The Islanders season is over. Another disappointing year for the Isles and their fans as we will once again sit at home and watch the postseason without the blue and orange. Once again they have a top 5 draft pick, this year it's the #4 pick. While the standings may not indicate such, many Isles have vastly improved their games since last season. In this entry, I will rate the goalies on a scale of A+ to F based on their performance (or lack thereof) this past season.
After injuries gave Poulin the chance to play last year, he shined, going 4-2-1 in 7 starts before a fluke injury ended his season. This year, Poulin was called up quite a few times, but only appeared in six games. Part of that can be due to Evgeni Nabokov's good play, but the other part of that can be due to that when he was called up, he was rusty. He went 2-4-0 in those six starts. Both of the wins came against the Carolina Hurricanes. In those six games he posted a save percentage of .907 compared to .924 in his rookie season. Ultimately, there was too small of a sample size to accuratley grade Poulin. In the next few seasons, if Evgeni Nabokov gets traded or leaves, Poulin will be the first guy to get the call. He should be the Islanders goalie of the future, but in the present, he'll be in Bridgeport where he can excel and thrive, and try to lead the team to a Calder Cup.
photo credit: sports.yahoo.com
#35 Al MontoyaB- Montoya was also given a chance last year after a slew of injuries to goalies. In 2010-11, Montoya played in 20 games down the final stretch. In those games he posted a 9-5-5 record, 2.39 goals against average, and .921 save percentage. These numbers were good enough to earn Montoya a one year contract extension. This year, his numbers looked very different though. In 31 games played, he posted a 9-11-5 record, while having a 3.10 goals against average and an awful .893 save percentage. Montoya started the year as the starting goalie on opening night, and ended up winning two of the first three games for the Islanders. However, once Evgeni Nabokov started playing, Montoya was relegated to the bench. And, after suffering a concussion in Winnipeg in December, Montoya was sidelined for a little while, and when he came back, he just wasn't himself. I don't know if it's fair or not to give Montoya a B- in the rankings. He didn't have the best circumstances and once Evgeni Nabokov started playing, Montoya was not the same Montoya he was during the previous season. I don't think that the Isles will resign Montoya for next season but he has played well enough that he should find a job somewhere else in the NHL next season.
We all know about Rick DiPietro and his struggles. In October, a Brian Rolston slapshot got him in the face and took him out. Then in December, he had to get sports hernia surgery, once again ending his season. In 8 games this year, DP went 3-2-3 with a .876 save percentage. Not good. This marked the 3rd time in the last 4 seasons that DP has played in 8 or less games. He still has nine years left on his contract, and it doesn't look like he is going anywhere. There are three reasons I didn't give him an F. Firstly, he actually played in a few games and won a couple. Secondly, he had 2 assists on the year, giving him more than Nino Niederreiter. Thirdly, he tried to win the fans over by buying lunch for the first 5,000 fans at an Islander game at the end of the season. Too bad it takes wins, not lunches, to win over the Islanders fans.
Nabokov has had a crazy ride to Long Island. After refusing to play for the Isles last season, he came back to the NHL and his first season on the Islanders will be considered a success many people, but Nabokov himself won't appreciate his season. He went 19-18-3 with a solid .914 save percentage in his first full season in the NHL since coming back from the Russian KHL, starting in exactly half of the games during the regular season. Nabby played like the elite goalie that he was for so many years with the San Jose Sharks, even winning games by himself at some points. He will be back next season, and now, he is in line to be the Islanders starting goalie if all works out. If he plays just a little better than he did this season, than the sky is the limit for the Isles.
Anders Nilsson was not given a grade because I am only grading the goalies that played in at least 5 games, he might get a better chance next season.
That's it for the goalies. Next up will be the defensemen.
Another season looks like it will end without the playoffs, and if the Islanders already give you headaches, these last five games must make you sicker. They all have a common theme to them, and I guess that can be a theme that applies to the Islanders season as a whole. Let's take a look at all the breaks the Isles got, only to suddenly let it all fly away.
