Good Morning, Islanders Country.
“We let him down. We let him down big time.” - Casey Cizikas
The Islanders’ best player was their goaltender - by a lot - and still found themselves down 5-1 in the third period. Semyon Varlamov deserved better, you couldn’t say the same for the rest of an Islanders team that was under siege by a relentless Avalanche group that showcased their skill and playmaking shift after shift.
To their credit, despite being thoroughly outplayed and outshot by the high octane Avs, the Isles didn’t throw in the towel. They responded with three goals that made things very interesting in the final minutes of a wild third period that saw seven goals - one short of what the Isles needed.
Coming up, there is no timetable for Mat Barzal’s return and Devon Toews is the latest to receive a tribute video. Plus, Kyle Palmieri's newfound dad strength, a milestone for the Captain, and the Stanley Cup Playoffs get a new look. But first, a recap of last night’s loss.
Let’s dive in.
🏒 IN SHORT: The Colorado Avalanche scored four goals in 4:21 of the third period and withstood a late rally to defeat the Islanders 5-4 on Monday night at UBS Arena. Devon Toews scored what would be the game-winning goal at 8:27 of the third period to extend the lead to 5-1. Cale Makar had two goals and an assist to extend his point streak to 12 games for the Avalanche (41-11-5) and Pavel Francouz made 32 saves. Anders Lee scored twice for the Islanders (21-24-8), including his 200th career goal with Noah Dobson assisting on each, Dobson now has 30 points on the season. Casey Cizikas and Brock Nelson scored in the third period and Semyon Varlamov made a season-high 44 saves in the loss.
🔑 KEY MOMENT(s):
🔷 For the second-consecutive game, Noah Dobson makes a heady play and beautiful pass to set up a goal. This time, while on the PP, he keeps his head up and then swings a perfect pass on the stick of Anders Lee for the deflection and 1-0 Islanders lead. Dobson now leads the team with 11 power-play points.
🔻 This was about as bad a call as you’ll see. Andy Greene was called for cross-checking on a play that happens throughout every hockey game. Cale Makar would score his 19th goal of the season the PP to tie the game at 1-1.
🔶 The first two periods were the Semyon Varlamov show. The Islanders netminder was locked in and had 33 saves to keep the Islanders tied at 1-1 after two. His best save was this stop on Makar, reaching behind him and blocking the puck with his paddle at the goal line.
🔻 It was only a matter of time. Just as a penalty to Sebastian Aho was ending, Gabriel Landeskog fed Nathan McKinnon with Varlamov scrambling to get back into position. The shot deflected off of JG Pageau’s shin bounced off the ice and passed both Varly and Adam Pelech to break the 1-1 tie. Three more Avs goals would follow.
🔷 For the second time, Lee was the recipient of a Dobson pass, and given time, the Islanders’ captain made a nice move cutting across to the front of the net to score his 16th goal of the season and 200th in his career. Lee’s goal made it 5-2 with 8:02 to play. Casey Cizikas and JG Pageau then would score to give New York a chance with 26 seconds left, but they could not complete a miracle comeback.
3 REACTIONS
❶ DESERVED IT EARLIER: "He gave us an absolute chance,” said Anders Lee on Varlamov’s performance. “I think the message halfway through the third before they put on the onslaught there. was let's go get him one, let's get him one. He deserved that and he deserved it earlier than he got it."
❷ UGLY FOR A WHILE: “They’re a high-octane club, you have to be resilient and we weren’t,” said Barry Trotz. “We ran up against a top-level team and their top guys were feeling it and without our goaltender, it could have been ugly. It was ugly for a while.”
❸ GAVE US A CHANCE: “Varly gave us every chance,” forward Casey Cizikas said. “He played unbelievable, made some incredible saves, and we let him down big time.”
⏭ NEXT UP: The Islanders kick off a back-to-back set on Thursday night as they host the Columbus Blue Jackets at UBS Arena. Face-off is at 7:30 p.m.
