Isles’ Tavares: ‘We needed two points, especially at home’

By Dhiren MahibanMar 29, 2015, 10:02 PM EDT
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The New York Islanders moved into the second seed in the Metropolitan Division with a 5-4 win over the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday.

The Islanders win coupled with the Ottawa Senators loss means New York’s magic number to clinch a playoff spot is six points.

After falling behind 2-0, New York scored three straight to take a 3-2 lead. The Islanders chased Red Wings’ started Petr Mrazek 16 seconds into the second period when Frans Nielsen gave New York a 4-3 lead.

Mrazek allowed four goals on 11 shots and was replaced by Jimmy Howard.

“It wasn’t the way we wanted to start, but I think credit to our team and everyone digging deep and sticking together,” said captain John Tavares, who had three assists in the win. “We responded right away.”

Brock Nelson, Kyle Okposo and Ryan Strome had first period goals. Cal Clutterbuck had the game winner.

New York’s power play went 3-for-4 in the win.

“Our power play is pretty underrated,” said Okposo. ”Everyone is yelling shoot all the time but we have pretty good structure.”

Added Tavares: “Our power play… it was good to see we got rewarded. We’ve been doing some decent things, I think. Obviously when you don’t score, sometimes the pressure can mount.”

Tomas Tatar and Drew Miller scored on Detroit’s first two shots giving the Wings a 2-0 lead before the two-minute mark of the first period. Niklas Kronwall and Pavel Datsyuk had to other Wings’ goals.

With the loss the Wings remain seven points behind the Tampa Bay Lightning for second place in the Atlantic Division. Detroit has a three-point lead on the Boston Bruins.

Howard made 15 saves in relief and was saddled with the loss.

Jaroslav Halak improved to 36-16-2 with a 25 save performance.

The win snapped the Islanders’ three-game losing streak. It was the Islanders first home win since Feb. 27 snapping a streak of seven straight losses.

“We really needed two points, especially at home,” said Tavares. “Just a character win. I don’t think it’s the way we drew it up, but we did some really good things again. The second half of the game we didn’t give up much. We need to build on it now.”

Wings’ Mrazek hooked after allowing 4 goals on 11 shots

By Dhiren MahibanMar 29, 2015, 6:25 PM EDT
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After falling behind 2-0 before the two minute mark of the first period, the New York Islanders scored three straight to take a 3-2 lead.

The Islanders added a fourth goal 16 seconds into the second period to end Wings’ starter Petr Mrazek’s night early.

Mrazek allowed four goals on 11 shots and has been replaced by Jimmy Howard.

Brock Nelson, Ryan Strome and Kyle Okposo scored first period goals.

Frans Nielsen added his 14th of the season early in the second.

Islanders captain John Tavares has three assists moving him one point back of Sidney Crosby for the league-lead.

Dubnyk leads Wild past Isles in SO, earns 10th straight road win

By Ryan DadounMar 24, 2015, 11:10 PM EDT
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Devan Dubnyk might not get the Vezina Trophy given that he had to spend a good portion of the season with the Arizona Coyotes, but there’s a strong argument to be made that he’s been the most valuable player in the league since mid-January when he was acquired by the Minnesota Wild. He added to his impressive run in Minnesota by leading the Wild to a 2-1 shootout victory over the New York Islanders tonight.

The 28-year-old goaltender turned aside 37 of 38 shots in regulation before beating Frans Nielsen, Kyle Okposo, and John Tavares in the skills competition. Wild forward Zach Parise scored the game-deciding goal.

Dubnyk has now earned 10 straight road victories, becoming just the third active goaltender to accomplish that feat, per the NHL. This is also the longest road winning streak in Minnesota’s history.

“[Dubnyk] just deserves this story right now,” Wild coach Mike Yeo said, per the team’s Twitter feed. “He deserves to be talked about.”

“He was the big reason why we were able to get out of that first period not down 5-0,” Parise told the Pioneer Press’ Chad Graff.

The Wild goaltender now has a 33-11-3 record, 2.07 GAA, and .930 save percentage in 51 games this season, including his time with Arizona.

Panthers squeak by Islanders in SO to stay on Bruins’ heels

By Ryan DadounMar 7, 2015, 10:04 PM EDT
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The Boston Bruins pulled off a dramatic comeback against the Philadelphia Flyers this afternoon, putting the pressure on the Florida Panthers to beat the Metropolitan Division-leading New York Islanders just to keep pace. The Panthers didn’t make it look easy, but they got two points in a 4-3 shootout victory.

Without defenseman Aaron Ekblad and forward Tomas Kopecky (both flu), the Panthers leaned heavily on 35-year-old Brian Campbell and 43-year-old Jaromir Jagr, giving them 26:18 and 21:12 minutes of ice time respective. However, it was ultimately Jonathan Huberdeau, 21, that proved to be the hero tonight.

He netted a key goal for the Panthers in the third period and accounted for the only marker in the shootout.

The Panthers also had Dan Ellis playing between the pipes as goaltenders Roberto Luongo and Al Montoya are both sidelined. Ellis kicked out 25 of 28 shots before out dueling Frans Nielsen, John Tavares, and Josh Bailey in the skills competition.

Florida improved to 29-23-14 to remain two points shy of the Bruins in the battle for the second Wild Card spot. It’s worth noting though that Boston has a huge lead in ROW (30 to 22), so any tie is projected to go to the Bruins.

Roundup: Grabner, Braun activated from IR; Volchenkov put on

By Mike HalfordFeb 17, 2015, 6:41 PM EDT

Some news and notes as we get closer to this evening’s puck drops…

Isles activate Michael Grabner

Grabner will draw in tonight — his first action since Feb. 7 — and, in a corresponding move, New York has placed Casey Cizikas on IR. Grabner will skate with Frans Nielsen and Ryan Strome on the club’s second line; on defense, the Isles will insert Calvin de Haan at the expense of Lubomir Visnovsky, who sits.

Sharks activate Justin Braun

Braun will play for the first time since Jan. 19 when the Sharks take on the Preds in Nashville tonight. Braun, who’s missed the last 11 games with a left hand injury, will skate on a pairing with fellow blueliner Brenden Dillon, which is where he was skating before he came out of the lineup.

Nashville puts Anton Volchenkov on IR

The veteran Russian rearguard went on injured reserve today after speculation suggested he could be ready to rejoin the Preds lineup. Volchenkov, who last played in a win over Winnipeg a week ago, has appeared in 42 games for Nashville this year but could be hard pressed to get minutes in the future, especially with Cody Franson now on board and Ryan Ellis a week or two away from returning from injury.