the extra session. Both Peca and Parrish were pulled down on plays before referee Paul Devorski suddenly decided to make a call on Jonsson in the Islanders end. Jonsson, not normally one to take a lot of penalties, was called two times tonight with probably only the holding penalty he took at the end of the second period being the only legitimate penalty he was guilty of. It was also odd that the call in OT was not made until a few seconds later. Jagr had gotten off a hard shot on net. Jonsson gets thrown off on a holding the stick penalty with 1:53 remaining in the OT. The Islanders killed off the first half of the penalty and now there was less than a minute remaining in the game. Lang would gain the puck down low in the Islanders end and the Islanders had problems defending him as he pulled the puck into the slot. Lang then surprised the Islanders by whipping the puck over to Jagr, who was able to get a shot off despite being off foot. Osgood dived at the puck but Jagr found the net for his second of the game and 23rd of the season at 4:23. Washington wins it 4-3. Peca tried to talk to Devorski, but the ref avoided all contact with the Islanders. With the point, the Isles record is now 19-17-5-2, 45 points.
More stats: The Islanders are 7-1-0-2 in their last 10 games, losing only once in regulation. Chris Osgood won his 16th game of the season and is now 6 games over .500. Even though Chirs Osgood got the loss, he has not lost officially in regulation in his last 10 starts....The season series against Washington stands at 0-2-0-1 for the Isles. The Islanders lost their home opener 2-1 back on October 12th and 3-1 at home back on December 21st....Jaromir Jagr recorded a point on every Capital goal, going 2-2-4. In the last two games he has gone 5-6-11....Jagr, before his 7 point night against Florida, was also the last NHL player to have a 7 point game. He did it back on December 30th, 1999 in Pittsburgh against Roberto Luongo once again and the Isles in a 9-3 Penguin win....Calle Johansson, Capital defenseman, recently broke the Washington record for most games played by a Capital player. The old record was held by Islander assist coach Kelly Miller with 940. Before the game, Miller presented Johansson with an award for the feat....Washington extends their streak of gaining at least a point a game to 13 straight....The Isles are now 1-22-3 in their last 26 games against Washington This is scary: the Islanders are 2-43-10 in their last 55 games against the Ottawa Senators and Washington Capitals combined....The Islanders have never won at the MCI Center, having last beaten the Caps on the road at the old US AIR Arena (Cap Centre) in Landover on March 2, 1997. The Isles are 0-11-2 in their last 13 games in Washington and are 0-9-2 at the MCI Center Next Up: The Isles travel to New Jersey for the second of this 4 game road trip. The Devils are currently 4th in the conference with 54 points, 9 ahead of the Isles in the Atlantic Division. This is their first meeting of the season Wednesday night. The Devils defeated the Florida Panthers last night 6-2, thanks in large part to an old blast from the past for the New York Islanders. The Isles 1998 first round draft choice, Michael Rupp, made his NHL debut on his 23rd birthday and tallied 2 goals and almost a third for the Devils. He only has gone 6-10-16 with Albany of the AHL this season but last night he played very well, fitting that power forward mold that the Islanders once drafted him for. The Islanders will then travel to St. Louis for a game on back to back nights Thursday. The Standings: The Islanders remained in the 8th and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference with 45 points. Montreal defeated the Flames at home 4-2 and tied the Islanders with 45 points. The Isles remain ahead with one more win and a game at hand. The Isles moved to within one point of idle Tampa Bay(46 points) and have a game at hand on them as well. They move to within 4 points of both 6th place Toronto and 5th place Boston(49 points) who both lost last night. Boston lost to Pittsburgh 2-1. The Penguins draw back to .500 and remain in 10th place with 44 points. Toronto lost 5-1 to the Rangers in MSG. The Rangers move into 11th with 43 points. Idle Carolina drops to 12th and Florida with their loss remain in 13th place, now 3 games under .500 after allowing 18 goals in their last 2 games. TV Stuff: Howie Rose was unable to make the trek to Washington and missed his second straight game with the flu. Doc Emrick and Chico Resch will handle the game in New Jersey Wednesday night, so it it unsure if Howie will be back in there Thursday night in St. Louis. John Wiedemann filled in again for him on TV and was much better in his second appearance. Chris King once again did play by play on the radio. His color commentator this time was Isles PR guy Chris Botta. Funny Moments: Islanders TV color
commentator Joe Michelletti twice in the first period referred to Caps
coach Bruce Cassidy, as Butch Cassidy. No Joe, the Sundance Kid is not an
assistant coach with the Caps either. And I doubt that's Cassidy's
nickname. It did provide for a chuckle though. Fight Card: none, though Eric Cairns did have a stare down with Capitals forward Alex Henry. Commentary: What unbelievable BS!!! Why? Why does this happen every damn game against Washington and Ottawa. It is just unbelievable. 2-43-10 in the last 55 games against Ottawa and Washington combined. All those losses. It's mind boggling. That OT officiating job was absolutely bush league. What makes a referee swallow his whistle and then make a holding the stick penalty on a play that wasn't part of a major play? Is Devorski a Caps fan? Did he have money on the game or something? That was a disgrace! Just hand over the game to them Devorski why don't ya! It's just so frustrating to see us battle back like that and then give up a point and a chance to gain out own win because the referee suddenly decides to play a part in the game. If Paul Stewart was officiating the game he wouldn't have made a call unless someone was hauled down on a break away.
