Sabres Spank Isles, 7-1

by: Brian Bohl | Senior Writer - NY Sports Day | Tuesday, October 14, 2008



UNIONDALE, NY — The disgruntled fans started to chant for Rick DiPietro after Buffalo opened a four-goal lead. Those jeers were amplified when the Sabres tacked on another goal midway through the second period.

But the Isles would have struggled to win if the special teams continued to falter even with DiPietro in net instead of his backup. The Islanders allowed a power play goal for the third straight game, giving up three tallies with the man advantage along with a shorthanded marker in an ugly 7-1 matinee loss at Nassau Coliseum Monday.

DiPietro once again served as backup to Joey MacDonald, continuing to rest his surgically repaired left knee. Playing his third game in four days, MacDonald allowed all seven goals on just 35 shots, exacerbated by defensive breakdowns and an offense that couldn’t find the net against Buffalo backup netminder Patrick Lalime.

“It was just one of those nights when pucks are bouncing off sticks and in and bouncing off shin pads right to them,” MacDonald said. “Even when we were on the power play, they were getting scoring opportunities.

“The first period went well and things kept getting worse and worse. We got into some penalty trouble and it’s hard to get things going when you’re in the penalty box for 4-5 penalties a period.”

The Islanders surrendered 12 power play chances, including two two-man advantages. Lalime logged 23 saves and missed a shutout only because of Trent Hunter’s garbage-time goal as the teams combined for 150 penalty minutes.

“We weren’t even close with our forecheck and we weren’t very good in the neutral zone,” coach Scott Gordon said. “We didn’t even change effectively. Too many times, our forwards didn’t get in on the forecheck and [didn’t] finish hits. Our defense could have done a better job moving and shooting the puck. There weren’t too many bright spots other than the guys who killed the penalties.”

Gordon saw his team reach its frustrating point midway through the contest. Seconds after the Sabres built a 4-0 lead, Sean Bergenheim took exception to Craig Rivet pushing a teammate while he was engaged with another Sabre, sparking a center-ice brawl that featured three separate fights.

Rivet was hit with two game misconduct penalties and Bergenheim also was charged with a game misconduct. Brendan Witt and Patrick Kaleta also galvanized the crowd with fisticuffs and Adam Mair and Nate Thompson was the last dustup to be broken op. Kaleta, Witt and Thompson were also ejected, leaving the Islanders with five defensemen.

Shorthanded goals plagued the Islanders last season under coach Ted Nolan, when fans criticized decisions like playing forward Miroslav Satan at the point as the organization allowed an NHL-worst 15 shorthanded goals.. Satan is now in Pittsburgh and Nolan is gone, though Gordon saw the same problem resurface in the second when Buffalo added the first one of the new campaign.

The Sabres started a rush into the Islanders zone after clearing the puck. Daniel Paille fired a shot that MacDonald stopped, though Paille collected the rebound and pushed a centering pass to a wide open Thomas Vanek, who converted the easy opportunity for the first of his two goals to make it 3-0 just seven minutes into the second.

“Probably out of all the games we played, collectively, it just wasn’t very good,” said Gordon, who insisted he never thought about pulling MacDonald. “We didn’t play a very good game, so sometimes coaches let the team off the hook when they look for an answer by pulling the goalie.

“Hopefully our team understands that you can’t just point the finger at the goaltender.”

DiPietro’s status is still unconfirmed for Thursday when the club travels to Tampa Bay. Yet even a brick wall wouldn’t earn the victory without at least a goal in support. The Islanders offense erupted for four goals in the home opener against Buffalo Saturday but couldn’t generate any quality chances early against Lalime.

“That’s a lessoned learned,” captain Bill Guerin said. “We took a lot of bad penalties. Like Scott said, if it doesn’t save a goal, it’s a bad penalty.”

Jochen Hecht capitalized on Lalime’s stellar outing, opening the scoring 10:05 into the contest. Hecht, who is one of the few holdovers from the Isles-Buffalo Stanley Cup Quarterfinals matchup in 2007, fired a nearly 90-degree-angle shot from the goal line before defenseman Mark Streit could get over. The puck hit MacDonald’s stick and bounced into the back of the net.

The Sabres scored four times in the opening 11 minutes of the second to quiet the kids’ day crowd announced at 13,523. Joey MacDonald got a glove on Maxim Afinogenov’s attempt but couldn’t cover, allowing it to slide out to the slot. Adam Mair collected the puck and wristed a shot through traffic that beat MacDonald glove-side for a 2-0 edge 2:21 into the second.

Jason Pominville followed Vanek’s goal with a score 1:39 later, sparking the melee that culminated with four game misconducts and 10 misconducts and major penalties.