NOW AVAILABLE! New York Islanders: A to Z will introduce a new generation of fans to the legendary players, magical moments, and colorful 50-year history of the Islanders.
Contributions from Brendan Burke, Stan Fischler, Chris King, and Jiggs McDonald.
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A portion of the proceeds goes to the Islanders Children’s Foundation.
Good Morning, Islanders Country.
The Isles are undefeated in Ilya Sorokin makes ‘save of the year’ games.
As he did during the Feb 20. game vs. Pittsburgh, Ilya made what Rick DiPietro called during intermission “The Sorokin” at a crucial juncture of the game. The Isles weren’t the better team in the first period, but Sorokin was their best player, and his lunging paddle stop on Erik Gustafsson kept the deficit at 1-0 and allowed the Isles to find their game, seize the momentum and then pour it on.
"It would have made it 2-0, said Lane Lambert. “Who knows what happens from there. But, that's just a goaltender that never gives up on any play."
As we wrote yesterday, the Islanders won’t make the playoffs simply by beating the teams they’re supposed to beat. They needed a statement win against a playoff-bound opponent. They got it and will likely need more of them.
There have been more dramatic and thrilling games this season, but this was one that left you start pondering what’s possible. Peaking at the opportune time, and with a healthy roster, how dangerous could they be in the first round, regardless of opponent? (More on the healthy part coming up 🤞🏻)
The Isles have given us fits this season. For months they played in ways that invited questions as to whether this group - and even the coach deserved the benefit of the doubt. But then GM Lou Lamoriello doubled down on the here and now with the Bo Horvat trade, and even though the injury to Mathew Barzal has prevented things from playing out as anticipated, it provided the wake-up call for the team to start playing a brand of hockey that translates to the playoff success - and with each passing victory, belief grows that it can happen.
Coming up, Hudson Fasching’s magnificent March continues and Cal Clutterbuck shows off his offensive skill set. Plus, Brock Nelson is unable to return after a questionable hit, Butch Goring Legends Night, the fastest goal in team history and Travis Green explains his intimate moment with Ziggy.
Let’s dive in.
🏒 IN SHORT: The Islanders won their third straight, routing the Toronto Maple Leafs 7-2 at UBS Arena on Tuesday night. Zach Parise and Hudson Fasching had second-period goals to give the Islanders a 2-1 lead, and Cal Clutterbuck scored twice for the Isles (37-27-8), who scored four times in the third period. Anders Lee and Noah Dobson also scored, and Ilya Sorokin made 23 saves in the victory. Mitchell Marner and Sam Lafferty scored for Toronto (42-19-9), which had won two in a row. Ilya Samsonov made 22 saves. Brock Nelson left the game in the first period after taking a hit from Noel Acciari.
KEY MOMENT(s):
🔸 After Zach Parise tied the game at 1-1 playing 4-on-4 in the first minute of the second period Hudson Fasching capitalized on a bad turnover, walked into the right circle, and put a wrister through Ilya Samsonov to give the Isles a 2-1 lead. Fasching is now 4-3-7 in eight games in March.
🔹 It was the fourth game back for Cal Clutterbuck, but it’s been a long while on the calendar since he last scored a goal. He scored twice in this one for the eighth multi-goal game of his career. After Mitch Marner pulled Toronto to within one, Clutterbuck responded right back with a snipe to regain the two-goal lead.
3 REACTIONS
❶ 200 FOOT GAME: "We played pretty well, 200 feet against a pretty good offensive team," Cal Clutterbuck said after the win. "There seems to be a lot of good offensive teams in the mix here. It just goes to show that if we can stick to the plan and be very disciplined in it, we can have success.
❷ WAKE UP SAVE: "It woke us up on the bench," Anders Lee said of the paddle save. "That turned the tide a little bit, we needed that. It could've been 2-0, 10 minutes in."
❸ CHATTER BOX: "We're talking a lot," Zach Parise said of the chemistry of his line. "We played a little bit earlier together and played well. And since we've been reunited, we're getting more familiar with where everybody is on the ice. We're getting chances every game."
