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IslesInfo Comments: The Isles came into this game shorthanded once again as they were without LW Shawn Bates for the second straight game due to a groin pull and D Eric Cairns missed his first game of the season after suffering a deep knee bruise in the fight against Matt Johnson Thursday night. Surprisingly, instead of D Ray Schultz getting the call from Bridgeport to replace Cairns, the Isles called up D Alain Nasreddine. He became just the second player in New York Islander history to wear #59. Tom Fitzgerald wore that number early on in his career. Early on, it was already evident that DiPietro looked more confident that he did Thursday night. His puck control is an unbelievable asset to the Islanders. Yet it sometimes gets him in trouble. He gave up the puck once early on in the game but was impressive on the point blank shot that ensued. Former Islander Kip Miller, who only has 3 goals on the season, was buzzing around the net all night. In the first period he managed to deflect a shot off DiPietro that found the post and slid back underneath the sprawling goaltender. DiPietro made some more big saves in the period as the Islanders were out shot by Washington 13-2. The rookie goaltender had to make another outstanding save on Mike Grier soon after the Islanders went 0-2 on the powerplay that only resulted in 1 shot on goal. The Islanders killed one penalty and most of another leading into the second period to extend their streak to 35. DiPietro almost connected with Michael Peca on a center ice pass, but the officials ruled Peca a step offside. - In the second period, the Islanders killed another penalty early to Oleg Kvasha which extended the streak to 36 and 64 of the last 66. The Islanders have now not allowed a powerplay goal against in 9 full games, one game shy of the franchise record. Steve Webb, who wasn't very noticeable in the first period was banging everything in the second. He threw 3 big hits early on, including one inadvertently on teammate Kvasha. Oleg got a bit of a hyper-extension of his arm following the hit and was noticeably in pain on the Islanders bench. But he eventually recovered and didn't miss a shift. The Islanders would finally break the scoreless tie on a powerplay of their own at 14:53. Alexei Yashin turned at the top of the left circle and let a hard wrist shot go on Cap goaltender Olaf Kolzig. The puck seemed to hit Mark Parrish in the leg and it dropped down right in front of the crease. With Kolzig down and players scrambling around, Mattias Weinhandl was able to jump on the puck and smack it underneath Kolzig for the 1-0 lead. It was Weinhandl's 2nd goal of the season. - The Islanders, going into the third period with a lead this season were 10-0-2. The two ties have come most recently against Florida and Detroit and they also lost a lead that was gained in the third period against Chicago. Just 1:40 into the third the Capitals tied up the game at 1-1 thanks to Michael Nylander. He has been excellent since joining the Caps in a trade earlier in the season, gaining about 30 points in 21 games. He would take a pass wide open in the slot with Yashin all over his back, wacking away with his stick. But Nylander stayed with it and got a shot off that DiPietro was almost able to stop before it trickled through his pads and just over the goal line. The game stayed tied for about 10 minutes until DiPietro got into some more trouble. While attempting to play the puck behind the net he gave up the puck to a Capital player. As he swung around, DiPietro let go of his stick and the official Paul Devorski rewarded Washington with a penalty shot for the Islander goalie throwing his stick. The shot can be taken by any Capital player on the ice and they chose Nylander who has the hot hands. As Nylander skated down from center ice, he cut to his right and turned in on DiPietro. When he reached the goaltender he tried to fake to his forehand and stuff a shot through DiPietro's 5-hole. But DiPietro dropped doen and blocked any low shot with the length of his stick. Knowing he had made the save to keep the game tied 1-1 on his first ever NHL penalty shot, DiPietro pumped his glove and the Islanders bench clapped their sticks along the boards. For the next 6 minutes the score would remain tied until Nylander would get a second chance at DiPietro. This time he would not be denied. The Islanders, who at times were not so strong defensively tonight, allowed a threaded pass by Miller to find Nylander at the Islanders blueline and he skated in on a breakaway. This time, Nylander faked like he was going to fake to his forehand once again, but instead faked to his backhand and tucked it behind an outstretched DiPietro for the 2-1 Washington lead. The goal was Nylander's 10th of the season at 17:50. Now with just 2:10 remaining in the game the Islanders, who have been outplayed for just about the entire