Isles use first period firepower in 5-1 victory over Bolts

The New York Islanders (9-11-5) used first period power surge to power themselves to a 5-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning (11-14-2) in NHL action on Tuesday night. New York recorded three goals in a span of five minutes, as the resilient Isles continue their red-hot play.

Enjoying the fusion of the call-ups from Bridgeport, combined with a surge in confidence from their current vets, the Isles are now 4-1-2 in their past seven games.

“It has been a great week, but we have still got a lot of work to do,” said John Tavares, who helped the Isles open up the scoring in the game. “We have to raise our game.”

Martin St. Louis (9) and the Lighting took momentum away from the Isles at the 6:55 mark on a deflected slap shot in the first period. For St. Louis it was his 800^th career point, as the winger continues to show speed and grit in what has been a fine NHL career thus far.

New York rebounded right back, when Tavares (9) snapped a 14 game scoreless drought, with a wicked wrister at the 14:01 mark. The Isles continued their barrage of scoring when Matt Martin (3) recorded a wrister of his own at the 18:26 mark.

Helping Martin out on his goal was Bridgeport call-up Tim Wallace, who is taking the place of speedy Michael Grabner…who is out day-to-day with a groin strain. Wallace immediately jumped into the Isles style of play, contributing to the second goal of the game, and his first NHL points on a beauty of a pass to Martin.

“He took the body very well,” Islanders Head Coach Jack Capuano said of Wallace, who made a team-leading seven hits in 9:37 of play. “I thought he had good positioning. I thought his offensive zone play real good tonight. His puck management was good tonight. He gave us a big lift. It was a big goal back behind the net and the cut back to Martin.”

The Isles concluded a three goal five minute span on a high, using beautiful tic-tac-toe passing on a power play opportunity for the 3-0 lead. On the receiving end of the nifty passing was Milan Jurcina, who recorded his first goal of the season.

Frans Nielsen (7) and captain Mark Streit (12) contributed on a beauty of a play, with sharp passing across the ice. For Streit, the blueliner now has points in the last nine power play opportunities.

New York found the back of the net twice in the third period of play, as rookie David Ullstrom recorded his first NHL goal at the 3:19 mark for the 4-1 Islanders lead. Setting-up Ullstrom for his first goal was Josh Bailey (5), who has regained his confidence in his most recent play.

“We have been playing well here for a while now and it felt good to get one at home,” Ullstrom said of being able to record two points tonight. On his first goal of the season, “It was huge to have been able to get my first goal. It was a great pass by Josh, I was yelling for it the whole time and he heard me at the last second and it was nice to be able to get that shot.”

For Bailey, who finished the night with a plus-one rating on the ice, also recorded one blocked shot, one hit and won a total of five face-offs for the Isles.  Capping off the victory was red-hot Matt Moulson, who recorded his 14^th goal of the season and eighth goal in the last five games.

Tavares had this to say of his line mate, “He is all around that net, he is so good at sniffing out those goals and it was a great shot by him at the end of the game. Moulson also made a great play on setting me up earlier on in the game, and he is a really good player.”

Continuing his fine play in the cage for New York was Al Montoya, who made 23 saves in the victory. Montoya is now 4-3-2 in the net for the Islanders holding a .931 save percentage along with a 2.17 goals against average.

“It was a great all around win for the guys tonight,” Montoya said of the victory. “We have to take things day-by-day. For now we will enjoy this one, but we have to get ready for Chicago, who has a terrific team.”

The Isles will look to continue on their winning ways on Thursday, as they will face-off in a rematch with the Blackhawks. The last time the two teams met last week, the Hawks skated away with a 5-4 overtime victory. The game between the Isles and Hawks is slated to air on the MSG Plus network, with face-off scheduled for 7:00 p.m.

Charity Note:  Prior to the game against the Lightning the New York Islanders joined with the American Red Cross for the Holiday Mail for Heroes program. On Thursday, the Isles will continue their charitable efforts in Day One of the U.S. Marine Corps Toys for Tots drive.

Stacy Podelski

http://www.smacksportvideos.com/

ISLANDERS BOUNCE WILD WITH 2-1 WIN

The New York Islanders became the first metropolitan area team to pick up a win, edging the Minnesota Wild in hockey action on Monday. Two first period goals along with the play of Al Montoya led the Isles to the first victory of the year.

New York recorded their first goal, on a power play opportunity when Andrew MacDonald connected for his first score, on a beautiful slap shot, set up by Travis Hamonic and P.A. Parenteau. The Isles found the back of the net again at the 11:45 mark, on a beauty of a play.

Captain Mark Streit started the set-up of the second goal of the game, deking the Wild defense into thinking that he was going to make a shot. Instead the first Swiss-born blue liner made a pretty pass to Frans Nielson, who deflected in the puck for the 2-0 lead.

