Top Shelf : Islanders Daily 11/3/13

The New York Islanders on Saturday night provided an announced crowd of 14,018 with what can only be classified as their most powerful performance of the young 2013-14 season.

Getting back to their identity, which head coach Jack Capuano spoke to in his pre-game presser “Be the hardest working team in the league”, paid immediate dividends against a big, strong and rested Boston Bruins team.

After arriving in from Ottawa at 1:40am, the players headed straight home and did not participate in a morning skate. It showed from the outset that the rest was not only appreciated, but needed.

There was passion, hitting, passing and shooting but more importantly, a commitment to defensive first hockey by every player on every line. Not content to let the defense ‘ride’ this one out and be left alone. A couple of moments of trepidation around Kevin Poulin‘s goal in the third period were only thwarted by the fact that all five guys were down low on the back-check.

The Islanders out-chanced the Bruins 67-62 and actually out-hit them as well, 27-20. If there was any negative statistic coming out of last night’s affair, it was the that the team is still struggling in the face-off circle, winning only 24 of 59 draws last night for a 41% success rate.

The first line of Kyle Okposo, John Tavares and newly acquired Thomas Vanek clicked to the tune of 2 goals and 3 assists with a +9 combined rating, Vanek netting his first as an Islander in the second period off a beautiful 2 on 1 feed from Okposo.

Matt Donovan was brilliant in 17:58 of ice time, playing his second consecutive strong game. Learning each and every shift, the lessons are not lost on a heady youngster such as him and I would expect the play to continue to improve with still some anticipated bumps along the road as all rookies experience. His diving defensive sweep check in the second period was a thing of beauty.

With a day off today (as evidenced by the immediate packing of equipment bags after last night’s game) it’s off on a four game road trip now for the Islanders with visits to Washington, Carolina, Columbus and Montreal. The team looks to be starting to put something together but as we have witnessed all first hand, consistency and sustaining the momentum is going to be key.

In Case You Missed It

• Joe Powers recaps the victory over Boston in our very own ‘snap shots’ feature (EOI)
• Puck Daddy with their three stars of the night (Yahoo)
• John Tavares started a trend, now everyone is doing it (USA Today)
• Bad news for Dave Bolland, who will need surgery for cut on leg (Faceoff)

They Said It

Commentary from a happy locker room last night at Nassau Coliseum:

 Thomas Vanek:

Thomas Hickey:

Kevin Poulin:

Kyle Okposo:

Jack Capuano:

Around The NHL

Scr

Home

Scr

O/S

DETROIT

5

EDMONTON

0

MONTREAL

1

COLORADO

4

PHOENIX

3

SAN JOSE

2

SO

NASHVILLE

4

LOS ANGELES

3

PITTSBURGH

3

COLUMBUS

0

FLORIDA

2

WASHINGTON

3

SO

CAROLINA

1

NY RANGERS

5

BOSTON

1

NY ISLANDERS

3

PHILADELPHIA

1

NEW JERSEY

0

ST LOUIS

2

TAMPABAY

4

ANAHEIM

6

BUFFALO

3

TORONTO

0

VANCOUVER

4

CHICAGO

5

WINNIPEG

1

1

PITTSBURGH

15

11

4

0

22

10

48

33

2

NY ISLANDERS

14

6

5

3

15

4

45

44

3

WASHINGTON

14

7

7

0

14

4

44

40

4

NY RANGERS

13

6

7

0

12

6

25

38

5

CAROLINA

14

4

7

3

11

4

27

44

6

COLUMBUS

13

5

8

0

10

4

33

36

7

NEW JERSEY

13

3

6

4

10

3

26

38

8

PHILADELPHIA

13

4

9

0

8

4

21

37

Across The Sound

The Sound Tigers earned their second straight win last night, defeating Norfolk 4-3 in a shootout. Full recap from the Tigers official page can be found right here.

The team is now off until next Saturday when they play in Hershey.