Jets Thrashed

It was New Year's Eve and the New York Islanders started their seven game road trip with a game against the Winnipeg Jets (let's face it they are still the Atlanta Thrashers...its more fun to think of them that way).  I remember when the Thrashers moved to Winnipeg, the fans were so upset that about 100 of them showed up at Phillips arena to protest.  It was very embarrassing.  Atlanta was never really a hockey town to begin with.  Unfortunately after losing the Flames to Calgary years ago there will not be a third chance.

The game also represented a homecoming for Manitoba native Travis Hamonic who does not get to visit Winnipeg during the regular season all that often.  It was the same line-up for the Islanders with Halak in net again.  He was opposed by Ondrej Pavelec for the Jets.  Another point to note was that Michael Grabner made the trip with the team and may be able to play on Friday night.  That meant that Mikhail Grabovski was put on notice.

The Islanders skated well in the first period.  After killing off a Jets power play they got a terrific shift from the third line.  They were able to stay in the Winnipeg zone for an extended period of time and got some really good opportunities.  However, it was a little bit of luck that got the Islanders on the board.  You knew that if a team named the "Jets" were involved that there had to be a bad bounce sooner or later.  There was a scrum around the net and one of the Jets hit the puck with a high stick and it first bounced off of the back of Anders Lee and then caromed in the net off of the shoulder of Ryan Strome for his 7th goal of the year.  Although it was not pretty, it was well earned with hard work.  The goal came at around the ten minute mark.  Nick Leddy got the second assist.  

The Islanders finally got a power play late in the period and with about thirty seconds left with the man advantage, Dustin Byfuglien (I am still not sure why his last name is pronounced "Bufflin") pushed Brock Nelson to the ice with a forearm shiver and the Isles had a two man advantage.  Very quickly thereafter, Johnny Boychuk took a big slap shot and broke his stick.  The puck veered off to the right side of the zone near the face off dot and right on the stick of Frans Nielsen who put the biscuit in the basket for his 7th goal of the year.  It was the ole break your stick and have everyone stand still and put it in the open net play.  Works every time.  Ryan Strome got the second assist.  As bad as the Islanders power play had been it was about time that they caught a break (of the stick) for once.  During the period the Islanders had two penalty kills and were 1-3 on the power play. New York out shot Winnipeg 12-7.

In the second period, the Jets got on the board one second after they failed on a power play with a goal from Ladd (who I think was a Thrasher in the Atlanta days).  It was close quarters in front of Halak and the puck was banged home to cut the lead to 2-1.  As the period wore on the the Jets started to get a lot more offensive zone time, Halak stood tall.  

Right about the time that you thought that the defense was going to break, the Islanders got a break out.  Frans Nielsen took the puck across the blue line and dropped a pass to Ryan Strome.  Both players criss-crossed and Strome fed the puck back to Fransy for the empty net goal.  It was Nielsen's second of the game and 8th goal of the year.  It was a very impressive pass from Strome and it was hard to figure out how he threaded the needle.  Nice play by the kid to add to his shoulder goal in the first period.  

As much as Winnipeg dictated play, the Islanders led 3-1 and also still out shot them 13-11.  Towards the end of the period Mikhail Grabovski would take his second penalty of the game.  Not a good game for Grabo.  I know he is making $20 million over four years, however he is a prime candidate to sit if Grabs40 comes back off of injured reserve.  Partly because I cannot see anyone else sitting down at this point.  Perhaps there is an unknown injury that is forthcoming?

The first Winnipeg goal was a single second after the power play which enabled the Islanders penalty kill streak to extend to fifteen (give or take one or two kills).  However, there was a late penalty in the second period and Winnipeg still had 90 seconds left starting the third period.  They were able to convert on another goal by Ladd to make it 3-2.  So the kill streak was indeed finally over.  The good news is that it was a tight game and the Islanders did not have to worry about a three goal lead.  They actually seemed to be a lot more confident with only the slimmest of margins in the final frame.  A few minutes later, Grabovski got the puck about twenty feet in front of Pavelec and failed to put it past his five hole (that sounds so wrong).  Grabo looked a lot like Grabs40 on that one.  Maybe he was just foreshadowing the player that will be replacing him next game.  

