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Isles 4-3 Win "All Sorts Of Awful"

October 4, 2013, 11:45 PM ET [9 Comments]
Dee Karl
New York Islanders Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Game one seemed terribly familiar as an Islanders fan. Both teams came out of the gate at record speed, excited to get the game started. But the first period was only a little more than two minutes old when Brunner scored on Nabokov to give the Devils a lead. It was only the third shot he had faced. He shook it off. He ended up making 25 saves on 28 shots during regulation.

Michael Grabner’s first breakaway chance seemed the same old Gremlin. But his second managed to slip under Brodeur’s stacked pads. There was a crack in the armor. Matt Donovan managed his first shot on goal at 14:13 of the first.

It took until 4:46 of the second period before the horn would sound again as Ryder regained the lead for the Devils. Nabokov had made the first save, but the puck was up in the air, hit the cage and went in behind him.

According to Butch Goring, Nabby “had no chance” on that one. We’ve heard that before. But the truth of the matter is, Nabokov kept the Islanders in the game as goals were exchanged. Grabner would get a second goal on Broduer to even up the score again in the second. Michael S. (Islesblogger) Tweeted:

Michael Schuerlein ‏@islesblogger 3h
Grabner went to finishing school this summer. #truth #isles @grabs40


But the words “sloppy” and “dangerous” were brandied around. Too many turnovers left the Isles spending extended time in their own zone. They did a miserable job in the neutral zone.

Once again, Art Staple used the term “all sorts of awful” in his tweet about the second period:
Last 4 minutes of this 2nd period have been all kinds of awful for #Isles -- overstayed shifts, bad clearing attempts, bad changes


The first line of Tavares, Moulson and Okposo struggled. Together they managed only seven shots on Brodeur. Donovan and Bouchard each had four. Other than Michael Grabner, who had a three point game, Jack Capuano was happiest with his youngest players. He must have been as he had enough confidence to put Matt Donovan on the ice with only 1:45 left of a tied game. There were errors, but there were also bright spots.

Nielsen scored the Islanders third goal of the evening and Matt Donovan earned his first NHL point at 1:01 of the third. At 7:34 of the third, Brunner tied it again with his own second goal of the game. Try as they might, neither team could get it done in regulation. They couldn’t in the four-on-four overtime period either where Jack mixed things up a little and put Bailey out with Tavares at first.

After the over time period, it became a goalie clinic as it took six rounds before Matt Moulson managed to solve Marty Brodeur to give the Islanders the two points in the 4 - 3 win.

Shoot out set up with The Who playing in the background which just added to the tension.

Brunner shot first for the Devils since he scored the first goal. Nabby wasn’t faked out.

Frans Nielsen, Mr. Shootout, went to his backhand and missed, but it looked like Marty had hurt himself after hitting his skate on the post. He was slow to get up. Clowe was stopped by Nabby as the tension grew. P.M. Bouchard skated in so slow, it looked as if he would come to a full stop. Brodeur just picked it out of the air with his glove as if to say “Really?”

Elias, the man who scares me the most when goals are important, couldn’t do it and JT glided down the ice but Brodeur got a part of it on his glove side.

Zajac shot wide and Josh Bailey came the closest to scoring as the puck rang off the post. He missed by ¼ of an inch. Ryder, Okposo, and Jagr could have won the game -- but didn‘t.

Matt Mouslon faked just enough to beat Marty over his blocker and end the game. Too bad it counted for the game, but doesn’t on the score sheet for him. But that’s two points in the books as the Isles head to their own Home Opener tomorrow.

The giveaway will be the yearly schedule magnet and Subway coupons for the first 10,000 fans. The band this year playing outside will be Crossing Midnight. Maybe you’ve heard of them. I haven’t. But then again, I haven’t been to a lot of weddings.
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