Isles Waste 3 Goal Comeback, Lose in OT
January 27th, 2007 by murph
Wild game last night. Before I could even sit down and turn the TV on, it was 3-1 Atlanta and DP was on the bench. Smart move by Nolan yanking DP to wake the team up. If this was last year’s squad, I would have just changed to channel to watch Nanny 911. To their credit, the Isles stayed focused and got themselves back into the game.
Miroslav Satan had a huge shorthanded goal in the early 2nd to get the team rolling. Later in the second, Jason Blake (who else?!) scored to tie the game up.
Atlanta’s leading scorer, Marian Hossa left the game in the second with an apparent knee injury as he slammed into the boards after a Freddy Meyer tripping penalty. It looked bad as Hossa rolled around on the ice for a few minutes. Apparently it wasn’t that bad, as Hossa returned for the third and quickly (:19) scored to give the Thrashers the lead again.
The Isles fought back again though, as Campoli deflected a Meyer shot during a 4-on-4 for his first goal of the season. The puck went in off Campoli’s skate, so there was a video review but no kicking motion, so the goal stood.
In OT, Kovalchuk scored his second of the game on a nasty wrister/snap shot. I’m not surprised. I had a bad feeling about OT. Atlanta is fast and the 4-on-4 OT plays to their strength.
Coach Nolan was upbeat about the loss.
Reflecting on the comeback, Nolan couldn’t help but smile as he said: “It’s a first-place team and you’re down 3-0 in their rink with a packed house. A point is like a win on the road.”
Better than no points, that’s for sure. Other game notes:
- Brendan Witt left the game early in the first with an injury and did not return. He’s listed as day to day with an upper body injury.
- It’s so good to have Radek Martinek back. He looked solid and had a big hit on Kovalchuk in the third.
- DP is expected to be back in net tonight as the Islanders host Buffalo. It’s 1972 Retro Night as the Isles will rock old-school 1972 jerseys and Eddie Westfall will drop the ceremonial face-off.
- Holy Iron Batman! Trent Hunter 2 posts, and I think the Isles hit about 5 overall. All night long you heard “TINK!”
