Good Morning, Islanders Country.
It’s a game of millimeters.
The Islanders went toe-to-toe with the NHL’s best team - without Mathew Barzal - and took a one-goal lead into the third period. The stage was set for their best win of the season. But then, the refrain of this season - mistakes, miscues, and plain old bad luck reared it’s familiar head.
Turnovers led to the game-tying and game-winning goals, Sebastian Aho’s would-be go-ahead goal was reversed despite a sliver of white showing between the puck and goal line (at least to Isles’ fans) and the road trip ended with a disheartening loss as opposed to a resounding win.
Coming up, Lou speaks and Devon Toews harbors no hard feelings. Plus, Zdeno Chara is linked to the defending champs and Ken Morrow has a whirlwind week from the Olympics to the pros. But first, a recap of last night’s 5-3 loss in Denver.
Let’s dive in.
🏒 IN SHORT: The Islanders (20-22-8) were defeated by the Colorado Avalanche 5-3 at Ball Arena on Tuesday night. Ryan Pulock — his first of the season, J.G. Pageau and Kyle Palmieri scored the three goals for New York. Zach Parise tallied two assists and notched his third multi-point game in the last five games. Former Islander Devon Toews had a goal and two assists for Colorado (40-10-4). Gabriel Landeskog and Andre Burakovsky scored the lone goals in the third period. Ilya Sorokin stopped 38 of 43 shots faced. Avalanche defenseman Jack Johnson played in his 1,000th NHL game
🔑 KEY MOMENT(s):
🔷 The Islanders took it to the Avalanche in the middle frame and grabbed a 3-2 lead when Kyle Palmieri smacked home a loose puck from just in front of Colorado net after Andy Greene’s shot got through.
🔻 Scott Mayfield failed to clear the puck on the Avs early power play in the third which led to Nazem Kadri throwing a shot that kicked off the back wall right to Gabriel Landeskog, who banked it in off Sorokin’s glove to even the game at three.
🔻 The Isles thought they had retaken the lead when Sebastian Aho made a slick move from the sidewall and snuck a shot past Darcy Kuemper that was ruled a goal. It was waved off as the situation room in Toronto concluded the puck didn’t fully cross the goal line, keeping the game tied at three.
🔻 Just minutes after the Isles’ goal being waved off, Ryan Pulock couldn’t get the puck out which led to Kadri finding Andre Burakovsky, who ripped a shot that deflected off Greene and slid under Sorokin’s pad for the 4-3 lead and eventual game-winning goal.
3 REACTIONS
❶ BOUNCING THE OTHER WAY: "The bounces didn't end up going our way," Kyle Palmieri said. "It's not the time of year for moral victories, but it just didn't bounce our way tonight. I think anyone that watched the game could see that we played a solid game."
❷ DECENT SHOWING: "I thought our game was pretty decent," Barry Trotz said. "That's a pretty good team over there. The first two periods were pretty even. They got it tied up at the end of a power play, we didn't clear it and it ends up in the back of the net. We had a good response, I thought we scored. That's just the sequence of events sometimes in the way of hockey."
❸ POINTS LEFT FOR GRABS: “We can look at a lot of good things we did, the way we played,” said Zach Parise. “I think the aggressiveness that our defensemen showed in breaking up plays at the blue line and getting involved in the offense, there’s a lot of good from the trip. Feels like we should have gotten some more points.”
⏭ NEXT UP: The Islanders return home on Thursday to host the Vancouver Canucks at UBS Arena. Face-off is set for 7:30 E.T.
📊 STANDINGS:
📰 NEWS: Mathew Barzal and Zdeno Chara were kept out of their second straight game as the road trip concluded. A good sign, as reported by Newsday’s Andrew gross was that Barzal was watching the morning skate on the bench, but was not wearing a brace or anything extra on his left legs. He also reported he was in flip-flops.
🎤 LOU SPEAKS: On Tuesday, General Manager Lou Lamoriello had a sit-down. No, not that kind of sitdown, one with the traveling media. The longtime hockey executive spoke to a wide variety of topics but offered no excuses for where his team sits. His message is that it’s the team’s job to overcome adversity and there was enough talent on the team to not be in their current position.