game, had little time to get the tying goal. Upon finally pulling DiPietro with about 45 seconds remaining, the Isles were able to skate the puck out of their end led by Jason Blake. Deep in the Caps zone, Blake tried to backhand the puck into the slot hoping it would find a teammate. Instead it found the stick of Miller, who had missed another opportunity minutes earlier when he deflected a pass off the crossbar. Miller turned and before he could be checked, fired the puck down the ice for the empty netter and his 4th goal of the season. He had a goal and an assist in the third period. Washington out shot the Islanders 34-18 in the game. - So the Islanders lost the first of a 4 game homestand and drop to 4 games under .500 at 12-16-5. They lost their first game when entering the third period with a lead this season and are 10-1-2. DiPietro was named the third star of the game in the loss. The Islanders home record drops to 6-10-2, with the 4 games under .500 overall all on home ice. Unacceptable. Washington is now unbeaten in 3 games and with the four point swing put four points between them and the Islanders in the Eastern Conference standings. The Islanders are 1-23-2 in their last 25 meetings with Washington. Just unbelievable dominance by the Capitals. They improve to 2-0 against the Isles this season, both wins at the Nassau Coliseum. Next Up: The Islanders will face the Montreal Canadiens Monday night for the second game of the homestand. They'll be off until Saturday night following the Christmas break. Montreal clobbered Buffalo last night 6-2 and are now 4 games over .500. The Standings: The Islanders are in
big trouble now as they trail both Toronto and Carolina by 7 points for
7th in the conference. The Leafs gained a tie last night with San Jose and
both they and the Hurricanes have 36 points. The Hurricanes host the Stars
this afternoon. Fight Card: none. Commentary: All that talk about coming out and taking advantage of home ice advantage, and they play like this?? I guess you have to give Washington a lot of credit for the defensive effort. But the Islanders offensively were like night and day compared to the offense they put up against Minnesota, possibly a better defensive team than Washington. The fact that it was out our home ice was even worse. The Islanders are in extreme trouble of dropping out of this race now and if they do Milbury will finally have to pull the trigger and make some deals. I just don't see this team climbing back in it with performances like this tonight and too often this season, as they have hovered between 4-7 points out for over a month or two now. They'll have to win every game remaining in 2002 to pull back to .500. Will the futility against Washington and Ottawa ever end??? You'd think with the recent success and addition of some better players would have remedied this already. But it just keeps going on and on and on......
Report Card: Brad Isbister: Made a nice alert play early when he alerted an official that a Cap player was playing with an illegal broken stick. Overall in the game though, Isbister was basically a non-factor. In fact he was back to his usual lose the puck and get shaken off every play he tried to make. Alexei Yashin: With the assist on Weinhandl's goal, Yashin now has a 5 game point scoring streak going. He had a 9 game point scoring streak snapped before he started this one. This streak so far is consisted of all assists as Yashin is really struggling to find the back of the net. Was a -2 and is -13 overall on the year. Shawn Bates: Sat out his second straight game with a groin strain and is hoping to get back in there soon. Mark Parrish: Though he added an assist last night, Parrish was very quiet offensively after notching two in his home state of Minnesota. He had no shots on net. Dave Scatchard: Besides the empty netter he scored against Minnesota, he has struggled offensively as of late. He tried to score early in the game but Kolzig stopped him and the net was off the pegs anyway. Jason Wiemer: The entire line of Wiemer-Scatchard-Blake was a bit quiet on the night. Jason Blake: Used his speed well on a few shifts but didn't create as much as we have grown accustomed to seeing Blake do this season. Claude Lapointe: Had a jump in his game early on after finding out this was his 500th game as an Islander last night. Steve Webb: Was most noticeable early in the second period when he nailed three guys in one shift, including his own teammate Oleg Kvasha. Arron Asham: It's really hard to get a feel on what type of player Arron Asham is. On some nights he looks and shoots the puck like he can score like Mark Parrish. On other nights he looks to have the offensive capability of Steve Webb. That's how he looked tonight. Oleg Kvasha: Sometimes you see a bright spot, but he's not going to do much on the fourth line and he didn't besides getting caught in the path of the Webb train. Michael Peca: Was