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ISLES INFO |
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ISLES INFO |
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IslesInfo Comments: Coming into this game 7 points out of a playoff spot, the Islanders flat out needed to win. But is wasn't going to be easy against the Vancouver Canucks, who came in winners of their last 10 straight games including the last 4 on the road. With former Islander stars Billy Carroll, Duane Sutter and Bob Bourne in the house to attend a brief ceremony in honor of Clark Gillies being inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, there was a good feeling right from the start. And the Islanders got off to a good start, especially the newly formed line of Michael Peca, Arron Asham and Brad Isbister. Led by this line, the Islanders had some jump and fore-checked continuously into the Canucks zone. It paid off 2:56 into the game when Asham, who was a healthy scratch in the last game at Ottawa, scored his 3rd goal of the season. Kenny Jonsson originally sent the puck into the Canucks zone where it bounced off a defenseman and right on Peca's stick. Peca quickly sent it over to Asham streaking down the right wing and Asham wristed a hard shot into the open left side behind Dan Cloutier. Asham now has more goals this season than Mariusz Czerkawski. The Isles killed off a penalty to Eric Cairns shortly after the goal. The penalty killing unit was excellent as the game plan was obviously to keep the puck carrying Canuck forwards from getting across the blueline. Jonsson was great in the game for the Isles, particularly against Todd Bertuzzi. Adrian Aucoin got under the skin of Markus Naslund all game. The Islanders good start resulted in a shot advantage of 13-7 in the first period. Isbister continued on to have one of his better games, specifically with ferocious fore-checking. - The Islanders kept the pressure up in the second period but couldn't get anymore by Cloutier. He kept the Canucks in the game or else it could have been 2 or 3-0. Peca had a few more chances to score his first goal of the season. He was very noticeable in the game. His assist earlier was his third point of the season. Once again in this game it just seemed as though the officials had it out for the Islanders. Case in point: In the second period Cloutier got a super fast whistle from one of the officials on the blind side of a play. The Islanders felt they had scored before the whistle was called but the official said obviously he meant to call it even sooner. Jump now to the third period. Chris Osgood makes a save but motions with his body that perhaps he wasn't quite sure he had the puck. He did, but the official waited and waited as if he was searching for the puck himself when it was obvious Osgood has the puck. The calls have just NOT been equally handed out. Anyway, back to the second period. The Islanders out shot the Canucks 15 to 5 this time and led in the game 28-12. Credit to the Islanders who were able to keep the 1 goal lead as opposed to Saturday night's game against Ottawa. - The Canucks came out in the third feeling like they had not done enough through two periods. So they sent out their top line of Brendan Morrison, Naslund and Bertuzzi. It paid off early as the Canucks finally tied the game at 1-1 when defenseman Sami Salo wristed in a screened shot by Peca and Osgood. Salo notched his second of the season and in as many games at 3:39. Jonsson and Bertuzzi continued to go at it as the Isles defenseman got under the big guys skin a few times. Jonsson laid a couple big hits on Bertuzzi and once grabbed his stick, tossed it and angered Bertuzzi. Kenny earlier drew a penalty on Bertuzzi for elbowing. The Islanders did not sag and tried to gain the lead back. The clock was dwindling down. With about 2 minutes remaining the Islanders got into some scary situations down low in their own end. The Isles got running around in their own zone and the Canucks were ending up with the puck off Islander mistakes. Finally, Radek Martinek made a nice play and carried the puck out of his end. Once he entered the Canucks end, he dished it off to Claude Lapointe, who had not played all that much to that point in the third period. Lapointe backhanded a shot in on Cloutier who made the tough save. Just then Alexei Yashin moved in as the third man and immediately pounced the loose rebound over a sprawled out Cloutier. Yashin's goal was his team leading 8th of the season and with that he extended his point scoring streak to 9 games. He is 3-10-13 in that span. The goal came at 18:28 to put the Isles up 2-1. Now with 92 seconds remaining the Isles were close to ending the Canucks 10 game winning streak, as well as ending their own 3 game winless streak. Cloutier eventually was pulled with 30 seconds remaining large in thanks to the Isles keeping the Canucks in their own end. The Isles went on to win their 9th game of the season in what could be the biggest game of the season for the Isles. - The Islanders improve to
