Islanders 2, Avalanche 1 (OT) -- Grabner's Speed Wins Track Meet
By Kevin Schultz | Jan 11, 2014 | 12:04AM
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The Colorado Avalanche are a fast team that is built for speed and that was on full display Friday night from the opening whistle.It drew them a power play early on when Matt Duchene blasted down the wing three minutes in and blew up Andrew MacDonald, causing him to take a holding penalty (it was more of a flail and hope for the best than anything else). In the second, they would get on the board with a blazing breakaway goal from Nathan MacKinnon.But in the extra session, it would be the Islanders own Flying Austrian who would win the game with his feet.In a up-and-down overtime session, Michael Grabner found himself on a breakaway but wasn't able to put the puck past Avs goalie Semyon Varlamov. He was able to keep on the puck, swooped around the offensive zone and hit the back of the net on a shot from the slot to give the Islanders two points.It was an important second point for the Isles, too. Both Washington and the Rangers won tonight, so the Islanders needed to keep pace in the Metro division playoff hunt. They currently are nine back of Washington, eight behind the Rangers, but it's actually Detroit they are chasing at the moment, seven back of the Wings.Yes, the terrible, no good, very bad Metro Division now not only holds one of the wild card playoff spots but it actually holds the higher wild card spot.Not only have the Islanders been playing well lately -- three in a row and six-of-seven -- but every team in the division save Columbus has points in at least seven of their last ten. The division as a whole is positively regressing, making the Isles current streak that much tougher to gain points and making their 10-game losing streak that much more painful.* Â * Â *
The first period tonight would go scoreless, but the Islanders had a number of chances to break the tie. Frans Nielsen in particular did a good job creating pressure and turnovers in the opposing zone, giving himself two 2-on-1s. The first he opted to pass to Cal Clutterbuck and the second he kept for himself, but neither would find the back of the net.The Islanders did have a power play of their own in the first and nearly scored, as John Tavares had a point blank opportunity but was hit with a bad trip -- slew foot, even -- from an Avs defender. A bad no call from the referees.Later on in the second, the Avs would show their speed again as first overall pick Nathan MacKinnon flew past everyone in for a clear breakaway on Kevin Poulin. MacKinnon got a quick up from Andre Benoit and made it look easy, catching Matt Donovan flat footed and beating Poulin for the goal.Of all the goals that Donovan has had a front row seat for, this is one that was honestly more of an impressive play from the opposition than it was a screw up for the defense.Credit is due to Kevin Poulin tonight, who had an excellent performance in the Islanders net especially with a lot of Flying Forwards bearing down on him. Poulin stopped 30-of-31, his best performance of the year outside of San Jose.To keep up the team's hot streak and keep his spot when Nabokov returns, Poulin is going to have to do more of this. The Islanders -- defense induced or not -- have had spotty goaltending most of the year. Nabokov was playing well before the injury and a good stretch from Poulin will be just what the doctor ordered for the team.The TV broadcast mentioned at the outset that Poulin was 'hot' coming into the game, which was, uh, curious considering he had played only three times since December 13th and had a combined .885 save percentage in those games. Tonight was a stark departure from that for Poulin on a night when the Avs were exposing some of the slower Islanders defenders.Four and a half minutes into the third, Brock Nelson scored on a wacky broken play to bring the Islanders even. After getting knocked down in the offensive zone, he made an excellent play from the seat of his pants to keep the puck in the Avs end. All the way in the offensive zone corner defender Calvin de Haan dug it out of the corner and fed the slot. The puck would find its way back to Nelson's stick and he buried it.Yet again, as it has been many times during this streak, young Islanders were a key in the win; Poulin in net, and de Haan to Nelson for the tying goal.In overtime, it would be Grabner for the win to give the Islanders their sixth victory in seven games. They head to Dallas on Sunday for the third of a six game road trip. They've earned all four possible points thus far.Tags: 13-14 Recaps, Game Recaps, Kevin Schultz
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