Good Morning, Islanders Country.
Barry Trotz spoke to a “next man up mentality” after the team announced that Cal Clutterbuck (definitely) and Scott Mayfield (probably) are out for the rest of the season. But from the get-go Thursday night, it was the usual suspects who carried the Isles to a 5-2 win against the Detroit Red Wings at UBS Arena.
Coming up, opportunities arise from injuries, and Greisser is greeted back on the Island. Plus, the quickest home goal in team history, we remember another fast start to a period, and Trots pens a book. But first, a recap of another home win.
Let’s dive in.
🏒 IN SHORT: Anthony Beauvillier scored nine seconds into the game, Ilya Sorokin made 37 saves, and Anders Lee had three assists as the Islanders defeated the Detroit Red Wings 5-2 at UBS Arena on Thursday night. Brock Nelson added two more goals for a team-high 29 for the Islanders (28-25-9) who have won six straight at home. Oliver Wahlstrom and Josh Bailey also scored for New York. Thomas Greiss allowed three goals on 16 shots before leaving the game with an upper-body injury. He was replaced at the start of the third period by Alex Nedeljkovic. Pius Suter and Sam Gagner scored for the Red Wings (26-31-7), who have lost eight of 10 (2-7-1). The Isles led for the final 59:51 – most of any game in their history.
🔑 KEY MOMENT(s):
🔷 The Islanders lost the opening face-off and still scored the second-fastest goal to start a game in team history. Anders Lee immediately jumped on Filip Hronek, won the puck, and centered a perfect pass to Anthony Beauvillier for the very early 1-0 lead on home ice.
🔶 This was an incredible display of speed and play-making by Mathew Barzal. After taking the puck near his own goal-line, he raced through the neutral zone, and just as three Red Wings collapsed on him, he spun and found a trailing Oliver Wahlstrom who beat Thomas Greiss for a 2-0 lead after one.
🔷 On the power-play, Brock Nelson was getting back-checked but was able to stay with it and keep his balance long enough to lift a shot over the right shoulder of Greiss and extend the Islanders’ lead to 3-0.
3 REACTIONS
❶ PUTTING IT TOGETHER: "We've committed to one another in the sense of playing the right way and finishing this thing out strong," Anders Lee said. "We're in a position where let's just go for it, see what happens, play our best hockey, and try to put everything together that we've been working for into our hockey to close this thing out. That's all we're doing."
❷ HAVING FUN: "I'm sure a lot of people counted us out now at this point with little chance," Brock Nelson said. "But also having fun just leads you to play freely, you're not thinking and right now, it's leading to win. Can't mistake fun for losing, but we're playing with good structure and having fun with it."
❸ OUTSTANDING JOB: "I thought the whole game was teetering on that five-on-three," Barry Trotz said. "We did an outstanding job, Sorokin had to make one really good save, and then the crew out there did a really good job.”
⏭ NEXT UP: The Islanders head to Boston for a Saturday matinee against the Bruins. Face-off is set for 12:30 PM.
📊 STANDINGS:
📰 NEWS: The Islanders are all but mathematically out of the playoffs, otherwise Thursday’s injury news would have hit harder. The team announced that the newly extended Cal Clutterbuck will miss the rest of the season with a shoulder injury that requires surgery. The team expects Clutterbuck to be ready for September’s training camp. Also, as we hinted at yesterday, Scott Mayfield suffered a lower-body injury after blocking a shot in the final minute of Tuesday’s win against the Ottawa Senators. Mayfield will be out 4-6 weeks and with the regular season ending on April 29th, pretty much the rest of the year. The defenseman had played every game this season.
◾️ NEXT MAN UP: “They’re very important,” coach Barry Trotz said. “This is the NHL, guys are going to go down. It’s got to be the next-man-up mentality, which is opportunities for other guys.”
◾️BIG PIECES: “They’re both big pieces in our room. Both big pieces, especially on the penalty kill and late-game situations,” Trotz added. “Other guys are going to have to develop their game to be better in some of those areas and take on those minutes.”
What’s the impact?
◾️ FOURTH LINE: It was Kieffer Bellows and not Ross Johnston getting to skate with Casey Cizikas and Matt Martin on Thursday night. When we’ve seen Johnston play this year, it has often been in place of Martin. This is yet another opportunity for Bellows who also played with the fourth line on Sunday in the team’s 2-1 loss to the Flyers in Philadelphia.
◾️DOBSON TO THE PK: The Islanders’ new QB1 on the power-play, Noah Dobson, will likely now see ice time as a penalty killer. “Which is good experience for him to continue to grow his game as a young guy,” Trotz said.
🥅 GREISS TO SEE YOU: Thomas Greiss was back on Long Island for the first time since signing with Detroit as a free agent in 2020. Signed by Garth Snow to back-up Jaroslav Halak before the 2015-16 season, Greiss posted a 101-60-17 record along with a 2.70 goals-against average in five seasons with the Isles.
◾️ LEFT HIS MARK: The German netminder had the most wins of any Isles goalie in the prior decade and was in net when the Isles captured their first playoff series win in 23 years defeating the Florida Panthers in six games in 2016. Greiss was Barry Trotz’s pick to play in Game 7 of the Conference Semi-Finals against the Philadelphia Flyers in 2020, leading the Isles to a 4-0 shutout win to reach the Conference Finals for the first time since 1993.
📚 SOUND SMART: Per Eric Hornick in The Skinny, Anthony Beauvillier’s goal was the earliest in any Islander home game, breaking the record of :11 set by John Tavares on February 16, 2015, vs. the Rangers. It was the second-earliest goal in club history, behind the NHL record-tying goal by Bryan Trottier five seconds into play on March 22, 1984, in Boston, and passed a Duane Sutter goal on November 15, 1986, in Minnesota (:10) for the second-fastest.
🗓 ISLE REMEMBER: The Anthony Beauvillier goal was fast, but not quite as early into a period as Ruslan Fedotenko’s goal on November 19, 2007. Fedotenko broke a scoreless tie against the Rangers 8 seconds into the second period at Madison Square Garden in a game the Isles would win 2-1. The game also marked the 100th victory in the career of Rick DiPietro who stopped 18 shots in the win.
🔗 Islanders' Cal Clutterbuck shelved for season, Scott Mayfield likely joining him by Andrew Gross, Newsday “The team announced before Thursday night’s game against the Red Wings at UBS Arena that Clutterbuck requires shoulder surgery and Mayfield (lower body) is expected to miss four-to-six weeks.”
🔗 Thomas Greiss Returns to Long Island, by Jacob Beekman, Drive4Five “Greiss was a fan favorite since his first start as a member of the Blue and Orange. Through those five seasons, Greiss shared the net with former Islander Jaroslav Halak, Robin Lehner, and current Islander, Semyon Varlamov. Greiss and Lehner won the Jennings Trophy.”
And we leave you with this ….the Islanders’ all-time leader in points and games played, Bryan Trottier is releasing a book. The life story of Bryan Trottier is coming to bookshelves in October. “All Roads Home” profiles Trottier’s story of becoming an NHL player and his experience as an Indigenous athlete.
Learn more and pre-order now: https://bit.ly/3uuvFOy
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