Good Morning, Islanders Country.
If the Islanders miss the playoffs (and that’s a very big if, not a little if), the familiar reasons/excuses will be there - 13 game road trip, COVID outbreak, condensed schedule, lack of rhythm).
But too often, the Islanders were the cause of their own downfall, repeating a pattern of bad habits. Last night in Dallas, it was the return of allowing deflating goals as the Stars scored in the final minute of the first and then later while shorthanded. After being badly outshot, the Isles played with desperation much of the third but failed to capitalize on their opportunities, none better than Mat Barzal’s chance to tie the game late in the game.
Coming up, Ilya Sorokin was back as the backup, and William DuFour is named March’s player of the month. Plus, Josh Bailey passes another Isles great, Mr. Islander plays his final game and the trade that broke my 12-year-old heart. But first, a recap of last night’s loss in Dallas.
Let’s dive in.
🏒 IN SHORT: Semyon Varlamov made 37 saves, but Radek Faksa scored a shorthanded goal in the second period that proved to be the game-winner as the Dallas Stars ended the Islanders four-game winning streak with a 3-2 win at American Airlines Arena on Tuesday. JG Pageau followed up his natural hat trick with a first-period goal and Brock Nelson scored his team-leading 33rd of the season for the Islanders (32-28-9) to tie the game 31 seconds into the second period. Marian Studenic gave Dallas a 1-0 lead at 7:29 of the first period and Tyler Seguin scored with 47 seconds to go in the period. Jake Oettinger made 19 saves for the Stars (40-26-3) who moved into the second wild card from the Western Conference with the win.
🔑 KEY MOMENT(s):
🔷 Down 1-0, Noah Dobson made a crisp outlet pass to JG Pageau who found another gear to create a 2-on-1 and ripped a shot over the blocker of Jake Oettinger for his fourth goal in two games.
🔶 After Tyler Seguin’s 20th goal of the season regained the lead for Dallas with 47 seconds left in the first, Brock Nelson responded for the Isles just 31 seconds into the second with his 33rd of the season. Noah Dobson collected his 40th point of the season with his second primary assist of the game.
🔻 The Islanders allowed their seventh (seventh!) short-handed goal of the season at 10:29 of the second period. After a turnover in the neutral zone, Luke Glendening glided to the right circle and put the puck on net where it was deflected by Radek Faksa for the go-ahead and would-be game-winning goal.
3 REACTIONS
❶ NEEDED BETTER START: "It's disappointing we didn't get off to a better start," Head Coach Barry Trotz said. "If we'd have played with the desperation we did in the second half of the game there. I think we'd be sitting here with at least a point."
❷ IN OUR FACE: We've played well for a quite a stretch now, tonight maybe not so," Brock Nelson said. "They did good job of kind of getting in our face right from the [defensive] zone as we're trying to break out into the neutral zone, so we didn't have much possession in entries."
❸ INCIDENTAL CONTACT: “It was explained that Benn wasn’t in the blue, wasn’t trying to lean in and interfere, Trotz said of his coach’s challenge on the Stars first goal. “Varly was a little outside the blue, but to me it’s just coincidental contact … if there’s contact and he can’t make the next save, it shouldn’t be a penalty, should be coincidental contact, no goal. And I’d make that call 100 times out of 100 times, I thought we were gonna win it.”
⏭ NEXT UP: The Islanders have a rare two days off until Friday when they start back-to-back games against the Carolina Hurricanes and St. Louis Blues to end their five-game road trip.
📊 STANDINGS:
📰 NEWS: Ilya Sorokin traveled to Dallas, skated with the team, and was cleared to backup to Semyon Varlamov on Tuesday night after missing four games with an upper-body injury after taking a pair of shots to the mask against Tampa Bay.
“[Sorokin] has missed a little bit of time so we’re getting him up to speed,” coach Barry Trotz said. “We’ve got two really good goaltenders who give us a chance to win every night. We’re not going to do anything with Ilya at this point that’s going to [hurt him] If he’s not 100%, we won’t put him in. But he’s been cleared.”
◾️ Goaltender Cory Schneider was returned on loan to the Bridgeport Islanders on Tuesday morning. Schneider was an emergency recall on March 29th and stopped 27 of 30 shots in the win over the Devils in his first NHL game in over two calendar years.
◾️ Islanders prospect William Dufour of the Saint John Sea Dogs was named QMJHL Player of the Month collecting 11G and 16 assists in 13 games. The 20-year-old registered a point in every game in March including eight multi-point games including two four-point games. The 2020 5th round pick leads the league in goals with 46 and owns a share of the points race with 94.
📚 SOUND SMART: With a secondary assist on JG Pageau’s first-period goal, Josh Bailey passed John Tonelli into 8th place on the Islanders’ all-time points list with 545. Tonelli recorded his 544 points in just 594 games on Long Island.
🗓 ISLE REMEMBER: On April 5, 1986, Bob Nystrom played his 900th and final game with the Islanders, but this was no ordinary game. Nystrom suffered a torn retina back in January threatening to end his hockey career at 899 games.
To have him reach the milestone, head coach Al Arbour had Nystrom suit up for the Islanders’ final regular-season game of the season Nystrom was on the ice for the opening faceoff and skated for seven seconds before heading to the bench. ''I felt I had a pretty good game,'' Nystrom joked with the New York Times after a 7-1 win over the New Jersey Devils.
🔗 Ilya Sorokin returns to back up Semyon Varlamov in goal for Islanders by Andrew Gross, Newsday “Goalie Ilya Sorokin was available to back up Semyon Varlamov on Tuesday night against the Stars at American Airlines Center after missing four games with a head injury. He’ll likely get one start before the Islanders conclude this five-game road trip.”
🔗 In Strange Season, Varlamov's Perseverance Stands Out by Cory Wright, NHL.com “Things have turned for Varlamov since the Colorado game. In addition to winning six of his last eight decisions, Varlamov has pitched two shutouts, a 24-save effort against the Ottawa Senators and his clean sheet vs the Rangers. He stopped 42 shots in a 4-3 win over Columbus on March 29 and even in a 4-3 shootout loss to the Washington Capitals, still managed to get the Islanders into the eighth round of the shootout.”
And we leave you with this ….one of the saddest days of my childhood!
On April 5, 1995, Islanders General Manager Don Maloney sent my favorite player Pierre Turgeon and Vladimir Malakhov to Montreal in exchange for Kirk Muller, Mathieu Schneider, and Craig Darby.
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