Los Angeles 4, New York 3, Shootout

New York Islander Fan Central | 2/10/2009 08:40:00 PM |
Sports Network: Recaps New York's 4-3 shootout loss to the Kings Tuesday night.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
That was a fun game to watch from the drop of the puck, both teams skated well and created turnovers. Islanders offense faded for a while in the third.

Did not feel like a game where Los Angeles had a big shot disparity that was 32-18 at one point.

Kings were impressive with their speed and skill on offense, the Islanders did get on them in their own end at times.

Forgot Jack Johnson in the pregame here, excellent skill team.

Drew Doughty made a fantastic play to break up a two on one with Bergenheim and Comeau in the first period.

Whatever mistakes the Kings made was about the pressure the Islander put on who skated very well themselves, they had Jonathan Quick scrambling a few times.

Kings are a very fast club and in the opening few minutes they really forced the action creating a turnover from Martinek before Simmonds scored off a play where the puck hit the referee and came back to him at the faceoff dot.

Simmonds is a big player who can skate and looked good beyond his goal, Islanders could use three players with that kind of overall ability.

After that Islanders forced some pressure of their own with Nielsen almost finishing alone in front before Comrie found Guerin who made a heck of an unconventional play finding Weight to tie the game.

Hunter, Nielsen nice give and go, Hunter was hitting. Comeau took the body well, had an early third period chance at the net before drawing a penalty.

Seemed like Campoli got just enough of the puck off the two on one that Kopitar scored their second goal into an empty net, Gervais pinched on that play.

Scott Gordon and Nielsen were talking a long time at the end of the second period as the Isles came off the ice. He was also diagramming the play for him after the timeout in ot.

Bergenheim drew a penalty, made a Zednik-like move on his off wing in the second and then took a third period offensive zone penalty in a game the officials were letting both teams play that led to the 3-3 goal. Okposo took a penalty like that in the second.

Bergenehim after he got out of the box, found Park who re-directed the pass wide, after that he drew the Islanders a powerplay.

Jackman made a nice play and a great shot for his goal, he had no chance on Frolov's goal. Hilbert drove the net well off a good read by Witt who put the puck on goal, Quick gave up the rebound and Hilbert finished.

Hillen in the second came in off the point and got a good chance, like what I saw from Callahan against some fast forwards on defense who got penalty kill time in a tie game in the final ten minutes and then blocked shot Kopitar on a rush.

Those two third period Islander powerplays did not produce much. Park shooting from the corner is not what I would call a quality chance. Nielsen skated into a one against four after that.

Finally Okposo generated a late chance, Gervais stepped into one and hit a crossbar just missing his first goal in 150 games.

Islanders pressed well the last few minutes, Hilbert/Comrie also hooked up off a Doughty turnover. Nielsen another good chance off rush.

Overtime was entertaining, Guerin's penalty. Danis came up huge on Brown to force a shootout and was solid in goal.

Nice move by Okposo in the shootout. Jack Johnson made a heck of a move for a defenseman to win it for the Kings.

Josh Bailey? Not on this night, a bit too quiet in regulation also. I think he took one shot from the outside.

Los Angeles went into New Jersey and beat the Devils 3-1 and have been playing very well, Islanders did a nice job here against a skilled team that is obviously improved.

We'll see what they can do tomorrow in Newark against the bigger Devils.