UNIONDALE, N.Y. (Oct. 13, 2011) – John Tavares led all players with a game-best four points on two goals in addition to a pair of assists, all of which came in the first period, as the New York Islanders defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning by a score of 5-1 in an Eastern Conference match-up at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, N.Y. As a result, the Isles have now won two in a row, and move to 2-1 on the year. Meanwhile, the Lightning have dropped three straight, falling to 1-2-1 overall.
“We are picking up points, and taking what we can get during the early homestand,” said Tavares. “We were hungry and played hard. It was not pretty, but with skill and great goaltending, we got it done.” In regards to the scoring performance, the former No. 1 pick of the NHL Draft stated: “It is always nice to break the ice. I had a positive feeling, and got rewarded. We are continuing on the good opportunities we got from Monday’s win.”
New York came out flying in the opening period, as Tavares struck twine only 36 seconds in. He took over on a miscue by Tampa Bay in the offensive zone, and fired a shot off the glove of former Islander netminder Dwayne Roloson. But, on the ensuing clear attempt, Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman tapped the puck into his own net, giving the Isles the quick 1-0 cushion. 2010-11 NHL leading scorer Steven Stamkos answered for Tampa Bay just seven minutes later as he re-directed a Marc-Andre Bergeron through the five-hole to tie it up.
Matt Moulson quickly gave the hosts the lead again with 9:28 left. On the play, Marc Eaton hit the iron from the point. The rebound then shifted to Tavares, who handed the puck off to Matt Moulson for his first marker of the season. Tavares wasn’t done just yet. He tacked on another tally, in addition to an assist on a P.A. Parenteau goal, staking him four points through one. On the marker, which came in tic-tac-toe style, Tavares one-timed a Moulson pass by Roloson for his second goal of the game. The Isles eventually went into the break up 4-1.
No sportsbook online could have predicted that.
“We got good things out of our line,” said Moulson. “The timing was a lot better. We worked hard, and needed a quick spark, which we got from Johnny (Tavares) on that first goal.” In regards to keeping the opposition off the scoreboard, Moulson stated this: “The whole team did a good job of forechecking. There were not a lot of odd man rushes, and we continued to sustain pressure throughout the game.”
In the second period, Tampa Bay had the early opportunities, as Ryan Shannon, and Mattias Ritola paced the Lightning on their combined three tries. However, Shannon’s transition shot, and Ritola’s two stuff-in tries were knocked away by New York goalie Al Montoya. After that, the Islanders got back to their first-period ways, as Michael Grabner found the back of the net to make it 5-1 with 13:13 to go. Kyle Okposo was credited with the assist after his rebound caromed behind Roloson, and Grabner was there to tap the puck over the line.
Guy Boucher then made a change in goal for the ‘Bolts, replacing Roloson with Mathieu Garon, who came in sporting a 0-1 mark with a 4.01 goals-against average. From there, the Isles were unable to strike again for the remainder of the stanza, which included a near one-minute, 5-on-3 two-man advantage opportunity off hooking and interference penalties by Vincent Lecavalier and Pavel Kubina. Over the last minutes of the period, Tampa hoped to cut the deficit, but it was to no avail, as New York went into the second intermission up 5-1.
During a physical third period, both squads combined for four trips to the sin bin. Neither team knocked home a marker though in the 20-minute stint though, and the Isles soon posted a 5-1 win in front of 9,000 strong at the Nassau Coliseum. Furthermore, New York achieved the greatest scoring chance during that stretch. Down one player (Tavares) on a two-minute hooking penalty, Grabner had a shorthanded look. Trying to go between the pads, Garon closed up the five-hole at the 14:26 mark.
Head Coach Jack Capuano had this to say about the overall effort. “I don’t think it was easy. We made some mistakes, but capitalized on our chances. I thought it was big that we got out of the gate early. The sticks were great, and the gap was good…We adjusted well at times, put on some good pressure, and got pucks where we needed to get them.”
Capuano and the Islanders cap their season-opening four-game homestand on Saturday (Oct. 15) versus the arch-rival New York Rangers in an Atlantic Division battle at Nassau Coliseum. The puck drops at 7 p.m.
Posted under Isles Memories
This post was written by JoeMcDonald on October 29, 2011

I’m sure this article has been written a thousand times, but I figured I’d put my spin on it since it’s a slow news day and I have some time to kill.
Forgive my semi-off-topic rant in the beginning, I promise it’ll get somewhere by the end!
Over the past 15 years, Islanders fans have dealt with bad trades, poor draft choices and lackluster decisions that have fragmented a once proud organization. One of the players that slipped away that is still brought up to this day is Todd Bertuzzi.
The first season the Islanders and I became buddies was way back in 92-93 and it is a season I’ll remember for the rest of my life. While guys like Pierre Turgeon, Derek King and Steve Thomas were my favorite players, my father was always a huge Ray Ferraro fan. I never quite understood it until later that season. Spending a huge portion of that season on the shelf, Ferraro wasn’t as big a part of the team’s success as he was the year before, when he scored 40 goals and added 40 assists and was the team’s lone representative at the All-Star game. Nevertheless, when the chips were down, Ferraro was money in the bank and after a while, his card had a spot on my wall over my bed right next to Turgeon’s.
With no game today and having already discussed my thoughts on the trading deadline, I figured I’d bring back another old segment on the website.
I figured since the team has been playing miserably lately and that I don’t want to sound like a broken record, I’d bring back an old segment to the site, Islanders Memories.
That might not be that important to most of you, but as far as keeping the team afloat and changing the motif of hockey on the Island, the acquisition of Yashin helped make that happen. Could things have been different if guys like Tim Connolly, Taylor Pyatt and Chara were allowed to stay? Who knows, but either way, the Isles aren’t league doormats anymore. That to me, is a good thing.
While some people may not agree with what I have to say, I think Tommy Salo was one of the most talented goalies the team ever had. The only problem was, he had no support. During his time on the Island, players like Bryan Berard, Scott Lachance, Kenny Jonsson and Bryan McCabe were still developing, Dennis Vaske and Rich Pilon constantly getting hurt and whoever else they had there just wasn’t good enough to play in the NHL. I know a lot of Islander fans don’t want to admit how bad the team was during those years, but it’s true. They were horrible. From 95-99, the guy had 14 shutouts and was only 26 games under .500 on some horrible teams. If that’s not saying how good the guy was, then I don’t know what else will.
Pierre Turgeon, Ray Ferraro and Glenn Healy.
However, Torrey would eventually leave the team after new ownership took over. Former Ranger Don Maloney would take over as GM for the 92-93 season and didn’t have to make any moves to fortify the team’s lineup.
Hunter, who scored seven goals in the series, slammed the 175-pound Turgeon into the Nassau Coliseum boards shoulder first after he stripped the puck from him and scored. Even though he remains a hated figure in Islanders history, Arbour recognized his tenacity and love for the game.
The tough as nails play of Darius Kasparaitis, Mick Vukota, Rich Pilon and Dalgarno also played a crucial part in the team’s success, as Pittsburgh’s top players like Jaromir Jagr and Kevin Stevens left game seven with injuries resulting from crushing hits.