Top Shelf : Islanders Daily 6/18/13

Jun 17, 2013; Boston, MA, USA; A general view after game three of the 2013 Stanley Cup Final between the Chicago Blackhawks and Boston Bruins at TD Garden. The Bruins won 2-0. Mandatory Credit: Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports

Middletown, N. J –  The Chicago Blackhawks showed the entire National Hockey League during the regular season and first three rounds of the playoffs that they deserved to be in the Stanley Cup Final. Over the first three games of the championship series, the Boston Bruins are showing they deserve to hoist the Cup itself.

With this series far from being over, it has been the Bruins who have outplayed and out-muscled Chicago en route to a 2-1 series lead heading into game four on Wednesday night. Killing penalties with hardly any effort at all and keeping the front of the clear of prime scoring chances has been the game-plan for head coach Claude Julien.

Last night at TD Bank Garden, it would be goals by Daniel Paille and Patrice Bergeron on the power play that would stand up in the 2-0 victory. Chicago would not show much until the final minute, when Bryan Bickell hit the goalpost and then challenged and tussled with ginormous Zdeno Chara. Andrew Shaw and Brad Marchand would be on the undercard to their left, with Shaw getting in a shot as the two were on their way down to the ice.

Tuukka Rask was solid but hardly had to be spectacular in stopping 28 shots for the shutout and Corey Crawford was again brilliant for Chicago, stopping 33 of 35 Bruins attempts sent his way. The Blackhawks stagnant power play would again rear its ugly head, going 0 for 5 and on almost all of them, barely even registering an attempt at the Boston goal.

Today, look for Evgeni Nabokov‘s summer report card followed by part two of our celebrity bandwagon article by staff writer Eric Bordin.

Oh, and the Flyers sign former Islanders captain Mark Streit to a 4 year, 22 million dollar contract after trading for his rights. We have the take on that in the below links section. (In my best Forrest Gump voice, ‘That’s all I’m gonna say about that’).

Links

• Fan giveaway (EyesOnIsles)
• The Flyers sign Streit and the Islanders win (EyesOnIsles)
• Prospect look at Anders Nilsson (EyesOnIsles)
• Report card : Matt Moulson (EyesOnIsles)
• Matt Solomon takes a look at the Hart voting (Rant Sports)
• NHL Jersey Watch 2013 (IceStetics)

Around The Twitter-Sphere

• Exactly right Chris. The Islanders are capable of scoring goals in bunches and will be for quite some time. Its at the other end of the rink, starting in goal and working out where Snow will focus much of his off-season energy. As he should. Matt Donovan is candidate #1 to earn a spot on the big club come October.

• Art is the leading man for everything Islanders, covering them inside and out as the beat reporter for Newsday. A must follow for any fan of the blue and orange. And he hits the nail right on the head here, something we have mentioned at Eyes in our report cards that covered Casey Cizikas, Matt Martin and most recently Colin McDonald.

• I for one will be cheering the captain when he returns to Nassau Coliseum for his service and dedication to the rebuild and community. But the deal is ludicrous and shows that the Flyers have not learned anything from their recent stretch. The worst part of this for hockey fans? It all points to another potential labor showdown in 7 years. Lockout to follow.

• Garth Snow is deserving of the growing admiration he has been receiving around the league but more specifically, within Islanders nation. He has stuck to the plan and showed patience, perseverance and smarts all wrapped into one. The waiver wire is a tricky thing to navigate and he has that down to a science. See my above reply about where I think the league is heading to your original point.

Around The NHL

• Game four of the Stanley Cup Finals is scheduled for tomorrow night at 8pm EST from TD Bank Garden. The Bruins will take a 2-1 series lead and can really take a huge step towards their second championship in three years with another victory on home ice. The Blackhawks showed some fight at the end of game three, potentially sending a message they will not go down quietly or meekly. And nobody should expect them to.

Highlights of game three:

-AG