The Road Warriors

Cue "Iron Man".

The Islanders ran their record to 2-0-2 on a current 7 game road trip with a 4-1 win over the Boston Bruins. There were no shortage of great performances tonight as Dwayne Roloson (who got the nod even though Newsday beat reporter Katie Strang reported Martin Biron) was excellent, Matt Moulson got 2 more goals, Richard Park (much maligned here but I give him props) contributed 3 assists, and John Tavares continued to emerge as a star.

It was a physical game and you can tell this Bruins team without Marc Savard and Milan Lucic was a desperate one. The Islanders jumped out to a lead when Jack Hillen made a beautiful rush to setup Moulson in his office to make it 1-0. The Isles would take a stream of penalties but did a tremendous job in killing them off including a prolonged 5-3.

Boston would tie it up after Tavares and Freddy Meyer failed to clear the zone but the Islander resiliency which is becoming a staple showed again.

Moulson got his 2nd on a nice feed from Park as a result of a great forecheck by Tavares that led to a Tuukka Rask giveaway.

JT was making things happen again. He had 3 point blank opportunities, 2 thwarted by Rask and 1 by the mountainous reach of Zdeno Chara. Johnny T also shanked a 1 timer attempt on a late 3rd power play opportunity but was still able to connect on his NHL rookie league leading 9th goal on a shot deflected off a Bruin skate.

Moulson though continues to be just as impressive a story as JT. He netted his 10th and 11th goals of the season. Not bad for a guy given up on by the Los Angeles Kings and signed by the Islanders primarily for Bridgeport. Always thought Molson was a solid player who never got a fair shot with the Kings and I was surprised when he was not tendered an offer making him a free agent. Credit Snow and the hockey staff for doing their homework.

Roloson had his best game as an Islander and it looked for a while that Rollie was going to pitch the shutout. Still, he was sharp on his angles despite the one goal and the Isles did a fine job of clearing the path and giving Rolson a good view of the puck.

Isles will come home for a couple of days of sleeping in their own beds then are off to one of my favorite places in the NHL Friday night, Minnesota. Great arena and even greater people there.

Game Stats:
1G/ +1/ 4SOG/ 19:38TOI/ Faceoffs 6-8

Goal:


Highlights:


Links:
Moulson scores twice in Isles' 4-1 win over Bruins

No Comeback For Boston This Time Around as Islanders Strand Bruins 4-1