📊 STANDINGS:
📰 NEWS: After being viewed as a game-time decision for Saturday’s matchup with the St. Louis Blues, Mathew Barzal was out of the lineup for the fifth straight game on Monday. “They do the rehab and go on the ice by themselves and when they join us, then they’ll do that,” Trotz said of Barzal and injured veteran defenseman, Zdeno Chara. “They’re in different phases of that.”
Trotz was asked the difference for wingers when playing with Barzal compared to the team’s other centers
“With Mat, you have to look to get open. He might not get you the puck every time you expect it, but he’ll get you the puck eventually. With other centermen, you’re a little more straight-line… it is probably a little different for the wingers playing with [Brock Nelson] or [JG] Pageau or Casey [Cizikas] just because Mat controls the puck. He has such good edges. He wants to use his edges to get separation and he does.”
👏🏻 SALUTE TO TOEWS: Avalanche defenseman Devon Toews was the latest former Islander to receive a tribute video at UBS Arena. Toews played only two seasons and 116 regular-season games with the Islanders but is remembered fondly. An Isles draft pick and part of the team that made the first Conference Finals since 1993, Toews is a player that the front office and fans wish they found a way to keep.
💪 DAD STRENGTH: Maybe sleep is overrated? It hasn’t been lost on Islanders fans that Kyle Palmieri’s hot streak has coincided with the birth of his son, Luca. After signing a 4-year, $20 million extension in the off-season, Palmieri scored just one goal in 29 games and missed 10 games due to a lower-body injury.
But since returning from paternity leave after his wife Ashlee gave birth, Palmieri has been on a tear, scoring six goals and two assists in the last eleven games and found the back of the net twice against the Blues - only to have both disallowed.
"It kind of throws every bit of a routine off," Palmieri said of parenthood. "But it’s been awesome. He turned a month yesterday. But it’s been weird, I’ve been gone pretty much half of it. My wife is doing a great job and I’m really proud of her and it’s just a really cool experience to kind of learn as you go."
📚 SOUND SMART: Still no hat-tricks, but Anders Lee’s 29th multi-goal game (most of any active player without a hat trick) gave him 200 for his career - the 12th Islander in history to reach that milestone.
Brock Nelson is only the second Islander in the 21st century to score 20 goals at least six times and is 11 away from 200. JG Pageau played 23:04 – the most he has ever played as an Islander.
🗓 ISLE REMEMBER: On March 7, 1978, the first-place Islanders defeated the Vancouver Canucks 5-2 at the Nassau Coliseum. Billy Harris contributed two goals, his 20th and 21st of the season, and Glenn (Chico) Resch gave the crowd a thrill by stopping Ron Sedlbauer's penalty shot at 13:14 of the final period, getting a piece of the puck with his arm and then watching it trickle harmlessly past the right post.
Courtesy the New York Times archive “I'm not too thrilled about the points from the standpoint of our play,” said Resch afterward. “I don't think anyone was satisfied. If Vancouver, which is not considered a strong forechecking team, can bottle us up like they did tonight, I shudder to think what a strong forechecking team can do.”
🔗 Oliver Wahlstrom attending Barry Trotz's school of continuing education by Andrew Gross, Newsday “Wahlstrom lingered at center ice, involved in a lengthy conversation with Barry Trotz. No transcript was provided, obviously. But it certainly looked like a teaching moment with the veteran coach going over the finer points of hockey with the 21-year-old Wahlstrom, who the organization believes can develop into one of their top forwards.”
🔗 Islanders have no timetable for Mathew Barzal return by Joe Pantorno, AMNY “Barzal is the Islanders’ leading point man and No. 1 playmaker, accruing 37 points (12 goals, 25 assists) in 45 games this season. Despite his absence, New York has fared well enough, splitting the first four games without him including a 2-1 victory over the Central Division’s No. 2 seed, the St. Louis Blues, on Saturday.”
And we leave you with this …. the NHL released new Stanley Cup branding for 2022. You can read about the various inspired elements of the new logo HERE.
Meanwhile, Chris Creamer of SportsLogos.net shared a timeline of all the Stanley Cup Playoffs logos leading up to today’s announcement.
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