Lightning 1: Islanders 5
Dwayne Roloson probably thought he'd have a little bit better luck than this.
The former Isles goalie was torched for five goals on 18 shots- not all his own fault- and pulled midway through the second period, while the Islanders took care of business against the Lightning, 5-1.
Victor Hedman gave his goalie grief 36 seconds into the first, inadvertently shoving a John Tavares shot into the net after Roloson made the initial save. JT was credited with his first goal of the season, and he was not finished there; he had hands in the next three afterward, scoring once more and providing assists for his linemates Matt Moulson and PA Parenteau. That entire top line ended up scoring eight points in the first- JT with half of them (2G, 2A). Moulson and Parenteau had a goal and a helper each, and each of them finished with a +4 rating. However, I think we can all agree that Tavares's play last night was a huge key to that line's success.
Also on the board last night was Michael Grabner, who'd been a little under the radar during the past two games, but who finally knocked in a goal last night on another slip-up by Roloson. Indeed, that goal chased Roli from the net (which I was sad to see), replacing him with Mathieu Garon who had an admirable showing (16 sv). Grabner was also very effective on the penalty kill along with his PK crony Frans Nielsen. The Isles didn't take quite as many penalties as the nights past, however, and if they did, often the power play was canceled out by a Lightning penalty.
As for the Lightning, Steven Stamkos deflected a shot by former Islander Marc-Andre Bergeron to tie it at 1 in the first, but that was all the Bolts could really muster up. It seemed as though the Islanders were everywhere at once, picking off passes or getting into the passing/shooting lanes, as well as executing a great backcheck (with four or more getting back into the defensive zone at a given time). When Tampa Bay did start to generate offense, the defense and Al Montoya (34 sv) were there to take care of it.
Aggression was also a factor- I don't know how many times I mentioned Matt Martin in my game notes last night. Aside from four shots on goal, he was all over the ice, a giant blue-and-orange wrecking ball, if you will. He had at least three huge hits on three different Lightning players and was extremely effective on his fourth line with Marty Reasoner, who was great in the faceoff circle, and Jay Pandolfo. Altogether, the Islanders did a wonderful job of scoring quickly early, scoring more than two goals and then shutting down the offensive efforts of the Tampa Bay Lightning. This was a tremendously fun game to watch (and I even didn't mind the TB commentators!) and I hope they can carry it over to tomorrow night's game against the Rangers at the Coliseum once more. That should be a fun game, even though I might not even be able to SEE it (some crazy thing about the New York City markets being blacked out if you live in the Buffalo market or something... not sure, so I guess we'll just have to wait and see)... but at any rate, it'll be feisty. Here's to hoping Micheal Haley's in the lineup.
LET'S GO ISLES!
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