Good Morning, Islanders Country.
If you did nothing else but look at the stats from last night’s game, you would’ve thought the Islanders had one of their better all-around performances since Patrick Roy became head coach. But you know what they say: you can prove anything by statistics except the truth.
Thirty-two seconds, three goals allowed. Game Over.
That stunning sequence didn’t define the entire game against St. Louis but essentially ended it. It was the fastest three goals in Blues history, with the third coming 25 seconds after Roy had called a time-out to regroup his team.
The advanced and unadvanced stats tell a wildly different story than the final score. The Isles outshot St. Louis 38 to 25 and outhit them 25 to 11. They only had three giveaways compared to 11 by the Blues. Per Natural Stat Trick, the Islanders had 4.29 expected goals to 2.29 for St. Louis. The Islanders were the better team by every statistical measure, including Corsi, Fenwick, high-danger shots, etc.
But all that matters is wins, which wasn’t lost on their coach.
“At the end of the night, what you realize is it means nothing,” said Roy about his team’s performance in the post-game. He knows his team played well enough to win, but they can’t continue to make fundamental mistakes at critical parts of the game that determine the difference.
Jordan Binnington was outstanding for St. Louis. Maybe it was just going to be one of those nights no matter what, but the Islanders took themselves out of a game they should have been in until the end because of a series of mistakes that led to three quick goals followed by a slow-moving defeat.
Coming up, Lou speaks to the media, and you know what he thinks of this group. Plus, Kyle MacLean’s second time around, half of Mike Bossy’s memorabilia is up for auction, an early empty-netter, and Rich Pilon scores a very rare goal.
Let’s dive in.
🏒 IN SHORT: The St. Louis Blues scored the fastest three goals in a 32-span of the second period and shut out the New York Islanders 4-0 at home on Thursday night. Brandon Saad opened up the scoring on the power-play, followed by a Pavel Buchnevich goal seven seconds later. Buchnevich scored 25 seconds after and added an empty-netter in the third for his fourth career hat trick. Robert Thomas had three assists for the Blues (30-24-2), and Jordan Binnington made 38 saves for the shutout win. Semyon Varlamov had 21 saves for the Isles (23-19-14) in the loss. Mathew Barzal’s eight-game point streak came to an end.
KEY MOMENT(s):
🔻 Brandon Saad gave the Blues a 1-0 lead at 4:38 of the second on the power play with a shot from the slot off a pass from Oskar Sundqvist.
🔻 After the Islanders won the ensuing face-off, the Blues captured the puck on the fore-check, and Pavel Buchnevich extended it to 2-0 seven seconds later on a redirection over Semyon Varlamov.
🔻 After Roy called timeout, Buchnevich struck again to make it 3-0 at 5:10 when he one-timed a shot from the right circle. He would later add an empty netter midway through the third for a hat trick.
3 REACTIONS
❶ ABOUT WINNING: “It’s about winning hockey games,” said Head Coach Patrick Roy. “Do I feel good that our team kept fighting out there? Yes, I do. But we have to stop shooting ourselves in the foot night after night. We played well enough to win tonight; there is no doubt in my mind. But we’re making critical mistakes at the wrong times.”
❷ IT’S UNACCEPTABLE: “We give up a power-play goal, that’s a moment where that next shift is so crucial, but we got scored on again,” Ryan Pulock said. “Coach calls a time out to try to regroup but we let it happen again, it’s unacceptable.”
❸ COULDN’T GET ONE BY: “On a night like this where Binnington is playing good hockey, we’re getting our chances,” Anders Lee said. “We couldn’t get one by him; he played a solid game.”
GAME IMPACT SCORE
⏭ NEXT UP: The Islanders return home to UBS Arena for a Saturday matinee against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Face-off is set for 2:00 PM EST.
📊 STANDINGS:
📰 NEWS: There were some injury updates from GM Lou Lamoriello in St. Louis before Thursday’s game against the Blues. Former longtime Blues defenseman Robert Bortuzzo suffered a setback in his recovery and remains out indefinitely. Meanwhile, Casey Cizikas’ hand injury will evaluated when the team returns to New York. Also, Hudson Fasching was moved to LTIR and will likely play a few games at AHL Bridgeport before being activated.
