Another Day Off

The Islanders traveled to upstate New York to take on a terrible Buffalo Sabres team.  The game all of a sudden became a big one for the Islanders.  They needed to make sure that they ended the short road trip 2-1 and get back to their winning ways.  Perhaps the Dads and Mentors could send off the team with a win.

The injuries ares starting to mount  for the Islanders. In the game last night against the Bruins, Michael Grabner went down again, Cal Clutterbuck could not stay on the ice, and Calvin deHaan received a nasty cut on the forehead.  All three had upper body injuries.  So it was no surprise on Sunday when the Islanders announced that Michael Grabner had been placed on the team's injured reserve list and that once again Colin McDonald was recalled on an emergency basis.  However, this time he brought Harry Zolniercyk with him.  Harry had the nerve to wear Ziggy Palffy's #16.  Oh well...perhaps he had a goal or two in him.

Jack Capuano inserted Jaroslav Halak back in goal.  As expected McDonald and Zolnierczyk were in for Grabner and Clutterbuck and Lubomir Visnovsky was back in the lineup for de Haan.  One item of note, tonight's game represented Frans Nielsen's 500th NHL game which made him the 25th Islander to reach that milestone.

The Islanders started the first period with a lot of time in the Buffalo defensive zone.  They certainly pushed the play. Offsetting penalties to Matt Martin and Tyler Myers early on in the game created a little four on four action.  The Islanders continued to dominate during the period.  They ended up out shooting the Sabres 9-5, but had many more chances and controlled the puck the whole way.

The Islanders were able to get on the board first when Casey Czikas made a great play in the Buffalo zone.  It looked like the Sabres were going to get out, but Czikas would not let them.  He fought hard for the puck and turned around to head towards the net.  He sent a pass over to the hard charging Colin McDonald who was able to tap the puck by Michael Nuevirth for a 1-0 lead.  Good for McDonald who has been trapped in Bridgeport all year.  In the past two weeks he had been back and forth between the Islanders and Soundtigers but had not had a chance to play his first game of the year until today.

In the second period the Islanders maintained the pressure and then got a power play opportunity when Tyler Myers slashed Harry (I like his first name better than his last name) in the back.  the Islanders set up their power play and showed some crisp passing and maintained control in the Buffalo zone.  Anders Lee then took the puck off of the end boards and tucked it past Neuvirth for a 2-0 lead.  It was a nice play by Lee who got his 16th goal of the year from John Tavares and Travis Hamonic.  

Shortly thereafter, the Islanders stuck again off of a face-off win by Nielsen.  He slid the puck to Hamonic who then found Mikhail Grabovski in the slot for a 3-0 lead.  It was Grabo's 9th goal of the year.  Last time the Islanders were in the Nickel City they got out to a similar three goal lead only to lose in a shootout.  However, they were very much in control of this game so another collapse seemed unlikely.  

Well maybe not that unlikely.  Ted Nolan called a timeout to rip into his team that up until that moment had not done anything positive in the game.  The Sabres responded by coming out hard and driving to the net which resulted in a quick goal by Marcus Foligno.  Then before you could order any chicken wings from the Anchor Bar, Drew Stafford beat Halak to make it 2-0 with about five minutes left in the period.  

The Sabres got a late power play when Hamonic held one of the Buffalonians and got two minutes in the box.  The Islanders were able to kill it off setting up the power play for a third period completion.  The Islanders dominated play by outshooting the Sabres 14-3.  Unfortunately two of those shots found the back of the net.

Normally when you have a penalty that carries over to another period, its not that big of a deal. However, when you commit a second penalty just 18 seconds into that period it turns into a five on three situation.  That is exactly what happened when Nickolay Kulemin got caught holding a Sabre.  The Islanders were able to kill it off so there was no damage done.  Right at the end of the penalty kill, Czikas laid himself out and swept the puck out of the zone.  It was a great individual effort.

The Islanders controlled the rest of the period just as they had done the first 40 minutes of the game.  Buffalo never came close to the net and ended up with only 10 shots in the entire game vs. the Islanders 31.  It was a game that the Islanders needed to have.  Halak really did not have to put forth any sort of effort so it was almost like another off day.  Overall, it was a very good, albeit quick trip with two wins in three games.  The Dads and Mentors did their job.

The Islanders regained first place in the Metropolitan Division at 34-18-1 which was good for 69 points.  Now they go home for four straight games against Edmonton, Toronto, Columbus and the Rags.  They are dinged up, but they should be able to go on a run and create some space between themselves and the other teams in the division.  

The Islanders in the end beat a team that they were supposed to beat.  In fact it was such a mismatch it almost seemed like another off day.  Hopefully, there are few more of these coming up this week back at the Nassau Coliseum.