game in review

As the island was blanketed by snow all day the Islanders were able to blanket the Avalanche.

1st period

In a very uneventful period, it was the islanders that capitalized first. Dean McAmmond scored his second goal as an islander with 6:45 left in the first. The avalanche, who are putting up a very lack lust performance, have had two power play oppertunities not scoring on the first and the second will run into the second period. The islanders penelty kill is looking good tonight as they are able to keep the puck out of their zone. Yann looking good so far not really have to put much effort forward so far. Fans at the coliseum are not taking to kindly to Ryan Smith. With every puck he touches a blizzard of boos comes down from the stands. The islanders were able to out shoot colorado 12-6. The biggest story coming tonight is the obvious absents of islanders foward Trent Hunter who was at warm ups but was pulled off the ice do to an apparent injury.

2nd Period

Game intensity picking up as the first was a very quick, lack luster period. The second was the polar opposite. 33 seconds into the period, ex-Islander Ryan Smyth got one by Danis to tie the game at one. Following that Jessie Juensuu assisted by sim and fellow rookie Joe Callihan scored his first NHL goal at 17:29 in the period. The avalanche were able to pick up their performance, increasing the pressure on Yann Danis and forcing him out of position to give them ample scoring opportunities including one that almost gave Smyth his second goal of the game. Bruno Gervais was able to give the islanders a 3-1 lead after he scored at 14:40 in the period ending his 160 game goal drought. Although they trailed, they looked decent killing the Islander power play and were unable to convert on a power play opportunity of their own after McAmmond was called for hooking

3rd Period

The 3rd started off with another quick goal by ex-Islander Ryan Smyth (who else of course) to make it a one goal difference. Slaming one past Danis in front of the net, 1:02 into the period. Reycroft who looked better in net until 15:12 in the period when Mark Streit went into the Avalanche zone, faked a shot, and passed it off to Jeff Tambellini, who shot it past Reycroft to give the Islanders a 4-2 lead. Closing in on the end of the game, Colorado put the pressure on and had a few scoring opportunities infront of the net, but were shut down by Yann Danis who was able to keep the puck out of the net and insure an Islanders win.

Overview

The Islanders played a good game with rookie Jessie Juensuu scoring his first NHL goal and giving more hope for the future. Yann Danis had a good game again tonight and continues to show he is starting to become an NHL calliber goalie, but shows he still needs to work on a couple of things. Bergenheim and Okposo were relatively quiet during tonight's game with no real stand out plays for the night. Reports on Trent Hunters injuries are limited but I have heard lower body or ankle injury (will keep on top of that story).

sidenote- A small crowd of 11,298, probably due to the blizzard that hit Long Island last night and this morning. NHL commisioner Gary Bettman was on hand for tonights game with Charles Wang and discussed his thoughts on the lighthouse project with versus during the third period.