Things are getting very tight in the Metropolitan Division. After the New York Rangers lost to the Nashville Predators on Saturday afternoon the standings had the Penguins in first place at 68 points (52 games) followed by the Islanders at 67 points (51 games), the Capitals at 66 points (53 games) and then the Rangers at 64 points (50 games). A good weekend and the Islanders will be in good shape because a boat load of home games at the Nassau Coliseum are coming up for the rest of February.
First order of business was a road game against the Boston Bruins. The B's beat the Islanders pretty soundly at home last week, so the Islanders were looking for a bit of revenge. The game was also another opportunity for the Boston media to let Johnny Boychuk know how much his presence is missed. However, I got news for them...he ain't going back. Considering that the Islanders are now one of the better teams in the league, Boychuk's leadership role on the team, and the fact that Garth Snow is going to open his checkbook, there is a really good chance he will be back in New York next year.
The "Oh and by the way" fact of the game was that another former Bruin made his return to Boston. Chad Johnson got the start in goal in the Garden. Johnson had a decent game last week, however his numbers are still not very good. The gut feeling was that he was ready for a big performance against his former team. The key statistic in the Islanders favor is that Johnson was 9-0 in the TD Garden with a 1.46 GAA coming into the game. The rest of the line-up stayed the same from Thursday's win in Philadelphia. Final pregame note, the Dad's and Mentors were in attendance again as they were in the middle game of their road trip.
The game started with a belated Super Bowl celebration. A number of New England Patriots were at center ice for the ceremonial puck drop. Afterwards Rob Gronkowski spiked the puck at center ice, which was probably not the smartest thing to do. Less than two minutes into the game there was a very unlikely tussle between Ryan Strome and Torey Krug. Strome held his own in what had to be the first fight of his career. The Islanders looked pretty good in the first period. They had a number of great chances right in front of Tuuka Rask but could not push it across the goal line.
A little past the eight minute mark the Islanders had the first power play chance of the game. Johnson almost misplayed the puck behind his own net, but the Islanders got out of the zone and then on the breakout, Marchand tripped Anders Lee. The Islanders quickly took advantage by getting right in front of Rask. After pressure by Frans Nielsen and Travis Hamonic, the puck bounced right to the stick of John Tavares who knocked it in the net for his 24th goal of the year to make it 1-0.
Ryan Strome must have liked the feeling of being in the penalty box, because after spending five minutes in the sin bin for fighting, he took a hooking penalty that enabled Boston to tie the game at 1-1. I intentionally skipped over the fact that the Boston Bruins went on the power play and went straight to goal that was sure to come. Patrice Bergeron scored off his own rebound with about seven minutes left in the period. Johnson tried to flop on it but could not recover in time. There was a whopping 28 shots in the period with the Islanders getting 13 of them, most of which were good scoring opportunities.
The second period was much like the first, with lots of chances for both teams, with the only difference being that there were no goals. A strong move to net by Brock Nelson drew a hooking penalty which sent the Islanders to their second power play of the game. The Bruins were able to kill it off and then had their own chance as Matt Martin was called for holding right before the ten minute mark. It seemed that the score was 2-1 at that time because I assumed that the Bruins would score immediately. But that was not the case as the Islanders surprised with an effective penalty kill of their own. It remained tied at one goal apiece.
Mikhail Grabovski drew another penalty when he was held as he was on his way to Rask. Islanders looked very good on the man advantage. The game remained tied solely due to the fact that Rask was standing on his head. Johnson actually played well at the other end of the ice. The only concern were the long rebounds he gave up. He was fortunate that the Bruins did not take advantage. The Islanders out shot the Bruins in the middle frame 16-9.
The third period was much like the second which was much like the first. Lost of play up and down the ice. The Islanders had two chances on the power play but could not convert. The only goal came with seven minutes or so left in the game. Right off of a face-off, the Bruins drove the net, and Louie Eriksson swept in his own rebound to make it 2-1. The Islanders applied some pressure the rest of the way, but they could not force overtime.
Disappointing that the Islanders could not get at least a point in this one as they played a pretty solid game. The top line of Bailey-Tavares-Lee continued to play well. Grabovski was all over the ice even though he did not get a shot on goal. The defense even fired quite a few shots from the blue line led by Johnny Boychuk. Michael Grabner has been silent and is not giving the Islanders anything. He needs to get hot with Okposo on the disabled list.
For the first time this year, Chad Johnson had a pretty solid effort with 34 saves. He finally seemed to get into a rhythm. You have to wonder if they will go back to him on Sunday late afternoon to give him a little more confidence or switch back to Halak. My guess is the Islanders want to go home winners so they will bring Halak and their "A" game to Buffalo.
The Islanders stayed in second place in the Metropolitan Division at 67 points going into the road trip finale against the Buffalo Sabres on Sunday. Tomorrow is a game that they should win before heading home. It is not a must win, but it is two points they simply cannot give away.
Can't fault the Islanders on this one. It was just a game that Rask stole. They should have had at least three goals. They simply could not get anything past the Boston goaltender. The Islanders played well but just did not get any bounces. I guess without any support you could say that the Islanders just left Chad hanging.
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