Report Card: Brad Isbister: Sat out fourth 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: The Islanders $90 million dollar man only gets 2 shots on goal in this game. Fortunately he was even in plus/minus. He was held scoreless. Shawn Bates: Not good news here. Bates early on looked in good shape. He was getting good amount of ice time, including PK time. So you figured his chronic groin was doing better. But later on in the game you could tell he was favoring it as he was not skating naturally. Plus he was caught by the camera with a look of disgust on his face at the end of the bench. Not a good sign. Mark Parrish: Didn't have a point, but was taking a lot of punishment and abuse in front of Olaf Kolzig all night. He didn't seem to get as much time on the PP, which seems to me like a mistake by the coaching staff. Dave Scatchard: He as well as his line played well. They had some good offensive chances. Just couldn't finish. Jason Wiemer: Had his lip cut in the third period by Scatchard's stick. Played his usual physically hard nosed game. Jason Blake: Notched an assist on Peca's third period game tying goal giving him 6-4-10 in the last 7 games played. He had 4 shots on goal. In the first period he was getting into it with a lot of the Capital players, Steve Konowalchuk for one. They were trash talking and chipping at each other every chance they got. Konowalchuk tripped Blake down later one getting called for a penalty. Early in the first period Brendan Witt noticeably took a few runs at Blake as they must have known Blake has the hot hands as of late and tried to get him off his game. Blake dished it right back and later on in the game plastered a Cap player with an open ice hit along the benches. Claude Lapointe: Assisted on the Isles opening goal and was a +2. The point was his second in the last 2 games. Steve Webb: Sat out his eight 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: Was a team worst -2 and was very bad in checking Jagr during the first period before the Capital earned a 2-1 lead. Has been quiet as of late. Oleg Kvasha: Was perhaps the Isles best forward tonight besides Trent Hunter. Kvasha got his second goal in as many games and is 3-2-5 in his last 4 games, and a +5. Michael Peca: Got the big goal that got the Islanders a point in the standings. He led the Islanders in the third period and in the OT, as he stared down Paul Devorski who handed the game over to the Caps. Mattias Weinhandl: Missed on a glorious point blank shot on the doorstep in front of Kolzig during the first period. But as I said last game, as Yashin struggles so does Weinhandl. That is a shame for the young rookie. Hopefully he and Yashin can shake out of this. Eric Godard: Scratched for the second straight in favor of Trent Hunter who is supplying the Isles with some offense. Trent Hunter: Has 5 assists and is a +7 in his three games since his call up. Hunter was also very physical tonight and this time is showing that he wants to stay in the lineup. He's going to have to put the puck in the net soon. But his play now gives the Islanders two strong rookies in the lineup that can score. Right now the focus is on Hunter. Defense: Roman Hamrlik: Had a solid night. Was a +1 and had 3 shots on goal. Adrian Aucoin: Notched an assist and had 4 shots on goal, despite missing the third period and overtime with what looked to be a possible pulled groin. Hopefully he will be ok for the Isles sake. Eric Cairns: Was a +1 and solid defensively. Kenny Jonsson: Had an assist. Was also penalized twice including the final penalty in OT. Radek Martinek: Was the Isles best defenseman on the ice last night. He almost broke in on a 2 on nothing in OT with Roman Hamrlik. Every chance he got in the game he was jumping up and making plays. His shot in the first period totally stung Kolzig and had him down for a few minutes. Mattias Timander: Scored his first goal in 23 games. Goal: Chris Osgood: Started off fantastic making pad stacking saves left and right. It seemed like he wasn't going to let anything get by him. But against Washington that's pretty tough to do. Especially when down on a 5 on 3. Couldn't fault Osgood on any of the goals tonight. Even though his streak ended, it technically still continues in regulation. Ozzie has not lost in regulation over the last 10 decisions. Don't know if he'll play both of the back to back games.
