The Song Remains The Same

The Islanders took on the Philadelphia Flyers in a mid-day matinee at the Nassau Coliseum on Martin Luther King's birthday, which for some reason has become an Islanders tradition. The last time these two teams met they went 60 minutes without anyone scoring a goal until the Islanders finally won the game 1-0 in the post-game skills competition. Would this one be another pair of shut outs or would it be a shoot out? It remained to be seen.

In an interesting move, or non-move might be a better term, Capuano went with the same lineup as the past couple of games. Jarolsav Halak got another start even though the team had just finished back to back games this past weekend. That meant one of a couple of things. Either Halak is in great physical shape and can handle the additional workload or the team has lost all confidence in their back up Chad Johnson. However, it could simply be that the Islanders and Halak want to get the bad taste out of their mouth from the 6-4 loss against Montreal on Saturday. With eight days off coming up with the all star break, maybe it was not too much of a risk. Only time will tell if Capuano played his cards right.

The Flyers went with a goaltender with the name of Rob Zepp. You may have had the same reaction as I did when I heard the news. Who? Zepp is a 33 year old Canadian-born German goalie who was drafted by the Atlanta Thrashers in the 1999 NHL Entry Draft. He never signed a contract with the Thrashers and was then re-drafted by the Carolina Hurricanes in 2001. He played in the East Coast Hockey League for a couple of years before deciding to go across the pond to play in Europe. In July of last year, Zepp returned to North America and signed a one-year, two-way contract with the Flyers and made his debut last month. With a name that conjures up memories of the 1970s and Led Zeppelin, perhaps the way for the Islanders to beat him was to go "in through the out door." That being said, consider this a warning. Beware of the upcoming Led Zeppelin references.

Philadelphia is primarily known as the "city of brotherly love." It was founded by William Penn in 1682 and is where the Declaration of Independence and Constitution were signed in 1776 and 1787, respectively. It is the home of the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, Valley Forge National Historical Park, The Betsy Ross House, Franklin Square, and the Statue of Rocky Balboa at the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. It is also the home of cheese steaks (either Geno's or Pat's Steaks...take your pick), hoagies, scrapple, soft pretzels, water ice (i.e., what we call back home "Italian ice"), but most importantly it is the home of Tastykake, which happens to be America's favorite snack. Uh oh...another warning. Be on the lookout for interchangeable pucks and pastries.

At the beginning of the game the Islanders started with their fourth line again. After giving up a number of early goals in their last couple of periods of the Montreal game, the Islanders decided that turnabout was fair play. Only 90 seconds into the first period, Nikolay Kulemin sent an outlet pass to Johnny "Birthday" Boychuck who pushed it ahead to Michael Grabner. He then used his speed to get ahead on the wing and put the puck on the top shelf where "momma hides the Chocolate Juniors." It was Grabner's 4th goal of the year which enabled the crowd to let out their first "Yes! Yes! Yes!" chant of the afternoon.

Soon thereafter the Islanders got their first power play opportunity and passed the puck well, but once again hesitated on taking shots. Then at around the eight minute mark New York struck one more time. Birthday Boychuk took a hard shot which took a "misty mountain hop" onto the stick of Kulemin who put it past Zepp and into the empty net for his 10th goal of the year. It represented the first time since 2010 that the Kulemin was able to get to double digits in goals in a season and his fourth goal in the last five games. Grabner got the second assist.

The Islanders killed off a penalty of their own and nearly had a short-handed goal to boot. Grabner intercepted a pass in the neutral zone which led to a two on one breakaway into the Philadelphia zone. Grabner threaded a pass to Casey Czikas who was in all alone and tried to backhand one past Zepp. It was a great pass by Grabner whose game is finally coming around after missing the first half of the season with a sports hernia. But Zepp ended up being the "heartbreaker" as he was able to stop the Czikas' chance to keep the game at 2-0. Even though the Islanders were out shot 14-9 in the first period they controlled the play and had the better scoring opportunities.

