ISLANDERS WILL NOT GO AWAY !

If you ever thought the New York Islanders were out of the playoff race in the east – I am here to remind you that nothing could be further from the truth !  Just look at the standings:  Islanders 80 points, Florida 79 and the Penguins 78.  There is much work to be done from the team who plays out of Belmont Park.  Their premiere player Matt Barzal is out and even with the addition of Bo Horvat and perhaps the best 4^th line in hockey (Martin, Clutterbuck and Cazykas) they MUST continue to press on.

The Toronto Maple Leafs are coming off a couple of impressive overtime wins over Carolina and Ottawa.  Tonight would feature soon be to daddy Ilya Samsonov vs the steady Ilya Sorokin in goal.  Noel Accuraci, Marc Giordano and Gustavson were back in, while Luke Schenn and TJ Brodie sat out.

As expected, a fast paced, tight checking game got underway with a slightly favored Leafs twinge including nice, in close attempts by Marner and Matthews.  It wasn’t until the 9 minute mark that Sam Lafferty got his first goal as a Leaf off his back, thigh and whatever to convert a great net jam thanks to Liligren and Bobby McMann.  A 10 bell, paddle save by Sorokyn off a beautiful feed from Marner to Gustaven negated any further damage.  The Islanders came back strong in the final 2 minutes but Samsonov was fabulous to maintain his shutout status.

The second period started off at 4 on but within :28 seconds Zach Parise tied things up at ones.  Suddenly we had a game, or did we ?  At the 6:10 mark a brutal Liligren giveaway allowed Fashing to score his 7^th and the Islanders seemed to take over the momentum from there.  They had more shots, more space and remember that 4^th line I referred to earlier ?  Sure enough Cal Clutterbuck (one of the best names in hockey) buried his 5^th to put his Isles up 3 to 1.

Sheldon Keefe tipped his hand by reuniting his “top six” IMO.  It worked at first when a tough forecheck from Accairi/Kampf and ZAR put the Isles back on their heels.  Marner pooped his 27^th immediately following.  Cal Clutterbuck put one up high just 44 seconds later to put that uprising down.  By the end of the massacre, the Islanders ensured their presence in that wild card race with a 7 to 2 win.

HOPPER NOTES:  Oh yeah, they still BOO John Tavares, even though it’s been five years since he left…so nice to see the outboard motor and lawn equipment ads back on the air…didn’t hear Justin Holl’s name called much – that’s probably a good thing…to all those hosting dinner and/or birthday parties this evening – you didn’t miss much… there’s really not a lot to say about a team that just got the snot kicked out of them…tomorrow is another day – CHEERS !