Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Isles End 2013 On A High In Surprising 5-3 Win

 photo by TorontoSun

Tonight, our Islanders ended the 2013 calender year with a surprising 5-3 victory over the Boston Bruins.  Here are some of my notes from the game:

-So this is what having a good power play feels like.  Now, I am not expecting them to keep up this pace for an extended period.  However, this should give them some confidence back moving forward.

-Kyle Okposo remains on fire!  At this rate I am going to be surprised if we don't hear his name announced for an invitation to Sochi tomorrow afternoon.  He has really carried over his late season/postseason play from last year to this season and its great to see.

-Tavares got the bounces tonight.  People may complain that he doesn't take a game over like Crosby or Ovechkin do.  While that's true, Tavares still has done his job quite well this currently placing 11th in the NHL in points at over one per game.

-Good to see Nielsen get back on the board after going cold for a couple games.

-Third goal wasn't one of Nabokov's finest but beyond that he was pretty solid tonight, especially in the third period he made some key saves.  He gave the Islanders every chance to win the game and that is all you can ask for from your goalie.

-Bad job by Hickey on Boston's third goal, he has to put more on it to get it around the boards.  Save for that though he has had a bit of an offensive explosion the last couple games like we've never seen so far in his time here.  It will be interesting to see if he can keep this up.

-It is immaterial now because we won but we actually had a sixth goal to that was scored in the first period but was wrongly disallowed.  Replays later in the game clearly showed the puck had crossed the line and was swept out of the net by a Bruins player before the official noticed.  If you missed it during the broadcast check it out below:

We couldn't have asked for a better way to end 2013.  The last two games we have shown some of the things that made this team successful last season.  If we can see more of the same at a consistent level then maybe those who have said we are still in the playoff race might be onto something.

Next Game: Thursday 1/2 @ Home Vs Chicago

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