In the first five minutes of last night‘s game, the Islanders created some good scoring opportunities and lots of offense. The question was if they can keep that tempo and offensive push the whole game. MacKinnon scored for the Avalanche at 13:04 into the first on an open net as Nabokov was being spun around in the crease due to Boulton pushing a man into Nabby.
Less than a minute later, the Islanders killed off their first penalty late in the first with Colin McDonald in the box for roughing. (BTW, from a fashion stand point the white out stadium series patch makes the jersey look a little tacky.) After one period the Avalanche lead by one, despite the Islanders out shooting them 13-6. Despite trailing if the Islanders could keep up the offense and clean up the defensive down-low play they would have had a good chance of coming back.
Start of second period and the Islanders got caught in their own zone a few times but the Avalanche didn’t capitalize. Brock Nelson split two defensemen with a sick play lifting the puck over their sticks to himself but wasn’t able to get it five hole through Giguere.
Hickey pushed the puck wide of an open net on a two on one with Bailey and Duchene rushed up and tosses the puck on net for what should have been an easy save but it slipped through Nabby.
Matt Duchene scored again top shelf from a sharp angle making it 3-0 Avalanche. The Islanders went on the power play with Talbot in the box, but weren’t able to do much with it.
Three minutes into the third the Islanders got another shot at the power play. Despite the unsuccessful power play efforts, the Islanders had a decent amount of chances down low on Giguere, but nothing was going in for the Isles and you can see the players and fans were getting frustrated. Including me, but I don’t expect much from the Islanders.
With 9:42 left in the game the Islanders found themselves on a 5-3 power play. Tavares scored after being 0-33 while on the power play making it a 3-1 game. With 28 seconds left on the Avalanche penalty the Avalanche took another penalty on a wicked slash to Nielsen making it another 5-3 opportunity.
Visnovsky scored on a slapshot from the blue line making it 3-2 and the Islanders still had over a minute with a man advantage. The Islanders created chances at the end of the power play but weren’t able to capitalize. With six minutes left the Islanders had picked up their game and the fans were back in it.
Vanek took a tripping penalty with a little under five minutes left. If the Islanders wanted a chance to tie the game, they needed to kill that penalty. After a few nice clears by Clutterbuck, the Islanders were able to kill off the penalty and still have 2:30 left to tie the game.
Brock Nelson had a wrap around opportunity that slid right through the crease. Then Grabner missed on a pass in front and Landeskog skated up ice on a 2-on-1 and hit the empty net. That sealed the game for the Avs 4-2.
That was a disappointing loss for Islanders’ fans considering it didn’t lack scoring opportunities. It took the Islanders two-and-a-half periods to find the back of the net and it was too little too late which is something that all Islanders fans are used to at this point.
For me, the one thing that stood out in this game was the play of Brock Nelson. He had many opportunities and his stick handling skill really showed tonight. With a little time I’m sure he will be a great asset for the Islanders. That is if they don’t trade him for someone that will only stay for a few months.
On that note, Vanek…. I will not miss you. And quite frankly it pains me to see the Islanders trade decent players that actually like playing for the Islanders for an aging “star… player that doesn’t really want to be on the team. Hopefully, they can pick something up for him better than a draft pick. I would like to see results sooner than later, Mr. Snow. And even though you thought Vanek would do that, you thought wrong and I saw it coming. Everyone saw it coming.
WAIT, did I say 4-2 final, I meant 5-2 because Vanek threw his stick at the Avalanche trying to hit the empty net with a second left there by giving them basically a free goal. Thank you Thomas Vanek. Have fun in Sochi.
Thanks to my intern.