Islanders Prepare For Panthers

[HelloHockeyFans]

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CPHL Exclusive



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Tough road ahead for Islanders
By Kevin Wu

Let's face it, with the current roster of the New York Islanders, fans should be more than happy with their team's position right now, right?

Not so fast there.

With a strong month of November led by goaltender of the month Jocelyn Thibault, the Islanders find themselves in the centre of a battle for a playoff spot in their conference while Long Island prepares for the Christmas holidays.

Times are good on the Island, but with their impressive level of play comes raised expectations.

No longer are people looking to next year in the hopes that Tuomo Ruutu will develop into the superstar everyone expects him to be. Keith Ballard, Jordan Leopold, Sergei Gonchar, and Oleg Tverdovsky aren't being heralded as having the potential to be an impressive Top 4 in 2006, because they already are.

General Manager Kevin Wu has done a dandy job righting the ship since last year's failure to make the playoffs, but no matter how low he puts the bar when speaking of his team's expected success this season, another failure to give the fans of Long Island a taste of hockey in May could spell disaster for the Canadian-born GM and Head Coach.

The local media has been building up the upcoming series between the Florida Panthers and the New York Islanders for a few weeks now with analysis, questions, and predictions.

The Panthers sit comfortable atop the standings tied for 1st overall with the Atlanta Thrashers. Loaded with superstars both upfront and on defence, the Florida Panthers regardless of what any coach will say, have been a measuring stick for most teams.

The Islanders are no different as they embark on a three-game series with the Panthers, with the first game tonight in Florida.

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Game 1: Tuesday, December 13 in Florida
Game 2: Wednesday, December 14 in Long Island
Game 3: Sunday, December 18 in Long Island



On The Line:

For the Panthers? Not much, really. They do have that annoying first place status they'd like to hang on to, but other than that, they may look past these games against an inferior team in the Islanders which could spell disaster.

For the Islanders, some much needed confidence. Having won only one game in their last five the team is hoping to stop the trend before things spiral out of control.

Keys To Victory:

The Islanders must stop the likes of Miroslav Satan, Jeff O'Neill, Mike Modano, and Antti Laaksonen. If the Islanders can contain these fellas (easier said than done), only then do they stand a chance.

Chris Drury, Mark Parrish, Sergei Gonchar, and Kristian Huselius must deliver. The duo of Parrish and Drury were on fire in Parrish's first few games after his acquisition from Winnipeg, but has since cooled off substantially. Tinkering with the lines may have been a cause of this, but they have no excuse as the starting line up has them together tonight.

Starting Line Ups:

Florida Panthers

O'Neill - Handzus - Satan
Zednik - Modano - Zubrus
Samuelsson - Marchant - Laaksonen
Zednik - Modano - Zubrus

Niinimaa - McCabe
Berard - Timonen
Doig - Van Ryn

Nabokov

New York Islanders

Hudler - Drury - Parrish
Hossa - Vyborny - Huselius
Petrov - Roy - Brendl
Hossa - Vyborny - Parrish

Leopld - Tverdovsky
Gonchar - Ballard
Leopold - Jackman

Thibault

[MJK]

Not so fast...Hejduk is still in town and is expected to play his LAST GAME as a Panther tongiht!

Hejduk will once again see 3rd line duties and he has been taken completely off the PP.

[HelloHockeyFans]

LATE GOAL LIFTS ISLES TO VICTORY

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Evgeni Nabakov misses a shot from Kristian Huselius in the third period
giving the Islanders a 2-1 victory over the Panthers Tuesday night.

FLORIDA - Kristian Huselius scored with just over two minutes remaining to give his Islanders the 2-1 victory over the Florida Panthers.

In a hard-fought match up between the Florida Panthers and the New York Islanders, only a late goal by Kristian Huselius would be the difference as the Islanders held on with two minutes remaining in the third to edge the Florida Panthers by a score of 2-1.

Both teams seemed more concerned with defence on the night as the Panthers held the Islanders to only 23 shots on goal while the Islanders kept the Panthers at bay with only 21.

Milan Hejduk, who played his last game as a Panther Tuesday night opened the scoring with a quick shot that beat Jocelyn Thibault over his left shoulder in the second period.

Pavel Brendl, who's been in the coach's doghouse of late answered back two minutes later with his 10th of the season taking an Oleg Petrov feed, splitting the defencemen, and fooling Nabakov with a nifty move to his backhand.

The third period remained close as both teams made few mistakes before Kristian Huselius capitalized on an errant Bryan McCabe pass, beating an unprepared Nabakov with a quick snap shot under the goalie's arm.

With the victory, the Islanders moved back into 8th spot in the Gretzky Conference with 43 points.

The second game of the three game series resumes tomorrow evening in Islanders territory.

Game Notes - Islander defenceman Sergei Gonchar, who has been in numerous trade rumours recently registered an assist on Tuesday night... Kristian Huselius' goal was his 17th of the season putting him ahead of Mark Parrish, behind only Chris Drury on the Islanders for goals scored... Islanders Head Coach and GM Kevin Wu continues to lean on Jordan Leopold giving the youngster over 29 minutes in icetime in Tuesday's game.

