Johnson scores lone goal in Islanders win
San Jose Sharks (0) vs New York Islanders (1).........
The Sharks visited Long Island in hopes of getting back into the playoff picture, presently sitting on the outside looking in as they are three points behind the eighth seeded Oilers but Edmonton has five more wins to their credit. The Isles come into Saturday night's tilt losers of their last five and presently reside in fifth in the Eastern Conference.
The first period was pretty much uneventful as there was no scoring and just a single penalty, a roughing minor given to Isles Erik Johnson, which was killed off successfully. Long Island out-shot the Sharks 11-5 in the first.
In the second period, Johnson got redemption for his earlier penalty by opening the scoring at 11:42 of the second on a slapshot from between the face-off circles. Dustin Tokarski made an amazing save on the original shot by Phil Kessel that was re-directed at the top of the crease by Ryan O'Neil but kicked the puck straight out into the slot and Johnson easily hit the open cage. The Islanders held the edge on shots after forty, 25-16.
In the third the two teams played a very tight defensive game thus limiting the shots on net (8-6 San Jose). The teams played as if afraid to open things up, fearing that could possibly open the flood gates.
Everything didn't go exactly as planned for the Isles even as they wrapped up the two points, they lost Michael Raffl to injury at 9:06 of the third to what is being called by the medical staff, a lower body injury, but reports are that it is an abdominal strain and Raffl could be lost to the team for atleast three weeks.
Evgeni Malkin may want to talk to his stick manufacturer after he gets back to San Jose as he was held scoreless after having a game's high seven shots on net and was stopped on each attempt.
MOLSON'S 3 STARS:
1 - Carey Price (NYI)........ Carey Price stopped 26 shots for his third shut-out of the season.
2 - Dustin Tokarski (San).... Back-up Dustin Tokarski stopped 30 of 31 shots in a losing cause. Tokarski was listed day-to-day after the game the team citing exhaustion.
3 - Erik Johnson (NYI)...... 1 goal, 1 shot, 4 hits
The Sharks visited Long Island in hopes of getting back into the playoff picture, presently sitting on the outside looking in as they are three points behind the eighth seeded Oilers but Edmonton has five more wins to their credit. The Isles come into Saturday night's tilt losers of their last five and presently reside in fifth in the Eastern Conference.
The first period was pretty much uneventful as there was no scoring and just a single penalty, a roughing minor given to Isles Erik Johnson, which was killed off successfully. Long Island out-shot the Sharks 11-5 in the first.
In the second period, Johnson got redemption for his earlier penalty by opening the scoring at 11:42 of the second on a slapshot from between the face-off circles. Dustin Tokarski made an amazing save on the original shot by Phil Kessel that was re-directed at the top of the crease by Ryan O'Neil but kicked the puck straight out into the slot and Johnson easily hit the open cage. The Islanders held the edge on shots after forty, 25-16.
In the third the two teams played a very tight defensive game thus limiting the shots on net (8-6 San Jose). The teams played as if afraid to open things up, fearing that could possibly open the flood gates.
Everything didn't go exactly as planned for the Isles even as they wrapped up the two points, they lost Michael Raffl to injury at 9:06 of the third to what is being called by the medical staff, a lower body injury, but reports are that it is an abdominal strain and Raffl could be lost to the team for atleast three weeks.
Evgeni Malkin may want to talk to his stick manufacturer after he gets back to San Jose as he was held scoreless after having a game's high seven shots on net and was stopped on each attempt.
MOLSON'S 3 STARS:
1 - Carey Price (NYI)........ Carey Price stopped 26 shots for his third shut-out of the season.
2 - Dustin Tokarski (San).... Back-up Dustin Tokarski stopped 30 of 31 shots in a losing cause. Tokarski was listed day-to-day after the game the team citing exhaustion.
3 - Erik Johnson (NYI)...... 1 goal, 1 shot, 4 hits