March 10, 2012 Devils @ Islanders
The third of three games that the Isles played against the devils in a span of one week. Anders Nilsson won his first NHL game during the first of the three games, so he got the nod again in the finaile. Through two periods, both Nilsson and Devils goalie Johan Hedberg stopped everything they faced. In the third period, the Islanders got one to the twine when John Tavares got a perfect pass from PA Parenteau, and nailed a perfect shot over Hedberg's shoulder. With less than two minutes left, the Devils caught a break as a weak wrap-around found its way through Nilsson to tie it. Then, seconds after the center ice faceoff, PA Parenteau took a boarding penalty. Newly acquired Devil Marek Zidlicky sealed the Islanders fate off the faceoff in the Isles zone by blasting a shot past Nilsson. With 1:40 to go in the game, the Islanders were winning. With 1:25 to go, they were down 2-1. Final Score: 2-1 Devils.
March 11, 2012 Islanders @ Rangers
After the Devils disaster, the Islanders had to quickly rebound at MSG the next day. The final game against Rangers is one that the Islanders had to win, unless they would lose the season series vs the Rangers. The Islanders got the first goal, once again by John Tavares, but this time it was in the first period. This is the first lucky bounce the Islanders got during this game. The puck didn't even hit Tavares' stick, it just hit his body and went past Henrik Lundqvist. The Isles then got another break after a Mark Streit slapshot deflected off a Ranger, hit the back glass, and bounced right to Matt Moulson, who banked it off of Lundqvist and in while Henrik was looking the other way. See this crazy bounce HERE.
The Rangers answred both Isles goals, but the Isles got another break when Andrew MacDonald scored on a breakaway right after he left the penalty box. Give John Tavares the credit for this one as he made a great pass that sprung MacDonald for a goal. The game went into OT, and in OT...
Don't get me wrong, the Islanders were doing a great job keeping things on the perimeter on this play. HOWEVER, there are two things that, in my opinion, could have been done better. Firstly, Nielsen or Streit should have tried to dive at Richards to close up the passing lane and make him shoot. Secondly, the Isles should have realized how much time was left and played like goons. They were down to three men because of an earlier penalty, and with under ten seconds left in OT, anything goes. The Isles could have taken another three penalties, and they still couldn't lose any more man power. They should have been interfering, slashing, and doing anything to prevent a shot. Time for the next one.
March 13, 2012 Capitals @ Islanders
The title of this entry mostly reflects on this game more than any of the others. Here's the lucky bounce.
This goal has to be the craziest goal I've ever seen. This gave the Islanders a 1-0 lead. Then later in the period while on the power play, Travis Harmonicshot the puck towards the net and had it bank off of a Capital defender and into the net. After the first period, it was 2-0 Islanders. They made it 3-0 when JT banked in a rebound off a Mark Streit shot on the power play. After that, the Capitals fought their way back. The one man the Islanders should have kept an eye on, Alex Ovechkin, put two pucks past fellow Russian Evgeni Nabokov, including the tying goal. The Isles caught yet another break in the shootout when Dmitry Orlov lostcontrol of the puck before he could even get a shot off. Unfortunately, Mark Streit couldn't convert for the Isles and Matt Hendricks won it for Washington in the next round. The Islanders blew a three goal lead in this one. This had to be tough to overcome.
March 15, 2012 Flyers @ Islanders
Flyers goalie Ilya Bryzgalov came into this streak trying to break the Flyers all-time shutout mark. The Islanders dug themselves into a 3-0 hole midway through the second period. Evgeni Nabokov wasn't playing like the Nabby he was a month ago. Fellow Russian Ilya Bryzgalov did break the record for the Flyers with just about 250 minutes of shutout hockey. That's more than four games. Of all the ways for the streak to be broken, I wasn't expecting a Michael Grabner fling of the stick. This was another lucky bounce for the Isles.
John Tavares scored 30 seconds later to make it 3-2 Flyers. The streak of 35 seconds being significantly less than Bryzgalov's previous streak between goals. Unfortunately for the Isles, they couldn't put a third puck into the net. Flyers 3 Islanders 2.
As I am writing this entry, it seems that the Islanders are on a bit of a roll. Wins in Montreal and Toronto have the Isles flying high. They want to try to keep this good momentum going for the rest of the season so they can play the spoiler role for any teams thinking they can roll over them.