his best on the PK as the Islanders once again killed all advantages against for the 9th straight game. Almost had a breakaway courtesy of a pass from Rick DiPietro, but the officials called Peca offside by a step. Mattias Weinhandl: So the coaching staff believes Weinhandl( pronounced vyn-han-duhl ) will be a good goal scorer in the league as well as a good setup guy. Did they just figure this out? Back in Sweden Weinhandl was a goal scorer before learning the complete game once his linemates, the Sedin twins, left for Vancouver. Anyway, while the broadcasters on tv and radio continue to mispronounce his name, Weinhandl was once again excellent tonight as he jumped all over loose pucks as he did with the go ahead goal he scored on the powerplay. Defense: Roman Hamrlik: Out with separated shoulder. But has resumed light skating and is reportedly ahead of schedule. He was seen in video taking light shots on het and had some slight mobility in his arm. Adrian Aucoin: Possibly the worst night of the season for him. Aucoin fell down in his own end early in the game which led to a Washington play on net. He then got caught when Miller threaded a pass between Aucoin and his defense partner's stick to find Nylander on the game winning goal. Aucoin, who led the Islanders with a +19 in 2001-02 was a -3 tonight. Eric Cairns: Missed his first game of the season with a deep knee bruise he suffered Thurday night in the fight against Matt Johnson. Kenny Jonsson: Besides a few plays where he carried the puck out of his own end, Jonsson noticeable struggled tonight for the second straight game. He gave up the puck in the first period on heavy Washington forecheck. Radek Martinek: Seemingly did not get as much ice time tonight as he usuallt does. Odd since Cairns was out you's think all the defense would see more ice. Most of the extra time went to Butenschon and a little bit to Nasreddine. Mattias Timander: Thought he had one of his better games, particularly defensively in his own end. He did not allow and Caps to beat him one on one and with battle for control in his feet. Alain Nasreddine: Good size defenseman is known for his tough play over the years in the AHL. Had only seen time in 16 NHL games prior to tonight between Florida and Montreal. Was signed as a free agent just before the season began. He was 1-4-5 in 31 games with Bridgeport this season and his 50 PIM's led the team. He played ok in limited ice time and made a couple of good defensive plays. He also made some plays that made you realize why he's been a minor league defenseman. At one point with the puck behind the net he turned when out of options and tried to slap the puck around the boards. The awkward play was almost stopped at the Isles blueline by a Washington player. Another time Nasreddine almost lost his check behind the net and he allowed a Washington player to carry the puck into the crease for a shot. Became the second Islander to wear #59. The first was Tom Fitzgerald in 1988-89. Goal: Rick DiPietro: Was the best Islander on the ice and he looked much more confident tonight than he did Thursday night. He made 35 saves in the loss and was named third star by the media. It has been learned that the Islanders had already decided to start DiPietro 2 or 3 games in a row no matter what happened against Minnesota. His style of playing the puck and getting so involved can be a asset, yet he still gets into too much trouble which leads to things like turnovers and tonight, a penalty shot. Overall, he was very good and could warrant the start against Montreal when MVP Jose Theodore will be in town in the opposing net. DiPietro gave up only 2 goals tonight and has a GAA slightly under 2.00.
Coaches The powerplay is really starting to hurt the team and can't seem to muster up more than one here and there or in a single game. At times it looks totally unorganized and un-creative. Is this the fault of assistant coach Kelly Miller as asked many times before? Or is it just that the Isles don't have the finishing guns on the PP? You would think that Mark Parrish would have more on the PP, even though he leads with 6, the way he can deflect the puck. Oddly though, Parrish was on the second powerplay unit all night long. Special Teams The Isles 20th ranked powerplay was 1-3 on the night. The PK was once again a perfect 3-3. The Islanders have killed 36 straight and 64 out of the last 66. They have not allowed a powerplay goal against in 9 straight games, which is one shy of the franchise record. This has improved their ranking to 16th in the league overall. Even though they have done this and been a plus on most nights on the powerplay over the streak by going 1-3, 1-4, 1-6 they still are not winning enough of these games and the powerplay is not improving overall.
Capitals 3, Islanders 1
Lineups: ISLANDERS DEFENSEMEN GOALTENDERS WASHINGTON DEFENSEMEN GOALTENDERS
Missed penalty shots:
Michael Nylander, Was, 11:33 third.
