Official GameThread: Islanders vs Thrashers (Pregame NYI.com)

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http://www.newyorkislanders.com/gameday/pregame.html

Wrapping Up On The Road (7:30 pm)
Islanders at Atlanta (FSNY, 1560 AM)

Randy Robitaille, shares the team lead with three points in two games, and waiver-draft pick-up Robert Petrovicky, who provided a pair of goals in the Thrash's win over Washington.

The Thrashers have gone with Pasi Nurminen so far, and he's come through, allowing just four goals in two games, for a pair of wins.
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http://www.newyorkislanders.com/gameday/insider.html

The Insider: The Book on the Atlanta Thrashers
Islanders vs. Atlanta Thrashers
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http://www.newyorkislanders.com/gameday/scoop.html

The Scoop: Atlanta Thrashers
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Nurminen is always very tough on the Isles and always seems to win over DiPietro in head to head games. Thrashers have gotten production from former NYI-NYR's Randy Robitaille and Ronald Petrovicky.

Going to take another good skating effort.

The Rizzo piece was OK, but the Witt piece had three mistakes. I wouldn't liken the Thrashers goaltending situation to the Isles, Dafoe is 33 and Nurminen will be 28 in December. Hardly the passing of the torch between generations. Calling Nurminen a 'young stud' is a stretch at best. Yes, he's a recent draft pick, but he was an overage European.

Also Kovalchuk plays on the second line, not the first. (Rizzo got that right.) And he doesn't play on a line with Tommi Santala. Santala is on the third line. They are usually on the PP together, but with Ilya at the point though. The first line is Kozlov- Savard-McEachern, the second is Kovalchuk-Stefan-Piros.

Hartley's done a good job getting the Thrashers to draw together during a difficult time.

I think the special teams are the difference tonight.

Isles 4,Thrashers 3
Isles scorers:Blake, Hamrlik,Peca,Papineau
Thrasher scorers:Savard,Kovalchuk,Kozlov

let's go isles :p

Will bergenheim be playing at all?

Hartley's done a good job getting the Thrashers to draw together during a difficult time.

I think the special teams are the difference tonight.

Isles 4,Thrashers 3
Isles scorers:Blake, Hamrlik,Peca,Papineau
Thrasher scorers:Savard,Kovalchuk,Kozlov

let's go isles :p

I think we skate to a 2-2 tie. Peca and Parri and Kovalchuk and McEachern.

Will bergenheim be playing at all?

Unknown.
Papineau had a good game playing on the 4th last time out, but they may want more of a look at Bergenheim, in case they are thinking about returning him to Finland.

Any official word on who's the starting goalie tonight?

Any official word on who's the starting goalie tonight?
Nothing yet ,but the other day Stirling did say he wanted to stay with the same lineup. :dunno:

I would say DiPietro.

Isles need to skate and more importantly take the body at all times.Atlanta has been on an emotional rollercoaster and need the air taken out of them and hopefully Godard will get this done.

I say Isles in another shut out 4-0! :handclap:

Yashin-2
Parrish
Chow

Islanders will win 4-2

Blake - 2
Yashin - 1
Bates - 1 (empty net)

====================================

35 seconds in and Parrish lights up Nurminin for a 1-0 lead.

Parrish looks like Maurice Richard out there for crap sakes.

Great first period by the Isles. They totally outworked, and outskated Atlanta. Great opening shift by the Peca line to open up the scoring. Just shows what could happen if you don't give up and keep moving those skates. Ricky's looking good despite only facing three shots...

ISLANDERS 1 - ATLANTA 0

SCORING
Period 1 - Islanders, Parrish 3 (Blake), :35

PENALTIES
Period 1 - Atlanta, Exelby (Hooking), 5:47; Atlanta, Stefan (Tripping), 13:52; Islanders, Blake (Charging), 17:34

SHOTS ON GOAL
Islanders: 10
Atlanta: 3

GOALTENDING
Islanders - DiPietro (3 shots, 3 saves)
Atlanta - Nurminen (10 shots, 9 saves)

Doh,

Dipietro's season opening shut out streat has come to an end after 115 great minutes. He was beat by a Patrick Stefan.

1-1.

2-1!

Cairns from Boots....that does wonders for my pool. :joker:

Pretty back and forth second period there with Atlanta showing a lot more signs of life than in the first. Nothing Rico could do with Atlanta's goal. It just bounced off of his chest and landed right on the stick of Stefan for an easy poke. Good to see Cairns getting on the scoreboard. He's been playing with a lot more fire as of late, and his confidence is easily boosted up two-fold after his constant lack of playing under Laviolette. Kvasha is looking better and better every game. He's stronger, throwing some checks and using his weight to his liking. He's definitely starting to shed my "Gentle Giant" image of him slowly but surely...

