11 am: Matt Donovan has been recalled from loan to Bridgeport as Travis Hamonic has now been placed on IR for an upper body injury. Not good.
7am: The Isles let up an early goal, so it was a good sign. At 7:47 of the first, Eriksson got one past Poulin while Nabokov watched from the bench instead of the workout room. He continued to watch as the Bruins managed to get shots on Poulin while the Isles couldn’t get the puck down the other end of the ice until midway through the period.
At 15:29 of the first, Frans Nielsen put the Isles on the board and all was right with the world again. Although there was an inordinate amount of Bruins fans in attendance for a Monday night game when it wasn’t even a holiday. So the back-and-forth taunting chants could be heard loud and clear.
After the first period, the NHL sent a representative to speak about the goal that was waived off from Saturday to speak with Howie Rose. To be sure, Howie seems just as angry at the entire thing as any Islander fan is. I’m guessing Mr. Kris King’s ’explanation’ hasn’t helped.
Not only did Mr. King start off his discussion with a semi-admission of error, but he made arguments that just don’t hold water. As he spoke, Twitter blew up with negative reactions -- including my own. Yes, this one pushed me right over the edge.
Not only did Mr. King somehow try to redefine the word ’kick’ to suit their call, but he also said the war room doesn’t review ’intent’ in kicking. Now this strikes me as strange sing a ’kick’ is intentional. If it’s not intentional, it’s simply momentum. He then said that perhaps veteran referee Kerry Fraser doesn’t understand the rule and I basically lost it. I was thinking of apologizing, but nah.
You can find the exchange between Howie Rose and Kris King on YouTube. Make your own judgment call as to whether you believe him or not.
Meanwhile, the Isles let up a goal to start the second period and then responded with a Michael Grabner goal. Now this was pretty amazing since Grabs had a breakaway opportunity prior that of course, he didn’t convert on, but this time while basically standing still, he found a hole in Chad Johnson and the puck hit the back of the net. See? Maybe he shouldn’t streak down the ice at 90 mph, even though that is exciting to watch.
Three minutes later, Reilly Smith beat Poulin and the Bruins evened it up again. Three minutes after that, with a give and go between Grabner and Okposo, who had just exited the penalty box, Okposo tied the score at three. It was his third point of the game.
Then the wheels fell off the bus as Soderberg scored at 19:27 of the second and changed the entire momentum of the game. Even though Bergeron was in the box for tripping to start the third period, the Isles never got it together and the Bruins took control of the game and scored two more unanswered goals to give them a 6 - 3 win.
Jack Capuano will not call out a single player or really rip on his team during his post game. When asked about the ‘slow start,’ he defended them and said “I don’t think it was a slow start. We were defending a little more than we wanted.… Understanding his team’s short comings, he reiterated that the Bruins are “Big and strong.…
Jack rescued Poulin after giving up a soft goal and Nabokov was given a little extra time by the referees to warm up. He probably didn’t need it. He only saw one shot. When asked about Andy MacDonald’s play for the night, he stumbled a bit, but did say ‘try to play through -- obviously --’ and backed down to ‘It’s a grind.’ Was he about to let on that Amac isn’t 100%? Is something going on here? “There are a few guys that are a little tight.…
He did compliment Lubomir Visnovsky who made his first appearance in three and a half months. “He looked good, although he got more minutes than we would have liked.… In the room, Visnovsky didn’t feel that great about his performance. “Sometimes I feel so slow. I hope it will be better next game.…
It was good to have him back on the ice, none-the-less.
By the end of the night, shots were even at 37 each, but the Isles had lost two important points. Jack’s energy line had failed and Matt Martin was very disappointed in their play. They’ve beat the Bruins before, but last night -- it just wasn’t their night.
The Isles will get a taste of the bitter cold today as they practice outside at Yankee Stadium. In all honesty, this isn’t going to be easy.