My Thoughts
New York Islanders @ Tampa Bay Lightning
Round 2 Game 1
The New York Islanders have
surprised me this post-season. With the emergence of superstar captain John
Tavares, the New York Islanders found a way to defeat the Florida Panthers in
the first round. Last night, they met up with the Tampa Bay Lightning, who have
made a name for themselves even without their captain Steven Stamkos and one of
their best defensemen in Anton Stralman.
The second round series kicked off
with a rested Lightning team against an Islanders team who was hungry for more
after sending the Panthers home. Ryan Strome, the 5th overall 2011
draft pick of the Islanders, made an appearance to replace the injured Josh
Bailey. The key going into this game for the Islanders was to beat Vezina
candidate Ben Bishop by forechecking hard. The key for the Lightning was matching
their top defensemen against Tavares and the quick youngsters of the Islanders.
Tampa Bay got off to a quick start
with a goal by Ondrej Palat to open the scoring at 3:05. The Islanders tied it
up shortly after with a goal by Travis Hamonic at 5:44. The first 6 minutes of
the game were frantic, with 2 goals on the first 7 shots. The game started to
settle down in the second half of the 1st period, but it appeared
that rust was setting in for the Lightning. Islanders rookie Shane Prince
scored 2 goals in the last 3 minutes of the period due to poor defensive
coverage by the Lightning. The Lightning may have also started to feel the
effects of Stamkos and Stralman’s absence. They ended up heading to the
dressing room down 3-1 after 20 minutes of play.
The Islanders had succeeded in
beating Ben Bishop, but the blame shouldn’t land on him. He was left out to dry
by his defensemen on two occasions. On both of Prince’s goals, the Lightning
defensemen were out of position and missed their assignments. This allowed
Prince to go to the net uncontested. The Lightning’s defensive strategy wasn’t
working. The 2nd period wasn’t much better for them. John Tavares
scored a power play goal at 8:59, causing Bishop to be pulled. The Lightning
looked lethargic throughout the period, and trailed 4-1 heading into the second
intermission
The Islanders appeared to be doing
everything right. They severely outplayed the Lightning in the 2nd,
and 4 of their players had 2 points. The fourth line seemed to be the glue that
held the team together. According to NBC analyst Jeremy Roenick, the fourth
line, consisting of Matt Martin, Casey Cizikas, and Cal Clutterbuck, “had a
large impact on success due to physicality. Not only were they physical, they
also drew penalties.” I also got the feeling that their physical play may have disrupted
the Lightning defense.
In the 3rd period, it
looked like the Lightning offense finally showed up again. Nikita Kucherov
scored at 7:41 to make it 4-2. After that, the Lightning really pushed the
envelope in an attempt to come back and tie the game. With a goal by Valterri
Filppula at 17:28, the Lightning were only one shot away from sending the
contest to overtime. The Lightning pulled their goalie with 1:39 remaining, but
Cal Clutterbuck put the game away when he deposited a puck into the empty net
at 19:05. Despite a valiant effort by the Lightning at the end, the Islanders
had won the game.
