3:42: Game over isles win and Matt Martin is the third star of the game, Moulson is the second star and John Tavares is the first star of the game. This time he ends up skating towards Peter for the post win interview. Would be nice if the reverb wasn't so bad. He said he is all good after the hit from Andy Sutton. I hope someone smacks Sutton in the hallway.
A second solid performance by the New York Islandes witout Mike Mottau. He was in the tunnel waiting to greet John Tavares.
The Isles and the Oilers were mostly even on each stat with the exception of hits. The Isles outhit the Oilers 28 to 20 even with Sutton in their line-up. But the Isles take the two points before they head off for a three game road trip.
At least everyone can end the year a little more at ease. The Playoffs are still somewhat out of reach, but at least they are heading in the right direction. The line changes seem to be working. Look for them to stay this way during the road trip.
The question will also be whether Rick DiPietro will be making an appearance any time soon. he has been skating, but no time table has been announced for him or for Montoya.
Well... the book on this year closes for the NY Islanders. At least it is a high note.
3:26 pm: Dubnyk makes another save on Frans Nielsen but Nielsen may not have all his tools as he sitss on the bench with a bleeding digi3:08 pm: With Mark Streit in the box AGAIN, Frans Nielsen has a small breakaway and the crowd gets excited. But Dubnyk makes the save.
2:54 pm: During the intermission Matt Martin told Peter he knew he had to hold up on his hit on Smid since he's had a few suspensions. He said it with a smile, but not tongue-in-cheek. He really isn't looking on hurting someone or finding himself back in Shanahan's office.
2:43 pm: With 4:07 left of the second, Mark Streit took a holding penalty to put the Isles on the PK.
Taylor Hall had great opportunity to score in an empty net but didn't seem to notice and Steve Staios did a great job of blocking a shot by Eberle. Ouch.
Ryan Smyth finally gets his name on air with only a half minute left of the second. Not for anything special either.
With .01 second left, Mark Streit takes yet another Holding penalty on Taylor Hall. I'm not sure where Mark Streit's head has been lately. I'm not sure where Michael Grabner's TALENT has been lately. However, both seem to be missing in action.
2:36 pm: Effing Andy Sutton was the culprit on the JT hit. Garrett Timms was checking on JT's shoulder rotation on the bench after the commercial.
Ben Eager received an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and a game misconduct penalty putting the Isles back on the power play. They didn't capitalize on that one.
2:33 pm: Steve Staios was in the box for tripping while Ken Morrow was speaking with Butch and Howie. After the penalty was over, and while the conversation about Morrow's playing days were still going on, John Tavares was knocked down and had a hard time gettng up off the ice. There was no call on the ice. Play continued for quite a while and as soon as there was a whistle, John Tavares skated towards the dressing room.
Commercial break and we're left wondering what happened.
2:19 pm: Matt Martin is proving that he is more than just a grinder and banger. The boy has hockey sense. First he drew a penalty by NOT dropping the gloves with Ben Eager. I love how he turned around and smiled at him as Eager was escorted to the box. PA Parenteau capitalized on the power play with assists to Moulson and Nielsen.
Travis Hamonic defended against big Andy Sutton. I couldn't believe the size difference, but just as he had Sutton against the boards the puck went up ice and Matt Martin scored the Isles fourth goal. It is his 4th of the season and Bailey received the assist. Martin also received pats on the back from the bench. The kid is finding his way.
1:55 pm: Steve Staios is in the box for cross checking, although I didn't see it because Fios and MSG are not in sync with each other.
Michael Grabner has his best breakaway opportunity in weeks and loses control of the right in front of the net. He has not been able to convert on a breakaway iin a long time. WHAT HAPPENED???
1:53 pm: You can't hold a good many down and Matt Moulson and John Tavares didn't like the last goal waved off. With Tavares performing a spin move to distract a defender, he passed the puck to Matt Moulson just outside the Oilers net.
2-1 Isles.
1:42 pm: The Oilers tied the score at one as Streit tied up Gagne in Nabby's crease. A screen and a bad bounc and it was behind Nabokov.
Seventeen seconds later, it looked like Moulson made it 2 - 1, but it was deemed a "kicking motion" even though one angle looked like it was and another camera angle didn't. Well, it's the Islanders so for sure, it was no goal.
1:37 pm: John Tavares scores the first goal for the Isles hoping that will be the impetus to more Isles goals and a 2 pt win.
7 am: Isles vs. Edmonton for an afternoon tilt on Ken Morrow day. With the Isles feeling a little more confident after the win over the Flames on Thursday, today’s game should be interesting.
Eric Hornick discussed the Western anomaly in his “Skinny”.
Best v West
The Isles improve to 13-1-7 in their last 21 home games against the Western Conference (with their only regulation loss being two weeks ago against Dallas). The Islanders are 2-1-2 in home games against the West this season, with games remaining against Edmonton, Detroit, Nashville and Los Angeles. Overall, this season the Isles are 4-2-4 vs. the West and 8-15-2 against the East.
But let’s not forget this is a 1 pm game and the Isles historically play well in the afternoon. Add to the mix the pomp and circumstance of inducting Ken Morrow into the Isles Hall and you have the potential for a loss.
The losing streak has hit Captain Mark Streit hard and he offered up these quotes to
Dyan LeBourdais yesterday.
Islanders captain Mark Streit on what will be the key to the Isles success: "Puck management. In the past games, or even most of the time, we have so many turnovers that costs us momentum and at the end, games. We got rid of those (Thursday) night and we had more offensive zone time. If we chip pucks, get in on our forecheck and have more offensive zone time, we'll have success. When we turn pucks over, it goes back in our end and we get stuck. It’s two completely different scenarios. So I think that was the difference. We created a lot of chances five-on-five, which was good for our confidence. Guys know how we have to play to get scoring chances and to win games."
That’s a lot of “If’s” but they are the answers.
The other consistent problem with the Isles has been consistency. They are consistently inconsistent. I laughed when Peter asked PA Parenteau what the fix was and he said if he knew he’d be a genius. Frans Nielsen offered this answer to Dyan.
Islanders center Frans Nielsen on establishing consistency: "Consistency has been our problem all year. We know what we have to do, but for some reason there are some games where we don’t bring it like we did (Thursday) night. When we turn pucks over, we make more mental mistakes, make bad decisions. It’s not that we don’t compete hard. (Thursday), when we got the puck in deep, that’s how we have to play. We can’t give them anything for free."
If you are going to the game today you’re in for a day of history and fun. If you’re like me watching it from the couch prepping for the last night of the year, you can join your fellow fans on the Isles live blog from The Rookie and the Reporter.
There is no practice this morning, but Jack Capuano will be available at 11 am. Should there be any surprising news out of Uniondale, I will update the blog. I'm not sure if anyone is coming off the IR today or not.
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