Recap: Islanders - 2, Wild - 1

The New York Islanders (1-1-0) defeated the Minnesota Wild (1-1-0) in their annual Columbus Day matinee by a score of 2-1 in front of a crowd of 11,278.

Boxscore:

(G, A)

1st Period: 

MIN: 0, NYI: 1 - Andrew MacDonald (1); Travis Hamonic (1), P.A. Parenteau (1)

MIN: 0, NYI: 2 - Frans Nielsen (1); Mark Streit (1), P.A. Parenteau (2)

2nd Period:

No Scoring

3rd Period:

MIN: 1, NYI: 2 - Matt Cullen (2); Guillaume Latendresse (2), Brett Bulmer (1)

Goaltending:

Niklas Backstrom - 12 saves on 14 shots, .857 SV%

Al Montoya - 20 saves on 21 shots, .952 SV%

Final Score: 2-1 NYI

Attendance: 11,278

Notables:

Once again, the Islanders best player was their goaltender as Al Montoya came up huge for the team today, making 20 saves including some masterful ones against Dany Heatley in the slot. Quite frankly, he stole the game for the Isles. There is no question that Montoya has taken the lead for the responsibility of being the Isles #1 goaltender all year.

The trio of Mark Streit, Andrew MacDonald, and Travis Hamonic were outstanding today. All three ended up on the scoresheet tonight, and played solid two-way hockey. Hamonic has a real chance to become the Isles best defenseman, and soon. His progression has taken off at an astronomical rate.

John Tavares was outstanding today. Despite the fact that he didn't have any points today, he was around the net creating plays, including a beautiful feed to Matt Moulson in front. Tavares has been great in the first two games of the season, and it should only be a short matter of time before he starts lighting the lamp.

As a whole, the Islanders took way too many penalties today. That said, Jay Pandolfo was outstanding on the penalty kill today as he took part in two big kills in the second period, one 4-on-3 and one 5-on-3. The Islanders finished 7/7 on the penalty kill, which was a positive aspect of the game.

The Islanders only finished with 14 shots during the entire game, including just 5 after the first period. Of those 14 shots, only eight of them were by forwards. This is simply unacceptable. For the Islanders to be successful this year, they must rely on their offense. Scoring three goals in two games is not going to cut it over time, even though the defense and goaltending has been better than expected thus far.

Thoughts: 

CH: There is no question that it is great the Isles were able to secure a win and get two points today. That said, the bar needs to be raised. The fact is the team only played 20 minutes today before sitting back as they let the Wild back into the game. If not for Montoya, the Isles would have lost this game in regulation. Their confidence should be a little higher after today's game compared to getting shut out on opening night, so if they come out and play a full 60 minutes on Thursday the team will have a good chance to win.

AT: Better to play 20 minutes all out than no minutes, I suppose. Isles definitely came out of the gate knowing what they had to do, and did so quite efficiently. With a howitzer from (still recovering!) MacDonald and a beautiful slap pass from Mark Streit to Frans Nielsen, the Isles came out of the first looking a million times better than Saturday. However, once they came out for the second, everything reverted back to normal. This team is playing a very high powered offense in Tampa Bay on Thursday and needs to put up at least 3-4 goals to have even a chance. I understand that it's the beginning of the season, but if the Islanders want to have any success this season, they need to start off with a good record and not be fighting from behind.

Next game: The Islanders next game is this Thursday at the Nassau Coliseum against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Game time is at 7:00 PM and will be broadcast on MSG+ 2.