While the Leafs seem to think they have so much more than the Islanders do to play for tonight, don't tell that to the men in the Isles sweaters. They feel they have plenty to play for. And while every reporter today, and Ron Wilson in his quotes, seem to feel the Islanders recent success is do to "no pressure," I beg to differ.
If you've ever seen these guys immediately after a loss, you know they put enough pressure on themselves every night.
But while everyone may think they these games don't matter to the Isles, at least they aren't taking them for granted. This is what Coach Ron Wilson was quoted as saying in the NHL.com preview.
"You look at their record … it's as good as ours since the All-Star break," Wilson said. "We're going to have to be on our toes. They're loosey-goosey right now. The games don't have the same meaning probably to the Islanders at the moment as they do to us, so the pressure's on us. But we've handled that pretty well so far. We've got to be ready. They're a good, fast-skating team. They have an awful lot of skill up front that they don't get credit for."
I'd just like to suggest he get rid of the term "loosey-goosey."
Here's hoping the Isles give th Leafs a little trouble tonight.
Let's go!
I wonder if Nate Lawson does crossword puzzles on the bench. Al Montoya in net again for the Isles. After only two minutes played, glass replacement stops play for awhile. It would have been funny if the guy carrying the plexi on the ice fell with it.
Haley and a guy named Brown, who seems to have stolen Trevor Gillies mustache, dropped the gloves but only received two for roughing since Haley hit the ice quickly. I wonder what that was all about.
7:25 pm: Matt Moulson heard the loudest clang of his life as the puck banged off the post but didn’t go in the net, even though Reimer though it was in.
Okay, so now all the TV announcers are asking the question about the quality of Jack Capuano's coaching. So, at the 50 game mark, it's obviously a question on everyone's mind. Is Jack the man for next season or not.
So I decided to word a question to the Islanders General Manager in a way that he would actually ANSWER me. I got an answer alright. The decision will be made in the summer. Period.
7:56 pm: End of the first and no score. But there seems to be a magnet in the puck tonight as three different Islanders have clanked off the post.
8:24 pm: Zenon Konopka scored his second goal of the season and first goal of the game at two and change of the second period. The euphoria was short lived as Keith Aulie tied the score just 34 seconds later.
Matt Martin, showing he really DOES know how to play this game, muscles his way towards Reimer and takes a little hook before getting a shot off that Reimer gloves. He is awarded a penalty shot but doesn't get it far enough over the left shoulder of Reimer. You can read his lips as he heads back to the bench.
Andy MacDonald shots from the blue line and again, that magnet in the puck draws it to the post, but Frans Nielsen is there for the rebound that stuns Reimer. 2-1 Islanders as they head for the TV time out.
8:36 pm: It's always DiBenedetto. I don't know why. @LetThereBeLH said he seems to have "sim-like" qualities, so he's getting under everyone's skin. Well, maybe that's it. But Phaneuf lays a pretty big hit on the rookie against the glass behind the net and Michael Haley didn't like it much. Well, they did play together in B-Port. Haley rang Phaneuf's bell for sure, but he gets two in the box.
The Penalty Kill goes to work and Al Montoya comes up big a few times until the Islanders were back at full strength.
8:44 pm: With less than 2 minutes left, the Leaf's Armstrong takes the puck right to Al Montoya's pads and gets tied up by Milan Jurcina, but as the puck comes loose, Bruno can't stop Brent from getting it by Montoya. They head to the room tied at two.
9:18 pm: You're not going to believe it. After Michael Grabner scores his 27th goal of the season from a pass by Blake Comeau to give the Isles a 3 - 2 lead, one minute and eight seconds later, Kulemin evens it up again at 3. And I believe I could hear Al Montoya say SOB from here. This is a crazy game!
9:35 pm: OVERTIME! Ron Wilson was smart not to discount the Islanders as they take a point into overtime and look for the second. Like Jack Capuano wanted from them, the Islanders outshot the Leafs in regulation 37- 26.
Reimer is stunned by a Radek Martinek shot to the glove and the trainer comes out to help him. In the tunnel Giggy starts to get ready to jump in for OT. Reimer shakes it off, puts his glove back on and braces himself in net. Gotta love hockey players.
9:44 PM: Whether it was tipped by Blake Comeau or not, this should be Radek Martinek's welcome home present, the Game Winning goal against Reimer and the two points as the clock ticked down to finish Overtime.
Blake Comeau is awarded the goal and the first star of the game. The sign behind Comeau said "Maple Leafs Burned on the Island." They certainly were this time.
Jack Capuano smiled and left the bench knowing that his "Islanders who were playing with no pressure" just beat the Leafs who are playing for their playoff lives.
Comeau may have tipped the game winner, but it was Josh Bailey who was awarded the hard hat in the dressing room by his team mates. Bailey does all the little things as he continues to grow into the hockey player Garth Snow knew he could be when he moved down in the draft to get him.
Michael Grabner continues to make a case for himself as rookie of the year. How amazing would that be for the man who didn’t make it out of training camp in Florida this season, to end up with a trophy? THAT can only happen in Islander Country.
The Isles have 14 games remaining and are STILL not mathematically eliminated but still remain at the bottom of the standings.
Final shots 40 - 27 in favor of the Isles. Reimer was excellent even though he was obviously in pain.
No post game quotes from the locker room on MSG Plus due to the overtime segment, so we’ll just have to leave it here. But we leave it here happy.
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