Good Morning, Islanders Country.
Happy Presidents’ Day 🇺🇸
The good thing about your hockey team falling out of playoff contention is losses like yesterday’s don’t ruin a three-day weekend. Losing to the NHL-worst Montreal Canadiens would have the fanbase seething if the Islanders were realistically fighting for playoff contention. Instead, it was more of the same. After an encouraging win against Boston, the 2021-22 Islanders returned to their unfortunate form, losing another forgetful game in a forgetful year that has a lot of season left to play.
Coming up, the Isles top playing pair on D (no, not Pelech-Pulock) ranks among the best in the league and a pair of ex-Islanders make their country and former teammates proud. Plus, the Black Hockey History Truck tour stops on Long Island and we remember “Smitty’s” No. 31 being raised to the rafters. But first, let’s recap yesterday’s shootout loss.
Let’s dive in.
🏒 IN SHORT: Collecting his first win since the 2017-18 season, Andrew Hammond made 30 saves as the Montreal Canadiens (10-33-7)) defeated the Islanders 3-2 in a shootout at UBS Arena on Sunday afternoon. Cole Caufield and Rem Pitlick scored in the shootout to secure the victory, while Jeff Petry and Josh Anderson scored in regulation. Kyle Palmieri scored his third goal in as many games for New York (18-20-7), and Brock Nelson sent things into overtime late in the third period. Anthony Beauvillier was the loan Islander scorer in the shootout. Ilya Sorokin made 25 saves in the loss.
🔑 KEY MOMENT(s):
🔻 Slow, sloppy starts continue to hinder the Islanders this season, as Petry opens the scoring for the Habs 9:01 into the first period. That’s now 11 of their last 12 games that the Islanders have given up the first goal of the game.
🔻 Palmieri tied the game at 1-1 at 1:29 of the second period on the power-play, but another defensive lapse late in a period cost the Islanders. Anderson is given too much time and space below the dots and snipes one past Sorokin's short side to give Montreal the 2-1 lead.
🔶 Beauvillier sends a puck up the boards and a perfect touch pass by Kieffer Bellows sets up a streaking Nelson to tie things up again at two late in the third period.
🔻 Beauvillier’s opening shootout goal was negated by Caufield in the first round of the shootout. Nelson and Mathew Barzal can’t beat Hammond in the and Pitlick would net the game-winner in the shootout.
3 REACTIONS
❶ IN A HOLE: "It's obviously harder when you dig yourself a hole," Brock Nelson said. "You have to try harder to generate and manufacture offense. When teams are up they can clamp down a little bit more."
❷ THEIR GAME, NOT OURS: “I will say that we showed good character to stay with it in the third, but we need a bit more,” said Barry Trotz. “We wanted to play their game a little more than we wanted to play our game consistently.”
❸ ACHILLES HEEL: "We gave up a late goal in the second which is something that's been bothering me all year and it's plagued us all year," said Trotz.
⏭ NEXT UP: The Isles head out on a five-game west coast road trip starting in Seattle on Tuesday night. Face-off is set for 10 p.m. ET at Climate Pledge Arena.
📊 STANDINGS:
📰 NEWS: With Seymon Varlamov still in COVID protocol, Ilya Sorokin made his 32nd start of the season and his sixth consecutive start. After the shootout loss, Sorokin's record stands at 15-11-6. The win for Montreal was their second straight under interim head coach Martin St. Louis after the Canadiens snapped a seven-game winless skid with a 3-2 comeback win over St. Louis on Thursday night. This is first time they have won back-to-back games all season.
💪 SHUT DOWN DEFENSEMAN: In terms of goal differential, the Islanders’ top pair of Adam Pelech and Scott Mayfield are among the NHL’s best in goal differential via Harman Dayal of The Athletic.
Behind Toronto, the Islanders’ Adam Pelech-Scott Mayfield pair deserves a ton of credit. New York’s had a really tough year and because of its thin backend, Barry Trotz has used this pair against elite competition more than almost any other pair in the NHL. Despite that tough environment (and with Ryan Pulock missing big chunks of the season), Pelech and Mayfield have remarkably found a way to continue winning their matchups by decisive margins. So far we’ve mostly praised offensive dynamos, but Pelech and Mayfield perform well because of their defensive skill set: they’re big, mobile, have excellent defensive sticks and completely stifle opponents’ time and space.
It’s not the usual top defensive pairing in Pelech and Pulock, but the Islanders have figured out how to at least keep their top pair among the league’s best.
🇫🇮 OLYMPIC CHAMPIONS: Former Islanders, Uncle Leo (Komarov) and Valtteri Filppula are Olympic Gold Medalists. Team Finland defeated ROC in the gold medal game 2-1 on Sunday morning to claim Finlands FIRST EVER GOLD MEDAL at the Olympics in any team sport. After the game, Barry Trotz told the media he had Facetimed Komarov with the players that were skating this morning. "He was beaming with the medal around his neck," said Trotz.
🚌 BLACK HOCKEY HISTORY TOUR: The Black Hockey History Tour continues with their latest stop coming at UBS Arena. Graeme Townshend, the Isles’ first black NHLer, was in attendance for Sunday’s matinee. The NHL Black Hockey History Tour aims to raise awareness of the League's history of pioneering Black hockey players as well as its current Black stars with a variety of interactive features. Learn more about Townshend in this 2021 interview with MSG Netwrok’s Shannon Hogan.
🧡 CELEBRATING #9: Islanders Co-Owner Jon Ledecky, County Executive Bruce Blakeman, & Legends Bob Nystrom & Butch Goring celebrated Clark Gillies at the Theodore Roosevelt Executive & Legislative Building in Mineola, which was lit this weekend in his honor.
📚 SOUND SMART: Per Eric Hornick in The Skinny, Brock Nelson's tying goal was his 185th goal, passing Billy Harris for 13th place in club history. Nelson has 17 goals in 36 games played; he has not scored more than 26 goals in any NHL season. Andrew Hammond made his Canadiens debut, played in his first NHL game since 2018, and earned his first win since April 9, 2016. The 2,143-day gap between wins is the 8th-longest in modern NHL history. The Isles had a: 36 seconds 5-on-3 to start the second period; it was the first time all season.
🗓 ISLE REMEMBER: On February 20th, 1993, the Islanders retired Billy Smith’s No. 31 before they took on the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Isles beat the Pens 4-2 on the back of Pierre Turgeon who scored a hat-trick. With the Islanders, Smith earned a record of 304-230-104, a 3.16 GAA, and a .895 SV%. Smith also earned the honors of winning the Vezina Trophy (1981-82), the Conn Smythe Trophy (1982-83), the William M. Jennings Trophy (1982-83), and being named to the Hall of Fame in 1993.
🔗 Islanders, Canadiens have suffered steep falls since 2021 playoff runs, by Ethan Sears, NYPost: “One bounce, one goal, one fleeting moment last summer and the game between the Islanders and Canadiens on Sunday at UBS Arena would have the air of a Stanley Cup Final rematch. How quaint that seems.”
🔗 Islanders Need to Sell As Much as Possible Before Trade Deadline, by Brendan Yerkes, Eyes on Isles: “It is time for the Islanders to become sellers at the trade deadline. After two straight years of being buyers, the Isles management should accept this team will not be able to win. There are many players we could see moved before the March 21 deadline.”
And we leave you with this …. the fun didn’t stop for Team Finland after capturing the gold medal as Uncle Leo was back on the keys with a victorious rendition of “heart and soul” to keep the celebration going.
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