The Islanders are starting to run out of time to make a move in the playoff hunt, but if there was a time to make a move, it would be now. The Islanders can thank these three stars, that are not named John Tavares, for the late season push.
Third Star: Timly Scoring from Defensemen
Islanders defensemen have scored a total of 13 goals this season. That is not a good mark by any means, but when the Isles have to have a goal, don't be suprised if it is a d-man putting the puck in the twine. In the past few weeks, the Isles won two games in overtime thanks to the defensemen. The first OT winner was scored by the least likely culprit on the Islanders, Mark Eaton. But why would he not score? It was only his 600th NHL game and he was heading down the ice with Milan Jurcina, another unlikely culprit.
The second OT winner was scored by none other than the captain, Mark Streit, and his goal was a beauty. He went right through the entire Los Angeles Kings team and buried a backhander past Matt Moulson's brother in law, Jonathan Quick. He also did it on a day the Islanders were honoring a defenseman, Kenny Jonsson.
Second Star: PA Pareteau's Emergence
Over the past couple weeks, PA Parenteau has showed everybody that he deserves a raise from the 1.25 million bucks he is making this season. He has scored goals attimelymoments. He has also been the guy tomake theperfect passto set up a goal. He is currently 6th in the entire NHL with 42 assists, and even when he was moved off of the John Tavares line, he continued to produce. When Parenteau heads into free agency this summer, the Isles need to make it their number one priority to resign him for next season.
First Star: Nabby Saying No Let's face it, Evgeni Nabokov has been the Islanders best player over the past month or so. He single-handedly won a game that the Islanders had no business winning, making 45 savesin Philadelphia through overtime, then making two more in the shootout to somehow give the Islanders a 1-0 win. When games have gone past regulation this year, Nabokov hasn't lost. He has provided something the Islanders have lacked over the past few seasons, stability in net. There are talks that the Islanders might trade him, but then they would be giving up on this season. Garth Snow needs to make a significant effort to re-sign Nabokov for next season because Al Montoya has been shakey and Rick DiPietro is well....Rick DiPietro. Nabokov's 15-14-0 record so far this season is solid, especially since he missed a few weeks earlier in the season with an injury. If Nabokov leaves, then the Islanders will have no goalies that have any experience in big games.
Now, I know what you are thinking, Where is John Tavares? He is not on this list because everyone in the NHL knows that he is just the best player on the team. Also, over the past few weeks, it has been these three things leading the team. The time to win is now or never for the Islanders. Will it happen? Let's watch and see.
When the puck slowly slid across the goal line at the Prudential Center last Saturday afternoon, I can assure you that I was not the only Islander fan ready to give up on this team.
In my mind, and out loud, I was screaming, "What do they have to do to get a win?" As I was in the process of typing a tweet about how bad the Islanders are, the MSG+ crew was showing replays of the goal. I calmed down enough to watch the replays, and after THIS decision was made, a faceoff was irrelevant, and the Islanders somehow had came away with 2 points and their first road win of the year.
They can keep it rolling.
After that mini heart attack, the Islanders played a great all around day to close out November on a positive note. In Bufflo, Brian Rolston got the late backhander into the back of the net. Al Montoya was phenominal, making 30 saves and getting another win. A few points from these games.
1. Michael Grabner needs a breakaway coach, or to think less. In the last 3 games, Grabner has had almost 10 breakaways and a penalty shot. He only converted on one, and that was the one when he had no time to think about where he was going to shoot it.
2. David Ullstrom is really playing well. He is getting opportunites, and he is helping the team convert. He got an assist on the game winning goal yesterday, and he is playing like he wants to stay in the NHL.
3. Al Montoya is trying to end the Islanders goalie controversy. Last night, he was unbelievable in Buffalo, and he has played great. He is the #1 goalie. Rick DiPietro can wait, and whenever Evgeni Nabokov gets back, he should be traded.
A two game winning streak to end November is nice, but it will take a lot more to put the Isles back into playoff contention. Back to back games in Chicago and Dallas should be a real test for this club. Time to put up or shut up.
