As I had originally thought, the Islanders indeed decided to go with Kevin Poulin after his strong NHL debut in relief of Nathan Lawson on Thursday night. Unfortunately for Poulin, this one didn't start off as smoothly. In the end though, Poulin would end up with his 1st NHL win.
Within the first three minutes, the Avs had a 2-0 lead on the Isles. But they seemed to regain composure, and Poulin started making some nice saves. Jeremy Colliton, playing with the Isles for the first time since leaving North America last season to go to Sweden, got the Isles first goal on the power-play putting in a rebound left by Craig Anderson. Later in the 1st, Colliton would score again, being left alone in front of the net, and scoring on one heck of a wrist shot. The former 2003 2nd round pick of the Isles looked good and for this game and finally showed glimpses of why he was so highly regarded a number of years back. Colliton is just 25 years old, and it was nice to see him contribute. The odds are against him, but perhaps his dream can still come true of contributing to an NHL line-up.
Like I mentioned, Poulin made several key stops after settling down from the slow start, but the Avs really pressed in the 3rd. They finally broke through with only seconds remaining, setting the stage for John Tavares to make a nice cut towards the net for the game winner in overtime.
Blake Comeau was also a standout to m in this game. His goal came off of that awesome shot that he is known to have from time to time - and I really wish he would use it more. Lately we are seeing the Comeau we were all hoping to see at the beginning of the year. There were a couple of plays he made that stand out because of how he hustled. He laid a hit on an Avs player after he was beaten to the puck, but Comeau really went full speed to the area and even though he just missed winning the puck in that battle, he slammed the player into the boards by the benches. It's things like that that make me smile and say that's how he's supposed to play. Now if only he could find a way to put in that kind of effort every night and not only when he wants to.
As a side note in this game, of course, Rick DiPietro was sent back to New York on Friday night to "rest and get treatment" on that tweaked groin of his. For many this raises red flags. Unlike Sean, I have been very optimistic about anything DiPietro since his quick stint on the IR three weeks ago. Generally, this situation doesn't earn the benefit of the doubt but I am once again giving it to them. He wasn't going to play in either of these weekend games supposedly, so sure - send him back to prepare and not risk further injury. I don't think he's serious right now but could possibly be very close to being hurt bad once again, so better to let him take the entire weekend off and go from there. We'll see. hopefully we can ride with the "Poulin Wall" (thanks for the nickname, Chris Botta!) for a little bit to buy some time.
NYI FYI Sunday at 11 AM: Sean and I will be on live at 11 AM for the next installment of the NYI FYI show. You can watch us do the show through UStream where we will have a chat room up and running, as well as AIM. We'll give you the SN when we're on. For those who can't watch the live show, you can watch the recording on that UStream site or as you have been able to in the past, just check out the podcast site. We hope you guys enjoy and for those of you joining us live, come prepared with your thoughts and questions!
-CH
nyifyi@gmail.com
Showing posts with label Craig Anderson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Craig Anderson. Show all posts
January 9, 2011
October 17, 2010
Jurcina Tallies Twice as Isles down Avs 5-2
Milan Jurcina entered Saturday night's contest against the Colorado Avalanche with 15 career goals in 323 games. He would turn out to be the Islanders key source of offense, notching two goals and adding an assist as the Isles went on to defeat the Avalanche.
Jurcina's first goal came in the second period with the Isles on the penalty kill. Josh Bailey won the faceoff, which banked off the boards and went right to Jurcina for a quick shot that goalie Craig Anderson tried to catch with his glove, but missed. Later in the period, with Jurcina pinching towards the goal line to Anderson's left, Jurcina threw the puck at the net. The puck hit the post and the side of Anderson's pad in the small space he left and rolled over the goal line to give the Isles a 2-0 lead.
All of this happened after a fairly uneventful 1st period, one in which the Islanders were outplayed by the Avs. Bailey, earning the hard had for his effort in the game, told us in the locker room that Scott Gordon showed frustration after the first, pointing to the turnovers. That is an area that has killed the Islanders in the times when they haven't played well, and it certainly was the story of the first period tonight. Dwayne Roloson was very sharp, and really was the reason the Islanders were able to come out of the first unscathed.
Bailey scored a goal of his own on the powerplay to make it 3-0. He received a nice pass in the slot from P.A. Parenteau, and was able to be patient enough to wait for Anderson to go down into a split before lifting the puck over him. Bailey has been the Islanders best player most nights, and that was pretty much the case again tonight. He is really developing rapidly before our eyes, and it's been fun to watch so far.
