A Boxing Day win for the Isles

And which Islander was the first to “box” tonight? Bruno Gervais? What? How does that happen? Of course, it was because of antagonist Sean Avery. Both got five for fighting, but Avery received an additional two for un-sportsmanlike conduct. Why don’t they just now call it Avery syndrome?

The Isles didn’t manage any shots on goal during their power play.

Frans Nielsen scored the first goal off a strong feed from Kyle Okposo. Now, if the hard work and set up plays of one of the strongest youngsters in the league is worth anything, then MAYBE Kyle Okposo still has a chance for the Olympics. But, that’s Ron Wilson’s call.

Tavares missed a Moulson pass and Bailey missed an open net. Can these guys connect with the puck or not? Is this youth? Or bad ice? When I posed that question on Twitter, I laughed at the answer “Yes, because the Knicks keep polluting the building.” Okay, it was a basketball reference, but it made me giggle.

What a strange game. It took until 12:43 of the second for the MSG crowd to get into it. But the great rebound control by Dwayne Roloson kept the Rangers off the score sheet for a good portion of the game which frustrated the MSG patrons.

The strength of Kyle “Amazing” Okposo increased the Isles lead to 2 – 0 as he fought off an attacker at the boards, kicked the puck to himself and made a perfect pass to Blake Comeau going in short handed on Lundqvist. He scored and took a seat on the ice.

Brashear took a penalty, but the Islanders had a hard time even getting a shot on goal for those two minutes. The Rangers were pressuring, but the score remained the same at the end of two.

Kyle Okposo was interviewed by Deb Placey at the end of the second period. When asked about what Deb deemed one of the best plays of the year, Kyle said “I knew we were going to have a two on one breakaway if I got by that guy.” Kyle had 20 assists, but hadn’t been able to score for himself lately. As disappointed as he is, he’s a team player. “Anything you can do to help the team win is a good thing. I’m just trying to do whatever I can. Just trying to get those two points tonight.”

I was so taken by his attitude, I tweeted “Kyle Okposo has worked so hard, shouldn’t he be rewarded with a Game Winning Goal? Don’t you think?”

Within the first minute of the third, I held my breath as Dwayne Roloson was upended by his own man, Jack Hillen (who played over 28 minutes!) behind his net. Roloson lost his stick and there was a flurry of activity in front of the net. They managed to get out of that one mistake, but couldn’t escape a Dubinsky goal at 13:48 just as a penalty on Blake Comeau expired. Just before the goal, I noticed how tired the Islanders began to look. It seemed as if they gave up and left it up to Roloson who left a rebound on his doorstep a second longer than it should have been. Dubinsky just knocked it in to his left. They celebrated as if they had just won the Stanley Cup.

With a renewed sense of urgency, the Rangers started to fly!

With 8:53 to go of the third, Jack Hillen redeemed himself with Roloson by making a save in front of the crease that would have evened the score at two.
Jon Sim worked so hard around the net and takes so much abuse for it and is hardly ever rewarded.

At 7:15 to go of the third Roloson made a glove save on an Avery shot which sent Avery into a childish tantrum so he went after Trent Hunter looking to start something. I don’t believe there is any one in hockey that annoys me more than this guy. I’ve yet to find one redeeming quality in him.

Andy Sutton must have heard me as he splayed Avery against the boards behind the Isles’ net and DIDN’T get called for a penalty. Avery was angry that Sutton wasn’t called and went complaining to the refs. Again, is there a redeeming quality?
Sutton makes a big difference in the Islanders game. His blocks and hits mean everything to the Islanders defense. He is also one lucky guy as he actually got away with more than one infraction.

Del Zotto hit a post with a shot that would have tied up the game, but the clank off the post was a welcomed sound. But the Isles had too many men on the ice for what Billy Jaffe said was six or seven seconds before the penalty was called. There was confusion on line changes and once again, Matt Moulson was the one that had to sit it out. Can the Isles kill off a penalty and keep the 2 – 1 lead or not?

Gaborik kept the puck in the Isles zone, but fanned on the shot and Richard Park cleared the puck down the ice. There was 53 seconds left of the Rangers Power Play and Nielsen cleared again. John Tortorella attempts to pull his goalie, but the play was off sides and Lundqvist had to make his way back to his net.

And then it happened. With 46.6 seconds left of the third, Dubinsky tipped it in on Roloson’s right off a Callahan pass and my husband started yelling “They can’t effing finish! I knew it would happen. You could see it.”

He was right. You could see it. Again, they looked tired. They began to get sloppy while the Rangers just got hungry.

JT was pretty invisible in the third. Does this mean the conspiracy theory of JT playing hurt may have some truth to it?

Well, with one point the Isles headed into overtime. Sutton was denied by Lundqvist which would have ended the game and then Roloson made an important save in his own end. A good portion of OT was spent back and forth with neither team scoring until…

KYLE! WITH TWO ASSISTS IN THE GAME GOT THE GAME WINNING GOAL WITH 47 SECONDS LEFT IN OT!

What a fitting way to end this game for Okposo as the puck skimmed off of Mark Staal to float the puck past King Henrik.

The best medicine for a yo-yo season for any die-hard Islanders fan is to win against the Rangers, especially in MSG. It certainly makes things a little better.
Congrats to Kyle. I’m sure Scott Gordon will send some of those clips he has from your game tonight right on over to Ron Wilson and Brian Burke.

In the post game, Deb interviewed Kyle again. “Everyone on the bench was feeling a little down, but we had a lot of hope and stuck with it and were able to get two.” While so many on message boards have been calling for Scott Gordon to move Okposo on a line with John Tavares, he seems to have developed excellent chemistry with Frans Nielsen. “I curled back and passed it. I knew Fransie would find me.” He didn’t even care that it went off a skate.

When Deb asked if he had been doing anything different in order to break his scoring drought, he answered “I’ve been doing some things and they’re working now I guess. It’s just a matter of sticking with it. I’ve been playing well and it was working tonight.”

Kyle was all smiles when he was asked how he felt about playing in these Ranger Rivalry games “I love it. They’re fun games to play in and the fans get really excited and it’s a great time.”

Especially when you win Kyle -- Especially when the Isles WIN!

Note: In WJC news it was erroneously reported that the Russian Connection, Klementyev, was cut from team Russia. It was assumedthe efforts of GM Garth Snow were either in vain or not what they were cracked up to be. A little fun was poked at the situation and those involved. Interestingly enough, at 9:40 am Klementyev’s name was still on the roster and he was later on the ice at the World Juniors. So I guess whatever deal was cut was still in place and sometimes conjecture travels faster than reality. Howver, he was kept off the score sheet, but Petrov was NOT as he scored a short handed goal late in the third.

Matt Donovan got the game winning goal in the USA’s 7 – 3 win over Slovakia and Hamonic scored for Canada in their 16 - 0 trouncing of Latvia.