Good Morning, Islanders Country.
The Islanders started slow again. Fell behind again. Mounted a comeback again. But this time, came up short. They took too long to get going and made a furious push in the third period but ran out of time and chances in a frustrating loss that saw them outshoot the Predators 16-3 in the third and hit FIVE posts in the game.
When you put yourself in a hole, as the Isles have on multiple occasions, you can’t afford to make mistakes. Twice, the Isles cut the deficit to one, and twice they took bad penalties, one led to a Nashville goal, and another left them only 50 seconds to tie the game. The Isles keep getting better as the game goes on, but it remains an enigma why their starts lack the jump they find when they are forced to play desperate hockey.
Why is this happening? As Lane Lambert said after the game, “If I had the answer, I’d let you know. We have to be better to start the game.” The coach didn’t want to call it a trend, but I’ll call it a common recurrence.
Nashville is now 10-1-1 overall against the Islanders in the last 12 matchups. The Isles haven’t won at Bridgestone Arena since Oct. 28, 2017.
Coming up, Lou explains why the Isles are traveling a player short, and Josh Bailey was a healthy scratch yet again. Plus, Mathew Barzal’s season of helpers, the Isles score their fastest two goals ever in Al Arbour’s 200th win, and a pair of 50th Anniversary kicks could be yours.
Let’s dive in.
🏒 IN SHORT: The Nashville Predators scored three goals in the first 9:41 of the game and withstood a third-period Islanders comeback to win 5-4 at Bridgestone Arena on Thursday night. Adam Pelech and Jean-Gabriel Pageau each had a goal and an assist, and Cal Clutterbuck and Kyle Palmieri scored for the Isles(11-7-0), who had won their previous two games. Ilya Sorokin made 26 saves. Juuso Parssinen scored twice, including the game-winner, and Roman Josi had four assists for the Predators (8-8-1), who got 29 saves from Juuse Saros in the win.
KEY MOMENT(s):
🔻 Just six seconds after Scott Mayfield was put in the box for a tripping penalty, Juuso Parssinen deflected his second goal of the game past Sorokin, as the Isles PK allowed their 10th goal in the past 10 games.
Parssinen is the first rookie to score twice against the Isles since Tanner Jeannot did it for Nashville last October 30th.
🔹 The Islanders earned a power-play of their own shortly after and were able to convert a quick strike of their own. Just 11 seconds in the power-play, JG Pageau scored from the top of the crease off a pass from Anders Lee to pull the Isles back to within a goal with more than four minutes left to play.
3 REACTIONS
❶ SOME GOOD THINGS: "We have some things to look at and feel good about from tonight's game. But at the end of day, a loss is a loss and the first period was the reason we were behind." - Kyle Palmieri
❷ NEED BETTER STARTS: "We've got to find a way to have better starts. It's a tough building to come in and play in, especially the first 20, but you can't go down multiple-goal deficits. You have to keep it closer than that and give yourself time to settle into the game and withstand their pressure and we didn't do that tonight." - Anders Lee
❸ LEFT OUT TO DRY: "We kind of left Ilya out to dry there at the start, but we came together as a group. "We believe in one another here so we just keep pushing, we keep moving forward and we keep getting better as the game goes on." - Casey Cizikas
⏭ NEXT UP: The Islanders are back on the ice Saturday night when they take on the Dallas Stars. Face-off is scheduled for 8:00 PM ET.
📊 STANDINGS:
📰 NEWS: The Islanders, for the time being, have decided to travel with 22 skaters, one shy of the maximum, as they assigned Nikita Soshnikov to Bridgeport after the 29-year-old Russian cleared waivers. Isles GM Lou Lamoriello spoke to the media on Thursday morning and discussed the thinking behind the move.
◾️ IN A GOOD POSITION: “We’re in a good position as far as, fortunately, we’re healthy,” Lamoriello said. “It gives you the flexibility that if there is something you’d like to do, you can do it quickly without maneuvering your roster.”
