Isles hang on to win Game 82, 5-4 vs the Penguins. Certainly let it be interesting, with the first penalty shot against in the final 30 seconds. Goal mouth scramble and an Islander skater covered the puck in the crease, so the Pens got to choose their shooter. Sorokin, who has been pretty bad an shootouts all year, stopped Crosby on the PS.
It was pretty obvious that it was Jeff Carter's last game. He was shaking hands with tons of people before the game, etc. He scored and a Pen grabbed the puck for him. That's pretty cool, knowing it's your last goal, etc. Few players get to keep their last goal puck. After the game Crosby wouldn't let him leave the ice, and finally pointed over to Carter's kids on the bench. Really cool way to go out. And the classless Islanders fans gave him an ovation. Carter was named as one of the stars of the game and the Isles players shook his hand. I think the Isles staff brought the kids down to the bench and I heard they put a congratulatory notice on the scoreboard after the game.
Maybe of importance, Pageau went down in a weird way late in the first and didn't return. Kind of spun around and fell slowly, got up saying something to the Pens' goalie, looked pretty much okay and skated off. But he didn't return. They'd only dressed 11 Fs, so Aho moved from 7th D to 11th F. Almost scored. Thomas Hickey, doing the between the benches announcing, talked about when he used to get moved up to F. Said it's mentally exhausting as a defender to play F because you're always unsure if you're in the right position for the play, wondering if the other team is going to purposely take advantage of you backing in too much, etc. Burke asked Butch Goring if he'd ever played D. Butch just laughed.
Palmieri got his 30th goal. They were passing to him every time they had the puck in the O-zone. Simon Holmstrom got his 15th, which surprised me. I didn't think he had that many. But he's got 7 SH on the year, so it makes sense. I think his last SH goal was in early January. It would be nice if he could re-find that magic vs Carolina.
Wahlstrom played and looked okay. He was probably trying too hard, having been a healthy scratch for 28 straight games (I think they said 28).
Ruslan Iskhakov made his NHL debut and had an assist. He's good but really small. Got thrown around a bit, but never showed any emotion about it. Just got up and kept playing. Saying his last name tripped up the announcers. In an intermission interview Brock Nelson referred to him as "Rusty". Butch Goring, known for botching names, said that's all he's calling the kid from now on. Since the game didn't mean anything, I was kind of hoping they'd go to a shootout so I could see if this kid can score on NHL goalies the way he does AHL goalies. He's done the between the legs shot 3 times this year to score in AHL shootouts.
Kyle MacLean with another assist and some great plays. He's fit right in and allowed Cizikas to move to the 1st line, where he hits and digs pucks out of corners for Barzal and Horvat. Cizikas got his 10th of the year last night.
Sam Bolduc got back into the lineup with Dobson out. Had a goal and assist. Bortuzzo looked slow as hell. Dobson had better be ready for Game 1.
Isles finish a roller coaster season on a 8-0-1 run. Really hoping they can bring that kind of magic into the playoffs!
Roy with a record of 20-12-5 after taking over, or a 99.7 point pace. Pretty, pretty good.
Time to start a new thread!