Good Morning, Islanders Country.
The weekend came to an end, as did the New York Islanders’ point streak. On Saturday, Ilya Sorokin and the Isles extended their point streak to seven games on the back of another brilliant performance by the White Whale. On Sunday, the Islanders took a 2-1 lead into the third period, but were outshot 16-2 in the third period and couldn’t hold off the Minnesota Wild, coming up short in a 5-2 loss.
Today, we react to Semyon Varlamov’s 2021-22 season debut, Anders Lee makes his family proud, Brock Nelson has a new favorite month and a back-page worthy performance for Sorokin as the second-year goaltender continues to impress.
Let’s get you caught up with everything that happened over the weekend.
🏒 IN SHORT: A little over two minutes after Ryan Hartman tied the game for Minnesota, Brandon Duhaime scored the go-ahead goal midway through the third as the Wild recorded their NHL-leading seventh come-from-behind win, beating the Isles 5-2 on Sunday night. Lee, the hometown kid stayed hot, scoring two goals with his family in attendance. Mathew Barzal assisted both of Lee’s goals and was noticeably the best Islander on the ice. Varlamov was solid making 34 saves on 37 shots in the loss.
🔑 KEY MOMENT(s):
🔻 Hartman finds his own rebound and deposits the puck to the toy department tying the game just over seven minutes into the third period. The Islanders had been on their heels up to this point in the third period, and this was just the tip of the iceberg.
🔻 Duhaime had an excellent night for the Wild, including this goal that broke a 2-2 tie halfway through the third period. Despite playing well for most of the night, this is going to be a goal Varlamov wants back. With seemingly nothing blocking his vision, the shot beats Varly clean, one he probably should have seen, giving the Wild their first lead in the third period.
🔶 Barzal was the best skater on the ice for the Islanders last night. Barzal finds a rebound in his own end that sprung him for a 2-on-1 opportunity the other way. A dash of patience and a spritz of sauce saw Lee score his second goal of the game.
3 TAKEAWAYS
❶ UP TO TASK: Varlamov surely didn’t look like he was making his first start of the season, stopping 34 of 37 saves on the night. He’ll want the Duhaime goal back, but Varly bailed the Islanders out on multiple occasions, especially after a 14-save first period that saw the Isles hold a 1-0 lead going into the second period.
🗣 “Yeah he's definitely up to the task. Nice to see him back doing his thing in the net. Obviously, he’s a guy that everyone loves in the locker room. He works extremely hard off the ice so it’s great to see him get back, I know he worked really hard during his rehab.” - Barzal on Varlamov’s debut
🗣 “I thought Varly was fine. The first goal was a little bit of a handle, a little quicker decision, but that’ll come with more game action. For the most part, I thought he was good, he only gave up three goals.” - Trotz on Varlamov
❷ FINISH: It’s early in the season so Barry Trotz and the Islanders aren’t buying that fatigue was a factor last night. Instead, they believe they lacked finish giving up a late lead, and ultimately missing two reachable points.
🗣 “I think it's still early in the season. Coaches plan for us to be ready in these stretches. I think it has nothing to do with fatigue but has to do with finish.” - Zdeno Chara explains fatigue wasn’t the cause of Sunday’s loss
🗣 “I don't buy that, I think we've managed (the rest) pretty well. It has nothing to do with fatigue. When they tied it we had to have our push, take the crowd out of it. We didn't get there. I've felt like I've had all four lines going, today we didn't. We were missing a couple of lines today so that's on us.” - Trotz reassuring fatigue wasn’t the issue on Sunday, but a lack of consistency throughout the lineup
❸ HEATING UP: The captain had a big weekend and it appears as though he’s found his scoring touch. After potting a goal on Saturday, Lee scored two more in front of his family and friends in his hometown.
🗣 “It's always special to play in front of family and friends. A lot of people had a lot of part in me getting to this point, so you get to kind of share in all those moments that lead up to being able to play in the NHL. To be able to share a night like this in front of them it's always special.”