GameScore Impact Card
⏭ NEXT UP: The Islanders get to savor this win for a couple of days before they travel to Columbus to take on the last-place Blue Jackets. Face-off is 7:00 PM ET.
📊 STANDINGS: The Islanders received help from the Philadelphia Flyers who doubled up the Florida Panthers 6-3 on Tuesday night. The Isles now have a three point edge on Florida and a four-point lead on the idle Pittsburgh Penguins.
📰 NEWS: The Islanders have been able to survive - and thrive without Mathew Barzal but cannot afford to lose Brock Nelson for an extended period of time. Nelson left last night’s game late in the first period after taking a hit from Toronto’s Noel Acciari in the corner. There was no penalty called on the play. Nelson stayed down for a while before heading to the tunnel and did not come out for the second or third period.
◾️ BUTCH-IE! It was Butch Goring Legends Bobblehead night at UBS Arena as the organization honored the “final piece of the puzzle” during this 50th Anniversary season. Goring is the only individual to play, coach, and broadcast for the Islanders and has become even more of a beloved personality to a younger generation of fans in his third career as an analyst for MSG Networks.
“He’s been a part of this organization for a long time,” said Islanders Captain Anders Lee on WFAN.com. “He had a phenomenal career on the ice here on the island and was a big part of those cups. To have his insight and his charisma and his attitude towards the support for the team in the broadcast booth has been great throughout the years. It’s fun to see him get a bobblehead night.”
✍🏻 A bit of a shakeup in Islanders beat writing/columnists circles as Stefen Rosner, now formerly of NYIHockeyNow, announced that he is joining The Hockey News as their beat reporter with the never-retiring Stan Fischler as a columnist.
The duo put out a slew of content in their first hours, including a comparison by “The Hockey Maven” between Patrick Flatley and Anders Lee.
📚 SOUND SMART: Per Eric Hornick in The Skinny, The Isles scored seven goals against the Leafs for the first time since January 24, 2013, in Toronto. The Isles last scored at least seven goals in a home game vs. Toronto on January 28, 1986.
The Isles last scored at least 17 goals in a three-game period on January 16-19, 2015. The Isles beat Pittsburgh 6-3 at the Coliseum, lost 6-4 in Montreal, and then beat Philadelphia 7-4. To find a streak where the Isles won three straight games, scoring at least 17 goals, you would have to go back to February 11-15, 2011 – a streak that began with the famous Brawl game against Pittsburgh.
🗓 ISLES REWIND: On March 22, 1984, Bryan Trottier scored 5 seconds after the opening face-off against the Bruins at Boston Garden. The goal tied the NHL record set in 1981 by Doug Smail of Winnipeg for the quickest goal in a game. Despite the fast start, the Islanders needed two goals from Mike Bossy to erase a 3-1 deficit and tie the Bruins 3-3.
You can watch the entire game HERE
🔗 Islanders and their fans love Butch Goring by Peter Schwartz, WFAN.com “It's hard to put into words just how beloved the 73-year-old Goring is in Islanders Country. Between fans who were around during the dynasty years to younger fans who know him from watching the current Islanders on television, there’s never a shortage of “91 GORING” jerseys around UBS Arena and he’s always available to the organization when it comes to events and community related initiatives.”
🔗 Mathew Barzal injury: Islanders maintaining hope star can return by end of season by Joe Pantorno, amNewYork “New York Islanders head coach Lane Lambert maintained the hope that his team can get star forward Mathew Barzal back in the fold by the end of the 2022-23 regular season.“The hope is there,” Lambert said on Tuesday morning prior to the Islanders’ meeting with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
And we leave you with this …. this highlight of Travis Green and Zigmund Palffy turns up from time to time, but on the Cam and Strick Podcast, the former Islander and Vancouver Canucks head coach talks about the“The Kiss.”
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A couple of the guys on postgame interviews seemed optimistic about Brock.
That was the weirdest 7-2 game. Down 1-0 after 1 and then just kept scoring after that. It didn't feel like a completely dominant performance, but it was certainly a good one. Can't let up against CBJ and Buffalo this weekend.