Michael Grabner scored his first goal as an Islander, using his speed to go on a 2-on-1 with Parenteau and received the pass from him. Anderson appeared to play the pass pretty well and make the save but the puck went in anyway as Grabner got a lot on it. He had had a fairly quiet game until that point, and admitted after the game that he is still trying to learn things, but his main objective is to use his speed to push the opposing defensemen back. He did that a couple of times tonight, but still made some of those blind and dangerous passes.
John Tavares had the final goal for the Isles, adding an empty netter with 19 seconds left to seal it.
The Avs goals came from Chris Stewart and T.J. Galiardi. I was very impressed with Stewart this game. He had some good speed and has come a long way since being drafted in the 1st round in 2006. He'll exceed last years breakout numbers for sure. Anderson did not play badly either, and made a few big saves of his own. He's very quick for a goaltender his size, and will be a huge key to success for the Avs this season once again.
The defense was generally pretty good tonight. The Avs are a quick team and were able to exploit them on a couple of occasions, but in the end no real damage was done. Several guys, especially Mike Mottau once again, had the poke check working. They seemed more alert in getting pucks away from the front of the net, particularly when Roloson was sprawled out trying to make a first save. A number of Avs found themselves tied up when going for second chances as well. Jurcina was frequently involved in plays like this. He truly had his best game as an Islander, offense aside.
Here are some clips from the post game interviews (note: I only asked a couple of questions, and I want to give credit where credit is due to the others):
Milan Jurcina
Michael Grabner
Scott Gordon
NYI FYI Podcast Coming: It's Sunday, and of course that means a new podcast coming from Sean and I. Be sure to stop by the podcast site to check that out as we recap a very busy week that was in Islanders Country.
-Chris
nyifyi@gmail.com
Jurcina's first goal came in the second period with the Isles on the penalty kill. Josh Bailey won the faceoff, which banked off the boards and went right to Jurcina for a quick shot that goalie Craig Anderson tried to catch with his glove, but missed. Later in the period, with Jurcina pinching towards the goal line to Anderson's left, Jurcina threw the puck at the net. The puck hit the post and the side of Anderson's pad in the small space he left and rolled over the goal line to give the Isles a 2-0 lead.
All of this happened after a fairly uneventful 1st period, one in which the Islanders were outplayed by the Avs. Bailey, earning the hard had for his effort in the game, told us in the locker room that Scott Gordon showed frustration after the first, pointing to the turnovers. That is an area that has killed the Islanders in the times when they haven't played well, and it certainly was the story of the first period tonight. Dwayne Roloson was very sharp, and really was the reason the Islanders were able to come out of the first unscathed.
Bailey scored a goal of his own on the powerplay to make it 3-0. He received a nice pass in the slot from P.A. Parenteau, and was able to be patient enough to wait for Anderson to go down into a split before lifting the puck over him. Bailey has been the Islanders best player most nights, and that was pretty much the case again tonight. He is really developing rapidly before our eyes, and it's been fun to watch so far.
Michael Grabner scored his first goal as an Islander, using his speed to go on a 2-on-1 with Parenteau and received the pass from him. Anderson appeared to play the pass pretty well and make the save but the puck went in anyway as Grabner got a lot on it. He had had a fairly quiet game until that point, and admitted after the game that he is still trying to learn things, but his main objective is to use his speed to push the opposing defensemen back. He did that a couple of times tonight, but still made some of those blind and dangerous passes.
John Tavares had the final goal for the Isles, adding an empty netter with 19 seconds left to seal it.
The Avs goals came from Chris Stewart and T.J. Galiardi. I was very impressed with Stewart this game. He had some good speed and has come a long way since being drafted in the 1st round in 2006. He'll exceed last years breakout numbers for sure. Anderson did not play badly either, and made a few big saves of his own. He's very quick for a goaltender his size, and will be a huge key to success for the Avs this season once again.
The defense was generally pretty good tonight. The Avs are a quick team and were able to exploit them on a couple of occasions, but in the end no real damage was done. Several guys, especially Mike Mottau once again, had the poke check working. They seemed more alert in getting pucks away from the front of the net, particularly when Roloson was sprawled out trying to make a first save. A number of Avs found themselves tied up when going for second chances as well. Jurcina was frequently involved in plays like this. He truly had his best game as an Islander, offense aside.
Here are some clips from the post game interviews (note: I only asked a couple of questions, and I want to give credit where credit is due to the others):
Milan Jurcina
Michael Grabner
Scott Gordon
NYI FYI Podcast Coming: It's Sunday, and of course that means a new podcast coming from Sean and I. Be sure to stop by the podcast site to check that out as we recap a very busy week that was in Islanders Country.
-Chris
nyifyi@gmail.com
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