Good Morning, Islanders Country.
It wasn’t quite the performance that head coach Patrick Roy was looking for, but he found enough reasons to find positives after the team’s 4-3 win over the Philadelphia Flyers on Monday night at UBS Arena. “It was not our best, but what I like is we found a way to win, and I think that's a good sign,” Roy said. “There are going to be nights when we're not going to play our best hockey, and we need to stick to it and making sure that we play the right way.”
Although it wasn’t all to Roy’s liking, it did lead to an exciting hockey game with Kyle Palmieri taking a nifty cross-ice pass from Scott Mayfield and then making a move across the crease and showing patience to score in the final minute for the win. It didn’t have the same theatrics as game one between the Mets and Braves, but it was high-drama for September 30th hockey.
Dressing a lineup that will resemble the one they put out on Opening Night, the Islanders had an uneven performance early on. This was partly due to too many penalties, impacting the game's flow as most lines struggled to look crisp for prolonged stretches. Despite that, Mathew Barzal and Anders Lee scored on the power play, and Kyle MacLean added another goal for the Isles, as young goalie Jakub Skarek stopped 15 of 18 shots in the win.
Coming up, Max Tsyplakov sets a screen as Nikolay Kulemin will need to set his sights on another opportunity. Plus, Pat Maroon compliments the Nassau Coliseum, Bill Torrey fleeces the Colorado Rockies, and camp opens in B-Port.
Let’s dive in.
📰 NEWS: The story going into Monday’s game was Maxim Tsyplakov getting an opportunity on the second line alongside Brock Nelson and Kyle Palmieri. Playing 16:07, he didn’t get on the scoresheet but was a net presence on the power-play, providing a screen on Mathew Barzal’s goal. If you look closely, you can see him standing at the top of the crease and spreading his arms like an eagle to block the vision of Ivan Fedotov.
“I thought he was good,” Roy said. “It was first game with these guys, and I do believe the more he is going to play with them, the more he is going to be comfortable and his game is going to continue to grow with these guys.”
Game Impact Score
Short Stay
On Monday, the Ottawa Senators released former Islanders winger Nikolay Kulemin from his professional tryout agreement. The 38-year-old Kulelmin was attempting a longshot comeback to the NHL after spending the last six seasons in the KHL. In 669 career NHL games, he has 121 goals and 274 points.
His best season came with Toronto in 2010-11, when he scored 30 goals and 27 points for 57 points in 82 games. Kulemin can now opt for the AHL, as part of his motivation was to play in North America for his son, a prospect himself.
⏭ NEXT UP: The Islanders are “off” the next three days, though Patrick Roy will take advantage of more practice days ahead of the preseason finale on Friday night against the New York Rangers at UBS Arena.
Stadium Pulse
On Morning Cuppa Hockey, Jonny Lazarus was joined by perennial Stanley Cup finalist Patrick Maroon. During the interview, Lazarus asked about the playoff series against the Islanders and playing at the Nassau Coliseum. Maroon was complimentary to the Isles Faithful and how unique the experience was, including how the fans cheered. “When they had long o-zone time,” Maroon recalled. “They’d be chanting like we were in Europe”
📚 SOUND SMART: Kyle MacLean talked earlier in camp about focusing on his face-offs, and the hard work paid off on Monday night. Playing with another center, Casey Cizikas, MacLean finished the game with one goal, four shot attempts, and two hits in 11:51 TOI while winning four of seven face-offs (57%).
🎥 ISLES REWIND: The rich get richer. On Oct. 1, 1981, Bill Torrey made another trade that set him apart from other hockey executives. The Islanders sent defenseman Bob Lorimer and forward Dave Cameron to the Colorado Rockies for their first-round pick in the 1983 NHL Entry Draft. That pick ended up being 3rd overall, and the defending Stanley Cup champions selected future Hockey Hall of Famer Pat LaFontaine. A year earlier, the Islanders had traded G Glenn Resch and Steve Tambellini, a center, to Colorado for defenseman Mike McEwen.
🔗 NY Islanders all-star Mat Barzal is poised for the best season of his career by Michael Stahurski, Eyes on Isles “Playing under Patrick Roy, the entire team realizes they'll be held accountable on the defensive end, including Barzal. But in the 36 games played by Barzal under Roy last season, he maintained his scoring pace, totaling 11 goals and 23 assists after the coaching change.”
🔗 12 Keys to the New York Islanders Winning the 2025 Stanley Cup by Mike Fink, The Hockey Writers “It’s unlikely that the New York Islanders will win the Stanley Cup this season. They are a middling team, and their odds reflect that – at +4000 or +5000, according to most oddsmakers, they are in the same group as the Detroit Red Wings, Ottawa Senators, and Pittsburgh Penguins. However, if a few things go their way this season, they could win it all against the odds”
And we leave you with this…One camp is closing, as another opens up …
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