Islanders 1 Blackhawks 1 The NBA owners could vote tomorrow to cancel the season. Taking that cue, is there any way NHL commissioner Gary Bettman can vote today to cancel the rest of the Islanders’ season?
Last night, the Isles hosted the Western Conference’s worst team and the league’s worst road team in the Blackhawks. And despite scoring 39 seconds into the game, despite outshooting Chicago 41-23 and despite having Tommy Salo back in goal, the Isles could only manage a 1-1 tie that had a Coliseum crowd of 10,197 booing at the end.
The tie broke a four-game losing streak but extended the Isles’ winless streak to five. The Isles (13-23-3) hit the road for five straight games 12 points behind eighth-seeds Pittsburgh, which has five games in hand, and Ottawa, which has three games in hand. Already, the Isles are well behind last season’s pace when they mounted a 15-19-5 record after 39 games.
‘It’s pretty clear as we approach the halfway point we need a dramatic turnaround here and need it soon,” GM/coach Mike Milbury said.
The Isles could not get one by Chicago goalie Jocelyn Thibault during 60 minutes on New Year’s Eve. Thibault’s shutout last night lasted 39 seconds, then he turned into a red wall for the remainder. The Isles were a hapless 0-for-8 on the power play.
‘It’s been a common problem the last 15 games our lack of scoring but not for a lack of chances,” Milbury said. “We had 20 pretty good chances. Twenty pretty good chances, you should be able to bury three.”
Mariusz Czerkawski had two beautiful in-close opportunities but shot wide both times. “Forty one shots, you’ve got to get more than one goal,” Czerkawski said. “That’s for sure, especially in this situation. A point is a point but it still feels like we should’ve had that game.”
The Isles outshot Chicago 18-3 in the first, showing the jump so often missing across the last few weeks. Reuniting the Euro-Line of Sergei Nemchinov-Robert Reichel-Ziggy Palffy paid off early.
Goal-less for 14 games and coaxed by Milbury beforehand, Reichel beat Thibault from the right circle, with assists from Nemchinov and Palffy, who has six points in seven games. Nemchinov won a scrum along the right boards, kicking it back to Reichel, who slid it down low to Palffy on a give-and-go. Reichel wristed home Palffy’s return feed.
‘We should’ve had the two points, there’s nothing else to say,” Reichel said.
Chicago scored at 6:49 of the second to tie it on just its sixth shot. It was an awkward-looking goal as defenseman David Harlock’s clearing pass wound up in front of the crease. Salo, returning from a broken finger that sidelined him six games, poke checked the puck off Kilger’s stick but Kilger regained it in the slot and beat Salo on a low backhander.
Midway through the third, the Isles gained a four-minute power play when Brad Brown got four minutes for high sticking Nemchinov in the face and drawing blood. Both Czerkawski and Mark Lawrence had doorstep chances and failed to put it on net. *The Blackhawks have the league’s worst road record at 3-12-2 … D Rich Pilon left in the first period with a sprained right knee and it likely will keep him out three-to-four weeks. Although it’s not expected to be a MCL tear, Pilon will undergo an MRI today … Wade Flaherty suited up as Salo’s backup, but no decision has been made on whether Marcel Cousineau will be demoted.
D Bryan Berard (groin strain) likely will return Saturday in Montreal … The Isles weren’t the only ones drowning last night. During the first period, a backed-up sewer pipe in one of the bathrooms created a major leak that flooded part of the Coliseum concourse, forcing it to be barricaded. Some of the sewage even reached the Isles’ locker room and their executive offices, damaging some equipment.
Has 35-year-old Mike Hough turned into a goon since joining Lowell to make sure the Isles pay off his guaranteed contract. Last week, Hough received a five-minute major for hitting from behind and a game misconduct after clocking Kentucky’s Andrei Boikov, who sustained a concussion.