9-13-3, 21 points and remain 13th in the East. They are 3 points behind
Florida and Washington. Unfortunately the Islanders remain 7 points out of
8th place as the Rangers defeated Columbus tonight. They now have 28
points. But so do Pittsburgh. The Isles now gear up for the showdown
Friday night against the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs, who have been
playing much better themselves as of late. Fight Card: none. Commentary: Why can't the Isles play this way against the bad teams? They always play to the level of their opponent. This is a huge win. I felt they had to win this game to stay in the picture. It should really give the Islanders a boost having ended the Canucks winning streak. The win by the Rangers tonight makes Friday night's game just as big as tonight's game was. - This was the Islanders first win against a team that qualified for the playoffs last season. Alexei Yashin was named second star and Osgood was named the third star. - Dave Scatchard on Friday night's game against Toronto: "Hopefully we'll get a nice lead, and then take care of business." A funny moment in the post game interview with Scatch. Some fan yelled "Toronto sucks!"(or maybe Tucker sucks!), and Scatch quipped "hey, calm down back there Pecs." - My thoughts on the Clark Gillies bobblehead. The ceremony was great. Love to see the Isles alumni well presented. It's amazing how much smaller they look at times after an athlete is done with their career. Anyway, what was with the helmet on the Gillies doll??? He didn't wear a helmet for most of his career. He only went to it late in his Islander career because of injury concerns and Gillies had sustained a concussion at one point. Also, the face looks fat, but I guess most bobbleheads are that way. With the mustache, Clark Gillies looked like he was Mexican. It looked like Paco, or Gonzales or something. Paco Gonzillies. OK OK, my attempt at being funny. Nothing against the Mexicans. ;)
Report Card: Brad Isbister: Had an excellent game compared to his last two. Did not have a point in the game, but he used his size and fore-checked incredibly well tonight, causing many turnovers that led to offensive chances. Alexei Yashin: Extended his point scoring streak to 9 and scored the game winner with 92 seconds remaining. A bit of a quiet game up until that moment with new linemates Shawn Bates and Mark Parrish, but THAT game winner is what you pay a guy $7.4 million dollars for. Shawn Bates: Strong game, played hard. Offense has cooled down a bit as of late with slow progress of Lucky 7's line. Mark Parrish: Played well but has been a bit quiet and hasn't gotten much ice time since returning from the flu. He may still be recuperating. Dave Scatchard: Only took one penalty tonight. Had a good game along with his line. He was especially happy with the win after the game since it was against his old team. Jason Wiemer: Almost gave the Islanders a 2-1 lead in the third period. Is starting to really fit in with the Islanders as compared to earlier in the season. Jason Blake: Has been taking the shot every chance he gets this season. The "Water Bug" uses his speed every game whether it's an even strength opportunity or on the PK. Claude Lapointe: Didn't get much ice in the third, but he notched his first assist of the season on the Yashin game winning goal. Steve Webb: Played well on the fourth line and physical as always. Eric Manlow: Scratched. Arron Asham: In the first period he was the best player on the ice. He obviously responded to being scratched in Ottawa. Lets see if he can keep it going. He led all Islanders tonight with 6 shots on goal. Oleg Kvasha: Was much better tonight than he was in Ottawa. Hate to say it but maybe it was because he got less ice time. He didn't get much late because the game was on the line. Michael Peca: His pursuit of the puck tonight was very good and Peca was making his presence known. He had many chances to get a goal. Mattias Weinhandl: Shoulder Sprain. A week to go hopefully. Defense: Roman Hamrlik: Played another solid game, BUT...he passed up two glorious chances to shoot the puck on the powerplay in order to set up Yashin in the left circle. Adrian Aucoin: Got under Markus Naslund's skin all game. Eric Cairns: Played well but had some close calls defensively. Kenny Jonsson: Was named the #1 star of the game and shut down Todd Bertuzzi. Jonsson played with an edge to his game as he once grabbed Bertuzzi's stick from his hands and tossed it down the ice. Not bad from a gametime decision. Radek Martinek: At times he looks like he's going to be shaky again. But he has been much better since his return. Rad's still has some improving to go but he may be gaining back some confidence and losing the fear of getting hurt again. Mattias Timander: Sometimes can go un-noticed, but tonight he made one good hip check in the Islanders slot to stop a Vancouver scoring chance. Sven Butenschon: Scratched. Goal: Chris Osgood: Was solid in goal and if it was not for one screened goal Ozzie may have ended the Canucks streak with a shutout.