[HelloHockeyFans]

PANTHERS RETURN FAVOUR WITH LATE GOAL OF THEIR OWN

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Jocelyn Thibault watches as Islanders defenceman Richard Jackman
and Panthers forward Miroslav Satan battle in his crease.

UNIONDALE, NY - After blowing their game last night in the dying minutes, Todd Marchant scored with under four minutes to play to give his Panthers the victory.

Playing a very similar game defensively as the night before, the Islanders held the Panthers to under 25 shots on the night again allowing only 24 against, but were unable to attain the same results after a late defensive breakdown.

On the other side of things the Islanders managed to solve the Florida defence firing 36 shots on Panthers goalie Evgeni Nabakov, but the stellar netminder was equal to the task making 34 shots in total for the victory.

Goals from Michal Handzus (14) and Mike Modano (10) put the Islanders in a big 2-0 hole to enter the third, but a spirited comeback led by goals from Mark Parrish (16) and Marcel Hossa (12) drew the game dead even with 10 minutes to play in the third.

A mix-up however at the Florida blueline sent the Panthers in on a 3 on 1 which ended with Todd Marchant scoring his 7th in the season at 16:29 which would hold up to be the game-winning goal.

Evgeni Nabakov was rewarded for his 34 save performance with the game's first star, while Michal Handzus was named the game's third star. The lone Islander to be named a star was Marcel Hossa.

The series resumes at the conclusion of this weekend on Sunday when the Islanders and Panthers battle for the series victory in Florida.

Game Notes - Chris Drury was dangerous all night firing a total of 5 shots on Nabakov but was unable to beat the Florida netminder... Jordan Leopold led the team's defencemen in hits and icetime delivering three solid checks in 28 total minutes.

[MJK]

Great posts man..I always enjoy reading yours the most. And the Cheesie pictures you put up who are not actually the players is classic! I am going to steal your idea!

:)

[HelloHockeyFans]

Great posts man..I always enjoy reading yours the most. And the Cheesie pictures you put up who are not actually the players is classic! I am going to steal your idea!

:)

lol thanks Dave.

I would try to photoshop, but I think we all remember that disaster when I did my Isles preview at the beginning of the season... :p :bag:

[MJK]

lol thanks Dave.

I would try to photoshop, but I think we all remember that disaster when I did my Isles preview at the beginning of the season... :p :bag:

How could anyone forget that!?!?

:w00t:

[notoepik]

Oh come on the worst pic in that preview was a real one. The players head didn't fit on his neck at all! I teased Kevin about it, but he got the last laugh, the player was an Islander and it was a real pic LOL

After that, the rest looked pretty darn good :P

[HelloHockeyFans]

ISLES WIN SERIES, DUMP PANTHERS 6-2

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Islanders goaltender Jocelyn Thibault makes one of his 32 saves Sunday afternoon en route to a 6-2 victory over the Florida Panthers.

UNIONDALE, NY - Kristian Huselius scored twice and added an assist as the Islanders won the three-game series with a decisive 6-2 thumping of the Florida Panthers.

Expectations on the Island may have just gotten a little higher.

Paced by a three-point performance from Kristian Huselius, the Islanders tripped up the visiting Florida Panthers by hammering out a 6-2 win over their conference rivals Sunday afternoon.

Playing in front of a raucous crowd at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, the Islanders opened up a 4-1 lead in the first period to send the fans into an even louder state as viewers enjoyed their intermission with some holiday egg nog and of course the obligatory New York hot dogs.

Chris Drury (21), Marcel Hossa (13), Kristian Huselius (18), and David Vyborny (13) all tallied in the opening frame while Michael Nylander (17) was the lone marksman for the Florida Panthers.

Blessed with perhaps an ideal situation, the Islanders faced a Panthers squad which saw tons of line juggling during the course of the matinee affair, as Head Coach Penney experimented with the combinations with two new faces in the line up.

The middle period saw the teams trade goals with Huselius scoring his second of the game and 19th of the season for the Islanders while newly acquired Dainius Zubrus tallied his 9th of the season.

Pavel Brendl who's been a pleasant surprise all season long swept in a rebound past an out-of-position Trevor Kidd in the third to add another goal to the scoreboard for the good guys.

Jocelyn Thibault made the start for the Isles making 32 saves on 34 shots including an impressive package of dazzling stops off first Miroslav Satan, then Mike Modano in the second period with the Panthers urging for a comeback.

The Islanders are off to Columbus next for a match up against the Howe Conference Jackets who settled for a 2-2 draw with the Washington Capitals Sunday afternoon.

Game Notes - Submerged in trade rumours galore, Sergei Gonchar tallied an assist on Sunday bringing his season total to 28 points... Not bad for a defenceman who finds himself as the centre of much of the trade talks concerning the Islanders... Young Jordan Leopold was impressive once again finishing the night with an assist going +3 in the process... The latest of the rumours has the Islanders making a pitch for superstar Joe Thornton out of Washington... The only leak available thus far is that Gonchar would most definitely be one of the players headed to the nation's capital if Thornton is indeed to become an Islander.