Islanders power play delivers in Ottawa

November 14, 2008   ·   Derek Felix   ·   Jump to comments

The Islanders got a much needed win at Ottawa coming back from an early Filip Kuba power play goal down to score three unanswered in a nice 3-1 victory last night.

Recent history hadn’t been kind to the Isles against the Sens but times are different and this Senator club has struggled under new coach Craig Hartsburg making me wonder why Bryan Murray hired his own guy for this team in the first place. It’s clearly not working as he’s split up Daniel Alfredsson and Dany Heatley and has seemingly ruined support players like Antoine Vermette by tinkering around too much.

About the only move he got right was realizing that Martin Gerber shouldn’t be the No.1 handing it over to Alex Auld, who’s done a solid job. Maybe our notorious Devil blogger Hasan knew about this team cause he didn’t pick them to make the playoffs. And based on what I’ve seen, they sure aren’t the same team and haven’t been since their hot start last year before Wade Redden’s slump which has continued to rare its ugly head here on Broadway.

So, if Hasan and other bummed out Devil fans are looking for reasons to stay optimistic, just look at how dysfunctional the Senators are and it’s not like they have all the injuries the team which resides in Newark does. However, when you check the standings, it’s the Devs with the better record along with a couple of more points sitting ninth in the East.

Now, ask yourselves a question. Do you think Carolina or the overachieving Maple Leafs are better than your team? I sure don’t. The only team behind them which would concern me are the Flyers, who rallied from three down to get a point last night in a 5-4 shootout defeat to the charging Pens. They have only five wins and 14 points thus far but they’re capable of a lot more even with injuries to Daniel Briere and their D.

The question is are the Sens better than the Devs? It’s hard to argue that based on how they’ve played. Last night was the latest glaring example scoring just once on Joey MacDonald, who granted was superb in making 29 saves giving his harder working team a jolt.

The one thing I admire about the Isles is their work ethic. They’re not going to win many games without giving their best effort. That’s how they beat the Rangers over a week ago when I was sick as Hell and that sure didn’t help much. It’s how they’re going to win in this league.

Scott Gordon preached how his power play didn’t get it done in a Veteran’s Day 3-1 home loss to the Flyers blowing two extended 5-on-3′s and also permitting a shorthanded goal to Mike Richards. He indicated that his club was very good at even strength but their inability to capitalize on the power play was the difference.

His club got the message scoring twice in five chances on the man-advantage with 2008 first round pick Josh Bailey notching his first NHL point with a nifty setup for a wide open Kyle Okposo into an open side off a Chris Campoli rebound. The play was wonderful as it showed the 19 year-old rookie who only was in his second game wisely tracking the puck moving from one side to the other skating into open space and then patiently drawing two Sens before relaying the perfect pass to his teammate for the tying marker at 12:42. Even better was the nice gesture by Okposo immediately getting the puck for Bailey. Very cool.

Keep an eye on this kid. He’s got great wheels and seems to possess good hands and playmaking ability. The best aspect is the Isles played him over 13 minutes. Almost a couple more than Okposo, who’s a year older. Those are the two guys they’re building around. That’s who Islander fans should get excited about moving forward no matter what happens the rest of the way.

MacDonald made some key stops to keep it tied and then goalscoring leader Trent Hunter continued his resurgence stepping up like a leader by taking advantage of a broken play scoring a PPG off a faceoff by getting to a loose puck and surprising Auld with a quick backhand for his seventh. Before the season began, I said he had to become a team leader and sure enough, he has and is looking like an incredible bargain at five years $10 million. Not bad, huh? And he’s 28.

The Islanders got an insurance tally from team captain Bill Guerin who only had to stand still in front and wait as Doug Weight humiliated the Sens D circling completely around them drawing Auld out before dishing to his former Team USA linemate for a tap-in 2:31 into the final stanza. Sean Bergenheim, who missed on a breakaway at the end of the second picked up the other assist.

From there, MacDonald took over stopping all 16 Ottawa shots sent his way including a couple of robberies from in close on Vermette and Chris Neil. He needed to be good as did the guys in front of him due to a Thomas Pock elbowing major and a Richard Park slash in the final minute handing the Sens a 6-on-3 when they pulled Auld for an extra attacker.

Ottawa couldn’t beat MacDonald to make things interesting as the clock ran out giving the grittier more determined team a deserved win.

Notes: The rematch in a rare home-and-home is Saturday at Nassau Coliseum when the Islanders (5-9-2, 12 pts) go for a sweep. … Campoli (23:03, assist), Bruno Gervais (21:56) and Mark Streit (25:19, plus-one) all logged big minutes on the blueline. … With an assist, Weight has points in three of his last four (1-3-4) to pace the Isles in scoring with 14 points (3-11-14). … Hunter’s seven goals are just five off last season’s total. In fact, he didn’t tally his seventh in 2007-08 until Jan.11 versus Calgary. … Ottawa antagonist Jarkko Ruutu was out serving the first of a two-game suspension for an elbow on Montreal’s Maxim Lapierre. He’ll also remain out for Saturday.

THREE STARS:

3rd Star-Doug Weight, NYI (assist, 4 SOG, plus-one in 18:19)

2nd Star-Trent Hunter, NYI (deciding PPG, 5 SOG in 15:28)

1st Star-Joey MacDonald, NYI (29 saves incl. 25-25 last 2 periods)

Pock Apologetic: Thomas Pock was very upset for his elbow on Ryan Shannon which resulted in a major and game misconduct apologizing for his actions against an opponent he’s known since college.

“I didn’t mean to hit him like that,” Pock told reporters.

“It is what it is. I’ve got to give him a call later. I talked to him before the game, you know, I’ve known Ryan for a long time now—we played in college against each other. It’s always bad and I feel bad about it. It was a bad play, that’s all I can say about it. I hope he’s all right.”

So do we.