◾️ GET SOME ICE TIME: “I thought he would clear,” added Lamoriello. “He hasn’t played here in the States for a few years. He hasn’t played for us other than a couple of games. It gives him an opportunity to get some ice time. We’ve got three games this weekend in Bridgeport so he’ll get some ice time.”
Forward Josh Bailey was a healthy scratch for the second consecutive game as Ross Johnston stayed in and played his fourth game of the season. Thursday was already the third time Bailey was scratched after that happening sparingly throughout his career. Whether his hitting the 1,000th game mark was a consideration (he was scratched once before it), there are those that think this will become a more likely occurrence regardless of his salary or track record.
◾️THINGS HAPPEN: “Josh is a huge part of our team going forward,” said Lane Lambert. “Huge part of the leadership group. Sometimes there’s just certain decisions that happen, and players have to deal with it.”
◾️ROSS PLAYS .. FOR A WHILE: Because of the matchup and physical presence, Ross Johnston stayed in the lineup in place of Bailey. With the Islanders trailing, Johnston did not play after 9:23 of the second period. “We needed offense,” coach Lane Lambert said. “We needed to shorten the bench.”
🏒 HELLUVA HELPER: In The Hockey Writers, Mike Fink writes about Mathew Barzal's season of helpers, the reason behind it, and what it means for the team moving forward. He also offers this nugget that since 2000, there have been only two forwards that have distributed 50 assists or more in a season without scoring 10 goals, Jozef Stümpel in 2001-02 and Jakub Voracek in 2020-21. Barzal could easily make it three, given his current trajectory.
◾️SO CLOSE: Early in the third period, Barzal created a great chance for himself, getting Saros to move to his left, but his shot clanked off the post, and the drought continued. Barzal now leads the Isles in points with 19 and is on pace for career highs in assists and points (87).
📚 SOUND SMART: The Islanders’ offense from defense continued last night when Adam Pelech scored in the first period to tie the game at 1-1. Per Eric Hornick in The Skinny, the Islander defense has scored an NHL-leading fifteen goals; they didn't score their 15th goal last season until February 24th.
🗓 THIS DATE IN ISLANDERS HISTORY: On November 18, 1978, the Islanders set a club record for the fastest two goals — just seven seconds apart in an 8-2 romping of the Philadelphia Flyers at the Nassau Coliseum. Their previous record was 10 seconds, vs. the New York Rangers, on March 29, 1975. The Isles won the game despite Bryan Trottier and Ed Westfall being out with injuries.
The loss brought the Flyers’ winless streak at the Nassau Coliseum to 11 games, with the last win coming on April 5, 1975. For Coach Al Arbour, it was his 200th victory.“I don't keep track of things like that,” Arbour said, “as long as we win.”
🔗 Islanders playing with only one extra forward; Nikita Soshnikov to Bridgeport by Andrew Gross, Newsday “For now, Islanders president and general manager Lou Lamoriello is comfortable with carrying one player under the maximum 23 on the roster.”
🔗 Patience has paid off for Islanders defenseman Noah Dobson by Peter Schwartz, WFAN.com “He [Dobson] has established himself as not only one of the best defensemen on the Islanders, but also as one of the top young blueliners in the National Hockey League”
And we leave you with this ….the sneakers you didn’t know you needed. The Islanders are holding a “50th Anniversary Sneakers Sweepstakes,” giving away a pair of these hand-painted custom sneakers to a lucky fan. Enter to win the kicks HERE.
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.....well, NICE that those SNEAKERS are predominantly WHITE, anyhow.....as I noted in response to Keri's comment, ASIDE from Casey's equalizer they were MAULED by Nashville most of the first half - just PAINFUL to WATCH and, TIME for BAILS to return; RJ was a NON-FACTOR while once MORE, officiating WASN'T; Predator nearly STEPPED on Mayfie's stick for his DEATH BLOW of a penalty and yet AGAIN, opposition got away with a LOT.....