Isles Not Wild About Minny
Mar 26th, 2009 | By Brian Bohl | Category: New York Islanders, Top Story
UNIONDALE, NY- Wednesday will mark another community outreach meeting to elicit support for Charles Wang Lighthouse’s initiative that includes the long-discussed refurbished Nassau Coliseum.
While the project’s future is uncertain, the Islanders are starting to secure its spot at the bottom of the NHL’s standings, which received another boost with a 6-2 home loss to Minnesota Tuesday night.
The Wild scored four straight goals to ruin the Isles first game in Uniondale in over a fortnight. Making things more painful for the home fans was the sight of five-time 30-goal scorer Marian Gaborik tallying three points on two goals.
Gaborik scored Minnesota’s first goal and assisted on Owen Tally’s insurance tally that made it 3-1 late in the second. The Isles drafted Rick DiPietro two spots ahead of Gaborik in 2000.
Bruno Gervais ignited a fast Isles start in the club’s first home game in 17 days, opening the scoring 7:37 into the contest. That would be the last bright spot as the Islanders lost for the fourth time in five games. Gaborik, Antti Miettinen, Nolan and Martin Skoula added goals for the Wild.
Minnesota was held to four shots in the second period yet still increased its lead to two goals in the game’s turning point.
“I thought we had a really great first period; probably one of the best first period we had in a long time,” Isles coach Scott Gordon said. “During the second period, we only gave up four shots. We obviously got into penalty trouble.”
The game mattered little in the standings with the Isles (56 points) trailing Tampa Bay by eight points for the NHL’s worst record and Minnesota on the outside of the Western Conference playoff chase. But the lack of postseason implications didn’t temper the emotions as the clubs totaled 58 penalty minutes, including two fights and eight roughing minors.
Effort wasn’t an issue against a team the Isles have only squared off against nine times. Gordon’s squad held a 34-28 led in shots and a 15-2 edge in hits while Kyle Okposo and Blake Comeau, two forwards not known for rough play, consistently engaged a willing Wild unit that resulted in numerous pile-ups after the whistle.
“I think our guys certainly came out and wanted to set the temp to the game and obviously there was a lot at stake for them,” Gordon said.
Play got so heated that each side was forced to cram three players in the penalty box at the same time almost 13 minutes into the third, resulting in a nearly minute long three-on-three.
Andy Hilbert’s goal 6:24 into the final period made it 4-2 before the Wild’s Andrew Brunette scored and Gaborik banged home an easy pass off a re-direct with 1:17 left for the tack-on goals. Yann Danis struggled as well, stopping just 22 of 28 shots faced.
“He didn’t seem as sharp tonight,” Gordon said. “Other than that, he’s usually pretty good. He’s played well for us. The one thing he wants to ensure is that his play up to this point hasn’t been a fluke.”
Before departing on a six-game road stretch, the Islanders won four of the last five home games. Even if the team recaptured that rhythm, it wouldn’t do much points-wise for the Isles, which is all but certain to lock up the first or second overall draft pick depending on the lottery outcome. There are now nine games remaining with Tampa Bay holding 64 points and Atlanta at 66.
“We definitely need to work on our defense zone play,” Okposo said. “It wasn’t as sharp as it needed to be tonight. We gave up too many chances but we’re going to work on that.”
The Islanders missed the chance to have Gaborik and the Devils Zach Praise with drafting mistakes in the past yet could be assured of getting either of the two most heralded prospects this year in John Tavares, a record goal-scorer in junior hockey, or Swedish defenseman Victor Hedman.
In the meantime, the Isles said they need to play at the level that spurred a streak of six points in eight games that feature promising signs from the young players earlier this month.
“It’s hard to say,” Danis said. “I’m not making the key saves. The last two games are similar where they weren’t getting a lot of shots but they got decent shots or lucky balances.”
Off a faceoff win from the right circle, Gervais took defense partner Mark Streit’s blue-line pass and fired a hard left-point wrist shot to beat a screened Backstrom high to his stick side for his third goal in the past 11 games. The 24-year-old previously registered zero goals in 160 games before his hot streak.
Minnesota took advantage of two Islander giveaways in its own end, resulting in Gaborik’s one-time tap in off Marek Zidlicky’s pass behind-the-net pass to knot it at 1 just 4:09 later. Pierre-Marc Bouchard’s assist extended that edge to 2-1 when the centerman completed another crisp pass behind the goal line. That feed set up Miettinen’s low right circle-shot for 15th goal of the season exactly 19 minutes into the first.
“It’s disappointing,” Hilbert said. “We’ve been playing well lately but it’s a tough loss.”
Notes: The Isles entered the night 9-2-2 in its past 13 games at the Coliseum…Joel Rechlicz and Minnesota’s John Scott engaged in a nearly minute-long fight almost five minutes into the contest…The listed attendance was 13,332.
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