A Shorty and first star of the night. Not bad for a 27th birthday.
A big win over a tough Lightning team and Cal was happy they got the win at home. “We’ve played a lot on the road lately but it’s important to get these wins at home.” The home crowd was appreciative and supportive even giving Nabokov a warm welcome. Which sadly turned to jeers as the goals piled up on the scoreboard.
The tables had turned and it was a 5-2 Isles win against that team from Tampa..
Frankie Borrelli @FrankieBorrelli 4m4 minutes ago another night another win #isles
Filippo Antonacci @fanto1977 6m6 minutes ago Staten Island, NY #isles winning vs the lighting proves we can compete with the best of them. Today's win is shows we can contend
Will we ever know how much playing a second night helped the Isles win? The plan is always to wear down an opponent as the game progresses. It did look as if the Bolts had a hard time keeping up to a fresh, fast skating Isles squad.
Clutterbuck, Strome, Grabovsky, Visnovsky and Cizikas all added to their goal stats while Frans Nielsen and Kyle Okposo both added two helpers to theirs.
Andy Graziano ™ @tazman19 4m4 minutes ago #isles 4 pts behind Tampa and 5 behind Montreal with 2 games in hand on each for TOP spot in conference. Yep. I just tweeted that.
Ryan Strome got to sit with Shannon Hogan in the MSG studio in the lower level after the game. He said it felt good to score and win. “Good to win on home ice. We beat a pretty good team there. They had us on a back-to-back and we had them on a back-to-back. We wanted some revenge.” Of course they did. Bishop made them look foolish. Nabokov made them look good. Strome’s goal was a beauty, but he doesn’t want to get comfortable.. “Obviously it’s nice. Lucky bounce. Been a long time coming and I want to help the team win a little bit.”
And so he did.
“We needed to get going. We had to come in with jump and get in behind them. Obviously we are aware of the standings. It’s time to pick up our socks here .” And then he lost me. Pick up our socks? Okay, first time in six years I‘ve heard that one..
Jack Capuano gave birthday boy Cal Clutterbuck credit for getting the team going. : “I thought the Clutterbuck goal was huge for us. We were a little bit flat and then the PK came up big for us.”
He continued: “He’s a smart hockey player. He plays the game the right way. You talk about the identity of a hockey club and one of the key ingredients is to be tough to play against. He’s tough to play against.”
Capuano took out the Yahtzee dice early in this game and his lines. “I thought for whatever reason our execution was down. It was one of those nights, but a sign of a good team is other guys step up. Special teams came up big for us. We’ve done it in the past. We’ve tweaked some things, sometimes it works.”
Jack didn’t say if the new line combos were going to stick but he did say there would be more changes as Michael Grabner is taken off IR. “We made some acquisitions, there’s competition. We’ve got guys working hard every day trying to get into the line-up. With Grabner coming back, we have a lot of tough decisions to make.” And as Butch Goring had Tweeted out, someone isn’t going to be very happy.
While this was a good win for the Islanders, we can’t take for granted that they weren’t facing the Bolts number one goalie. But it’s still a good win.
“I think every night there’s a lot of parody in this league. They had a lot of chances. To go out and play some of the top teams, and they’re a top team, and we know we can compete with them gives us a lot of confidence.”
And sometimes confidence is just what they need. Although a little better rebound control by Jaro Halak would also be very useful.
John Tavares spoke with Stan Fischler in the MSG post game in his usually soft spoken style. “For us it’s one game at a time and we want to build on it. Everyone’s contributing and that’s what is most important. We’re looking forward to a big home-and-home this weekend.”
Tavares didn’t hit the score sheet tonight, but that’s okay. “The balance is great. That is what is going to help you win over an 82 game season and set you up for the playoffs. If mistakes are made, it’s not from lack of effort; it’s a nature of the game.”
Playoffs -- John said ‘playoffs’! Because he believes.
New York Islanders Blogger • 
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