Remember how we laughed when the New York Islanders drafted Josh Bailey, leaving Cody Hodgson to the Canucks? Oh how we laughed. We laughed and we laughed and we laughed.
And then, after we laughed, a funny thing happened: Bailey immediately made the NHL out of his first training camp. He’s been a consistent contributor for nine full seasons with the Islanders and is second on the team in scoring this season with 49 points in 66 games.
Now, to be fair, if it wasn’t for him injuring his back, his general indifference towards playing defence, and his meddling father, Hodgson totally could have been a better NHLer than Bailey. But, you know, all those things happened.
Three of Bailey’s 49 points this season came in this game against the Canucks, as he tallied three assists. I saw them all when I watched this game.
- The Canucks deserved a better fate in this game. They out-shot the Islanders 14-4 in the first period and 39-28 overall, out-playing the Islanders for the majority of the game. But they were let down by their goaltending, something that hasn’t happened much this season. Like a hunter that doesn’t properly store his pheasants, Ryan Miller’s game was a little off.
- It was most obvious on the opening goal, as Miller slid down into his butterfly to stop a Josh Bailey shot that turned out to be a Josh Bailey pass to a wide open John Tavares. That bad read gave Tavares a wide open net, which he immediately filled like he had just thrown it on the other side of the boat.
- The Islanders’ third goal is one of those ones where colour commentators, particularly ones that are former goaltenders, tend to say the goaltender had no chance. Nick Leddy’s point shot got tipped by Brock Nelson, then hit Troy Stecher and bounced into the net. On the one hand, that’s a bad break for Miller. On the other hand, Miller vacated the net to snag Leddy’s initial shot that appeared to be going well wide, sliding completely out of the crease, giving himself no chance to stop a tip. A similar thing happened on the Montreal Canadiens’ overtime gamewinner on Tuesday. It’s not that Miller had no chance to make the save; he gave himself no chance to make the save.
- Miller wasn’t at fault on the Islanders’ second goal; that was all Jayson Megna. Not only did Megna fail to score off the rush (he’s not a rush scorer, you see), he attempted an ill-advised toe drag around Bailey with both of his linemates ahead of him and his defence changing behind him. Megna toe-dragged the puck directly into Bailey’s skate, sparking a breakaway the other way. It’s almost like Megna’s gotten it into his head that he’s a skilled top-six forward who never has to face consequences for poor performance or decision-making.
- Did Megna get benched for his egregious error that led to a goal against? Nope! He sat on the bench for a few minutes, but only because there were penalties and Megna, thankfully, is no longer on the power play. He didn’t miss a single shift at even-strength.
- With Loui Eriksson still injured and Nikolay Goldobin out with either the flu or the mumps (thanks for the dinner date, Nikita "Mumpy" Tryamkin), Reid Boucher got the chance to play with Bo Horvat and Sven Baertschi and made the most of it. Stecher made a nice play at the blue line to keep the puck in, then Horvat swung the puck out front to Boucher, who tipped on goal, then stuck with his rebound because it turned out they were perfect for each other.
- Willie Desjardins gave Boucher absolutely no credit whatsoever for playing well, going out of his way to avoid giving him any credit in his post-game comments. When asked about his line, Desjardins responded, “Horvat and Baertschi have been playing good for a long time and it seems whoever plays with them is going to create something because they always create...I think overall that line has played well — those two guys have played well.”
- I don’t know why, but that upsets me. Boucher has been booted to the press box for most of his time with the Canucks and, when he has been on the ice, he’s mostly been on the fourth line. Now, with injuries, he got an opportunity, and fired 5 shots, scored a goal, and even looked effective quarterbacking the second power play unit from the right-hand boards. And he gets dismissed.
- Sven Baertschi gave the Canucks a 2-1 lead in the second period, scoring less than two minutes after Boucher. John Tavares gave the puck away to Baertschi in the middle of the ice and he faked a shot, then cut harder than Edgar Wright to the backhand, leaving Thomas Greiss helpless in his wake.
- I could watch an entire game that just consisted of Nikita Tryamkin defending 2-on-1s. With his reach and quickness, passing lanes just evaporate. It’s just fantastic to watch.
- What a game for Troy Stecher. He battled hard all game, at one point ripping off Anders Lee’s helmet after the significantly larger Lee started getting a little too crosschecky along the boards. He picked up an assist on Boucher’s goal with a great play at the blue line. Then he scored the tying goal to send the game into overtime with 20 seconds left. He just keeps making Stech happen.
- Stecher’s tying goal came off another great hold at the blue line, catching a clearing attempt then quickly getting it deep. Henrik’s centring pass deflected back to Stecher, but instead of just slapping it towards the net, he faked the shot, stepped up to the top of the faceoff circle, and wired a wrist shot past a Granlund-screened Greiss. The goal didn’t make Team Tank happy, but they still got to see a big part of the team’s future score a goal, which, as consolation prizes go, is somewhere between the Jeopardy Home Game and the consolation prizes from Wheel of Carpet Samples.
- Ben Hutton had a strong game, but he ran out of gas during a minute-long shift in overtime. But I’m not laying the blame solely on Hutton, who was more wiped than a baby’s bottom. Bo Horvat didn’t exactly do his job in the defensive zone, leaving Andrew Ladd unmarked in front of the net for the tap-in goal. What’s worse is it wasn’t the first time he left someone alone in front of the net on that shift. Get it together, Bo! Sometimes I doubt your commitment to Sparkle Motion.
