Good Morning Islanders Country.
The last time the Islanders lost by four goals to the New Jersey Devils, Martin Brodeur was in net and Jaromir Jagr scored the game-winning goal. It’s been a while.
The Isles were defeated 4-0 on Thursday night despite pouring a season-high 42 shots on goal. It’s the Isles’ second consecutive loss and second to a Metro Division opponent this year, the other being to the Columbus Blue Jackets last month. There was happier Islanders news earlier during the day, including Shaq making everyone look small at UBS Arena, you can now eat an “Islander,” and a Veterans Day tribute.
Let’s dive in.
🏒 IN SHORT: The Islanders were shut out for the first time this season and their streak of scoring the first goal in eight straight games came to an end in the 4-0 loss. Devils goaltender MacKenzie Blackwood was brilliant, stopping all 42 shots the Isles threw at him. Janne Kuokkanen scored a short-handed goal, and Tomas Tatar had a power-play goal as New Jersey won its third straight and improved to 4-1-2 in their last seven games. The Isles have now allowed eight straight goals since Anders Lee's second-period tally in Minnesota.
🔑 KEY MOMENT(s):
🔻 Kuokkanen grabbed a rebound and put it in a yawning cage to score shorthanded and put the Devils up 1-0 after the Islanders lost a puck battle in their own zone.
🔻 Tatar was in the right place at the right time deflecting home a Dougie Hamilton one-timer off his skate for a power-play goal to give New Jersey a 2-0 lead with under a minute to go in the middle period.
🔻Ilya Sorokin couldn’t get enough off Devils’ forward Dawson Mercer shot on the breakaway which made it 3-0 New Jersey and put the game out of reach in the third period.
3 TAKEAWAYS
❶ SOLID SOROKIN: Despite allowing four goals, Sorokin was the team’s best player on the ice. He made some ten-bell stops and was game for the multiple odd-man rushes and breakaways he saw all night. He was out-dueled by his counterpart in Blackwood. "Their goaltender was the first star, our goaltender was the second star," Barry Trotz said after the game.
❷ NOTHING SPECIAL: After not allowing a short-handed goal last regular season, the Isles allowed their second through 11 games this year. They’ve scored four power-play goals and have allowed two with the extra skater. “Tonight wasn't a good night for us,” Brock Nelson said of the team's power play. “You want to try and generate momentum at the very least and we kind of killed it today.”
❸ BLACKWOOD TOO GOOD: Per NHL PR, Blackwood (42 saves) recorded his third career 40-save shutout (also Feb. 6, 2020 at PHI & March 28, 2021 at BOS), passing Martin Brodeur (2) for the most in Devils franchise history. His three such outings are also tied with Jacob Markstrom (3x) for the most among all goaltenders since Blackwood made his NHL debut in 2018-19. New Jersey blocked 23 Islanders attempts in addition to the 42 stops Blackwood. The Islanders threw 78 shot attempts at the Devils net, compared to 56 for New Jersey.
⏭ NEXT UP: The end is near. Three more off-days for the Islanders to get back to practice before back-to-back games versus the Lightning and Panthers to end their record-setting 13 games road-trip to start a season.
📊 STANDINGS: The Islanders’ loss coupled with the Penguins’ 3-2 SO win over the Florida Panthers dropped New York to the bottom of the Metro for the time being.
📰 NEWS
🧭FINDING THEIR IDENTITY: The “Best Fourth Line Ever” was put together by Jack Capuano in 2014, and following two seasons apart (after Matt Martin signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs), they found themselves and their identity playing again under Barry Trotz. In The Athletic, Arthur Staple detailed how the line that came together and has stayed together has become something other teams want to emulate.
THE FOUNDATION: “When I came on, we said we have to start somewhere,” Trotz said. “That line was always good when they were together and we had some missing pieces. We were looking for an identity. And there’s no better place to get back on track (than to) get hardworking people who play the right way and you build off that. Start with the foundation, get some structure in here, some work ethic, and no better example of that than the fourth line.”