Being Sellers:
"It all depends what day I woke up," Lamoriello said of his thoughts. "There’s some 20-plus days to trade deadline. They change every day, I’ll be perfectly honest with you. We have 33 games left. I certainly know where we stand. I also know what I believe our abilities are and, I’ll use the word that I hate — potential. And I’ll just take it now a day at a time until we get to the point where decisions need to be made."
Team’s inconsistent performance:
"I have a real strong belief in this core, there’s no question of that. But you have to have performance, without question. We’ve had some players this year have some slow starts in areas they have to be proficient in. We’ve got scorers who are supposed to score. We’ve got other people who are supposed to play different roles. We haven’t had that on a consistent basis. It’s obvious and I’m not going to sugarcoat it and for us to be successful, that’s how we’re built."
Development of young wingers:
What (Dobson) went through last year, in and out of the lineup, not playing games — it was immense experience for him, and understanding (that) as tough as it was, you can see the foundation he created there, being put in situations to succeed, having rest — now, he’s growing. Oliver and Kieffer at this given time are going through similar things this year for different reasons.
Trotz’s job security:
Lamoriello stated that Barry Trotz would remain in the job, "as long as he’d like to coach this team and the organization wants him to coach this team.” The Islanders’ GM later added, “He’s done an incredible job trying to navigate through all the extenuating circumstances that have transpired."
🤝 NO HARD FEELINGS: Before his first game against the team that drafted him, Devon Toews had only good things to say about his former team and even boss that felt compelled by the cap to trade him.
"It’s a business and Lou’s got to do his job, too," Toews said. "Lou’s been great with me. Lou’s loyal and I love him for it. I’m not mad at him for what transpired. He’s got to do his job and I’ve just got to go out on the ice and do mine.
"I’ve been given a good opportunity here on a great team to showcase my ability. I loved playing in New York, too. And I love playing here. They’re both great places to play with great organizations. It’s worked out nicely for me here and I’m pretty happy for that."
Toews enjoyed seeing his former Islanders teammates, adding that he had met up with some on Monday night so they could meet Bennett, Toews' young son.
🗣 TRADE TALK: According to The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta, Lightning GM Julien BriseBois has checked on D Zdeno Chara and his $750,000 salary cap hit.
Chara has missed the last two games after setting the NHL record for most games played by a defenceman last week in San Jose. Per Pagnotta, the Islanders can make Chara more appealing to Tampa by a willingness to retain half of Chara’s contract which would result in a $325,000 cap hit for the defending Stanley Cup champs and help them with their cap constraints.
📚 SOUND SMART: Per Eric Hornick in The Skinny, last night was only the second time all season that the Isles lost a game in regulation that they led after two periods (also vs. Minnesota on November 7th). That’s the game that started the teams’ 11 game winless streak after a 5-2–2 start to the season. The Avs are the first team in the NHL with 40 wins, and their 40-10-4 record is the club's best-ever thru 54 games, and is just one game off of the NHL record for fastest to 40 wins.
🗓 ISLE REMEMBER: Just days after his ‘Miracle on Ice’ team toppled the Soviet Union on their way to a gold medal at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, defenseman Ken Morrow made his debut with the Islanders on March 1, 1980.
The gold medal game was on February 24, 1980, against Finland. After the victory, Morrow visited the White House with his teammates before joining the Islanders for their playoff push that would culminate in the franchise’s first Stanley Cup.
🔗 Lou Lamoriello won't 'sugarcoat' Islanders' shortcomings by Andrew Gross, Newsday “Lou Lamoriello still believes in his core players and in coach Barry Trotz and insisted he has not made up his mind yet on whether he wants to be a buyer or a seller heading into the NHL trade deadline on March 21”
🔗 Islanders GM Lou Lamoriello doesn’t sound ready to sell, despite struggles: ‘I have a real strong belief in this core’ by Kevin Kurz, The Athletic “Now the Islanders are playing the most compacted schedule in the league — having had to reschedule more games after the All-Star break than any other team — making it even tougher for them to string wins together.”
And we leave you with this ….we’re consistently impressed by the Isles Meetup groups that show up to road games, but what about Long Islanders that meet up with the team on the road? One such fan is Tom LoFoso of Blue and Orange Army fame. On Tuesday, he visited his 28th NHL arena in Denver - only a few more left to go.
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