Brooklyn Boro

Hopeful Isles get ‘swagger back’ in Boston

Start Second Half of Season with Uplifting 4-0 Blanking of Bruins

January 17, 2017 By John Torenli, Sports Editor Brooklyn Daily Eagle
After posting a shutout win in Boston on Monday, the Islanders are hoping to load up on some home cooking as they will play their next six games at Downtown’s Barclays Center. AP Photo/Elise Amendola
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The Islanders are headed back to Downtown Brooklyn with some wind in their previously deflated sails.

Thomas Greiss stopped 32 shots for his first shutout of the season and Nikolay Kulemin tallied twice on Martin Luther King Day in Boston as New York rebounded from a deflating loss in Carolina Saturday by blanking the Bruins, 4-0, in front of 17,565 fans at TD Garden.

Greiss, who was victimized for a season-high seven goals during a brutal 7-4 defeat against the Hurricanes two nights earlier, made his seventh straight start in net since replacing the recently demoted Jaroslav Halak his best yet.

The 30-year-old German netminder not only helped the Islanders (17-17-8) climb back to .500, but gave them some momentum for what figures to be a critical six-game homestand, which kicks off at Barclays Center on Thursday night against the Dallas Stars.

“[Greiss] said he wanted to get right back in there [after the Carolina loss],” Isles head coach Jack Capuano intimated after his team began the second half of the season with its first shutout victory since Halak blanked the Capitals in Washington back on Dec. 1, 30 days before he was waived and ultimately sent to AHL Bridgeport.

“He said he was mentally focused and ready to go.”

So were the rest of the Isles, who remained one point behind Buffalo for the least points in the Eastern Conference, but appear primed for a second-half push toward the postseason.

“It was a complete effort from our guys,” Capuano gushed. “We had good structure to our game and had a lot of energy.

“To bounce back after that Carolina game, it should be a good feeling and give the guys some attitude and swagger.”

After being outshot, 7-3, in a scoreless opening stanza, the Isles got on the board at 13:18 of the second period when Kulemin coolly slipped a wrist shot past Boston goalie Tuukka Rask.

Josh Bailey’s sixth goal of the season less than two minutes later gave New York some cushion before Kulemin struck again for his seventh of the year off the second assist of the game by Casey Cizikas.

“We tried to put pucks deep and get in on the forecheck and we had a lot of chances the last few games and didn’t capitalize on them,” said Kulemin. “Today’s a couple of pucks got in.”

Not against Greiss they didn’t.

New York’s new No. 1 netminder stopped 12 shots in the final period, which featured yet another goal from the previously unproductive Jason Chimera, whose shorthanded breakaway tally was his third in as many games.

“We played a tighter game,” Greiss noted after becoming the first Isles goalie ever to post a shutout in Beantown.

“Way more concentrated, played harder and were way tougher to play against. They didn’t have many rebound chances, or in tight chances, so that makes my life easier.”

Chimera’s four goals in the last eight contests doubled his production from the previous 34 games, marking a much-needed improvement from a player the Isles have been counting on to help make up for the offseason losses of forwards Kyle Okposo and Frans Nielsen.

The Brooklyn-based NHL squad improved to 13-0-3 when leading after two periods this season, a trend they hope to continue during this upcoming extended homestand.

The Isles boast a respectable 11-8-4 mark at Barclays Center, and can get some traction on home ice for a serious second-half charge over these next six games.

They remain just eight point back of the conference’s final playoff spot.

Isle Have Another: Bailey’s next goal will be the 100th of his NHL career … Cal Clutterbuck and Andrew Ladd were both scratched from Monday’s matinee with undisclosed injuries … Following their game against the Stars here on Thursday, the Isles will host Los Angeles on Saturday, Philadelphia on Sunday, Columbus next Tuesday and Montreal on Jan. 26 and Washington on Jan. 31. Their next road game comes Feb. 3 in Detroit … Capuano doesn’t necessarily think Greiss needs a break from all the action he’s been seeing lately. “If he was tired, he would say it,” the coach noted … Team captain John Tavares, who had five goals in his previous two contests, was held off the scoresheet Monday afternoon in Boston.

 

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