Good Morning, Islanders Country.
The Islanders are back at .500 (by NHL standards), and while it didn’t come easy, it sure was exciting - especially if you enjoy shootouts without goals.
Last night’s 4-3 shooutout win had a little bit of good, a little bit of bad and everything in-between. A first NHL goal, a costly turnover, a highlight reel save, a fight, a heart-stopping OT and a marathon scoreless shootout that finally ended on Oliver Wahlstrom’s 9th round goal.
Isles Fix INSTANT REACTION, with NASSAUMEN HOCKEY
Coming up, changes are coming to the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol and Mat Barzal will be home for the All-Star Game. Plus, the greatest win for the first Islanders and the captain plays word association. But first, let’s recap a wild win in Philly.
Let’s dive in.
🏒 IN SHORT: The Islanders defeated the Philadelphia Flyers for the second straight night, this time 4-3 in a nine-round shootout at Wells Fargo Center on Tuesday. Oliver Wahlstrom scored the only goal of the shootout for the Islanders (13-13-6), who are 6-1-1 in their past eight games. Semyon Varlamov made 31 saves and was a perfect 9 for 9 in the shootout.
Casey Cizikas scored for the second consecutive night, tying the game 3-3 with 4:28 left after Claude Giroux had given the Flyers the lead earlier in the third. Josh Bailey and Robin Salo were the other Isles’ goal scorers. The Flyers (13-18-8) are 0-6-3 during their nine game winless streak. Carter Hart made 28 saves in the loss.
🔑 KEY MOMENT(s):
🔷 There was no doubt this was Salo’s goal. Barzal lured three Flyers to him and set up the rookie defenseman for the first of his NHL career, as Salo unleashed a blistering slap shot over the shoulder of Hart to make it 1-0.
🔻 Just 26 seconds after Bailey gave the Isles back the lead at 2-1, the Flyers tied the game when Varlamov was a little indecisive playing the puck to Salo. The puck deflected off Varlamov’s pads and was kept alive by Oskar Lindblom until Travis Konecny scored.
🔶 Varly giveth, Varly taketh away. With under a minute to play in the second, Varlamov bent his body backwards to grab a trickling puck as it sat on the goal-line to keep the game tied heading into the third period.
🔻 The Flyers grabbed a 3-2 lead at 4:05 of the third period when Claude Girioux was able to beat Scott Mayfield and Zdeno Chara and beat Varlamov glove-side.
🔷 With under five minutes to play, Scott Mayfield lumbered down the right side and wheeled the puck in front where a crashing Casey Cizikas scored for the second consecutive night to tie the game 3-3.
🔶 After eight rounds without a goal, Barry Trotz finally called upon the best shot on his bench and Wahlstrom showcased his lethal shot, beating Hart’s glove to give the Islanders their first shootout goal and shootout win of the season.
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3 REACTIONS
❶ GOOD POSITION: “Especially with this home-stand we have, it's definitely big,” Cizikas said of being back at .500. "It puts us in a good position right now to keep moving forward and to keep climbing the standings."
❷ STRESSFUL: "It's been a while since I was in this situation," said Varlamov. "Today was stressful, that was way too many shootouts, but I'm glad we won."
❸ A STARTING POINT: “The confidence comes from playing well," said coach Barry Trotz. “Finding ways to win. There’s trust starting to grow, which is key. We’re sitting at .500. It’s a starting point. We’ve got our nose just at the water level. Now let’s see if we can get ourselves out of the pool and keep climbing up the ladder.”
⏭ NEXT UP: The Islanders return home for games Friday and Saturday against the Arizona Coyotes and Toronto Maple Leafs.
📊 STANDINGS:
📰 NEWS: ESPN reported the NHL plans to stop testing asymptomatic players and staff members following the All-Star break. The NHL and NHLPA have reached an agreement on the matter, though the sides will meet again later this month to assess the climate and formalize.
"I think it’s probably a good thing," Matt Martin said before Tuesday night’s game against the Flyers at Wells Fargo Center. "A lot of us have already had it." The NHL will still test all players and staffers before cross-border travel between the United States and Canada. Players who show symptoms will also be required to test.
⛔️ IT’S A NO GO: Mathew Barzal will not be defending his 2020 fastest skater title at this year’s All-Star Game in Las Vegas. It was the Rangers’ Mika Zibanejad tallying the most votes in the NHL’s ‘Last Man In’ contest for the Metropolitan Division, but he won’t be joining teammates Chris Kreider and Adam Fox due to personal reasons. The Penguins Jake Guentzel received the second-most votes and take’s Zibanejad’s place. Barzal had made the two previous All-Star teams in 2019 and 2020.
📚 SOUND SMART: A lot of shootout stats courtesy Eric Hornick (celebrating his birthday today) in The Skinny. Wahlstrom's goal, the first in 16 attempts by an Islander this season, snapped a five-game losing streak in shootouts vs. the Isles. It was their first shootout win since April 8th, also vs. Philadelphia. Semyon Varlamov improves to 34-20 in shootouts and overall has stopped 136 of 183 shots in shootouts; his 74.3 save percentage is the best in NHL history for any goalie who has faced 150 shootout attempts. Each of the last three Islander shootout wins have come against the Flyers.
🗓 ISLE REMEMBER: On Jan. 18 1973, the Islanders recorded the best victory of their 12-win inaugural season, defeating the Bobby Orr, Phil Esposito and the defending Stanley Cup champion Bruins 9-7 at Boston Garden.
"Western Union is going to have all kinds of queries when they send out that score," GM Bill Torrey said of the events unfolding. Fourteen different Islanders hit the scoresheet in the win, including a pair of three-point games from Billy Harris (2G, 1A) and Don Blackburn (2G, 1A), while captain Ed Westfall had two goals against the club that left him unprotected in the expansion draft.
You can read more about the game at NewYorkIslanders.com
🎧 Hockey Press Pass: Billy Jaffe of NESN and NHL Network on the Thrashers, Islanders, Bruins and Every Step of an Amazing Career with Chris Botta. “From his work on the Thrashers, Islanders and Bruins to his appearances on NHL Network, Billy Jaffe has become one of the most popular commentators in the NHL. His knowledge, work ethic and rare ability to be clear, precise and passionate in his analysis are matched by few in the business. In this episode, Billy and Chris have a loose and fun talk about every stop in Billy’s career, including the odd and unfortunate end to his time on Long Island.”
🔗 Matt Martin endorses NHL relaxing its COVID testing protocol by Andrew Gross, Newsday “The NHL is preparing to relax its testing protocols for COVID-19 and the Islanders’ Matt Martin, echoing the sentiment of many members of the NHL Players’ Association, is in favor of the changes. "I think it’s probably a good thing," Martin said before Tuesday night’s game against the Flyers at Wells Fargo Center. "A lot of us have already had it."
And we leave you with this …. Islanders captain Anders Lee was asked to play ‘word association’ for each of his teammates and for the most part, he limited his answer to one word, but for the goalies … he had no words.
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