I don't even know where to begin.
First off, a rant. I dislike shootouts immensely. It's a huge gimmick, I can never sit still during one, I'm constantly with my heart in my throat, I wish I knew what was happening beforehand (kind of like flipping to the end of a story to see how things wind up) but at the same time I don't want to know, and... yeah, I also hate how the Islanders happen to not be very good at them.
Except for tonight.
PA Parenteau and Frans Nielsen both scored in the skills competition to give the Isles the extra point against the Carolina Hurricanes, 4-3, after a decidedly sloppy 65 minutes of play. John Tavares earned No.1 star-like credentials yet again, tallying three crucial assists on each of the Isles' regulation goals. Once again, as he goes, the Islanders go, and he has been going strong.
The Isles jumped out to an early lead in the first on a Matt Moulson PP goal, but coughed it up 30 seconds later to Anthony Stewart, who capitalized by redirecting a shot straight off the faceoff. Both Cam Ward and Evgeni Nabokov had to make some good saves, as first the Isles, then Carolina, gained momentum. In the second period, the 'Canes took a 2-1 lead thanks to a bad mistake by Nabokov behind the net. Brandon Sutter put the puck into the wide open net, and despite sloppy play by both teams, nothing more was scored that period.
The third period scoring opened with another goal on the man-advantage, this one by Frans Nielsen, who took advantage of a beautiful bank shot by Mark Streit and put it past an out-of-position Ward. Then a bevy of turnovers by both sides created some hairy situations, and eventually a goal by Isle-killer Chad LaRose. (Carolina has a couple of those guys- see: Eric Staal.) Things were not looking good, as turnovers and faceoff losses continued to hurt the Isles' chances of tying it up. And then, at 18:30, with Nabokov heading to the bench, Travis Hamonic made a great play at the blueline to keep the puck in, JT corraled it and shot it right through the slot, where Kyle Okposo poked it home. From there, it was on to a pretty tame OT (except for the sparkling chance by Tavares that Ward just managed to stop) and then the shootout, where the Isles' shooters did work and Nabokov was perfect enough to preserve the win his skaters put in place for him.
This was not a pretty win by any means, but it is a win that the Isles will gladly take, both on the road and as the third in four games. Give plenty of credit to Nielsen, Matt Martin (who drew the penalty which led to Moulson's goal and played with a smart, cool head) and Hamonic, who continues to thrive and was among the Isles' TOI leaders yet again with a whopping 25:08. (Only Andrew MacDonald, at 25:12, had more time on ice.) Also, captain Mark Streit was the only positive number in terms of plus-minus (+1), had an assist and was very effective offensively. Great job, cappy.
On to bigger... better?... things. Well, no, on to Anaheim and a 10:00 p.m. start, which I am grumpy about. Stupid West Coast. Oh, well. It's one game out of many the Isles have left to play, and we cannot be satisfied yet. These boys have to play smarter, neater and they have to keep the ante raised. Tavares's confident play helps us loads, but we need to wake up other guys on the team, most notably one Michael Grabner. But that's a topic for another post.
Until next time.
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