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ISLES INFO |
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ISLES INFO |
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IslesInfo Comments: Right now, nothing is going Chris Osgood's way. In fact, if the Flyers shot a huge beach ball at him tonight Ozzie probably would have had trouble making the save. That's how low his confidence must be. Or maybe it's his concentration. Because he doesn't seem to be the same Osgood we came to know and love all of 2002-03 and during the preseason. The latest string of allowing many goals on very few shots continued tonight as the Flyers scored on their first two shots on goal. The goals came so fast that the Flyers set the third fastest record for fastest two goals to start a game in NHL history. The record is 24 seconds. Just 16 seconds into the game impressive Flyer young gun Justin Williams broke in off a poor check earlier by Radek Martinek, split the Isles defense and smacked a shot through Osgood's feet. 15 seconds after that, Eric Desjardins took a high shot from the point that found the stick of a tied up Michael Handzus and the puck redirected by Osgood and into the net. The Flyers totally took over the momentum but put the Islanders on the powerplay 42 seconds in. With 30 seconds remaining on the powerplay Dave Scatchard barreled down the left end board and cut to the net, sending the puck into the goal mouth. Brad Isbister, who was centered out by coach Peter Laviolette yesterday to stand in front of the net, was opportunistic and shoveled the puck into the net behind Flyer's starting goaltender Robert Esche. Esche, whose nickname is Chico, surprisingly started over Roman Cechmanek. The Isles were now back in the game at 2-1. But that didn't last for long. At 10:55 Jeremy Roenick slapped one by off the left faceoff circle by Osgood to make it 3-1 Philly on the powerplay. At 15:53 Keith Primeau beat a rusty looking Martinek out of the corner and banged home a redirection by Simon Gagne to make it 4-1. Philadelphia would cap off the 5 goal period when Roenick would score his second on the powerplay. The Flyers took advantage of the Isles poor defensive play and the puck was sent perfectly and diagonally down the slot for Roenick to tip in high. The score actually could have been much worse as the Flyers had a hit post reviewed on video replay, missed late on another two on one, and almost trickled another shot from the blueline passed a very shaky Osgood. It could have been 8-1. - The Islanders came out much better in the second period with Garth Snow finally replacing Osgood, but the damage had already been done. At 2:44 of the period the Islanders were storming the net. Martinek would blast a shot from the point, the first real shot on net he has taken since coming back. The puck ricocheted in the crease near the feet of Raffi Torres. Esche had no idea where the puck was as it laid on the ice in front of the open net. Isbister was Johnny on the spot and banged it home for his second goal of the game and third of the year to make it 5-2. The Isles had another chance late in the period when it seemed all but a foregone conclusion that Shawn Bates would slam in an opportunity in front of the net with Esche down on the ice. But just as Bates took the shot, the puck bounced right over his blade. The Islanders played hard but at the end of the period they were only able to cut the deficit by one. - In the third period, the Flyers came out playing a bit more defensive and were getting the benefit of the calls and jumping on all the loose pucks. Handzus scored on a wrap around play against Snow, chipping the puck over the goalie into the net. Handzus now has four goals in his last two games. Not really much else happened in the third as the Isles were obviously frustrated and embarrassed on home ice. The Isles lose 6-2 and drop back a game under .500 at 3-4-1-0. They also drop back down to last in the division with the Rangers defeating the Leafs 4-3 in Toronto. Fight Card: Roman Hamrlik vs. Jeremy Roenick. Not exactly your normal heavyweight fight. These two are not really known for their fisticuffs. Late in the third period Roenick took Hamrlik to the boards pretty hard. Hamrlik went down with his legs against the boards. He got up ok but as we all know with hockey players they take numbers. As Roenick was skating out of the Isles end, Hamrlik chopped him in the arm on his way to the bench. Roenick turned around and the two began to wrestle near the Isles bench. Roenick got the upper hand on Hamrlik early in this one, as he swung away, pulling on the defenseman's jersey and practically undressing him. Subsequently, Hamrlik got thrown out of the game for not having his jersey tied down, which draws a game misconduct. Hamrlik was also upset that a clear cut highstick that cut his nose was not called earlier in the game, even though the referee was staring right at the play. Win: Roenick. Commentary: Laviolette says this is the team to beat. The team the Islanders need to beat to win the division and the conference. And they come out and play like this on home ice? What is going on with this goaltending? It is putrid. If I wasn't so unsure about Rick DiPietro I would say they should call him up. (He's in Newfoundland right now with the Sound Tigers). But DiPietro still has never really dominated at the AHL level yet. Osgood looks like he can't stop anything right now. Is it concentration? Confidence? He better find out and fix it fast! Alexei Yashin was nonexistent in this game. The Islanders are paying him to be a 40 goal, 90 point man. But he is playing a notch below that. He's been good in his short Islander career, but has he been $9 million dollars good? He scored the game winner against Florida, but disappeared tonight when the Isles need him to step up and lead. I know this sounds weird, but I think Michael Peca's absence is even affecting the goaltending, let alone every other aspect of the Isles game.
