Good Morning, Islanders Country.
Or is it? There are bad losses, and then there are games where bad things happen in bad losses. The Islanders were down 3-1 entering the third period against a fragile St. Louis Blues team that had lost four in a row and had allowed three goals in a period for seven straight games. If the Islanders could cut into the lead early, they could take advantage of their shaky confidence,
But two goals in 13 seconds ended any chance at a comeback, or so we thought! Three goals pulled the Isles to within one with 4:56 left to play, and UBS Arena came alive. Remarkably, the Blues had allowed three goals in a period for the eighth straight game, but this time survived. The Isles picked up only two points on a three-game homestand where they were the rested team playing a team on the backend of a back-to-back. Not good enough. Not even close.
But worse, the Isles lost Adam Pelech capping off a calamitous opening to the third period. Blues’ Robert Bortuzzo plowed into the Isles’ defenseman, whose head snapped back into the boards. There was no update on his status after the game, but he was dazed as he left the ice with help from his teammates.
Coming up, Nick Leddy finally gets his tribute video, and we entertain Patrick Kane rumors (at least for a day). Plus, how to stop “The Michigan,” and Clark Gillies No. 9 went to the rafters 25 years ago.
Let’s dive in.
🏒 IN SHORT: Former Islanders goalie Thomas Greiss made 36 saves as the St. Louis Blues snapped a four-game losing streak, holding off a third-period rally from the Islanders in a 7-4 win at UBS Arena on Tuesday night. Noah Dobson, Zach Parise, Hudson Fasching, and JG Pageau each scored for New York. Ilya Sorokin had a rare poor game on home ice for the Isles (16-11-0), making 21 saves. Noel Acciari had a pair of goals, and Josh Leivo had a goal and assist for St Louis.
KEY MOMENT(s):
🔻 Trailing 2-1, the Islanders fell behind two goals when Ryan O'Reilly scored 14:58 on a tremendous individual effort, swatting home his own rebound while side-stepping Alexander Romanov in front of the crease.
🔻 13 seconds after Acciari made it 4-1 on a deflection, a backbreaker as Colton Parayko scored his first of the season 13 seconds later on a soft shot that appeared to knuckle and fool Sorokin from just inside the blue line.
🔹 After Parise and Fasching pulled the Isles to with two, JG Pageau’s centering pass deflected off a defenseman’s shin and past Greiss to bring the Islanders to within a goal with a little under 5 minutes to play.
🔻 Looking for the tying goal, Lane Lambert pulled Ilya Sorokin with over two minutes left to play in regulation. The Isles had possession, but Ryan Pulock made a soft play at the blue line, turning the puck over and leading to an empty net Robert Thomas goal to make it 6-4.
3 REACTIONS
❶ CAN’T POINT THE FINGER: “It would be a shame to point a finger at that guy, for our goaltending for that matter, said Zach Parise. “I mean, those guys have been, you know, probably the best tandem in the league the entire year.”
❷ SCORING AGAIN:"You get called up to the NHL, you play a couple games at a time and you wonder if you're ever score again almost," said Hudson Fasching, who scored his first NHL goal since his debut in 2016. "You play limited minutes and you get in a couple games at a time, so it feels good."
❸ TOO BIG A HOLE: "We felt good about our game," captain Anders Lee said. "We gave up a couple of grade As and they put them in and it was just too big of a hole tonight. That's what it was. But we fought till the end and gave ourselves a chance."
⏭ NEXT UP: After two days off, the Islanders head to Newark to battle the high-powered and fast-skating New Jersey Devils at The Rock. Face-off is 7:00 PM ET.
📊 STANDINGS:
📰 NEWS: Blues D Nick Leddy was the last ex-Islanders to receive his tribute video. The smooth-skating defenseman acquired weeks ahead of the 2014-15 season was traded from the Detroit Red Wings to the Blues at the deadline last season and missed a trip to UBS Arena. On Tuesday, the video finally played, and Leddy received a much-deserved warm ovation from the Isles faithful.
🙏🏻 WISHFUL THINKING: The Blackhawks were in town on Sunday, meaning we can indulge in Patrick Kane to the Isles chatter for at least a few days. In the New York Post, Ethan Sears went as far as to point out that Kane and Mathew Barzal share the same agency (CAA) and the painfully obvious potential fit.
