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Isles 4 vs. Leafs 1: Tambellini Out |
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**11:28 pm: The PostGame report (after my Sunday night guilty pleasure TV watching of course)
Islanders 4 Leafs 1
It was an entertaining game to say the least. But it was riddled with penalty calls. There were 17 calls. With that many penalty calls, it was interesting to see that there was only one power play goal and one short handed goal scored. Yep, the Islanders and the Maple Leafs are very similar.
The Islanders may have nine more points and five more wins than the Leafs but they are both trying to rebuild through a youth movement. In Uniondale the ‘youth movement’ and special teams are, according to Scott Gordon, a ‘work in progress.’
Matt Martin, while impressing the coach, did not make the trip to Vancouver due to roster constraints. Earlier on Sunday, Scott Gordon told Katie Strang of Newsday “We’d like to have three or four guys up here but we can’t because of the roster room, especially at this point as to what we can do. It’s not that I wouldn’t LIKE to have him up here, but the roster restrictions don’t allow for it.”
Meanwhile, with the injuries cropping up, Gordon had to do a little shuffling of lines. Gordon said the following about Frans Nielsen.
“My thought process is that right now we don’t really have, outside of Mark, a dynamic offensive guy, for the first unit and the way I look at it, at some point one of the things that Frans does well is he sees the ice well, he has a hard shot he’s good at making plays and eventually we’re going to get to a point where there are other players that we will move in front of him because he hasn’t generated the offense on the power play but he does a lot of good things. I looked at this as an opportunity to showcase his abilities on the blue line. I know it’s not going to be easy because he hasn’t done it that much. But there’s a lot of elements there that will allow him to be successful at it, so we’re going to try.”
With one Power Play goal and one shorthanded goal against the Leafs, his concerns about his special teams are becoming a little less prominent. When asked if he feels they are becoming more confident he said “Oh yes, they’re getting familiar, there’s less conversation about it. When we first started, we were showing penalty killing in it’s entirety. Today was the first time we didn’t have to show anything from the previous game because the execution was there. It’s a work in progress and our guys have responded to it.”
“Going on the road and getting points usually coincides with how your team is playing.” he mentioned their last road trip the team came off some bad losses that had shown their game was deteriorating .
At least now, they came away with five points out of three games. They have something to build on as Gordon said, it shows they’re doing the little things right.
Marty Biron is proud of what this team had been able to do in less than 21 hours but knows that the trip west may be difficult, especially since they are teams they don’t see often and just like every other team -- are looking for points.
Matt Moulson tallied his 25th of the season and leads the team in goals, Jackman, Park and Nielsen scored for the Islanders and Kulemin scored the only goal for the Leafs and took two penalties. Ron Wilson wore an Orange tie for an Isles game. He should have been given a penalty too.
No word as of yet as to who DID make the trip for the Tuesday game in Vancouver. But, I’m sure that will come from somewhere.
Earlier posts:
*7:20 PM: 3 - 1 Islanders with 6:41 left of the third in this penalty riddled game. Leafs are so far 0 - 6 on the PP.
*5:34 pm: It's not Gillies that takes the first dance, it's Matt Martin after he levels Phaneuf for hitting JT and also remembering what he did to Kyle Okposo in Calgary. He takes a 4 minute penalty, but not a problem for Richard Park and Blake Comeau as Park puts the Isles up 2 - 1 with a short handed goal.
**4:27 pm: Nice Surprise!! Jiggs MacDonald is here!
**4:11 pm: Back at the Coliseum after a sleepless night during the storm. Scott Gordon told WMJC's Chris King that he felt they're doing the right things on the penalty kills but there have been some bad goals as far as deflections from the wrong places or just being a little bit off in the wrong direction and being unsure. That is what happens when you are a depleated team putting in green players learning the system.
Marty Biron in net for the Isles tonight giving Roloson a chance to catch his breath from yesterday's match-up. Rick DiPietro will not even be a spectator for the coming road trip. Maybe he will be helping rehabbing Robbie Schremp get around this week after his surgery.
As far as the Matt Martin call up, Gordon said he like the way uses his size and gets in front of the net. His skating has improved a lot and he has size and skill that he can get better.
I'm sure Jack likes it too and isn't too keen on having him pulled from his lineup. But what can you do. the kid gets a chance.
More as the evening progresses. Theorize away HBers.
Jeff Tambellini is out for today's game against the Toronto Maple Leafs with what is being called a groin strain.
Big kid Matt Martin has been summoned from Bridgeport as an emergency call-up.
Okay, that's not what is bothering some of the die-hard Islanders fans. But the amount of injuries are a concern and perhaps the quality of the strength and conditioning coach's regiment should be called into question.
How do you guys feel about that? Do you think the Islanders are just under a black cloud of bad karma or bad conditioning?
New York Islanders Blogger • 
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