A little past the mid-point of the period New York got their two goal lead back on a goal by the guy with the that very hard name to remember......who was that....oh it was Anders Lee in front of the net.  Where else would you find him?  The goal came as he crashed the net.  It was Lee's 9th goal of the year from Strome and Nielsen.  Ryan Strome notched his fourth point of the game.  An amazing accomplishment for a player that has not even played a full season in the NHL.  He is the youngest Islander to get four points in a game, not named John Tavares, in over thirteen years.  The Lee goal seemed to take the air out of Jet's engines.  The Islanders capped off the game with an empty net goal by Josh Bailey.  It was Bales' 6th goal of the year from Hamonic an deHaan (I left off a "d" on purpose).  Not a lot of shots in the third, but the Islanders had the edge again at 8-5.  For the game the Islanders out shot the Jets 33-23.  

Great way to kick off the road trip with a solid 5-2 win.  The Jets fell short when Nick Folk hit the upright in the third period.  New York has to hope that the officials in Toronto do not see the final score and award the Jets three goals and a point to boot.  No three goal lead is safe anymore.  It was good to beat the Thrashers...er Jets.  Somehow I do not think those 100 or so die-hard Thrasher fans will care...in fact I doubt they even know what city their team went to...or if hockey is still a sport anymore.

On to the great province of Alberta with games against the Calgary Flames on Friday and the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday.  Kind of ironic to play the Jets and Flames back to back being that I live in Atlanta.  If the Isles can get by Calgary then this could be a very good road trip indeed.  As the year comes to a close, your New York Islanders will at worst be tied with the Pittsburgh Penguins for the lead in the Metropolitan Division, most likely lead the lead with wins, and be amongst the leaders in the entire Eastern Conference.  They are 25-11-1 after 37 games with 51 points on December 31st, 2014.  Let me say that again.  25-11-1 with 51 points.  Life is good sometimes.

Happy New Year to all...2015 is going to be a year to remember!!

Cat Is Out Of The Bag Again

We can all exhale now.  Jaroslav Halak came off of injured reserve yesterday and started in goal for the Islanders as they welcomed the Washington Capitals and Alexander Ovechkin into the Nassau Coliseum on Monday evening.  The Islanders had to get back to their winning ways after two losses against Montreal and Buffalo.  No need to start worrying about getting Chad Johnson's confidence back just yet.  The only line-up change of note was that Frans Nielsen moved up to the second line to center Anders Lee and Ryan Strome.  Brick Nelson moved down to the third line to center Mikhail Grabovski and Nickolay Kulemin.  

Once they dropped the puck, Grabovski skated in and nearly put the Islanders on top at the seven second mark.  Grabo actually skated well in the first period and had a couple of chances.  Washington got the first power play of the evening but that was negated when Ovechkin held a stick so no damage done. Anders Lee got the Islanders on the board first with a little over eight minutes gone when he tipped home a short from Thomas Hickey.   Strome started the play which led to Lee's 8th goal of the year (three of which have come against the Capitals this year).  Washington got one more power play before the period ended but the Islanders were able to kill it off.  Good news is that there did not seem to be any negative after effects from the Buffalo game.  But it was early.  Halak looked sharp.  The week off probably did him good.  Islanders led the shot parade 11-6 during the period.

In the second period, once again Washington got an early power play but again they could not convert.  About midway through the period the Islanders got their first real power play of the game and took advantage when Lubomir Visnovsky launched a shot from the blue line that was going wide, however, it hit one the Capitals' defensemen and skipped past Braden Holby for a 2-0 lead. It was Lubo's 3rd goal of the year from Nielsen and Grabovski.  Jaro was not really tested all that much during the period and the shots were pretty even with the Isles having a slight 11-10 edge.  New York's defense was stellar as they really did not give Washington that many scoring chances through the first two periods.  Right before the end of the period Brock Nelson took a penalty so the Capitals were able to start the third period on the power play on a fresh sheet of ice. 