TOUGH TO PLAY AGAINST: “Whether guys had that part of their game or not, they knew they needed to do it,” Cizikas said. “You knew you needed to be a guy that was tough to play against regardless of where you played in our lineup. It had a lot to do with Lou and Barry and what they saw for our team. And I think it also came from our group — a veteran group with a lot of guys who’d been together for a long time saying, ‘Enough is enough.’ We decided to be a team that’s taken seriously, and there was only one way to get there.”
👏MILESTONES: Mathew Barzal played in game No. 300 in the NHL on Thursday night. Going into the game, he ranks 8th among players in franchise history for the most points (259) through 300 career games. Mike Bossy (423) and Brian Trottier (408) rank one and two respectively in that category.
🔐 IRON-DMAN: Ryan Pulock played in his 262nd consecutive game, matching Denis Potvin's club record for defensemen. An impressive statistic, especially considering how the injury bug plagued Pulock early in his career preventing him from being in the regular rotation until the 2017-18 season.
🍗 SHAQ FU-B-S: The founder of “Big Chicken” who some may better know as an NBA Hall of Famer, basketball analyst, movie star, and rapper, Shaquille O’Neal was at UBS Arena to ceremoniously open his restaurant franchise in New York. We didn’t get to see Shaq in an Islanders sweater, but he did rock a VERY LARGE limited edition Islanders jacket courtesy of Isles Lab.
🥯 THE ISLANDER: Earlier in the week, we learned that Blue Line Deli & Bagels had collaborated with Shaq’s “Big Chicken” on a specialty menu item to be served at UBS Arena. Thursday morning, Darren Rovell broke the bagel news.
📣 FANATICS: The Islanders fans were raucous at The Rock in the first period. There’s always a strong Isles contingent for games in New Jersey, but this one had some extra juice early as it was the first time the fanbase could see the team locally since last season. The Isles Fanatics Army organized a group outing and had to withstand the boasting of the Devils fans until the final buzzer to take their group photo on the ice (📸 courtesy Andrew Gross). Here’s to a better outcome next time.
📚 SOUND SMART: It’s been a long time since the Isles had as many shots as they did on Thursday and lost by four goals or more, 2,100 regular season games long. The last time it happened was March 10, 1993, vs. Montreal and it was goaltender Andre Racicot, not Patrick Roy making 42 saves in a 6-1 Canadien win.
🔗 Mathew Barzal's 300-game milestone coincides with more mature all-around play by Andrew Gross, Newsday: “And while reaching 300 regular-season games, as he will on Thursday night as the Islanders continue their season-opening, 13-game road trip against the Devils at Prudential Center, doesn’t yet make him a grizzled veteran, it would certainly seem to indicate Barzal has reached another stage in his career.”
🔗 Isles' Kyle Palmieri, looking for his first goal of the season, returns to New Jersey for the first time by Andrew Gross, Newsday: "It probably makes it a little easier," said Smithtown’s Palmieri, who played for the Devils from 2015 to 2021 after growing up in Montvale, New Jersey. "There’s a couple of guys I knew just from call-ups. It’s a lot of roster changeover but I still have some friends over there.”
🔗 New York Islanders Biggest Surprises Through First 10 Games, by Stefen Rosner, NYIHockeyNow: “At just 21 years of age, the Islanders are looking for Dobson to solidify himself as a top-four defenseman, but early on he has left a lot to be desired. Dobson has collected three assists this season, playing a career-high 18:19 a night, about a two-minute uptick in play from 2020-21.”
And we leave you with this …. the team won’t be playing at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum anymore, but the organization found another way to honor military heroes. A tour group of veterans was surprised with the unveiling of the “Chair of Honor” which will remain empty to honor Prisoners of War or Missing in Action to symbolize that there will always be a place for them at UBS Arena.
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