Good Morning, Islanders Country.
Hope you all enjoyed your weekend.
First, a quick PSA - We’ll have news about the future of the Isles Fix newsletter a little later this week. It’s not going anywhere, but there are changes necessary to make it sustainable long-term. Look for all the details in a separate note sent to your inbox.
Friday night’s game was fun to watch; Saturday’s game … errr…not so much. The highlight was the revival and return of the Fisherman logo, and while it was easy to say the team’s play was reminiscent of the 1995-96 team, the opponents and perhaps the energy expelled the previous night had something to do with it.
The two games couldn’t be more different, not just in the final score, but the style of play. After a wide open, fast-paced 6-4 win over the New Jersey Devils, the Isles couldn’t generate much of anything against the Hurricanes.
The effort was there, but the Islanders looked slow against a Carolina team that was surgical in its defensive precision. Lane Lambert tried moving line combinations and defensive pairs around, but there was no spark to be found. As the coach stated during the post-game, Islanders didn’t get to their game at all.
As the possession numbers indicate, the Islanders spent much of the night defending. Unlike the previous night when the Devils pulled the goalie left with 7+ minutes left and spent most of it in the Isles zone, the team was simply outplayed by the Hurricanes. We’ve seen the Isles turn things on in the third period all season, sometimes later than we’d like, but it never came on this night.
Coming up, Ilya Sorkin needs some help and there's agreement on the Alex Romanov’s hit. Plus, Cal Clutterbuck returns with a cage, Brendan Burke strikes the right tone, the Isles first win in Brooklyn and Nyiles makes a triumphant return, but didn’t get to use his siren.
Let’s dive in.
📰 NEWS: The Islanders had Sunday off and will be back on the ice today for practice as they prepare for their season-long five-game road trip, starting with a game at TD Garden, a place where the Boston Bruins, owners of the best points % in the NHL, have lost only once this season.
◾️At today’s practice, we should get a better idea of whether D Adam Pelech or F Kyle Palmieri will make the trip, which begins in Boston on Tuesday. Palmieri has been on Injured Reserve (IR) since Dec 1. retroactive to Nov. 21. Pelech missed the previous two games after he hit the end boards in the third period of Tuesday’s 7-4 loss to the St. Louis Blues when Robert Bortuzzo plowed into him when he was in an awkward position. Anthony Beauvillier was held out of Saturday’s game after exiting Friday’s contest after hitting the boards.
◾️In the New York Post, Ethan Sears wrote about how Beauvillier’s injury opened the door slightly for Hudson Fasching to get another opportunity. And while Beauvillier might be ready to play on Tuesday, he has just five points over the last 18 games, so Fasching could get a more extended look.
🥅 NO RUN SUPPORT: Goaltender Ilya Sorokin has lost his last four starts, and despite his sparkling career numbers at home (13-5-4 at UBS Arena last season), he dropped to 5-6-0 at home after the 3-0 loss to Carolina. We’ve come to expect 1-2 great saves from Sorokin a night, and while there have been goals he wished he had back - especially against St. Louis, he’s not been the problem. The Isles have scored only seven goals in his six losses (and four were in one game against STL).
🧼 SQUEAKY CLEAN: Both the Islanders’ Alexander Romanov and the Devils’ Miles Wood had the same reaction after Wood was on the receiving end of a thunderous open-ice hit from the Islanders defenseman. “Clean hit. I can’t just let him skate through the four guys and score, said the 22-year-old Romanov. “I never try to destroy somebody, it’s just a clean hit.”
While his Devils teammate Mike McLeod took issue with the hit, went on to fight Romanov and was, in return given a two-minute instigator penalty and a 10-minute misconduct, Wood later shared his perspective. “I’ve never been hit like that in my lifetime. He just read the play really well, and I just kind of fell into his lap (…) it was a clean hit.
😤 RAGE IN A CAGE: When Cal Clutterbuck left Friday’s game, we were thinking the worst. He had returned to the ice after missing the previous three games, leaving 4:11 into the game against the Philadelphia Flyers on Nov. 29. This time, he lasted only 9:27 into the first, but it wasn’t a re-aggravation of an injury. It turned out Clutterbuck had been head-butted. The 35-year-old winger returned to the bench with a full cage, a look he hadn’t donned in a while, to protect his bloodied face.