Report Card: Brad Isbister: Was almost going to say he had the best game of his career tonight. But when you lose 5-2 it's hard to say anything went right. But if Isbister plays more like this consistently the Islanders will be better off. Maybe he heard Laviolette's comments about playing in front of the net. Alexei Yashin: For some reason, the box scores missed Yashin tonight. So i'm unsure of how many shots on goal he had. But he probably didn't have many as he was pretty quiet on the night. Shawn Bates: could have made it 5-3, puck bounced over his stick. Another bad break. Later gave up the puck on the powerplay. Mark Parrish: I didn't feel like Parrish got enough icetime tonight. Especially when he had a big third period against the Flyers in the last meeting. Raffi Torres: Had a great chance to make it 5-3 when Isbister fed him in front of the net. Instead of taking the shot right away, Torres paused and tried to pull it back. Perhaps he felt he was too close in. But Esche ended up making the save. Keeps trying but can't seem to find the net just yet at the NHL level. Dave Scatchard: Made one good rush that led to the Islanders first goal. Arron Asham: Quiet night. If his linemates aren't going then he struggles as well. Though I hear Montreal would like him back. He's been better than our old friend Czerkawski. Jason Wiemer: Played well on the penalty kill, but still hasn't really found his niche on this team. Jason Blake: made a bad play late in the game. Had all the world to clear the zone and just put it right on a Flyer stick. The game was long over but frustration or not, you can't do that. Claude Lapointe: 3 game goal scoring streak ended. Justin Mapletoft: Got penalty kill and powerplay time tonight. Is normally good at drawing penalties but for some reason the referees were overlooking certain plays including a take down of Mapletoft. Steve Webb: Does what he can when he's out there. Threw the body including one where he clobbered Simon Gagne. Gagne struggled to get up and catch his wind. Webb got into some meaningless scrums late with Donald Brashear. Defense: Roman Hamrlik: Was the best Islander defenseman tonight and got lots of ice. Got into the fight with Roenick late and was ejected with 5 minutes remaining. Adrian Aucoin: We know you are shooting to thread the defenders legs as you mentioned during an interview....but when the lane is open, can you PLEASE hit the net?? Eric Cairns: nice shiner from Peter Worrell. Kenny Jonsson: Played sparingly tonight with the bruised finger. He was a gametime decision and stated that he could not grip his stick in the pregame skate. Laviolette said that the Islanders had capable backup with Ray Schultz as their 7th d-man. Really? Radek Martinek: getting more and more ice but still looks rusty. Was caught twice tonight in the first period for goals. He did get an assist which was his first NHL point since last November. Mattias Timander: Once again, you either notice him, or you don't. Goal: Chris Osgood: Ugh! Garth Snow: played well in relief only giving up one goal in the game. Will they come back with him against Phoenix or back with Osgood? Snow plays great lately in relief but then played poor in his last start. Coach: Laviolette called a time out during the first minute of the game after the Flyers scored on their first two shots. It looked like a good move as the Islanders ended up with a powerplay and then cut the Flyers lead in half, 2-1, on Isbister first of the game.
