Game Recap: New York Islanders 5, Detroit Red Wings 1

The Detroit Red Wings handle most teams with relative ease. Not the New York Islanders.

The Islanders continued their post-lockout success against the Red Wings and finished a fun one by a final score of 5-1. As per usual, the first line continued their pure dominance over anything with goalie pads, contributing 4 of the 5 goals, 2 of which were from Matt Moulson for his 19th and 20th on the year. Michael Grabner also finally stopped his goal-less streak and John Tavares and Kyle Okposo also netted goals for their 14th and 9th of the year, respectively. The Isles completely outplayed the Red Wings in almost every aspect of the game offensively and held pressure in their zone for a good portion of their game. Offense from Mark Streit, who contributed 3 assists and was big on the powerplay was also a major factor in this win.

Defensively, the Islanders had an efficient game. Hamonic ended with a +3 final rating, Streit a +2. Some missteps as one would expect from a defense like this still occurred - most notably a very poor penalty taken by Milan Jurcina late in the 1st period, but in general only 24 shots were allowed on goal and the defense did their job.

Evgeni Nabokov performed at an absolutely phenomenal level tonight as well, including two candidates for save of the year including a diving paddle save on Valtteri Filppula and a beautiful pad save on Daniel Cleary on a shorthanded breakaway. He wasn't tested too much, but when he was it took pure skill in order to stop some of the shots he faced. Excellent rebound game for Nabokov, although expect to see Poulin in against Philadelphia since Nabokov has played 9 straight.

If the Isles hadn't played so poorly against Phoenix and Anaheim, this win would be a lot sweeter. Unfortunately, losing those two games put a major dent in any kind of smidgeon of hope that had remained on jumping back in the playoff race, but of course when you're only 40 games in, anything's possible. It's just a shame that this dominant team which shows so much potential isn't given the pieces and additions it so desperately looks like it needs.

The Islanders next face off against the Philadelphia Flyers at the Nassau Coliseum on Thursday. Game time is 7:00 and will be on MSG+. The Islanders will be wearing their third jerseys for this game.