Top 20 on the Islanders: #16 Anders Nilsson

Anders Nilsson in the Islander locker room after his first NHL win (Photo by Mike Stobe/NHLI via Getty Images)

          Next up on the Islanders top 20 list is a man who just recently got his first NHL win of his career.  He has been up and down with the Islanders the last two years.  The number sixteen player on the list is goaltender, Anders Nilsson.
          Nilsson was drafted by the Islanders in the third round (sixty-second overall), in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft.  He is very tall for a goaltender, as he stands at 6' 5". 
          Nilsson was playing with Lulea HF, of the Swedish Elite League, before being drafted.  He was also selected to play for the Swedish team in the World Junior Championships.  He played in one game and got the win, giving up three goals.  
          This year Nilsson started the season playing for the Bridgeport Sound Tigers.  While there he compiled a record of 15-6-2 and had a goals against average of 2.32.  In the month of February Nilsson was named the Reebok/AHL Goaltender of the Month. In seven games, Nilsson went 6-0-1 with a 1.26 goals-against average, a .955 save percentage and one shutout as he helped the Sound Tigers remain the hottest team in the American Hockey League.
          Due to his efforts, Nilsson was called up to the big club on March third.  It was his second go around with the Islanders as he was called up in mid-November also.  However, it was in March that Nilsson showed how great he could be.  In a game against the Devils on March fourth, Nilsson turned away all twenty-four shots he faced and earned his first NHL shutout, in the same game he got his first NHL win.
          Nilsson is only twenty-one years old, and still has a lot to prove.  However, I believe he is ready to, and I also believe he is going to get his shot sooner rather than later.  With the injury history of Rick DiPietro, and the aging of Evgeni Nabokov and Al Montoya, Nilsson may become the Isles new number one goaltender in the next couple of years.                

Islanders Defeat The Devils

Teammates congratulate Nilsson after his shutout (Photo by Mike Stobe/NHLI via Getty Images)

          The Islanders won the first of three straight meetings with the New Jersey Devils, beating them 1-0, Sunday afternoon at the Coliseum. 
          Right-winger Kyle Okposo scored the only goal and goaltender Anders Nilsson stopped all twenty-four Devils shots for his first career NHL victory.
          It was the first time ever that an Islanders rookie goaltender got his first win while posting a shutout.  In fact it was the first time since the '08-'09 season that a goalie has accomplished such a feat.  Current Islander goalie, Al Montoya, was the last one to do it while he was on the Phoenix Coyotes.  
          With the win the Islanders now have 65 points, which puts them 5 points behind the eighth place Winnipeg Jets.  
         From the start the physicality of the game was out in full force.  The teams were trading hits with each other.  At the end of the game the Devils had twenty-three hits, while the Islanders had twenty.  
          The first period saw no scoring but many scoring chances.  A few of the Islanders chances clanked off the posts and crossbar.  The period ended with the Islanders outshooting the Devils 10-6.
          The second period saw the lone goal of the game.  Okposo was able to out work three Devils before burying a wrist shot under the pads of Devils goaltender, Martin Brodeur.  It was Okposo's fifteenth of the year.  The teams would continue to exchange chances none of which got by either goalie.  The Islanders outshot the Devils again, 8-6.
          The Devils would control more of the play in the third getting more pucks toward the rookie Nilsson.  However, Nilsson was up to challenge and stopped every shot the Devils threw at him to win the game.  
          After the game Nilsson acknowledged his teammates for the help they gave him. “I thank all the guys,” Nilsson said. “They blocked a lot of shots and when a shot got through, it was from the boards. They made it really easy for me to play out there today.”  The game ended with the Islanders having twenty-seven blocked shots, while the Devils only had eighteen.
          The trilogy now heads south to Newark, where the two teams will meet again on Thursday night.  Puck drop is scheduled for 7 PM.