Isles Loss Inconclusive

by: Brian Bohl | Senior Writer - NY Sports Day | Monday, November 10, 2008



UNIONDALE, NY — Imagine watching an entertaining movie that contains colorful characters, witty dialogue and explosive action scenes. But instead of the big finish, the film starts to cut in and out at the end before prematurely fading to black.

Islanders fans have been forced to endure the same unsatisfying conclusion to games, as the Isles blew another third-period lead en route to a 4-3 shootout loss to Pittsburgh Saturday night.

Petr Skyora beat goaltender Joey MacDonald on Pittsburgh’s first shootout attempt, which ended up being the only goal in the one-on-one competition. Penguins backup goalie Dany Sabourin turned aside the first two Islander attempts from Doug Weight and Bill Guerin.

The announced crowd of 14,303 then saw a dramatic end when Sabourin stopped Trent Hunter’s shootout try on the last attempt. The puck nestled in Sabourin’s leg pad as his body slid beyond the goal line. Video replays, viewed by league officials in Toronto, said the results were inconclusive, forcing the referees to go with the call on the ice of no-goal, securing the victory for the visitors.

“Seven-eighths of his pad was over the line, but if that one-eighth isn’t over the line, you can’t just make the assumption,” Gordon said. “Whether it was the right call or the wrong call, based on the video, that was the right call because you can’t see the puck.”

Gordon’s team should have never let it go into overtime as the Isles blew a multi-goal lead for the fourth time in five games. Pittsburgh out-shot the Isles, 18-1, in the third period. Tyler Kennedy’s second goal of the game, which came on the Pens 17th shot, tied it at 3 at the 16:45 mark to draw the Nassau Coliseum crowd’s ire. Despite playing at even strength, the shell-shocked Islanders reacted like it was on a period-long power play by desperately trying to chip out pucks from its own end.

The forwards also sagged back, reverting to bad habits that have contributed to a last-place start through 14 games. Just last week against Montreal, the Islanders squandered a three-goal third period lead to lose in regulation. This time, the Isles picked up the point for going into overtime, though the club once again couldn’t pick up the crucial second point, falling to an Atlantic Division rival.

“It's terrible," defenseman Andy Sutton said. "If you lose and learn from it, it's one thing, but if you lose and don't learn from it, it's completely another. You have to make a decision on how you want to play and stick with it."

The Islanders didn’t even wait until the final period to suffer breakdowns and allow the opposition to cut into a lead. Pittsburgh cut the Isles edge to 3-2 16:01 into the second when Evgeni Malkin’s clearing pass along the boards skipped past Chris Campoli.

Jordan Staal collected the loose puck and blew past Bruno Gervais. MacDonald couldn’t bail out his defensemen, sprawling to no avail as Stall capped the play with his second goal of the season to give the Pens momentum heading into the second intermission.

Pittsburgh feed off that energy coming out of the dressing room, holding the Isles to a season-low one shot on goal in the final period. Gordon said the reason for the disparity was simple.

“They shot the puck and they shot from everywhere,” Gordon said. “We were trying to be too fine at the offensive blue line. We weren’t taking our opportunities to shoot. We were looking for that perfect play. If the perfect play doesn’t materialize, the next thing you know, they are counter-attacking.”

After Weight’s tally opened the scoring late in the first period, Kennedy responded 2:16 into the second thanks to a give-and-go with Mike Zigomanis. Kennedy fed a lateral pass to the center near the left circle before Zigomanis returned the favor with a perfect pass in the slot.

Kennedy completed the play by shooting a backhand past MacDonald for the equalizer. That was it for the Penguins offensive until the late onslaught, as the Pens were credited with just three shots through the first period and 11 through 40 minutes.

“We got to play better in the third period and finish that 60 minutes,” said MacDonald, who finished with 29 saves. “I don’t think we’ve played a full 60 minutes since maybe that St. Louis game (the home opener).”

Tim Jackman, who was called up from AHL Bridgeport after Mitch Fritz was sent down, scored just his third career NHL goal 8:51 into the second, breaking a 1-all tie thanks to fortuitous positioning.

Jackman skated in from the left circle, leaving him wide open after Doug Weight’s shot bounced off Sabourin’s pad and went right to the winger’s stick. Jackman promptly fired it into the net before the netminder could slide across, giving him a tally in his first Islanders game this season.

Andy Hilbert extended the lead nearly six minutes later, taking rookie Kyle Okposo’s centering pass after being left along at the top of the crease. Hilbert left alone in front, spun around and fired a backhand from point blank shot for his third goal.

“We got one point, but we all wanted more than that,” Hilbert said. “We just didn’t put 60 minutes together. We’ve had trouble for whatever reason in doing that. We have to figure that out soon.”

Sidney Crosby nearly won it for Pittsburgh with 25 seconds left in regulation, skating in from the right circle before missing wide left. Frans Nielsen fired the Isles last salvo in the third, blistering a wide-open one-timer from the high slot that sailed high as the clocked ticked under four seconds.