The roster for the NHL All Star game came out and it included the Islanders Captain John Tavares. No surprise there. But here is a list of his teammates that will be joining him.....[cricket sounds]. That is right. One of the best teams in the league this year had no one else selected for the team. It is probably due to the fact that the Islanders are such a well-balanced team that it is hard to pick someone that has stood out. However, how could the voters not select Jaroslav Halak who is second in the league in wins? How about Johnny Boychuk or Nick Leddy on the back end or Kyle Okposo or Brock Nelson on the wing? A lot of fans are sure to be upset, but one must look at the silver lining. The team will have some much need time to rest up and get healthy for the stretch run.
The Islanders travelled to Columbus to take on the Blue Jackets in the Nationwide Arena for the first time this year. Columbus, hmmm that reminds me of..."In fourteen hundred ninety-two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue and found this land, land of the free, beloved by you, beloved by me." Anyway, enough of the history lesson. Both teams played on Friday night and both teams travelled to Columbus for the game on Saturday night. The only change in the Islanders line-up was Mikhail Grabovski who got injured in last night's Devils game (D2D with a UBL). He is replaced by Cal Clutterbuck who had last night off to heal up. As suspected, Jack Capuano is taking advantage of having a full complement of players and is giving some players an off night here and there to recover from injuries.
As far as the lines go, Bailey was re-inserted into the top line and Nickolay Kulemin was moved to the third line with Michael Grabner and Frans Nielsen. The Kid line and the NHL's Greatest Hits line stayed the same. Chad Johnson got the start after a couple of weeks of inactivity. He needed to respond with a big game to get his confidence back. The Islanders need a capable backup to take some of the pressure off of Halak. Columbus went with Sergi "Bob" Bobrovsky in net who just signed a multi-year agreement with the Blue Jackets and also got selected to the All-Star game. So that meant he must have been having a great year...maybe not so much.
The Islanders came out like a house on fire and dominated play in the Columbus zone which resulted in a goal just 31 seconds into the game. Nick Leddy took a shot from the point which hit Kulemin and bounced past Bob for a quick 1-0 lead. Grabs40 got the second assist on Kulemin's 7th goal of the year. After the goal the Islanders continued to push the play. Kulemin took a penalty and right on queue Chad Johnson let one in from Jack Johnson to tie the game at 1-1. It was such an easy power play goal one only hoped that Chad let it go in the net because it was from a Johnson.
The Islanders did not let that get them down as they continued their assault in the Columbus zone. They had to kill off a second penalty during the period. New York's domination was evidence by their 16 shots to the Blue Jacket's 4. It was a shame that the Islanders did not have a lead after the first period, because they did play very well. The good news for Chad Johnson is that he only gave up one goal but the bad news is that it was only on three shots. He did not look sharp at all. Then again, he did not have many chances to get into a rythym.
The second was pretty even for the first ten minutes. However, the Islanders effort was finally rewarded during the period. The Islanders got their first power-play chance and got some good shots on Bob but couldn't score. Then a breakout gave the Islanders the lead back. Casey Czikas walked across the blue line and dropped a pass for Thomas Hickey who then threaded the puck to Ryan Strome who then directed a shot right onto the stick of a hard charging Matt Martin. It was a beautiful play all around. Unfortunately, the rules state that you cannot give three assists on one play. So that was not so good for Czikas. It was Martin's 6th goal of the year.
Shortly thereafter, a misplay at the blue line provided a breakaway to Anders Lee who put it through Bob's five hole for his 10th goal of the year and a 3–1 lead. The Islanders did not stop there. A crazy bounce of the puck ended up a few feet in front of Bob and landed on the stick of Brian Strait who got his first goal which came from Czikas and Clutterbuck. Chad Johnson had probably his best period in months and seemed to get some of his mojo back. The Islanders out shot the Blue Jackets 11-8 in the period and took a commanding 4-1 edge and the dreaded three goal lead into the last frame.
Just three minutes into the last period, Columbus got a goal from Nick Foligno to cut the deficit in half. Islanders nation started to gasp for air. However, they would not give up a three-goal lead on this evening. New York played solid defense throughout. With about five minutes left, Kyle Okposo got his 9th goal of the year from Bailey and Strait to reinstate the three goal cushion. That made what would be the final score 5-2. The Blue Jackets were clearly frustrated and started committing a bunch of penalties the rest of the way. In fact, the Islanders had a five on three advantage for the last two minutes of the game. Columbus got a little upset that the Islanders put out their first line for the power play. However, they should not complain. If they didn't want the Islanders to rub salt in there wound, they simply needed to score more goals.
Big win for the team. The Islanders moved to 28-13-1 which is good for 57 points. Pittsburgh won in overtime over Montreal, so the Islanders remained in first place by a single point in the Metropolitan division. Starting with the third period in Friday night's game against the Devils, you could see that the Islanders we're starting to get back to what made them successful. A very strong game. It was much needed, to give them some momentum going into the big one against the New York Rangers next Tuesday at Madison Square Garden.
Overall, Chad Johnson had a pretty decent game. He gave up two easy goals, but did not make any other big mistakes. It was his first win in a very long time. The Islanders domination was supported by the shot clock, as they more than doubled Columbus' shots 40-18. It was nice to hang a five spot up on Bob who should not have gotten the All-Star selection over Halak.
When Columbus discovered America he set out to prove that the world was not flat. However, that was not the case on this night. With a lop-sided Islanders win everyone that watched the game saw that it was not the world that was flat but Columbus that was the one that was flat after all.
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