IslesInfo Pregame Preview Preview Crucial 4 Game Homestand Oct 21: The Isles come home to face a very crucial four game stretch which begins tonight against the Capitals. With the possibility of Rick DiPietro making his Coliseum debut, the Isles will need another solid effort like Mark Parrish gave Thursday night. Isles vs. Capitals Preview: Coming off their impressive win over the hot Minnesota Wild Thursday night, the Islanders set their sights on making some ground in this homestand when they will face four teams directly ahead of them in the Eastern standings. Besides tonight's game against the Caps, the Isles will also face Montreal, Carolina and Florida during the next holiday week. Since the Isles were able to totally shut down the Wild offensively in their recent 4-2 win, the big question tonight is will Rick DiPietro start his second game in a row against a Washington offense that features a few more snipers? IslesInfo would like to see it as i'm sure many Isles fans would. After allowing two goals on Minnesota's first four shots, the 21-year-old stopped the final 13 shots he faced for his first win since March 20, 2001. He was also helped by one of the better defensive efforts of the season by the Islanders, who got two goals from Mark Parrish to end a four-game winless streak. "You've got to let go of it and concentrate on the next shot,'' said DiPietro. "In my first year, I wouldn't have been able to work through that.'' The former Boston University star led Bridgeport to the AHL's championship series last season after going 3-15-1 with a 3.49 goals-against average for New York in 2000-01. He was 10-7-6 with a 2.17 GAA for the Sound Tigers this season. "I realize I've got to come in and play well, otherwise coming up here doesn't mean much,'' he said. DiPietro was also helped by his team's red-hot penalty-killing unit that killed all four Minnesota power plays. The Islanders have killed 33 consecutive opposing power plays over eight games. Beating the Capitals has become very difficult for the Islanders in recent seasons. New York had been 0-19-3 in the series before a 5-4 home win April 6 which put the Isles into the playoffs for the first time in 8 years. Washington won the first meeting this season, 2-1 on Oct. 12 in the Isles home opener. Standings: The Isles coming into tonight are 6 points behind the Maple Leafs thanks to a win last night by the Carolina Hurricanes. They won in OT 3-2 over Atlanta. Both Carolina and Montreal are 7 points ahead of the Isles for 6th in the East. With a 3-0 Florida win over Buffalo last night, the Panthers finally won their 10th game this season but moved to 3 points ahead of the Isles. So obviously last night the Islanders did not get any help from the bottom two teams in the conference. With a win though tonight and a loss by the Rangers in Detroit, the Islanders can move into 11th in the East, which would obviously tie them with Washington & the Rangers for 10th at 31 points. - Florida travels to Boston tonight, while the Canadiens host the struggling Sabres. Pittsburgh, currently tied with the Islanders at 29 points and losers of 10 straight games, host the Calgary Flames. Notes: Eric Cairns suffered a bad bruise over his left knee during his momentum turning fight with Wild captain Matt Johnson Thursday night but should not miss any time....Peter Laviolette would not announce who will start in goal against Washington....The Isles have not been scored against on the PK in 8 straight games, which is two games shy of the franchise record....Roman Hamrlik has resumed skating but is not expected to return until mid January. He separated his shoulder December 10th against Chicago.
Kolzig Heads Underachieving Caps Olaf Kolzig leads the Capitals into Long Island tonight after recently returning from wrist and groin injuries that had him on the IR. Even though they have struggled over the past two seasons, the Isles will still have their hands full with the like of Jagr, Bondra etc.
Notes: Bondra scored twice and Steve Konowalchuk added a key insurance goal Thursday as the Capitals nearly squandered a four-goal lead before holding on for a 5-3 victory over the Boston Bruins. "We keep it interesting. We're not the conservative Caps anymore, like we were in the past,'' goalie Olaf Kolzig said. ``We got a little passive in the third period.'' It was the second win in six games (2-3-1) for Washington, which is tied for the NHL lead with 11 road losses. Despite world-class talents Jagr, Bondra and Gonchar, the Capitals' power play is in a 3-for-48 slump over 11 games. Bondra, who leads the NHL in power-play goals over the last two seasons, has scored in just three of his last 15 games and has not scored on the power play since Dec. 6. With a powerplay like that they are sure to struggle against the Isles stingy PK. Jagr has not scored a power-play goal since Nov. 23. The Capitals are 4th in the Southeast Division with a record of 14-16-3. They are just 2 points ahead of the Islanders. With a record of 6-11-0 away from the MCI Center only one Cap has more than 5 goals away from home, and that's Jagr with 11.
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1998-2003 Tom Mascioli
