Its game number two of the Nassau Coliseum Goodbye Tour and the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim were in town. The Islanders were coming off an adequate performance against the Los Angeles Kings which saw them lose the game on a late goal in the third period. The Ducks are in the midst of a road trip and were coming into the game off of a win in Boston against the struggling Bruins. The Ducks have 101 points and are tied with the Rangers for the most points in the NHL. Just like the Kings, the Ducks were looking to avenge a loss to the Islanders earlier in the year on the left coast. Which ironically was the turning point of the season and set the Islanders up for the rest of the season.
It was a surprise on Friday, when Head Coach Jack Capuano told the media early on that Michal Neuvirth would be getting the start on Saturday. Normally Cappy waits until a few hours before the game. Maybe he was just letting Neuvirth know ahead of time in order for him to get his head in the game. Even though he has been better than Chad Johnson, he still has not played nearly as well as anticipated. Jaroslav Halak had been playing better since returning from injury and will most likely get the start on Sunday against the Red Wings.
The only change on defense was Lubomir Visnovsky in for Calvin de Haan. There were no changes at forward, but Kyle Okposo was bumped down to the second line and Anders Lee was reunited with John Tavares and Josh Bailey on the top unit. Nickloay Kulemin and Frans Nielsen teamed up with Okposo. The move probably make sense because BookerT has not looked all that good back on the top line since returning from his detached retina.
It was another full house on Saturday afternoon in the ole barn. The first period seemed to be almost a repeat of Thursday evening against the Kings, with another west coast team coming into the Nassau Coliseum to push the hosts around. For most of the period Anaheim cycled the puck in the New York zone and played "Duck, Duck, Goose" without interruption.
It was just a matter of time before the Islanders made a mistake. After some pressure, Richard Rakell got a rebound and threw the puck in front of the net where it deflected off of Nick Leddy and past Neuvirth for a 1-0 lead. It was a perfect example that showed that when you work hard and throw pucks at the net, good things are bound to happen. The Islanders did not throw very many pucks at Frederik Andersen and as a result had very few scoring chances.
The Islanders eventually did get a break before the end of the period. With about three minutes to go, Ryan Strome found Lubomir Visnovsky at the point and he threw one at Andersen that hit defenseman Simon Despres and bounced in the net. It was Visnovsky's 5th goal of the year in an injury plagued year. Thomas "Fish Oils' Hickey got the second assist. I guess turnabout is fair play. Throw puck at net, puck go in. The shots were pretty much even for the period, but Anaheim dominated in puck possession.
In the second period it got ugly early. Within the first two minutes, John Tavares failed to clear the New York zone. Then after a Wisniewski slap shot the puck found Nick Leddy again. The puck deflected off of Leddy to Kyle Palmieri who used a reverse spin-o-rama move on Neuvirth to make it 2-0. Leddy has been impressive to watch in person because he is so smooth with the puck and easily penetrates the zone. So for the Ducks to score two goals off of Leddy deflections was very unfortunate,
New York received a great opportunity on the powerless play when Anaheim took a tripping penalty and delay-of-game penalty that were nearly simultaneous which gave the Islanders a five on three advantage for nearly two minutes. But true to form, there was a lot of standing around looking for the perfect pass and the perfect shot. It was just not there. Its as if they did not learn anything from the first period. Throw puck at net, sometimes puck go in. After failing on the double man powerless play all of the momentum was sucked out of the building.
To add insult to injury, Andrew Cogliano made in 3-1 late in the period. There was even one last chance for the Islanders to get back in the game when the Ducks committed their fourth straight penalty. But all that did was take two minutes off of the clock as the Islanders, as expected, failed once again, The shots were once again pretty even for the period, only because the Islanders were "Oh for Four" with the man advantage. There was not a lot of optimism going into the last period.
In the last frame the Islanders started to pick up the pace, They spent much more time in the Anaheim zone and had the Ducks back on their webbed feet for most of the period. However, the Islanders could not get one past Andersen. Finally, with about five minutes left Matt Martin brought the puck into the Anaheim zone and worked very hard to gain possession of the puck behind the goal line. The puck found its way to Casey Czikas in front of Andersen and he put it in the net to make it a game at 3-2. It was Czikas' eighth goal of the year. Martin should have earned an assist but did not get any credit for some reason.
It was another heart-breaking frustrated 3-2 loss to a strong west coast team. It also was another long and disappointing walk back to the Long Island Marriott. After the game, it was around 3:30 PM when we returned to the hotel. Housekeeping had not made up our room. I went to the front desk to lodge a complaint, and they sent someone immediately up to the room to do their deed. We went out for dinner and returned around 9:00 PM. However, the room was still a mess. I went down once again to the front desk to complain. This time I was a bit louder.
At this point I was upset because it was a mess in my room and also inside the Coliseum. Housekeeping was a healthy scratch from the lineup and needed to be activated. The front desk called housekeeping and sent someone up to clean the room. We waited for about a half an hour until it was done. I chatted with the front desk and the night manager came up to me. He heard what had happened and offered us free breakfast for the rest of our stay to make up for the inconvenience. He asked if there was anything else he could do and I told him. "Guarantee an Islanders win against the Red Wings on Sunday." Of course, he had no secret power to make that happen, but I thought it was worth a try anyway.
I was surprised to learn after the game that the Islanders had only won 7 out of their previous 21 games. They fell into third place as the Pittsburgh Penguins won their game on Saturday afternoon. It is important for the Islanders to get back into second place so that they have home ice advantage going into the playoffs. They have had a real good season and it would be very disappointing to not see some reward for their hard work.
Next up is one last home game against the Red Wings, It most likely is my last Nassau Coliseum game. The hockey g-ds need to come through and give me a convincing win that will turn the season back around for the Islanders and propel them to a deep playoff run. To go home "Oh for Three" on this Goodbye Trip to the Nassau Coliseum would be devastating to say the least.
The Islanders played another average game. That will not cut it. They need to start doing a few of things to get back on the winning track. First, they need to shake the cobwebs out of their ears and start playing with the passion and urgency that they had earlier in the year. Secondly, they need to start to throw more pucks on the net. As mentioned before: Throw puck at net, puck go in....sometimes.
Lastly, they need to call the Long Island Marriott and have a closed door meeting with the Housekeeping Team. From this point forward for the rest of the season all hockey player rooms will not be serviced no matter how much they complain. Trust me, it will get them off their game and will wreck havoc throughout the team. Hey, at this time of their all bets are off. We need all the help we can get.
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