2010 Compuware NHL Premiere Series – New York Islanders win 2-1 against the Toronto Maple Leafs
The 69th match of the 2010 Compuware NHL Premiere Series saw the Toronto Maple Leafs play the New York Islanders at home. The match took place this Monday, 18th October 2010 at the Air Canada Centre with around 20,000 fans that came
in support of the teams. The New York Islanders were playing the 6th game of the NHL regular season, whereas the Toronto Maple Leafs played their 5th game. Both teams were looking to start a winning streak after not such a good start.
The match was not productive in terms of goals with 2 goal scored during the regulation time but the New York Islanders were able to win the match in overtime.
1st Period
The home team started off the proceedings in a very spectacular manner when they bombarded shots early on at the opposing team’s goal. But to their disappointment they couldn’t find the back of the net even once. The Toronto Maple Leafs made good goal attempts
and pieces of play but they couldn’t find the final touch.
The New York Islanders started to gain momentum and confidence as the period progressed. They started to get past the opposing defence regularly and combined well to find players in open positions. The period didn’t see any goals during the course of the
20 minutes, as both teams tried hard in their search for a goal.
With the end of the period, the statistics showed that the New York Islanders made 8 goal attempts and the Toronto Maple Leafs also made 8 goal attempts but none found the back of the net.
2nd Period
When the 2nd period started, the New York Islanders started off the period from where they left off. The away team came up with good potentially scoring chances but didn’t score.
However, an attack in the 3rd minute saw the New York Islanders scoring through Matt Moulson from 11 feet. The goal was scored in a spectacular way as the player hit an impressive backhand that went flying past the goal keeper. As the period moved
on, the Toronto Maple Leafs were able to cut down the frequent attacks as they maintained a good and tight defence at the back.
With the passage of time, the Toronto Maple gained confidence and with the backing of the home crowd, they fired few shots at the opposing goal. Much to their disappointment, they could score even though they had players in open position every now and then.
When the whistle for the end of the period was heard, the New York Islanders piled up 5 shots out of which 1 found the back of the net and the home team Toronto Maple Leafs fired 10 shots without any goals.
3rd Period
With the start of the 3rd period, the New York Islanders were the confident of the two teams and looked to score with the attacks they were coming up with. But again it was a case of shift in momentum with as minutes clocked in the period.
The Toronto Maple Leafs worked hard which paid off in the 18th minute when Phil Kessel netted the puck. The goal came from a distance of 35 feet through a splendid wrist off shot. The period ended with the score 1-1 and the match went into overtime.
During the last 20 minutes, the Toronto Maple Leafs scored 1 goal out of the 10 goal attempts and the New York Islanders managed 6 shots without any goals.
In the overtime, it was the New York Islanders who scored to win the match 2-1. The goal was scored by John Tavares in the 4th minute during power play from 26 feet.
"It's great to be able to come in and get a road win -- especially against a team that's been playing pretty well," Islanders Coach Scott Gordon said.
"We've had our struggles on the road. The special teams came up big when it had to."
"A great ending," said Tavares, who has four goals in five games against the Maple Leafs.
"That's something I worked on this summer -- working on my shot. I thought it might have hit something. I didn't really see it go in, I just saw the guys kind of celebrating. It's a great feeling."
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