At the start of the third period the Islanders stood tall once again on the penalty kill.  Kulemin was impressive as he broke in on Holtby and nearly scored. Then after a quick turnover, Calvin deHaan rocketed one past Holtby for the short-handed goal.  It was deHaan's first goal of the year from Tavares and Kulemin.  That made it 3-0.  It was at this point that it would have been prudent to go find one of my cats for some comfort.  Surely, with a confident Halak in net the Islanders had this one in the bag.

Just three minutes later, Washington got one back as Fehr drove to the net and put one past Halak.  The play was borderline goalie interference, nonetheless it counted and it was 3-1.  It only took Washington two more minutes to get their second goal as Backstrom took a feed from Ovechkin and was in all alone on Halak to make it 3-2.  There was not too much concern, because there was no way that the Islanders were going to give up three goal leads in the third period in back to back games.  It was at this point that I was looking for a second cat and a much bigger bag.

The game started to wind down.  The Islanders had a chance to ice the game with a power play with about seven minutes left but could not convert.  There was way too much passing around looking for the perfect shot.  It looked like New York was going to escape with a win in regulation, but Red and White #8 made sure that was not the case.  Ovechkin scored with a little over two minutes left and Islanders Nation was stunned.  It was at this time that both of my cats were not only out of the bag, but they taunted me with it.  It was cruel and unusual punishment indeed.

It was the fourth time in December that the Islanders had blown three goal leads.  You would think that there would have been a better chance that the Islanders would cancel their lease with the Barclay's Center and remain at the Nassau Coliseum before that ever happened.  It was unbelievable and amazing all at the same time.

Right before the end of regulation the Islanders got a gift.  Kuzneetsov got tagged with a four minute high sticking penalty and the Islanders were in business.  They could not muster anything in regulation, but went into the overtime with almost three minutes of four on three.  For most of the power play, they once again stood around still looking for the perfect shot.  Then after a timeout, Boychuk finally put the Islander fans out of their misery with a blast past Holtby for the 4-3 overtime win.  It was Boychuck's 3rd goal of the year and his first goal since very early in the season.  Strome and Okposo had the assists.  It was a huge relief.  The good thing is that I did not have to penalize my cats before I went off to bed for the evening.

It was tough to watch the last couple of minutes of regulation and overtime, but in the end the Islanders got the two points to move to 24-11-1 which is good for 49 points.  The Islanders dominated the shots on goal 39-26 (with five coming in the overtime period).  The penalty kill improved very much over the last two weeks.  However, the power play is a concern.  They simply just need to shoot more.

I could spend quite a bit of time analyzing and hypothesizing why the Islanders gave up multiple three goal leads, but I won't.  The reason is because there really is no explanation.  It does not matter who is in goal or who is on the ice.  It just happens.  I do not think they should over react and make any changes.  They just need to accept it and move on.  If they just ignore it, hopefully it will go away.  If they pay attention to it, then it will definitely get in their heads.

It was another sell out in the Nassau Coliseum.  That means that there was 16,170 fans in the ole barn.  I love saying that number...16,170.  It has a certain ring to it.  Great to see a sell out during on a weekday, even though it was during the Christmas break.  Next up is the start of a seven game road trip starting with a game in Winnipeg on New Year;s eve.  It will be a challenge.  I'll be watching at home as always, however, the cats will be locked upstairs.  As long as they stay out of the bag then three goal leads should be safe.

Its Not Halak

Well its time to get a little bit concerned Islander fans.  Jaroslav Halak was put on the injured reserve list retroactive to December 20th with a lower body injury.  He was given the last game off as a "maintenance day", however now that he has missed a second game in a row and is on injured reserve one wonders how serious it may be.  However, Saturday morning Halak did skate so that was a good sign that it is not serious.  The Islanders are still calling it a maintenance issue so let's see what happens in the next few days.

