Sim and Isles blizzard past Avalanche

March 2, 2009   ·   Derek Felix   ·   Jump to comments

The weather was pretty fitting considering that the Avalanche were paying a visit to Long Island. On a day a blizzard blanketed the metro area leaving 11 inches of the white stuff off the Meadowbrook, the Islanders used three assists from veteran forward Jon Sim to defeat Colorado 4-2 at Nassau Coliseum in the league’s lone Monday game on Versus.

Jeff Tambellini had a goal and assist. Rookie recall Jesse Joensuu scored in his first career NHL game and Yann Danis made 20 saves as the last overall Isles won their second straight two days before the March 4 trade deadline.

Recent pickup Dean McAmmond got the scoring started 13:15 into the first when he took a Sim pass and wristed one through Andrew Raycroft for his second as an Islander. Tambellini added a helper.

Ryan Smyth drew the Avalanche even 33 seconds into the second stanza when he took a Paul Stastny centering feed burying it into an open side for the first of two goals on the night. But it took the Isles less than two minutes to respond with Joensuu getting his first by following up a Sim shot rebounding it home at 2:31.

Quite an eventful day for the Isles’ former 2006 second round pick from Finland who was once highly thought of. He drove from Bridgeport following the big snowstorm arriving at the arena in an hour and laced ‘em up wearing No.58 in his successful NHL debut. Not a bad way to start on a rebuilding team certain to be busy over the next 40 hours.

The Islanders continued to play well against the struggling 15th ranked Western foe with Bruno Gervais getting his first when he rebounded home a Sim shot making it 3-1 at 13:04. It was Sim’s third point of the game giving him six in the last seven. One of the rumored Avs Marek Svatos who can put the puck in the net failed to take the Islander defenseman on the play. He’ll make over two million next year. Buyer beware.

Svatos atoned for his defensive gaffe by setting up Smyth’s second 62 seconds into the third cutting the deficit to 3-2. It was the one-time Islander’s 23rd of the season. Could he be moved again? We’ll see.

As they’d done all night, the Islanders replied in timely fashion with Tambellini finishing off a brilliant Mark Streit rush beating Raycroft with a quick wrister off the right post and in for his third. The play by Streit was tremendous as he transitioned from his own end looking like another No.2 this area’s seen before dishing for Tambellini who did the rest.

On a team that’s been competing for John Tavares for quite a while, the 31 year-old Streit now has a club best 45 points (12-33-45) along with a respectable plus-four rating after going plus-two in 23:47 tonight. Quite impressive stuff from the first-year free agent who’s making Garth Snow look like a genius.

While Snow should be busy working the phones, he can at least take solace knowing he made the right move inking the former Hab who should be an integral part of the club’s future hopefully on Long Island.

Commissioner Gary Bettman was in the building interviewed by Versus/Islander color analyst Billy Jaffe painting a gloomy picture about the Islanders’ future which seems to depend on owner Charles Wang’s  proposed Lighthouse Project. If they don’t get a new arena in place, Bettman hinted that the club would have to look at “other alternatives” indicating that they couldn’t survive in what will soon become the NHL’s oldest building next year.

Hopefully, his message was heard loud and clear by those in Hempstead.

Three Stars:

3rd Star-Ryan Smyth, Col (2 goals, 6 SOG in 21:47)

2nd Star-Jeff Tambellini, NYI (goal, assist, +2 in 16:15)

1st Star-Jon Sim, NYI (3 assists, 5 SOG, +4 in 14:13)

Notes: Islander team captain Bill Guerin was again heldout being termed “healthy” as the unsolved mystery of whether he’s been traded continues to linger. … D Joe Callahan notched an assist for his first NHL point in 13 games all this season. … RW Milan Hejduk had an assist for the Avs who went 0-for-3 in the metro area dropping their fifth overall. … Raycroft turned aside 27 of 31. … Islanders (20-36-7, 47 Pts) play host to the seventh seeded Rangers (32-24-8, 72 Pts) Thursday night.