Coaches Lavvy looked a little bit nervous there late in the game, tied 1-1. Special Teams Solid. 4-4 on the PK. The PK has been slowly improving as the Islanders have only allowed 3 goals in the last roughly 40 chances against. The powerplay went 0-3.
Islanders Snap Canucks' Win Streak
Lineups: ISLANDERS DEFENSEMEN GOALTENDERS CANUCKS DEFENSEMEN GOALTENDERS
Power-play Conversions:
VAN - 0 of 4, NYI - 0 of 3.
IslesInfo Pregame Preview Preview Crucial Week Ahead Dec 3: The Islanders official website made the "bold" statement that this is a crucial month for the team. Well, IslesInfo will take it one step further, these next two games are the biggest of the season as the Isles, 7 points back, cannot afford to lose ground. Isles vs. Vancouver Preview: With the Islanders entering tonight's game 7 points back of the New York Rangers for the 8th and final playoff spot, there's only one goal in mind: WIN. Yes, that's the goal every night. But let's face it folks, with tonight's match up and the first meeting of the season against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Friday, any more lost points and the Islanders would need nothing short of a miracle to get back into the race. Any more points lost and one season after thinking hey, that could have been us instead of Carolina, the Islanders could be on the out looking in when playoff time comes for the 8th time in the last 9 years. And it doesn't get easy for the Isles as tonight they face the hottest team in hockey right now, the Vancouver Canucks. Just when you thought the streaks ended with Columbus and Ottawa, the Isles have to contend with a team that has won an astounding 10 straight games. It's amazing how fast things change in the NHL though. One week you're losing 6 straight, the next you're going unbeaten in 5. Then you go winless in 3 and you're on the verge of being out of it again. But don't count out the Isles just yet. They came out huge almost two weeks ago and clubbed the Tampa Bay Lightning team that was tops in their division 7-2. So fans will be hoping tonight that just maybe Jason Blake.....er, Jason Blake??? YES, Jason Blake, perhaps the Isles best player this year, Jason Wiemer and Dave Scatchard will have another huge effort against the Canucks. But the Islanders will need more. They will need Alexei Yashin, Michael Peca and Chris Osgood to lead this team tomorrow night just like they did last season. And a good game by Brad Isbister and Oleg Kvasha wouldn't hurt either!!! - The biggest thing the Islanders will need to do tonight is stay out of the penalty box. Dumb penalties killed them Saturday night in Ottawa and against the offensive powered Canucks, could mean the same fate. They also need to shutdown the Canucks top line of Brendan Morrison, Markus Naslund and Todd Bertuzzi. The Isles are the most penalized team in the league, which surely has to change to get back in the playoff picture. The Islanders came into this season believing their speed would benefit them with the new obstruction penalties. But evidently they were wrong. They've taken 153 penalties, most in the league. And the Isles are averaging 20.9 PIMS a game, second worst to only Buffalo. - On March 21st the Islanders came up with a huge win against the Canucks at the Coliseum, a game that Chris Osgood shut the door on Markus Naslund during a penalty shot attempt. - Recent rumor, out of the Daily News and Peter Botte, is that the Philadelphia Flyers are interested in Osgood. The Flyers are supposedly looking to peddle D Dan McGillis and underachieving forward Pavel Brendl. Though speculation is that Osgood, at $4 million dollars a season, and the way he has played this season, would probably only garner a draft pick in return. If the Isles should continue to drop out of the race, look for GM Mike