Tavares seals Isles’ first win

October 22, 2009   ·   Derek Felix   ·   Jump to comments

It’s a wonderful Thursday here in NYC. Sunny skies. Warmer weather than last week’s winter chill. Good stuff. We’re at tonight’s second Hudson Battle between the Devils and Rangers at MSG.

Unfortunately, due to my busy sched today, I have little time to recap the Islanders’ first win last night in the form of a 4-3 shootout with talented rookie John Tavares sealing it with a perfect shot off the left post and in. The wiz kid was one of three Islanders to beat one of the league’s best Cam Ward to give Nassau a much deserved win. Jeff Tambellini (top shelf glove) and shootout specialist Frans Nielsen (backhand deke) also tallied around Jussi Jokinen ensuring victory. It allowed the club not to match their worst start in franchise history. They’ll take a 1-3-3 mark into Montreal tonight going for two straight.

I didn’t see every detail of last night but the Isles blew a 3-1 lead. Till that point, they’d gotten contributions from Andy Sutton, who setup Matt Moulson’s fifth and neatly deflected home his second in three games. He also took a minor penalty sticking up for Tavares, who got hit a little late by Andrew Alberts. Just the kinda character you want to see from a vet.

With the Islanders leading 1-0, Matt Cullen’s centering feed banked past Dwayne Roloson to tie it. However, the home club responded with two consecutive goals 49 seconds apart. First on a bizarre play, Tim Jackman banked a Nate Thompson pass off a couple of Candy Canes and in surprising Ward. Then Sutton somehow was down low to redirect partner Jack Hillen’s shot suddenly making it 3-1 in favor of the home club.

Was this it? It sure looked like it when they still led by a pair with under seven minutes left in regulation. But just that quickly, it turned. Everyone knows about the Islanders’ third period struggles. It happened again. This time, the Canes rallied for two in 62 seconds. First, Eric Staal finished off a great pass play in which the Isle D got lost down low, allowing the Canes’ top threat to bury a Ray Whitney feed. Whitney was playing in his 1,000th career game. Then it was Joni Pitkanen teaming again with Jokinen for a goal we’ve seen before with this time, Jok stopping the pass before going shortside on Roloson, who should’ve had it.

Just like that, it was tied to groans. The game went to overtime and both clubs had their chances. The Isles had a couple with Ward making a nice sliding save following a Pitkanen turnover. Kyle Okposo made a nice pass but the Carolina goalie was ready. Tavares nearly got a breakaway but the pass was too far. He still managed to force Ward to stop a stuff try.

Amazingly, the Islanders almost didn’t make the skill comp. Their D again nearly was victimized when the Canes led a three-on-two. With the puck on Whitney’s stick in the high slot with him about to make a play, only a desperate backcheck of Chad LaRose into the net saved an ugly conclusion. The hustle paid off.

The Islanders this time took their first shootout in three tries. Fitting that Tavares would sink the final shot to make them victorious.

BONY 3 Stars:

3rd Star-Ray Whitney (assist in 1,000th career game)

2nd Star-John Tavares (shootout winner sealed 1st win)

1st Star-Andy Sutton (Goal/Assist, 2 PIM)