The Islanders suffered a regulation loss in Detroit last night through some untimely penalties and failure to stop Alex freaking DeBrincat on the ensuing power plays. They had a 1-0 lead entering the third, got the equalizer (from Scott Mayfield!?) after falling behind 2-1, but Mayfield took a late penalty and the Wings cashed in again.
Frustrating, but the Isles weren’t great overall, and they were due for some bounces and percentages to not go their way and for Ilya Sorokin’s heroics to not be enough.
Islanders News
- If not for Sorokin, it wouldn’t have been that close and down to the wire. The Isles (particularly the Ritchie line and their bottom pair) were hemmed in for several stretches. [LHH]
- Patrick Roy: Pretty upset with taking a late penalty. [Newsday] It was a sloppy effort. [Post]
- Max Tysplakov has done nothing wrong and is keeping a good attitude while being a scratch, Roy says. [THN]
- Travis Mitchell took a long journey to get to play in the NHL in his home. [Newsday]
- The Isles’ business head admits they really need to grow the fanbase. [Newsday]
Elsewhere
Sometimes, in bad Islanders seasons of yore, I’ve kept myself entertained in a Playa Haters’ Ball kind of way by just enjoying the suffering of other teams I hate (or whose media/fanbases are nauseating).
This Isles season has been far from miserable, but…there’s still so many playas out there to deliciously hate. For example:
Last night was the Meeting of the Unwanted Goalies, with Tristan Jarry and Stuart Skinner facing off within a week of their being traded for one another. (Dan and Mike had some hilarious riffs on this trade in their last Islanders Anxiety podcast, beginning around 1:14.)
The Oilers won, 6-4, as Leon Draisaitl passed 1,000 points and both he and Connor McDavid had foure points. They got out to an early 2-0 lead through a 5-on-3 and a 5-on-4 with McDavid simply torching the Penguins’ defense. Blame Skinner. Jarry then let the Penguins hang around throughout the game until an empty netter made it 6-3. Except…like a warning shot fired across the bow of this spring’s playoffs, the Penguins got one more on Jarry as time wound down. That led to this unintentionally hilarious synopsis at Oilers Nation:
Like his start on Saturday, Tristan Jarry was robbed of a .900 save percentage in the final minute of the game, as the Oilers stopped defending. He stopped 26 of 30 shots for an .867 save percentage, with the second goal being rather weak. Still, he outdueled Stuart Skinner, who allowed five goals on 22 shots.
Moral victories!
In other Haters’ fun, the Rangers were shut out at home AGAIN. This time by the Canucks, who’ve won two in a row since trading Quinn Hughes. Money quote from the Smurfs, who outshot Vancouver 23-14 (zzz):
“I don’t remember a time throughout that entire game that we weren’t in their end; that’s not good enough,” Rangers center Vincent Trocheck said. “We need to score goals. We ended up with 23 (shots). It’s not 40 shots, but I’d love to see the possession time in zone. I feel like it was the entire game. We have to score goals.”
- The Canadiens put Sam Montembeault in the AHL on a conditioning assignment. [Sportsnet]
- Looking back at the bad and the bad of the Kevyn Adams era in Buffalo. [Sportsnet]
- Update your fantasies: Connor Bedard will be out a month at least. [NHL]
- Roster freeze is coming up Friday. A couple of waiver claims of Some Guys by St. Louis and Boston. [TSN]
- New Sabres GM is focused on character. [AP]