WOULD BE COOL, REALLY COOL: “He’s one of the best of all time,” Barzal told The Post. “It’d be pretty cool to play with a guy — he was second-to-none. Such a good passer, such a good goal-scorer, too. He really does a lot of everything with the puck. It definitely would be cool. I don’t know if [the rumor is] legit or not, but it’d definitely be cool.”
🏒 THE MICHIGAN: In amNewYork, Joe Pantorno caught up with Ryan Pulock to discuss a very important topic - The Michigan - and how to stop it.
On Sunday night’s game, Chicago Blackhawks forward Andreas Athanasiou attempted the trick shot, which has seen a resurgence in popularity and attempts thanks to the likes of Anaheim Ducks star Trevor Zegras.
NHL defenders now have to be on alert for the move to a degree they haven’t had to before, and although they know that many fans - especially the young ones like it, it’s not something they ever want to be on the receiving end of it.
NOT GONNA HAPPEN: “We were both like ‘that’s not going to happen against us,'” Pulock told amNewYork.“You never know one day, or whatever, but what you try to do is eliminate it when you can.”
📚 SOUND SMART: Per NHL PR, Noah Dobson scored his eighth goal of the season, tied for second on the Islanders behind forward Brock Nelson (12) and second among NHL defensemen behind only Erik Karlsson (11).
He is on pace to become the second different defenseman in franchise history to score 20+ goals in a season – Denis Potvin (9x) is the only blueliner to hit the mark for the club, last doing so 37 years ago.
🗓 THIS DATE IN ISLANDERS HISTORY: On December 7, 1996, the Islanders retired Clark Gillies’ No. 9 in a pre-game ceremony before the game against the Washington Capitals. At 4:22 of the third period, Bryan Smolinski broke a scoreless tie when his centering pass deflected past goaltender Jim Carey for a 1-0 lead. Niklas Andersson scored an empty netter to seal the win and the 24-save shutout for Tommy Salo. You can watch the entire pre-game ceremony and the whole game HERE, courtesy of IslandersPride on YouTube.
🔗 Islanders’ Ryan Pulock talks the ‘Michigan’ from a defenseman’s point of view, how to defend by Joe Pantorno, amNewYork “The Michigan had been a myth for the better part of the last two-and-a-half decades; a jaw-dropping move that has slowly been developed since Mike Legg first pulled it off at — you guessed it — the University of Michigan in 1996. But it hasn’t come back into the national spotlight since Zegras put the move in his repertoire.”
🔗 Simon Holmstrom's comfort level growing with each game by Andrew Gross, Newsday “Confidence and comfort level manifest themselves in different ways on the hockey rink. For rookie Simon Holmstrom, who played his seventh straight game since being brought up from the AHL as the Islanders concluded a three-game homestand against the Blues on Tuesday night, it’s visible in the offensive zone.”
And we leave you with this ….they say once an Islander, always an Islander. 12-year NHL veteran Jon Sim was introduced to the UBS Arena crowd on Tuesday. Sim played for eight teams during his career, but his 162 games with the Isles are the most with any franchise. He scored 23G and 19A on Long Island from 2007-11.
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.....as well AS Thomas & Leds played WAS gratifying - for OLD friends, our boys simply CANNOT lose games like this and, NO sugarcoating it: entire SEASON may TURN on the imminent road trip starting Friday.....despite Ilya's UNDENIABLY-impressive GAA (well, until LAST night, anyhow) I'm CLOSE to declaring VARLY our BEST all-around netminder; 10-7-0 records DON'T win Vezinas - GREAT to see Hudson finally rewarded for VERY consistent play; Simon does CONTINUE to impress and I thought Noah might've been best BLUELINER; 18 points puts him in a position to at least EQUAL last season's yield - but, believe we're lucky Pelie wasn't CRIPPLED by Bortuzzo - who SHOULD get at LEAST 2 games off & a SIZABLE fine; differed SIGNIFICANTLY from Casey's impact with the Blackhawks goaltender - looked liked not JUST a likely SEVERE concussion but, WHIPLASH and WORST-case scenario, broken NECK : (