To start the second period, the Islanders had to kill off their second penalty of the game. They also got their second opportunity for a short-handed goal and this time they were able to convert. Kulemin intercepted a pass and got his own breakaway and shot a Chocolate Bell past Zepp for his 11th goal and 3rd shorty of the season.

But us Islander fans know that three goal leads only do one thing...give our opposition momentum. The Flyers knew this and got one back when the Islanders committed their third straight penalty. Halak stopped Schenn in front, but after a scrum the former Islander Mark Streit slapped one that barely snuck a Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookie through Halak's pads to cut the lead to 3-1.

The Flyers took another penalty and were able to kill off the man advantage, but right after the penalty expired Zepp stopped Nick Leddy only to have Josh Bailey sweep the puck into the net to re-establish the three goal cushion at 4-1. Zepp must have been looking around for his Butterscotch Krimpets because he left the left side of the net wide open. Zepp started to look "dazed and confused" and finally acknowledged that it was "nobody's fault but mine" and left the game in favor of Roy Emery. The goal was Bailey's 8th of the year from Leddy and Strome. Bailey certainly has shown some chemistry with Tavares and Okposo as evidenced by the six points in the last couple of games.

But let me ask you this Islander fans. With another three goal lead what did you think was going to happen next? That's right, the Flyers got another one back when Calvin deHaan blocked a centering feed from Voracek which made its way to Del Zotto, who slipped a Low Fat Chocolate Iced Vanilla Cupcake by Halak to make it 4-2.

The second period was all “good times, bad times” as the teams traded two goals through the period. However, the Flyers seemed that they wanted to give the game away as they committed three straight penalties with the last one coming in the last minute of the period. The Islanders made them pay as John Tavares was patient in front of Emery and backhanded one right under the Cereal Bar for his 21st goal of the year. Nielsen and Okposo got the assists and the Islanders had their third three goal lead of the afternoon. The Islanders picked up their shot total and had a big advantage 20-7 during the period.

You knew going into the third period leading by three goals was not going to be a piece of cake. Early in the third the Flyers once again cut the deficit to two goals. Claude Giroux got a gift when Halak went behind the net to look for his Mini Donuts and left the net wide open. There was some sort of “communication breakdown” between him and his defenseman. Misplays around the net have become a very bad habit for Halak lately. That needs to be addressed.

At this point the Flyers were only down two goals and were starting to push the Islanders around . They committed a number of penalties that were not called. The Islanders sent out their fourth line to get things under control. Matt Martin and Cal Clutterbuck laid a bunch of vicious hits on the Flyers to send a message and it worked. The Flyers backed off and a few minutes later Nick Leddy got his 7th goal of the year when he sent a Cream Filled Chocolate Cupcake past Emery from the point that was well screened by Okposo. Tavares got the second assist. It was a shame that Zepp had left the game, because with Leddy getting a goal it opened the door for a number of different Led Zeppelin puns that will probably now never see the light of day.

The Islanders had their fourth three goal lead of the game and the Flyers responded for a fourth time as well when they got a late goal with about three minutes left. Vandevelde launched a Peanut Butter Kandy Kake that got by Halak to trim the lead to two goals once again. The Islanders then sealed the win when Anders Lee flipped another Chocolate Junior into the empty net for the 7-4 win. It was Lee's 23 the goal of the year that left him third amongst all rookies.

The game was the 11th sell out of the year in 20 games this year at the Nassau Coliseum. The win moved the Islanders to 31-14-1 which was good for 63 points at the all star break. They remained on top of the Metropolitan Division and temporarily gained the top spot in the Eastern Conference. Next up is an eight day break for the all star game to heal both physically and mentally. The Islanders return to action on Tuesday January 27th with a home game against the New York Rangers.

What a first half of the season it was. Putting all the pastries aside, there is only one wish for the stretch run. Islander fans are hoping that the second half of the season is as good as the first half. The Islanders need to make sure that the “song remains the same” and if they do that there will surely be a “stairway to heaven” to look forward to sometime this summer.