Isles Defeated by Playoff Hungry Thrashers

OUTHUSTLED: The New York Islanders couldn't match the energy from the Atlanta Thrashers on Thursday night and lost 2�¢ï¿½ï¿½1 at home. (Paul Bereswill/Getty Images)

In an action-packed game with playoff implications for the visiting team, the New York Islanders (29–34–12) fell 2–1 to the Atlanta Thrashers (31–30–12) at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum on Thursday night.

Atlanta outhustled New York and beat the Isles down low for most of the game, outshooting them 34–to-15 shots on goal.

The Islanders are now 6–2–4 in their last 12 games. The Islanders had only 3 shots on goal in the first period, a telling statistic.

Speaking with MSG after the game, Islanders head coach Jack Capuano commented, “It was a very important game, and they took it to us. We just didn’t have it underneath us tonight.”

Center John Tavares added, “It just seemed like we were sluggish for most of the game.”

Former Islander Center Rob Schremp earned the game winner for Atlanta, beating Islanders goalie Al Montoya in the second period and breaking the 1–1 tie—Schremp spent two years with New York before being picked up on waivers by the Thrashers on Feb. 28.

The matchup was an important one for Atlanta (74 points) who came into the game at 11th place in a nail-biting Eastern Conference playoff race and remain 7 points out of the 8th and final spot held by the Buffalo Sabres. The surging New Jersey Devils (72 points) sit right behind the Thrashers at 12th place.

Grinding Effort

Atlanta’s Andrew Ladd gave his team the first score of the game as he took a quick pass in front by Blake Wheeler and put it past Isles goalie Al Montoya at 7:56 in the first period.

New York came out with a chip on its shoulder in the second period and evened things up at 1:38. On the play, center John Tavares sat in front of Atlanta’s net and put away an unassisted goal, beating Thrashers netminder Chris Mason who had no chance to make the save. For Tavares, it was his 27th of the season.

The Thrashers came right back though, taking a 2–1 lead at 13:56 as a familiar face Rob Schremp beat Montoya on his right side with a quick wrist shot. As was mentioned already, his shot would be the game winner as both teams battled it out in the third period but neither scored.

Isles goalie Al Montoya commented on the disappointing loss, “We had our chances here and there but for the most part it was a tough game. We need to bring our best every single night and give these crowds something to cheer about.”

Around the League

On the same night, the seventh-place New York Rangers lost to the Ottawa Senators 2–1, the first-place Philadelphia Flyers lost to the fourth-place Pittsburgh Penguins 2–1 in overtime, and the third-place Boston Bruins destroyed the sixth-place Montreal Canadiens 7–0.