New York Islanders @ Atlanta Thrashers 1-2 OT
Stats
Goals
NYI- Michael Grabner (4)
ATL- Nik Antropov (6), Dustin Byfuglien (7)
Assists
NYI- Frans Nielsen (7), Radek Martinek (2)
ATL- Andrew Ladd (13, 14), Dustin Byfuglien (12), Tobias Enstrom (14)
Points
NYI- Michael Grabner (5), Frans Nielsen (9), Radek Martinek (3)
ATL- Nik Antropov (11), Dustin Byfuglien (19), Andrew Ladd (21), Tobias Enstrom (16)
Goalies
NYI- Rick DiPietro
GAA- 1.95
SV%- .943%
GA- 2
SA- 35
SV- 33
ATL- Ondrej Pavelec
GAA- .98
SV%- .966%
GA- 1
SA- 29
SV- 28
Comments
Rick DiPietro’s phenomenal performance was the only good thing that could be taken from this game. When asked about DiPietro’s performance, interim head coach Jack Capuano said “He was outstanding…He was what I thought he was going to be. He was focused and competitive all week and he played extremely well.” When DiPietro was asked about his performance he made it very clear that the moral victory wasn’t enough “A loss is a loss,” DiPietro said. “We are doing things better and the effort is there, but it’s very frustrating to lose tonight’s game. We are capable of doing a lot for long stretches of time but a few mistakes here and there and it costs us the game. We have a great group of guys. There aren’t 20 guys in the world that I’d rather go to war with… Throughout this whole thing, these guys care. I hope people realize this. This is unacceptable for us. We came into this season with the belief that there would be no excuses and we are not going to make any. We want to win games, and this loss eats away at us.” A Mike Mottau update was given by Newsday’s Katie Strang through Twitter. She said that Mottau has received stitches in the cut around the eye, and also has significant swelling. He is receiving eye drops, and will be staying in Atlanta “for now” to meet with an eye specialist.
There are many positives that can be taken out of this win by Atlanta fans. Ondrej Pavelec showed why he’s one of the hottest goaltending prospects in the league right now making save after save and keeping Atlanta in the game. Dustin Byfuglien scored yet another game winning goal; he now leads the league with 4 this season and had 5 last spring during Chicago’s Stanley Cup run. When asked about how he feels about scoring so many game winning goals Byfuglien was quoted as saying “Love it – how can you not?” he said. “It’s all there, it’s all on you. You’ve got that puck … you have to have fun with it.” When asked about Byfuglien’s performance Atlanta head coach Craig Ramsay said that ""He puts his hand up,” Ramsay said.”He also took credit for the play for their goal on the 4-on-4. He held himself accountable and told his teammates he’d get it back and he did.”