ISLANDERS 2 - ATLANTA 1

SCORING
Period 1 - Islanders, Parrish 3 (Blake), :35
Period 2 - Atlanta, Stefan 1 (Tremblay, Kovalchuk), 2:23; Islanders, Cairns 1 (Butenschon), 11:45

PENALTIES
Period 1 - Atlanta, Exelby (Hooking), 5:47; Atlanta, Stefan (Tripping), 13:52; Islanders, Blake (Charging), 17:34
Period 2 - Islanders, Hamrlik (Tripping), 5:13; Atlanta, Aubin (Goaltender Interference), 6:52; Islanders, Scatchard (Obstruction Tripping), 9:33; Islanders, Aucoin (Unsportsmanlike Conduct), 13:28

SHOTS ON GOAL
Islanders: 10 - 6
Atlanta: 3 - 7

GOALTENDING
Islanders - DiPietro (10 shots, 9 saves)
Atlanta - Nurminen (16 shots, 14 saves)

What an exciting game. Great action from both ends of the ice as both teams earned a deserving point in Atlanta. Both DiPietro and Nurminen played very strong as DiPietro shined with his patience, and Nurminen shining with his glove. Seems like Yashin friggin deserved a goal tonight, he was the best foward out there for the Isles. Oh well, a point is better than nothing. Here's looking foward to the Isles home opener on Saturday. Unfortunately, I won't be here for it. I'll actually be gone for the next five days or so because I'll be leaving for California tomorrow evening. So this will probably be the last you guys will be hearing from me for a while. I will be back for the Isles-Toronto game on October 20th. I hope for a successful home opnener and let's all give Coach Stirling a great Long Island welcome on Saturday. Take care, and here's your final scorecard!!

ISLANDERS 2 - ATLANTA 2

SCORING
Period 1 - Islanders, Parrish 3 (Blake), :35
Period 2 - Atlanta, Stefan 1 (Tremblay, Kovalchuk), 2:23; Islanders, Cairns 1 (Butenschon), 11:45
Period 3 - Atlanta, Savard 1 (McEachern, Kozlov), 6:18
Overtime - None

PENALTIES
Period 1 - Atlanta, Exelby (Hooking), 5:47; Atlanta, Stefan (Tripping), 13:52; Islanders, Blake (Charging), 17:34
Period 2 - Islanders, Hamrlik (Tripping), 5:13; Atlanta, Aubin (Goaltender Interference), 6:52; Islanders, Scatchard (Obstruction Tripping), 9:33; Islanders, Aucoin (Unsportsmanlike Conduct), 13:28
Period 3 - Atlanta, Tremblay (Holding), 8:44; Islanders - Butenschon (Obstruction Holding the Stick), 13:06; Atlanta - Bench (Too Many Men), 14:14
Overtime - None

SHOTS ON GOAL
Islanders: 10 - 6 - 6 - 3 = 25
Atlanta: 3 - 7 - 9 - 4 = 23

GOALTENDING
Islanders - DiPietro (23 shots, 21 saves)
Atlanta - Nurminen (25 shots, 23 saves)

Could have been better .... could have been worse.

All in all they played a pretty good "road game" and you can't be too disapointed with the tie. A bit too fancy at times rather than just firing the puck.

Atlanta was much tighter defensively than they were last year. Ice time not exactly distributed evenly. Hunter and Papineau get approx 5 minutes each. Hopefully they will see more if the Isles get bigger leads or play in games with more flow.

DiPietro shined with his patience

I don't know if I can agree with you on that one, Tom. He clearly showed patience on the breakaway in OT and deserves credit for that. But I thought there were other moments where he committed early and looked a bit, I don't know, frantic maybe. But a good effort.

Have a good trip!

Forget rolling 4 lines, I don't even think they were rolling 3.

Blake 23:14
Yashin 22:38
Peca 21:29
Kvasha 21:00
Czerkawski 17:39
Parrish 14:34
Scatchard 13:35
Bates 12:31
Asham 11:42
Weimer 11:25
Papineau 5:25
Hunter 5:07

Scatchard, Asham and Weimer averaging about 12 minutes in a 65 minute game does not seem like alot. Especially when you consider that two 4th line players played all of ten and half minutes combined.

Very exciting game! Isles dominated first period and Thrashers gave a spirited effort in 2nd and 3rd periods.

Peca, Blake and Kenny were all over the ice.

Yashin had a great night with beautiful setups that Chow and Kvasha couldn't convert.

DiPietro made some nice poke checks and came up huge in OT on the breakaway. His lateral movement from post to post was quick.

Defensive breakdown on Thrashers second goal.

Isles have more talent than Thrashers and should have held on for the win but Atlanta gave such a spirited effort that I'm not disappointed with a thrilling tie. Not like kissing my sister this time.

.500 on the road. On to the home opener and to welcome Steve Stirling to NVMC for real.

-19

Anyone else think that was a weak first goal by Stefan. I realize DiPietro is not going to stop everything, but I am willing to bet he wants that one back. He should have caught that puck.