SATURDAY
🥚 GOOSE EGG: Ilya Sorokin stayed hot Saturday night recording another “goose egg” as the Isles defeated the Winnipeg Jets 2-0 for his third shutout, and fifth win in nine starts this season.
💨 QUICK START: Anders Lee got the Islanders on the board first, scoring top shelf off a nice feed from Josh Bailey behind Eric Comrie’s net for the early 1-0 lead. The goal came just 3:12 into the first period, making it the seventh straight game the Islanders scored the first goal of the game.
🦃 BROVEMBER: '“Brovember” rolls on after a quieter than usual Brocktober. Brock Nelson padded the Islanders lead under a minute into the third period to help slam the door shut on the Jets. It was his team-leading seventh goal of the year.
⏭ NEXT UP: The Isles get three days off to recoup from the weekend before facing the Devils on Veteran’s Day.
📊 STANDINGS:
📰 NEWS: The Islanders had a pair of skaters reach milestones Sunday night.
Casey Cizikas skated in his 600th NHL game, all with the Islanders. He’s six games short of tying Frans Neilsen for 17th most in Islanders history.
Ryan Pulock skated in his 300th NHL game, also all with the Islanders. Pulock is tied with Roman Hamerlík at 24th overall among defensemen.
👦 TWIN CITY: Lee, the former Edina High School quarterback that could play a bit of hockey, scored twice against his hometown team. Lee has 5G, 5A for 10 points in 13 career games against the Wild and recorded his 27th career multi-goal game in the regular season, surpassing John Tonelli (26) for sole possession of 12th place on the franchise's all-time list. Lee has more two-goal games than any active player in the NHL who has not recorded a hat trick.
➕ STAYING POSITIVE: Adam Pelech was on the ice for Nick Bjugstad’s second-period goal. It was only the second 5-on-5 goal the Isles have allowed this season with Pelech on the ice, covering 175:25 of play. Pelech was even on the night; he has not had a negative +/- rating in any game this season.
📚 SOUND SMART: Sorokin now has six career shutouts. That’s already tied for 9th in Islanders franchise history alongside Kelly Hrudey (241 games), Chris Osgood (103 games), and Robin Lehner (43 games). Saturday was Sorokin’s 31st career game with the franchise.
🗓 ISLE REMEMBER: On November 7th, 1992, the Islanders faced the Tampa Bay Lightning for the first time in their history. A 7-6 thriller ended in overtime in favor of the Lightning on the Islanders home ice. Pierre Turgeon tied the game with seven seconds left in the third on a penalty shot.
🔗 Islanders: Can they work out a trade with Toronto Maple Leafs? By Michel Anderson, Eyes on Isles: “It sounds like the Toronto Maple Leafs are willing to part with one of their defensemen. According to The Athletics James Mirtle (subscription required), the Leafs have been taking calls on some of their blueliners. Should the New York Islanders inquire?”
🔗 League Review: New homes bring new groove to Aatu Räty and Axel Rindell, Tiia Honkamaa, Jatkoaika: “He has adapted to our game extremely well since the moment they arrived. He is very eager to develop himself, and it's nice to Coach a player like that, Jukurit head Coach Olli Jokinen told Ilta-Sanomat after Räty's first game.”
🔗 Potential Islanders Trade Targets: 4 Defensemen to Watch, by Christian Arnold, NYIHockeyNow: “The Islanders now have around $2 million in cap space after the deal and that will accrue to be worth as much as $10 million by the deadline, according to Puckpedia. The deal benefited both the New York Islanders and Buffalo Sabres, as general manager Lou Lamoriello pointed out during a conference call on Thursday.”
And we leave you with this …. In case you missed Sunday morning’s back page of Newsday, Fred Greenslade captured this fantastic save by Sorokin in the Islanders 2-0 shutout Saturday night. “Thrillya” is must-see TV!
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