Isles 5, Sens 3

The fact that the Isles won by a score of only 5-3 is quite impressive when you consider how the game began early in the first.

In what has become a rare occurrence, the Islanders actually scored the games first goal on a nice play with Matt Moulson hammering home a rebound in front. It was the wingers 1st since signing his new deal.

The teams would go on to trade goals, leaving little time in between. After 20 minutes, we were all tied at three.

Kevin Poulin had some trouble on the first couple of goals that the Sens scored. The first one I'm pinning on both he and Milan Jurcina, who didn't have one of his finest nights. There needs to be some better communication there, and as Howie Rose mentioned on the telecast, perhaps they haven't played together enough to have those kinks worked out. Jurcina has been in and out of the lineup all season with various injuries.

Rob Schremp was able to break out of his little slump, notching two goals and earning the game's first star. I still wasn't overly impressed with his play, but being in the right spot at the right time is something he was getting away from, normally opting to curl back to the blue line for a low percentage shot. Glad to see him get back to some of the little things that were making him successful. Hopefully he can continue to turn it around.

Ty Wishart made his Isles debut and registered two assists. He looked comfortable out there and made some good first passes out of the zone. I had an opportunity to speak with Ty after practice Friday. We played that interview during the show that we recorded on Saturday. I plan to write a story on it in the next day or two, so be sure to look for that.

All in all it was a good effort for the Isles in what ended up being a scrappy game. The Senators took some unusually dumb penalties but were fortunate enough the Isles had some problems with the man advantage tonight expect for that one big 5-on-3 coming out of the 2nd period. Robin Lehner replaced Brian Elliot after the 1st period and provided much better rebound control and made more timely saves. Overall, the rookie stopped 23 of 24.

The Isles have a couple of days off before taking on the Maple Leafs at home on Tuesday.

To listen to the show recorded Saturday afternoon, including that Wishart interview, download it from our podcast site or watch through our UStream page.

-CH

nyifyi@gmail.com