They may have taken a couple of steps back with their two road efforts in Anaheim and Phoenix, but the Islanders were able to take one step forward on Tuesday night against the Detroit Red Wings.
The Isles came out strong all night, and played the Red Wings very well. They weren't being conservative or tentative - the Islanders out-shot them 17-8 in the first period - but they didn't get a puck past Ty Conklin until later in the frame. He had made some fantastic saves early on, but the Islanders were able to solve him on a power play. That opened up the flood gates once the second period came along.
The Islanders only took four shots in the second period, but controlled the play for a decent amount of it. The shots they took were quality ones, and they were able to score on three of them. Michael Grabner finally scored one of his vintage goals again, while Kyle Okposo's goal from John Tavares was an excellent play all around.
Evgeni Nabokov stood tall, and came up huge in many spots. It's hard to point to just one play that he made that not only kept the Islanders ahead big, but stopped any chance of gaining momentum that Detroit had.
All in all, it was a solid effort by the Islanders with not a lot of flaws. Sure, we would like to see more shots in the second period but when the Islanders took shots of the quality they did, you can let it slide for this one.
They'll have a really tough test on Thursday night against the Philadelphia Flyers, perhaps even tougher than this one. I guess at this point of the season, it goes without saying that everything is a "tough test" for them. At some point though in the VERY near future this team will run out of chances to jump back in it.
At practice on Wednesday, David Ullstrom and Al Montoya appeared to be ready to go. Ullstrom was activated and sent down to Bridgeport where he'll get back into the swing of things. Montoya was never put on IR, so he can come back any day now it appears. Kevin Poulin is still up, but I think that's day-to-day at this point. Many, myself included, thought Poulin was going to start the game against Detroit, only for Nabokov to get the nod again - and understandably so. Due to the shutout streak he had going, Poulin continued to be tapped on the shoulder. But the Islanders now may want to have Nabokov sit on this one for an extra day and go with a different look against a team it feels like they haven't beaten in about 10 years.
-Chris
nyifyi@gmail.com
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Getting the DET win was nice...acutally it was a man-handling in every sense of the word. Have to enjoy those while we can!!
It was a travesty to lose to PHI last night in what was an obviously winnable game. This NYI team is just seemingly snakebitten when it comes to PHI. The goal Simmonds scored was as fluky as it gets. The goalie turned his head to check who was driving the net and it just slipped in there near side from a horrible angle. And, so it goes.
The hits keep on coming for the Isles. Staios on Maxine that is!! Well done. He'll probably get suspended, but it was not the worst I've seen. There have been far worse hits that have essentially gone without substantial punsihment. I saw a replay on MSG that made it look pretty clean and one that was below the chin. Hopefully that angle makes its way up to Shanny. What I saw was a golden globe winning job of acting here, if anything.
It’s not like the shot Flatley laid on Beck back in the day. That was a HIT! Speaking of which, Flats get inducted to the NYI Hall of Fame tomorrow. A nice honor for a real lunchpail guy of the 90′s team.
Here’s a few videos I found celebrating his indcution. Congrats Flats!
Glenn Healy on the Kind of Player Pat Was: http://bit.ly/yuc96G
Healy on Flatley's Contribution to the '93 Isles Playoff Run: http://bit.ly/AuWPNE
Stan Fischler on Flatley's style of play: http://bit.ly/zCnqyH
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