New York 3, Pittsburgh 2: Shootout

New York Islander Fan Central | 2/16/2009 02:33:00 PM |


















AP: Recaps New York's 3-2 shootout win against Pittsburgh Monday.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Good effort by the Islanders, not a lot of great chances but they got in the trenches, were physical and made key plays/got bounces when they needed them.

Saturday two pucks go off Radek Martinek for goals, this time with an open net a puck hits his skate to stop what was a sure goal against which could have meant a 3-2 regulation loss.

Before that Crosby picked his pocket for a quality chance in the first.

Not a good response for Pittsburgh who did not get much bounce from a coaching change. Satan was virtually invisible.

Hard to believe it's been that long since Nielsen scored with all the goals he has contributed to, he did a good job crashing the net. That shootout move has been money for him since the first time he did it against the Leafs.

Bergenheim again was a very active player driving the net and creating plays, Hilbert had a very strong game and loved him throwing down Malkin during that scrum at the end of the second.

Pittsburgh started the game choppy, Isles got a bounce for their first goal but a nice read to find Campoli. Bailey lost to Satan who found Malkin who used Hillen as a screen and made a good shot for the 1-1 goal.

The hush when Malik gets the puck on a rush is deafening, Staal made some very good defensive plays and I suspect when Gonchar gets out of training camp mode with Whitney, Crosby and Malkin that is going to be a very tough powerplay or pressure line to beat.

Fleury did not have to make a lot of great saves, he looked beatable for the most part.

Pens defense was turning over the puck but it seemed Pittsburgh was waiting for the Islanders to turn it over so they could counter with their speed and skill.

Gervais is coming closer and closer to scoring, that's the second post/crossbar in a week, very solid game. Witt who was knocking over everyone he could. Mark Streit did a solid job in his nineteen minutes and was in on a few offensive plays.

Okposo passed up his three on one chance but got better down the stretch and that play to take the puck from Crosby at the end of overtime was fantastic.

Isles gave up too many odd-man rushes in overtime. MacDonald got stronger as the game wore on and stole the extra point with his ot play.

High marks to Jon Sim who battled hard as usual and even though his line did not generate much was visible. A year ago Tambellini scoring a shootout goal was supposed to help him, nice shot, we'll see.

Islanders have played well enough to win games recently, today was the day they finally broke through against a struggling team with a lot of talent.



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