Second Time Up
Kyle MacLean returned to the lineup, taking Cizkas’ spot on the fourth line, the same position he played for six games earlier this year when the veteran center was out with a different injury.
“My first time up there, nerves, and you don’t really want to mess up or make mistakes,” said MacLean, “That’s kind of sitting in the back of your head. Learning to settle in a little bit and that you do have the ability to make plays and you do have a little more time than you think. Just a little more confidence this time around.”
MacLean recorded one hit in 8:57 TOI and went 4-for-5 in the dot. He drove to the net in the third period and drew a slashing penalty.
Lou speaks to the media
In Newsday, Andrew Gross caught up with GM Lou Lamoriello for a wide-ranging conversation, though that doesn’t mean we got a lot of new information.
On trading a pick for a fifth straight year:
“I wouldn’t want to trade that pick unless I felt that pick was going to help us win today,” Lamoriello said. “Or you were going to get a player that was going to be with you for a time. You do not trade a first-round pick if you did not have a reason for it.”
On faith in the group:
“If I didn’t believe in the group, you wouldn’t make the coaching change,” Lamoriello said. “I believe in the group. But we have to play to our capabilities.”
Buyers and Sellers:
“It’s only in recent years that ‘buyers and sellers’ have come out,” said Lamoriello. “Now it’s become something prevalent in sports where you think you’re going to be able to use it as a reason to bleed and try and reload. I’m not a believer in that. If there are players that are not in your plans, then you have to look at something like that if you felt you weren’t going to have a chance to be in the playoffs.”
Going Once, Going Twice …
For the New York Post, beat writer Ethan Sears tells the story of Mike Bossy’s two daughters, Josiane and Tanya. The Isles legend left half of his memorabilia to each, blessing them to do what they wished with items from his career.
Tanya is keeping hers. Josiane, who was never much of a hockey fan, decided to auction hers off. “What he wanted was for me to do what I wanted with my part and my sister to do what she wanted,” said Josiane.
“At the beginning, it wasn’t very emotional. I wanted the pieces to be with people who could really appreciate the value and who saw him as the player. But it did become emotional throughout the process.”
If you’d like to bid on any of the items, which include his Stanley Cup and Hall of Fame rings, his HOF blazer, signed pucks, commemorative plaques, and a lot of other reasonably novelty priced items, check it out HERE
📚 SOUND SMART: Per Eric Hornick in The Skinny, the three goals in 32 seconds were the fastest in Blues history and the fastest allowed by the Islanders. Buffalo scored three times in 41 seconds against the Isles in 1980. The empty-netter was by far the earliest allowed by the Isles in an end-of-game situation. Tom Wilson scored with 4:16 to play in Game 81 last season (April 10th) in DC.
🎥 ISLES REWIND: On Feb. 23, 1997, the high-powered Pittsburgh Penguins were missing Jaromir Jagr and Ron Francis, and the Islanders took advantage of it in a 4-1 win at the Nassau Coliseum. Defenseman Rich Pilon scored his first goal in over two years in the win. Marty McInnis and Travis Green each scored power-play goals, and Tommy Salo made 27 saves. Also, former Islander Darius Kasparaitis took a humorous dive for the Pens.
🔗 Mike Reilly Battles Best Bud Nick Leddy For First Time As A Member Of Islanders by Stefen Rosner, The Hockey News “Mike Reilly and Nick Leddy have been best friends for quite a while. Although they've met before, Thursday is the first time Reilly will battle Leddy as a member of the Islanders.”
🔗 Lou Lamoriello exploring all options for Islanders as trade deadline looms by Ethan Sears, New York Post “With the trade deadline exactly two weeks from Friday, the Islanders are between a rock and a hard place. Before facing the Blues on Thursday, the Islanders sat four points out of a playoff spot and still very much in the mix, a month after a coaching change, with the players still in the process of learning what Patrick Roy wants from them.”
And we leave you with this ….Happy belated birthday to Hockey Hall-of-Famer Pat LaFontaine, who turned 59 on Thursday. Now, put him in the team HOF, too.
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