Islanders Go Out With a Bang! Down Carolina 4-1

First Period

8:23 PM Islanders were on the power play, there was a bad give away and Vasicek took a high sticking penalty – 4-on-4

8:25 PM Islanders killed the Carolina abbreviated power play
8:29 PM Guerin missed on a slick feed by Comeau – the entire team looks very confident on the puck and making fairly smart decisions.

8:33 PM An obvious line mis-match as the Islanders cannot get out of their zone. Looked like a power play unit for the Hurricanes.

First period was pretty good, scoreless – barely. Dubie came up big a bunch of times when the Isles were hemmed in their own zone for at least a minute. He needed the post to save one shot which was deflected.

Islanders are doing great on faceoffs without Sillinger, I even saw a few set plays thrown in and they almost managed to sneak one in. If the Islanders keep on the pressure in the second and control the play with smart puck handling……they could come out of the period on top – Grahame cannot make saves like he has all night.

Guerin is looking to end 07 on a high note and will benefit from the solid play of his linemates tonight.

More during the second period.

Second Period

8:57 PM Dubie absolutely commits highway robbery on Cole
8:58 PM Brind’amour off for slashing – Islanders power play
8:59 PM Bergeron Scores!!!!! Great face-off win!
9:00 PM Commodore spills Fedotenko – another PP for the Isles
9:01 PM Guerin SCORES! What a shot that was…..I think I saw smoke trails! Off a great keep by MAB along the boards
9:04 PM Great block by Witt
9:06 PM Fedotenko sneaks in behind the D and takes a feed from Hilbert to make it 3-0. Carolina just pulled Grahame and put Ward in net.

9:07 PM Instant dividends for Carolina – Adams pots the rebound 3-1
9:10 PM Islanders just had a 3-on-1 went over the net
9:12 PM Fedotenko just nailed Ward in the mask and missed on the juicy rebound
9:14 PM Keep an eye on Campoli and his right shoulder – he just got taken in hard. Looks like he is in some pain on the bench.
9:16 PM Ladd shoots on Dubie, Dubie comes up big
9:19 PM Comeau looks great tonight, hard back checking helped break up a good chance by Carolina.
9:20 PM Adams takes a high sticking penalty on Meyer – another Islanders PP
9:21 PM Bergeron second of the game on the PP – what a blast! That’s three power play points for MAB
9:26 PM Slashing call on Cole – another Islanders PP
9:29 PM Power play about to end – can’t expect them to score on every chance….
9:30 PM Boooo birds evident as Witt gets pulled down by Stall – 6th Islanders PP

Well – if there was ever a perfect road period, this was it. 3 power play goals, 4 goals overall and great pressure on Carolina who have opened up their game – keeps generating chances for the Islanders. Carolina keeps taking penalties and putting their goaltender Ward in a bad position coming off the bench. All the Islanders need to do is play smart defense and keep playing their game and they will take the third period just like the second.

There was a graphic up during the game that is important:

First 17 games – 30 goals
Last 7 games – 16 goals

I think they found their offense!

Third Period

9:58 PM Hilbert with a nice steal, but faked a meaningless shot instead of taking one.
10:01 PM Guerin is still centering to nobody at times. Hamilton just hit the post….
10:03 PM Satan to Vasicek – he misses the net – Carolina was going to be up a man, but now Bergenheim was just jumped by a Cane, should be even up.

10:06 PM Bergy 2 for Kneeing, 2 for Roughing – LaRose 2 for roughing – Canes a man up
10:08 PM Great kill by the Islanders 8:13 remaining in the 3rd period
10:13 PM Fedotenko slashed – yet another Islanders power play. Tank looks like he hurt the finger without a fingernail.
10:16 PM Meyer makes a great block – Sutton takes a penalty
10:19 PM Penalty has been killed, although the Isles just took a delay of game penalty. Just over 2 minutes remain

10:20 PM Shot by Whitney hits the post
10:22 PM And that’s all she wrote! Islander played an outstanding game tonight, every aspect of their game was on point tonight. Power play, penalty kill, even strength – it was all working right tonight.

Hate to cut this short, but I am starving and need to get ready for New Years Eve. I hope everyone has a safe and healthy new year – have fun and drive safe. If you don’t need to drive, don’t and if you do – be smart!

See you in 2008!