Islanders Okposo beats H1N1 and Hurricanes

Kyle Okposo makes the inconsistency in Martin Birons play a non-issue as the Islanders defeat the Carolina Hurricanes 4-3 in Raleigh.

Okposo, back from a bout with the H1N1 virus, fought off a tough back check after a poor giveaway by the Hurricanes in Overtime to net the game winner.

Matt Moulson had two assists, John Tavares had two goals, and the Islanders escaped blowing an early three goal lead to win 4-3 in Overtime against Carolina.

Martin Biron was given a nice cushion after the 1st period as the Islanders took it to the Hurricanes putting three goals past ‘Canes goalie Manny Legace in a span of 10:03.

At 3:38 of the 1st, John Tavares scored a power play goal to give the Islanders a 1-0 lead.

Just under two minutes later, Mark Streit struck on a bomb from the point at 5:35 of the 1st to make it 2-0 Islanders.

As play started to stabalize itself, John Tavares found himself putting home his second of the game at 13:41 of the 1st to make it 3-0 Islanders.

As I mentioned, the more important part of this was for the Islanders to put together a full sixty minute effort.  Unfortunately, that was not the case.

The second period became the period the Carolina Hurricanes would come to life.

Tuomo Ruutu opened the scoring for Carolina sending home a rebound on the power play at 8:52 of the 2nd.  Minutes later, Aaron Ward sent a pass to Andrew Alberts who wristed a shot towards Martin Biron that was deflected by Ray Whitney and bounced passed Biron and into the net to make it 3-2 Carolina at the 11:17 mark.

The Hurricanes continued to pressure the Islanders, but the period came to a close with the score the same.

With the inevitable about to happen, the third period went on with the Hurricanes playing quite a bit of the period in the Islanders zone.  At 17:29 of the 3rd, as has been a repeat occurance for the Islanders this season, a random shot by Tim Gleason found it’s way into the net to tie the score.  That would send the game into overtime.

Martin Biron, who was streaky all night, made a fine glove save midway through the overtime period to keep the game going.

The common interest at this point, for the Islanders, was that extra point. A lazy clearing attempt saw Kyle Okposo find the puck on his stick in the offensive zone.  After fighting off a serious back check, Okposo was able to muster a wrist shot on net that found its way past Manny Legace for the game winner.

A game that the Islanders should of never lost from the get go turned into quite the nail biter.

It has happened too many times this season; the Islanders losing leads late in the game.  Sure, let’s rejoice over the victory and that the Islanders are now a game above the .500 mark but Gordon needs to keep his players focused no matter how big a lead they have.

Tomorrow the Islanders are in Florida to take on the Panthers.  A few lineup changes are most likely in store for the club.

In my opinion:
Out: Jon Sim, Martin Biron
In: Jeff Tambellini, Dwayne Roloson

Let’s keep our heads up, a win is a win and a point is a point.  Tonight, the Islanders obtained two points and are now in 7th place in the Eastern Conference. Tomorrow we hope for yet another two points. I, for one, would love to see how much easier of a time the Islanders would have skating towards victory if they were to give a full sixty minute effort.