Flyers 6, Islanders 2
Lineups: ISLANDERS DEFENSE GOALTENDERS FLYERS DEFENSE GOALTENDERS
Power-play Conversions:
PHI - 2 of 6, NYI - 1 of 6.
IslesInfo Pregame Preview Preview Time to go Over .500 Oct 26: The Isles climbed back to the .500 mark with their impressive showing on the special teams Thursday night as they defeated the Florida Panthers 5-3. If they're going to go over .500 for the first time this season, they need more of the same tonight. - One thing the Islanders always do is play at the top of their game when facing the Philadelphia Flyers. They played a great game back on October 17th, when the Isles mounted a third period comeback while down 3-1 and left Philly with a 3-3 tie. Mark Parrish pulled the Islanders to within one and Brad Isbister got credit with the game tying goal after Eric Desjardins redirected the puck into his own net. That was the only game of the young season that the Islanders did not overwhelmingly out shoot their opponent. The Flyers led in shots 41-26. Garth Snow made 38 saves in the game for the point including a fantastic performance in overtime. Snow always gets the start in Philadelphia, but with a recent weak outing against Carolina, and the fact that the game is at Nassau Coliseum, it is possible Chris Osgood may get the start tonight. Plus Ozzie had a better game in the win over Florida including a very strong third period where he made two big saves to keep the Islanders up by one goal. Alexei Yashin is coming around after notching 3 points in the win over Florida, including the game winner. Isbister, who the Islanders are counting on to produce this season, has only one point on the year, the goal he scored against the Flyers. The Islanders still view the Flyers as the team they are going to have to overcome if they are going to have a chance to win the division, so expect only their best effort tonight. All guns need to be firing and performing at the best of their ability. Justin Mapletoft will play this time. Don't expect another call up for Eric Godard. The Sound Tigers are currently spending the weekend in Newfoundland playing a double header against St. John's. And Godard is out of the lineup anyway with an slight ankle injury he received during a recent practice. - The Islanders need to continue their dominance defensively, as they are averaging a league best 22 shots against a game. With two powerplay goals against Florida the Isles have to draw on that if they are to improve the 28th best PP unit. The Isles also had the 28th best penalty kill coming into Thursday's game, but killed all 7 of Florida's chances. Goaltending HAS to continue to get better as Osgood and Snow for combined for a league worst .848 save percentage. When you are averaging the league lowest in shots allowed, but the save percentage is the worst then you can't look anywhere further than the goaltending. Those two statistics are pretty much at the far end of the spectrum that you can get, which explains the Isles weird season to this point. Meet in the middle and you got a .500 team at 3-3-1-0. Jonsson Gametime Decision: After receiving a slash on the finger in Thursday night's 5-3 win over Florida, Jonsson is a gametime decision tonight. Expect him to play. Unless it is a really bad injury, Kenny will hopefully be there to play in a big divisional game.
Flyers Rolling Along The Isles will be sure to have their hands full tonight when they face one of their biggest rivals in the third of a four game home stand. The Flyers have only lost one game so far this season and are coming off an impressive 6-2 drubbing of the Canadiens. - Keith Primeau, who did not play in the last Isles-Flyers game, will be in the lineup tonight. Thursday night both he and Michael Handzus, who scored against the Isles on the 17th, notched 2 goals in their win over Montreal. Marty Murray, pictured above, is proving he can be a pretty effective fourth line player as he contributed a goal for their cause as well. Of course, as mentioned last week, when playing the Flyers you always have to be aware of some of the top offensive players in the game. Namely Mark Recchi, Jeremy Roenick and Simon Gagne. And lets not foget John Leclair who is currently leading the league in goals as he attempts to be a comeback player of the year for Philly after suffering a few injuries the past couple of seasons. New coach Ken Hitchcock has them playing well and will probably start Roman Cechmanek in net once again. He has started every game for them this season.
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Lets Go Isles! |
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1998-2003 Tom Mascioli
