The Islanders blueline is getting by alright without All-Star Game rep Mark Streit. The Islanders powerplay, however, is going through downright Montreal-like withdrawals without him. Doug Weight paired with Chris Campoli (who I must confess has never wowed me on the power play) just isn't the same. Kyle Okposo (albeit out of position) actually looked better there.
Against the road-weary Kings, the Isles power play went 0-3, which was a shame, because the Islanders are finally getting the 5-on-5 scoring that they couldn't buy for most of this season. Come back soon, Swiss. Come back soon.
Game Summary | Event Summary | nhl.com Recap (AP)
It was asking a lot for the Isles to sit on the 3-2 lead for the whole third period, even with Yann Danis again playing well (36 saves through OT). Danis still made some big saves -- and just as importantly, he stayed patient and square to the shooter several times, giving them no room to feel like they could beat him.
But he couldn't come up with one more save on the only conversion of the shootout, on Jack Johnson's sweeping, side-to-side deke that got Danis going the wrong way. For the Isles' Young Guns shootout squad, Frans Nielsen's backhand deke was okay, Okposo's fancy moves were slick but ineffective, and Josh Bailey just totally lost the handle on it and didn't get a shot off. If only that were the last time I ever had to talk about a shootout.
In retrospect, the Kings looked more sluggish than I expected, despite this being the last stop on their meandering road trip. The Isles picked up more 5-on-5 goals than I expected. But the ending was the same: two points for the visitors, an irrelevant consolation point for the home team.