Dylan Reese scored two Islanders goals and Trevor Frischmon scored the third. That's what you call preseason.
Box Score | Event Sum | Game Sum
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Final | |
| Islanders | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| Bruins | 0 | 2 | 4 | 6 |
Rick DiPietro played two periods giving up two goals on 22 shots. Anders Nilsson relieved and was flat out lit up for four goals on 14 shots in the third. To be fair, two goals on Nilsson were wide lateral passes that left him out to dry, and the third was deflected (though high, at the point). The fourth was up high short side by Rich Peverley -- brilliant for Peverley, bad for Nilsson, caught leaning in a league where you cannot.
Jeremy Colliton hurt his groin early in the game. A few more notes follow.
Notes and Doodles
Josh Bailey played with Blake Comeau and P.A. Parenteau on a line that became decreasingly visible as the night went on. (To be sure, the Islanders became increasingly dominated as the night went on.) Not sure if that trio, the only full "NHL line" in the Isles lineup, faced exclusively tough matchups from the deeper Bruins, but that's a safe assumption.
- Apparently Parenteau laid a big hit on giant Zdeno Chara though, so that sounded fun. Ty Wishart also tried to lay a good check on Chara, but came away only with an A for effort.
- Reese had two nice goals on slap shots, but he was also burned in the corner on the Bruins' second goal. Ty Wishart was also culpable, leaving his man too much space in the slot to get a great sniper shot off.
- Reports were Rick DiPietro looked good early, including his watched-like-a-hawk lateral movement. His first goal allowed was of the poor form variety though -- down on his knees, instead of staying square and scooting laterally, he ended up lunging with his catching hand to try to stop a modest deke.
- The defense left Nilsson alone on his first two conceded goals -- Mike Mottau cheating to Steve Staios' side on the PK, leaving Denis Seidenberg wide open on the back door, then Wishart and Reese combining to allow another essentially back door situation on Nilsson.
- I like David Ullstrom.
- Curious moment when Calvin de Haan pinched, the pucked was poked by him, and though Matt Donovan was the first to get back and retrieve it in the Islanders zone, de Haan was in no hurry to get back. Probably nothing, but in preseason you nitpick because there's so little to see.
- De Haan (23:13) and Donovan (21:55) led the team in ice time. Mottau also logged over 21 minutes and looked healthy at least.
In case it's not clear, the Bruins lineup was much deeper and more regular, which is no surprise for the preseason home team vs. a road team on a back-to-back. No real expectations tonight and of course no real conclusions reached. But not much to feel good about; this post is more for record-keeping.
A Fight-Like Occurence
Justin DiBenedetto went after David Krejci with a few minutes left, taking exception to a Krejci hit on Ty Wishart. I didn't see Krejci's hit, but the Bruins radio announcers -- who unlike Jack Edwards, announce things in a sober way -- sounded like it was nothing noteworthy. Krejci wanted no part of that, and rightfully so. DiBo got the book thrown at him, with an instigator, instigator with face shield, fighting major and a misconduct.
Quality by Degrees
It's funny: Steve Staios is no longer known as a quality NHL defenseman. But throw him into a lineup like tonight and he does stand out as a guy with NHL experience. Just had a certain intensity and decisiveness. Reminds me how thin the margins really are on a continent where about 2,000 pros are fighting for about 700 jobs.
Saturday Night
Regardless, expect a better lineup Saturday night at home vs. the Devils. The Isles have a 2-for-1 ticket offer for that one. They are also organizing a pre-game blood drive, where the first 200 donors will get two vouchers for a weeknight game.
Finally, the game was streamed on the Islanders site but blacked out for out-of-market folks (and some in-market folks). Here's their streaming schedule, though expect the same for those.