Coaches Mark Parrish has been getting very short shifts lately on the powerplay. What is up with that? He's our best PP man. Also, and the coaching staff made this mistake last season as well, but Kvasha is now getting hot again...why not put him on the powerplay??? I don't get it. You have to show some confidence in the kid if you want him to produce. Special Teams The Isles specialty teams struggled tonight. The 10th ranked PK allowed two goals going 3-5. The 23rd ranked PP also let the team down as they went 0-4.
Lineups: ISLANDERS DEFENSEMEN GOALTENDERS WASHINGTON CAPITALS DEFENSEMEN GOALTENDERS
Power-play Conversions:
NYI - 0 of 4, WAS - 2 of 5.
IslesInfo Pregame Preview Preview Isles Need Defensive Effort vs. Caps Jan 13: Two hot offensive minded teams face each other tonight at the MCI Center in Washington. But it will be the one who plays the best defense that will probably come out with the win. The Isles head into territory that has not been kind over the years. Isles vs. Capitals Preview: The Islanders enter the game on a hot streak. New York posted a 7-3 victory over the Atlanta Thrashers on Saturday to improve to 7-1-0-1 in its last nine games. New York winger Jason Blake also comes into the game with a hot hand after notching his first career hat trick on Saturday. Blake rewarded coach Peter Laviolette's decision to put him on the power-play unit with his breakout performance. "He's playing with a lot of confidence,'' Laviolette said. "He always plays with a lot of energy. He's always the first one in on the forecheck, the first one to loose pucks, and the first one to backcheck.'' Islanders' goalie Chris Osgood, who stopped 29 shots against the Thrashers on Saturday, is unbeaten in his last nine starts (7-0-2-0). What's at Stake?: The Islanders, currently in 8th place in the East with 44 points, could move into 7th place in the conference with a win tonight over Washington, who are 3rd in the conference with 47 points because they lead the Southeast division. Tampa Bay is idle tonight and the Isles have a game at hand on them. Plus the Islanders could move to within one point of the Caps. 5th place Boston, 49 points, will host 10th place Pittsburgh tonight. 6th place Toronto, 49 points, travels to visit the 12th place NY Rangers, 41 points. The Montreal Canadiens, directly below the Isles in 9th place with 43 points, will host the Calgary Flames tonight. Calgary has struggled but Montreal recently lost at home to Buffalo. The 13th place Florida Panthers, fresh off their 12-2 drubbing at the hands of the Caps, will get another chance to avenge a recent loss against the Devils tonight in New Jersey. Tidbits: The Islanders are 0-2 against Washington this season with both games having been played at Nassau Coliseum. The Isles lost 2-1 October 12th in their home opener, and last month lost 3-1 on December 21st even though Rick DiPietro stopped a penalty shot....The Islanders have never won at the MCI Center, having last beaten the Caps on the road at the old US AIR Arena (Cap Centre) in Landover on March 2, 1997. The Isles are 0-10-2 in their last 12 games in Washington and are 0-8-2 at the MCI Center....Jason Blake is 6-3-9 in his last 6 games....Trent Hunter has 3 assists and is a +4 in 2 games since his call up....Oleg Kvasha is 2-2-4 in his last 3 games and a +4....The Islanders may try to match up Eric Cairns against Jagr tonight. Jagr admitted a couple of years ago in print that he hates to play against Cairns....Osgood is 4-4-2 on the road. Against Washington all time he is 6-5-2.
Jagr & Caps Scoring Plenty Jaromir Jagr, after learning of his all-star selection, went crazy against Florida and notched 3 goals along with 4 assists for seven points en route to a 12-2 win. Even though the Isles historically struggle against the Caps, don't expect to see offense like that.
Notes: All-Star Jaromir Jagr looks to build on one of the best performances of his career when the Washington Capitals host the surging New York Islanders at the MCI Center. Jagr celebrated being named to his eighth All-Star game Saturday by tying a career high with seven points as the Capitals crushed the Florida Panthers 12-2. The star winger had three goals and four assists for his first multi-goal game of the season and 10th career hat trick. "When (Jagr) gets going early, gets rewarded and gets some points, those seem to be the games where he has a little more juice,'' Washington coach Bruce Cassidy said. With the win, the Capitals extended their streak of recording at least one point to 12 straight games. Washington is 7-0-3-2 over that span. The Caps are 12-5-1-1 at home and 16-9-2-1 against Eastern Conference teams. Goaltender Olaf Kolzig has only lost twice in his last 10 games.
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Lets Go Isles! |
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1998-2003 Tom Mascioli