My thoughts:
All in all I good road tie.
Nurminen saved the game for Atlanta.
The Isles looked awesome in the first period but just average the rest of the game.
With any luck the 1st line would have had 3-4 goals last night. They looked good again.
I think the Isles need to work the other lines better or they will run this team into the ground by Christmas.

Overall I have mixed feelings on the game, they lost a third peirod lead, but considering the second goal came from Cairns they were lucky to have a lead because he does not get many goals.

High marks to Atlanta, who are a fast, skilled team who's defense is much better than in the past and did keep the Islanders from making the extra pass for the high quality chances that may have gotten them a third goal. Exelby(sp)? and their defense is much better than past years and Nurminen is a solid goaltender. Their pk outworked and pressured the Isles pp.

DiPietro was very good, maybe could have held the rebound on the first goal but made up for it and really did well clearing the puck. See no reason to go back to Snow yet based on last night.

As for the Isles, some good moments and a very solid first peirod but the Thrashers speed gave them problems and they could not make that extra pass or were out of sync. A lot of great individual shifts from Yashin. (drew penalty) Kvasha (some amazing shifts and a hit on Kovalchuk)

Yashin seems like he is just not shooting well yet, but he was working hard and went right at the net on one powerplay on a good give and go.

Blake was the Islanders best forward and was everywhere. Stirling did not use his fourth line as advertised.

Aucoin had a terrible game, caught out of position a few times and some undisciplined penalties. Niinimaa was solid early but was out of positon a few times also. Cairns, Butenschon were solid. Jonsson almost got the winner in overtime.

Considering how things started in Washington, three out of four points will have to do. Was disappointed so few fans showed up considering they have a new arena and a good team.

Finally after being on the road seemingly since February the Islanders come home.

Anyone else think that was a weak first goal by Stefan. I realize DiPietro is not going to stop everything, but I am willing to bet he wants that one back. He should have caught that puck.

My thoughts:
All in all I good road tie.
Nurminen saved the game for Atlanta.
The Isles looked awesome in the first period but just average the rest of the game.
With any luck the 1st line would have had 3-4 goals last night. They looked good again.
I think the Isles need to work the other lines better or they will run this team into the ground by Christmas.

Re: the Stefan goal. I watched the game on tape and rewound this goal several times. at first, it looks Ricky really messed up on the play. However, I think Rick was expecting a harder shot from the point than the one that came to him. That's why he was a little perplexed and reacted awkwardly to give up that odd rebound. No excuse, but kinda like looking for a fastball and you get a change-up. your caught off guard.

gotta say that Kvasha was a force out there. i think that was the best 60 minutes he has played for this team in a very long time...hope to continue that style of play from him.

anyone else notice that the isles consistently tried to pass the puck cross ice through 2 defenders on several occasions? i thought that was a little risky under this system of play.

how bout kovalchuk? i know he's feisty and has no fear about who he runs into, but it seemed to me that he was taking that extra effort to make his russian countrymen notice notice and feel him...

Kvasha looked impressive with that hit on Kovalchuk, who initially was trying to lay the hit on Kvasha! Kvasha braced himself for it and sent Kovalchuk flying!

Are we seeing the beginnings of a power forward?

Scatchard is returning from injury. He is still behind in conditioning.

Add in PP time, and the difference in time between lines is lessened.

Besides, why should third and fourth line players (the latter comprised of two rookies) get the same (or nearly the same) amount of icetime as the top two lines? Where does this thinking of socialistic, intramural-like, "everybody-is-equal" mentality that some embrace fit in on a professional hockey team? Does Colorado play Riku Hahl and Dan Hinote nearly as much as Peter Forsberg and Joe Sakic? Does Dallas play Niko Kapanen as much as Mike Modano? Should they? The top line players are characterized as such for a reason.

If the players receiving the most icetime get "worn out," then they are inferior athletes. Thing is, they won't. And great players thrive on more icetime, they crave it.

Scatchard is returning from injury. He is still behind in conditioning.

Add in PP time, and the difference in time between lines is lessened.

Besides, why should third and fourth line players (the latter comprised of two rookies) get the same (or nearly the same) amount of icetime as the top two lines? Where does this thinking of socialistic, intramural-like, "everybody-is-equal" mentality that some embrace fit in on a professional hockey team? Does Colorado play Riku Hahl and Dan Hinote nearly as much as Peter Forsberg and Joe Sakic? Does Dallas play Niko Kapanen as much as Mike Modano? Should they? The top line players are characterized as such for a reason.

If the players receiving the most icetime get "worn out," then they are inferior athletes. Thing is, they won't. And great players thrive on more icetime, they crave it.

I wasn't complaining about the alotment of minutes or advocating that anything should change. I was simply making an observation that the statements that have been made regarding rolling four lines are not supported by the facts. At least not yet.

Right or wrong, good or bad, it's just an observation.

Just as you were making an observation that the statements made regarding four lines are not supported by facts, I, too, was making a general observation.