WASN’T TERRIBLE: “It’s been 20 years. It took a little getting used to, but it wasn’t terrible. It wasn’t terrible. It was fine. I don’t know if I want to do it all the time. But it allowed me to stay in it and whatever.”
Clutterbuck would the Isles sixth goal of the night in the third period.
⏭ NEXT UP: The Islanders kick off a season-long five-game road trip on Tuesday night in Boston against the Bruins. Puck drop is set for 7:00 PM ET.
📊 STANDINGS:
📝 FINDING THE WORDS: We’ve grown accustom to MSG Networks’ Brendan Burke striking exactly the right tone before and sometimes after Islanders games.
Whether it be the first game back at the Coliseum, the opening of UBS Arena or Saturday’s night Reverse Retro jersey debut, Burke gets it. He might not have grown up an Isles fan, but since taking the job in 2016, he quicky became in-tune with the emotions of the fanbase, both young and old, and once again found the right words. The text is below, you can watch the clip before puck drop HERE.
📚 SOUND SMART: Per Eric Hornick in The Skinny, both Brock Nelson and Mathew Barzal were held pointless; they are now 29 games into the season without being held pointless in consecutive games. Only thirteen other players in the NHL have done this and New Jersey, Toronto and Winnipeg are the only other teams with multiple players.
🗓 THIS DATE IN ISLANDERS HISTORY: On The Islanders earn their first win in Brooklyn, defeating Winnipeg 4-2. Brock Nelson made it 2-0 on a wrist shot from the right wing at 6:46 of the second after John Tavares slid him the puck from the left side. Tavares had three points (1G, 2A), including the game-winning goal. Ryan Strome and Josh Bailey (EN) also scored in the win.
"From the drop of the puck, we dominated the game," Islanders coach Jack Capuano said. "We just played Islanders hockey."
🔗 Islanders Weekly: Slide Continues as Injuries Add Up by Jon Zella, The Hockey Writers “Islanders have been in a playoff spot for much of the 2022-23 season, and yet, it’s anyone’s guess where this team is headed in the short or long term. Injuries are starting to add up in addition to continued poor play from much of the team, which will surely compound their issues moving forward.”
🔗 Islanders have no chance when shots aren't there by Dennis P. Gorman, Newsday. “Physically, Anders Lee and Lane Lambert were separated by about 25 yards and 10 minutes. Mentally, though, the Islanders captain and his coach were on the same wavelength.”
And we leave you with this…the return of the logo was long awaited, but it was a bonus to see the return of “Nyisles”, the team’s mascot during the ‘fisherman era’. Nyiles looked as happy as happy as a mascot could be to be back at an Islanders game.
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.....have now identified what can ONLY be referred to as an EGREGIOUSLY-stupid conceptual flaw (BEGGING for SERIOUS ridicule; if you HATED 'We want FISH STICKS!', just WAIT until SWELLING rings of 'ZOMBIE fishermen are STINKING up the place!' start arriving to our ears) in the revisions to this ALREADY-reviled-by-MANY image, and I plan to bring it to management's attention before week's end; it's a MASSIVE fail, typically-LOST opportunity - could've been SOOOO much IMPROVED upon (upper half-circle with typical narrow white outer band to provide SOME much-NEEDED continuity, filled by [an] orange [setting sun, communicating RELIABILITY of their return, steadiness] and the net in a dark blue sillouette relief, allowance for TWO different shades of each - his raincoat REMAINING turquoise, face & hands LIGHTER orange; consideration of changing beard to SAME as NET shade - white one, calls attention to hockey AGEDNESS as WELL as ostensible experience - while wordmark is then MOSTLY filled by same burnt orange tone as solar background, letters retaining a narrow white outline themselves and shadowed bottoms, ALSO turquoise blue with with separating white flares; stylized waveform, REGAINING its attractive CONTRAST by again CONTAINING such colors.....far, FAR too much ANOMALOUS white otherwise at present OVERWHELMING the whole jersey).
......can understand you need to at the very LEAST, cover expenses - but as I'm on a SEVERELY-fixed monthly income though STRIVING to SIGNIFICANTLY expand it, not sure I'll be able to continue receiving your newsletter, Joe; EVERYONE and their MOTHER have begun charging and my conscience has helped me to do the at-times-GRUELING work non gratis THROUGHOUT, attempting to make these frequently-HORRIFIC three years a LITTLE less worse, provide hope to take a MUCH different path for humanity at large than a COMPARATIVE handful of megalomaniacal LUNATICS worldwide have in mind.....