Playing Politics

Early Saturday afternoon the Islanders were in Washington to take on the Capitals. The Caps came in to the game 32-17-10 which was good for 74 points, only five behind the first place Islanders. It was weird to get ready for such an early contest. I could not remember the last time the Islanders played a game as early as 12:30 PM. It would be interesting to see how they would respond.

With Mikhail Grabovski placed on injured reserve with an upper body injury (most likely his second concussion this season), the Islanders called up Kael Mouillerat from the Bridgeport Soundtigers. “Mole Rat” was Bridgeport's leading scorer with 18 goals and 40 points. He is a undrafted journeyman who started his hockey career in the 04-05 season. Mole Rat was scheduled to center the fourth line between Matt Martin and Colin McDonald. One item to note, with his beard Mole Rat could easily have passed as Michael Grabner's doppelganger. Grabner, by the way just became a father for the second time so a breakaway goal was definitely in order to honor his new daughter.

Calvin deHaan was back in the line-up for Lubomir Visnovsky. Head Coach Jack Capuano seems to be shuffling his defensemen in and out of the line-up to keep players fresh and also to give his team better match-ups depending on the opponent. Another thing that is probably factoring into Capuano's decision making is that ever since inserting Brian Strait into the mix, the defense has played a lot better. It is a good problem to have, because the players know that no matter who they are that their spot is always up for grabs. The increasingly confident Chad Johnson was back in net after his stellar performance against Carolina earlier in the week. On to the game.

The first period was all about defense as there were not very many shots on goal. In fact there were only ten shots total, with the Islanders getting six of them. Chad “Lyndon” Johnson looked solid in net even though there was not a lot of rubber thrown at him. About eight minutes in, Travis Hamonic joined the rush after a great feed from Josh Bailey and came in on the conservative side of Braden Holtby to wrist one into the net for a 1-0 lead. It was Hamonic's 4th goal of the year and the 100th point of his career. Lee got the second assist.

After the teams played some politics they traded penalties. Both teams came up short with the man advantage. However, some last minute lobbying got the Capitals a goal in the last minute of the period when Matt Niskanen filibustered one past Johnson off of a Backstrom feed to tie the game at one apiece. Unfortunately, that continued the Islanders trend of giving up late goals in periods. Overall, a very good road first period for New York.

The middle frame saw both teams exercise detente which ended up with no goals or penalties. It was a pretty clean period. Chad Johnson saw the puck well and did a great at covering up on his rebounds. Not a lot of really good chances for either team during the period. The Capitals had 10 shots to the Islanders 7 to pretty much draw even at the end of the second period.

In the third period it was more of the same. Both teams were very diplomatic and played very tight not wanting to give up the deciding goal. The only highlight came when John Tavares drove the net and tried to pass a bill past Holby. However, Governor Tom Wilson pushed the Captain hard into the end boards after the puck was out of play. There was no penalty on the play while Tavares took some time to get up off of the ice. A couple of minutes later Matt Martin tried to extract some justice which ended up just being a short dance with Wilson. It was brave for MattyMarts to do that only a week or so removed from a broken nose.

With less than five minutes left, Johnny Boychuk took a huge slap shot which ended up bouncing out to the blue line, starting a Capitals breakaway. Brooks Laich was able to feed Eric Fehr who rifled a shot past Johnson before it could be vetoed to give the Capitals a 2-1 lead. It certainly looked like a heartbreaking road loss was in the works.

The Islanders impeached Johnson and took him off the ice with a minute and a half left in the game. With the President in hiding, the Islanders exerted a tremendous amount of pressure with the extra attacker. Tavares had a golden opportunity to stuff in the tying goal, but missed by inches.

The Islanders then got a face-off in the Washington zone and Ryan Strome took over by moving the puck across to Tavares who fired a quick shot that rebounded to the right of Holby. Strome was Johnny on the spot by burying the puck from a sharp angle into the net to tie the game at two apiece with 48 seconds left. It was Strome's 13th goal of the year from Lee and Tavares. A collective sigh of relief could be heard across Long Island.

The game went to overtime for the third time in the four meetings between these two teams. Previously the Islanders won two of those games with an overtime power play goal. However, with only two penalties being called the entire game, there was little chance either team was going to get that opportunity on this Saturday afternoon.

With each team having a point in their back pocket, both teams opened up a bit which resulted in more end to end action and more scoring chances. Both goalies came up big and it eventually went to a skills competition. When the ever sure Frans Nielsen flubbed his chance you knew it was not meant to be. The Capitals ended up winning in a shootout.

This was a good road loss if there ever was one. The Islanders stole a point to make it to the 80 point mark to extend their lead to four points over the Rangers and Capitals and seven points over the slumping Penguins. Chad Johnson had a very strong game and seems to have regained his confidence as evidenced by the 91 saves he has made in the last 96 shots against over the past three games.

Next up is a short flight home for a late Sunday afternoon game against a very good Vancouver Canucks team. It won't be easy, but a win tomorrow will make it a very good weekend indeed.

The Islanders escaped without having to play politics. Their defense enabled them to steal a point to keep their momentum going. It was not “Mission Accomplished”, but sometimes you have to settle for the next best thing. Just like everything else in life, on a snowy day in February, we just have to sit back and accept the news that comes out of the nation's capital…whether we like it or not.