Milbury to make some moves. He very well could re-assess the Isles goaltending situation with Rick DiPietro waiting in the wings at Bridgeport to get his chance. In other new, former Islander RW Mariusz Czerkawski was recently scratched for the 5th time in Montreal and has now outright requested a trade. He was put on waivers Monday, but reportedly the Islanders have no plans to bid. Finally, former 1998 Islander second round draft pick C Chris Nielsen was traded today by Columbus to Atlanta as part of a deal that saw Tommi Kallio go to the Blue Jackets. - It's a shame RW Mattias Weinhandl will not play in this game as he is still in the first week of his 2 week recovery over a shoulder sprain. 3 years ago Weinhandl was the right wing on one of the most productive lines to come out of Sweden in recent years dubbed "Line 80", so named because of the year the trio were born. The Sedin twins were the other two members of the line. Weinhandl was the goal scorer. Stats note: Alexei Yashin carries an 8 game point scoring streak into this game, and has points in the Isles last three games despite the Isles 3 game winless streak. He is 2-10-12 in that span.Yashin is three points away from 100 as an Islander. Roman Hamrlik, who is ranked second in the league with 12 powerplay assists, is only 1 point away from 100 as a New York Islander. Chris Osgood is 10-1-4 all-time against the Canucks. Good Streak?: The Canucks are 11-24-10 all-time on Long Island and their last win was a 6-2 victory on March 19, 1988.
Hottest Team in Hockey Mats Lindgren? Trevor Linden? 10 wins in a row?? Well, maybe not so much because of those former Isles. It's because of guys like former Isle and power forward Todd Bertuzzi, Markus Naslund, Brendan Morrison and goaltender Dan Cloutier.
Notes: The Canucks are so deep up front that in their most recent win over the Florida Panthers Saturday night, they scratched Trevor Letowski and Todd Warriner, both with 4 goals on the season. Winger Matte Cooke rounds out a solid forward crop with 4 goals of his own. Besides Jovanovski, Vancouver also has a very steady defense with Mattias Ohlund and Brent Sopel. They acquired Sami Salo from Ottawa early in the season and he has helped solidify the defense along with recently acquired 6'6" Marek Malik from the Carolina Hurricanes. Add young Bryan Allen to the crop as well. Murray Baron, despite a +8, was scratched against Florida as well. Winger Jarko Ruutu and C Artem Chubarov have been mentioned in recent trade rumors. LW Fedor Fedorov, the younger brother of Sergei, has an assist in 7 games. - Besides winning a franchise record 10 straight, the Canucks have won the last 4 of them on the road of what is a current 6 game road trip. Dan Cloutier may finally be realizing his potential as he has started all but one of the games on the streak and was 11-1 during the month of November. For that he was named NHL player of the month. Cloutier is familiar to Islander fans for a couple of wild incidents. Some years back he put a pretty good beating on former Islander goaltender Tommy Salo back when he was with the Rangers. Two years ago he was suspended for stomping on the head of former Islander Tim Connolly in the goal crease when he was with the Tampa Bay Lightning. This season he leads all goaltenders with 14 wins and is 4-3-1 against the Isles all-time. Vancouver is 15-5-4, 34 points...1st in the Pacific Division. Good enough for second in the Western Conference behind Dallas and third overall in the NHL behind Boston and Dallas. Vancouver has the best penalty killing unit in the NHL. They are 9-1-2 on the road. Their last loss was November 6th at Dallas.
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Lets Go Isles! |
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1998-2003 Tom Mascioli