The Islanders were in Buffalo on Saturday to play an improving Sabres team,  It was also an opportunity to reunite with former Islander Matt Moulson, who spent Christmas day with his old teammates.  The rest of the Isles line-up was the same as the one that lost to Montreal before the break.  Buffalo countered with Jhonas Enroth in net.  While watching the game I could not help but think that every time the Buffalo announcers said "Enroth" it sounded a lot like "Enron".  That is a reference to the energy and commodities company that filed for bankruptcy in 2001 in the midst of a national scandal arising from a planned accounting fraud.  Would Enroth would also turn out to be a fraud?

It was not a surprise that Kevin Poulin was called up.  But when you look at the fact that he had a 34 shot shut out Friday night and had to travel to Buffalo it was a surprise that he got the start in net.  One one hand, maybe it made sense to go with the hot hand.  Capuano said before the game that Poulin deserved the start based on his play this year.  So far for Bridgeport Poulin was 10-6-4-1 with a 2.41 goals against average and a .928 save percentage.  That makes you wonder about the lack of confidence that management and the coaching staff have in Chad Johnson.  It will be interesting to see how Poulin plays and what happens in the next few days when Halak returns.  

The Islanders started well and spent almost the first two minutes in the Sabres offensive zone.  Poulin looked confident in net and had a few early kick saves to boot.  In just a few short minutes Poulin looked much better in net than Chad Johnson. On a couple of occasions, Poulin had to stretch out to keep the puck out of the net.  The Poulin Wall turned away ten shots during the period. 

New York got on the board first just before the five minute mark with a goal by Nick Leddy.  The defenseman took a harmless shot from the left point and it snuck by a Josh Bailey screen to get by Enroth for the 1-0 lead.  It was Leddy's 6th goal of the year from Okposo and Bailey.  Other than that, it was a pretty even period with the Sabres having a slight edge in shots 10-9.  Right at the end of the period one of the Sabres took an unnecessary roughing penalty on Cal Clutterbuck which gave the Islanders a power play to start the second period.

The power play to start the second period fizzled once again.  It is almost getting to the point where the Islanders should start to decline the power plays. All it is doing nowadays is wasting two minutes at a time.  During the period Buffalo had three power plays of their own and Poulin stood tall on each one.  Then at around the ten minute mark Kyle Okposo got to the puck behind the Sabres net and pushed it along the wall where Bailey pinched to keep it in the zone.  John Tavares went into full beast mode and picked up the loose puck, stick handled in tight quarters and put a backhander past Enroth for a 2-0 lead. A couple of minutes later the Islanders pressed the play once again with some crisp passing from Bailey to Okposo to Tavares for his second goal of the game and his 15th goal of the year.  The top line was on the ice for all three goals.  Good to see them clicking for the first time in a long time.  The Islanders doubled up the Sabres on shots 10-5 in the period and were in complete control of the game at that point.

Three goal lead with one period to play.  Piece of cake...except when you are the Islanders you would almost want to have a one goal lead.  With six minutes or so gone in the period, the game turned around in a five minute span. Deslauriers got Buffalo on the board with an innocent shot right in front of Poulin to ruin the shut out.  Then a couple of minutes later the Islanders went on the power play, after a Buffalo goalie interference penalty, looking to get their three goal lead back.  However a long pass from Deslauriers found Girgensons on a breakaway (glad I did not have to pronounce those two names) and he buried the shorty past Poulin to cut the lead to 2-1.  Less than a minute later, after the Islanders failed on another power play, Stewart got by the defense and swung in on Poulin to tie the game.  Not sure about the first two goals, but the tying goal that Poulin let in was very weak.  It turned out that Poulin might have been the fraud in this game after all  The Islanders ended up out shooting the Sabres 14-6 in the third period and 36-26 for the game. However, the telling stat was in the rugby scrums.  The Isles were horrible and ended up losing 64% of all face-offs throughout the game.

