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Good Morning, Islanders Country.
On Saturday night, the Islanders dressed 20 players, and exactly none of them were making their Isles debut. That hadn’t happened since 1987! This year’s version is once again relying on players who have been here for years (if not a decade) but also those who are “newish” and were instrumental during last season’s playoff push in the final two months of the season.
The new reliables include Pierre Engvall and Bo Horvat, and both were solid contributors to Saturday’s win. Engvall’s size and speed created the Islanders’ first goal, while Horvat had eight shots on net and excelled at the face-off dot.
There was also old, reliable Brock Nelson, who turned 32 on Sunday. “Brocktober” is year-round these days and was on display with a goal and assist as last season’s All-Star picked up where he left off, leading the way offensively on a line with Engvall and Kyle Palmieri.
“Pierre did a great job using the speed getting on it to create that turnover,” Nelson said. “We had a little bit of an odd-man rush in broken fashion, and I was able to find some space.”
It wasn’t a perfect performance (the power-play was okay, but didn’t convert), but the collective positives outweighed the individual mistakes and provided an opportunity for early season momentum.
Coming up, Simon Holmstrom needs to be a bit more selfish, and Noah Dobson needs to turn around things in his own end. Plus, a very rare season-opening win at home, Denis Potvin passes a New York Rangers great, and Shannon Hogan models a hat during the post-game.
Let’s dive in.
📰 NEWS: The New York Islanders opened up their 2023-24 season with a 3-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres at UBS Arena. Casey Cizikas deflected Adam Pelech’s shot a 6:20 of the third period to break a 2-2 tie for the game-winner. The Isles play seven of their first nine games against teams that missed the playoffs last season. Winning games against Eastern Conference teams that are trying to work their way into the top eight will be key all season.
“It’s big, especially on home ice in front of our fans,” Cizikas said. “We wanted to come up with a good game, and I thought we did for the most part. When we did have breakdowns, once again Sorokin came up big when we needed him.”
SIMON SAYS, SHOOT!
It was a good debut for Simon Holmstrom on the top line with Mathew Barzal and Bo Horvat. However, the game also had a teachable moment for the second-year player. In the second period, a turnover created a 3-on-2 with Holmstrom straight-on with the goaltender.
However, he had pre-determined to pass the puck to Barzal on his right. Barzal had no angle to shoot and had to try a difficult pass across the crease to Horvat that didn't connect. "I trust my shot as well, and I trust my instincts. So I mean, he's an unbelievable player [Barzal], but I gotta make the right choice as well," said Holmstrom after the game.
“Holmstrom looked good with them,” head coach Lambert said after the game. “He was hunting pucks down and creating some turnovers. I thought he made some good passes and good plays. I’d like him to shoot a little bit more, but certainly, I thought he was complimentary to those guys for sure.”
⏭ NEXT UP: The Islanders are back on the ice on Tuesday night to take on the Arizona Coyotes. Face-off from UBS Arena is at 7:30 PM EDT.
📊 STANDINGS:
DOBSON STRUGGLES ON D
A question heading into this season was whether Noah Dobson would be able to clean up the defensive miscues that quell the enthusiasm for his game overall despite 49 and 51-point seasons. Game 1 of 82 was disappointing as miscommunication between him and Adam Pelech led to the first Buffalo goal.
Dobson then inexplicitly vacated the front of the net, allowing the puck to skirt between his legs and to Jordan Greenway, who beat Sorokin with a backhander. GM Lou Lamoriello defended Dobson against what he categorized as unfair criticism during the summer. The critics acknowledge his offensive abilities, but miscues like these prevent them from buying all the way in.
📚 SOUND SMART: Per Eric Hornick in The Skinny, The Isles won a season-opener on home ice for only the third time and first time since January 21, 1995. In that game, Zigmund Palffy scored twice in Lorne Henning’s head coaching debut as the Islanders beat the Florida Panthers for the first time in history 2-1 at the Nassau Coliseum. Isles goaltender Jamie McLellan made 17 saves to best former Islander Mark Fitzpatrick.
🎥 ISLES REWIND: On October 16, 1986, Denis Potvin had an assist in the Islanders’ 7-4 win over the Capitals. His helper gave him 684 in his career, putting him past Brad Park for the most assists by a defenseman in league history. He broke the record on the 13th anniversary of picking up his first career point.
🎧 Hockey Night in NY: Off & Jogging! Guest: Craig Morgan, PHNX Sports “The Isles kicked off the season with a win over the Sabres at home and Seany and Stefen talked all about it! Craig Moran from PHNX Sports joined in to look ahead at Tuesday's tilt vs the Coyotes and an update on their arena situation! Lots of bases covered like Brocktober, Dobson, Holmstrom, the power play, and lots more!”
🔗 Islanders ‘Brocktober’ starts early as Brock Nelson, 2nd line gets off to fast start by Joe Pantorno, AMNY “Veteran center Brock Nelson got off his usual fast start on the Islanders’ opening night of the season on Saturday at UBS Arena in a 3-2 victory over the Buffalo Sabres, recording a goal and an assist.”
🔗 Bridgeport Report: Iskhakov Off & Running, Chris Lamoriello Press Conference by Stefen Rosner, The Hockey News “The Bridgeport Islanders, got started on Friday, beating the Rochester Americans in overtime 4-3 before falling 4-2 to the Syracuse Crunch a day later.”
And we leave you with this…MSG Networks Shannon Hogan and Thomas Hickey plan on spending more time with fans after wins this season. Shannon borrowed an Isles Lab hat and did a little dance, which led to chants of "SHAN-NON HO-GAN" for a while.
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