The Isles had more life in their legs in the second game of the season, and continues their physical play through two games-as hard hits were seen thus far at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

Keeper Al Montoya stole the rest of the game making 20 saves in the cage for New York. Montoya only gave up one goal to Minnesota, when at the 1:13 mark Matt Cullen cut the lead to 2-1. The New York cager and the rest of the defense die the job, shutting down the Wild for the rest of the game.

New York continues this homestand, when they host the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday.  Face-off is slated for 7:00 p.m. with the game scheduled to air on the MSG Plus 2 network.

Stacy Podelski

http://www.smacksportvideos.com/

What the Islanders Will Be Missing for God Knows How Long

With Kyle Okposo and Mark Streit succumbing to shoulder injuries in the recent past, I thought it fitting to post a few highlights of the duo in action. Insult to injury? Maybe. I regret not finding a decent Mark Streit highlight of him with the Islanders (this highlight takes place in game seven of the Montreal Canadiens first-round victory against the Boston Bruins three years ago). This is still probably the prettiest goal he's ever scored, thanks in large part to a nice feed from Maxim Lapierre (of all people). As for the Okposo goal, just an all-around awesome individual effort.

Go Streit to Jail, Do not Qualify for Playoffs, Do not Collect $200

The way he’s played, one would think defenseman Mark Streit’s New York Islanders teammates would treat him better. Hell, at least the pain from a swift kick to the crotch wears off eventually, but, instead, forward Matt Moulson opted to go the less-travelled route and illegally cross-check him into the boards during practice, thereby sidelining him for as much as six months.

Now, Streit will never be confused for a most-valuable-player candidate, at least not in the NHL. Of course, if we’re talking peewee, forget about it. He would school those kids as if he was a truant officer and they were playing hooky instead of hockey. But that’s true of most NHLers... except maybe former Islander Mike Comrie, but I digress.

Still, as far as Long Island is concerned, Streit’s potentially six-month-long stint on the long-term injured reserve list has quashed whatever playoff hopes his team might have had. That’s because, while he will never win the Hart Memorial Trophy, Streit is the Islanders’ heart and soul, bar none.

Sure, the team has high hopes for John Tavares and, realistically speaking, the team’s playoff aspirations largely depend on whether or not goalie Rick DiPietro is able to stay healthy long enough to be able to average out his salary per goal allowed instead of just per save, but, all things being equal, Streit is the only star the team has. Literally. He was the only Islander to play in the all-star game in 2008-2009 (there was no mid-season classic this past season).

While Streit will likely never replicate his 62-point season with the offensively gifted Montreal Canadiens from a few years ago (a team that had seven 50-point scorers), his 56 and 49-point campaigns with New York have been just as impressive due to the lack of competent talent around him (who needs friends, when you’ve got teammates like Moulson?). That being said, this could have been a year that the Islanders surprised a few people and, if Tavares’s development jumped by leaps and bounds, maybe made the playoffs.

Without Streit, barring a trade for the Vancouver Canucks’ Kevin Bieksa, who would still be about as fitting a replacement as Danny Trejo was to Chow Yun-Fat all those years ago, the playoffs are a distant dream. Considering Bieksa’s injury history, that analogy is probably as apt as any other.

"We're supposed to be replacement killERS, not killed, right?"

Even the rumoured return of Mathieu Schneider to the island is a crazy notion best left for ABC and its crack team of highly skilled (or just plain high) writers. The bottom line is that Schneider is about as equipped to man the point on the power play at his age (41) as he to drive. His last kick at the can was last season, and he spent a significant portion of it with the Manitoba Moose in the AHL for a reason. The last time I checked, the world already had a former Canadien playing for the Moose well into his golden years, and even Mike Keane realized it was high time to retire.

Even with a blue-line bolstered by the likes of Bieksa or Scheider, and the recently acquired James Wisniewski and Mark Eaton, the loss of Streit turns the Islanders’ defensive corps from a lower-tier NHL-calibre one to one more fit for the AHL. Milan Jurcina has never been able to catch on with a major-league team for a reason. Meanwhile, Bruno Gervais is one trade to a good team away from a demotion. The same goes for Jack Hillen and Andrew MacDonald, who may not be old, but still belongs on the farm. Don’t even get me started on Radek Martinek.

"I think I see the light, Doug. Do you?"

As for the team’s forwards, while characterized by youth, it’s the elderly statesman who serves as captain, Doug Weight, and the overwhelming desire to get him to change his first name to “Dead” just for kicks, that best sums up its capabilities up front. One foot in the grave is how the team’s playoff chances looked a week ago. With Streit gone, get your shovels.

Reports are conflicting as to just how long Streit will be out, but if it’s for any significant length of time, three things are almost foregone conclusions:

1)     Moulson feeling really, really, really bad all season long.

2)     DiPietro praying for an injury to get out of playing for his defenseless team.

3)     The Islanders getting another lottery pick at next year’s draft.