Five minutes and three shots is all it took to ruin the game for the Islanders.  It was the third time in the past couple of weeks that the Islanders gave up a three goal lead.  Interesting fact is that in those three games there was a different goaltender in each game (Halak, Johnson and now Poulin).  Not sure what is causing the breakdowns late in the game.  When the game is close in the third period the Islanders seem to play much better, but when they have a multiple goal lead they stop playing for some reason.  The frustrating thing is that there does not seem to be an apparent reason.  It is not just the defense or goalie.  It is a combination of both at times.

In the overtime both teams had chances but it eventually went to the skills competition.  New York came into the game winners of their last nine overtime games (six of which were shootouts) and eleven in a row if you go back to last year.  You knew that at some point they were going to lose one.  Tonight was the night.  It was a bad sign when Frans Nielsen missed his "backhand of judgement" and Tavares over stick handled his approach in front of Enroth.  All the Sabres needed was a goal from Ennis and they were able to get two points out of thin air.  The Islanders got a point, but it really felt like they lost a point in this game.

This was a very disappointing loss.  The Islanders were the better team for 55 minutes.  It goes to show you that you need to play 60 complete minutes in this league because any team can come back if they have the talent.  As far as forwards go, the top line was strong.  Bailey seems to have found a home there on the wing.  However, the other three lines were very quiet.  On the second line Mikhail Grabovski continues to be a no show every night.  The effort is there, but there is no production.  He got his wish to play with his buddy Nickolay Kulemin and he has not taken advantage.   Frans Nielsen has struggled, but that might be more of a function of who he is playing with right now.  The third line did not do anything special this evening.  Barely heard the names Nelson or Lee for the entire game.  The fourth line agitated a bit but did not produce anything of substance.

After their second loss in a row, the Islanders fell to 23-11-1 and have a total of 47 points.  They remain in second place in the Metropolitan Division.  Next up is a home game against the Washington Capitals on Monday and a road game on New Year's Eve against the Winnipeg Jets.  They are still right there, but it is apparent that they need a healthy Jaroslav Halak until they find a capable back-up that they can have confidence in.  If you had to sum up the amount of confidence that the team has in their back-up goaltenders right now well there is only one thing that can be said...Its not Halak.

Festivus Pole Dancing

Tonight was a special night.  It was the last night of Hanukkah, the eve of Christmas eve and coincidentally enough the celebration of Festivus.  That meant breaking out the aluminum Festivus pole, "Airing our Grievances" and performing "Feats of Strength", with the hope that at the end of the evening that there would be a "Festivus miracle." Oh and by the way the New York Islanders were hosting the Montreal Canadiens at the Nassau Coliseum.  I could not wait to dance around the Festivus Pole in my John Tavares hockey sweater.  

Tonight also represented the start of my staycation. I am definitely looking forward to relaxing the next couple of weeks, getting some writing in, and watching some winning hockey.  However, there are only three more hockey games the rest of the year so that means that there will be a lot of time to fill.  Hopefully the Islanders can finish strong and head into the new year a bit more healthy and with some momentum.

This afternoon there was a surprise from Head Coach Jack Capuano as he chose to start Chad Johnson in net instead of Jaroslav Halak.  Jaro had a maintenance day yesterday (as well as today) and from what I have read on social media, Johnson had looked better in practice.  There is no doubt that Cappy needs to play his backup on a more regular basis so it will be critical to find the right spots to play him.  The Canadiens countered with their number one, Carey Price.  As for the forwards and defensemen the line-up was the same as the past two games.  There was no need to tinker with something that is working.

Late in the day and before the game the Islanders recalled Kevin Poulin from Bridgeport on an "emergency basis."  I am sure there were many fans out in the twittersphere (and I was one of them) that started to panic when they heard the news.  However, it looks like that the Islanders just wanted to give Halak a complete day off.  After the game Poulin was returned to Bridgeport.  Also by calling up Poulin, who has played well for the Sound Tigers, to dress as a backup it sent a clear message to Johnson that he needed to pick his game up and soon.

As the game started New York took over where they left off on Saturday night against the Lightning and had another dominating period.  Montreal moved the puck into the offensive zone, but could not get a shot on Johnson in the first fourteen minutes of the period.  The Islanders had a number of chances, including a failed power play.  Then at around the twelve minute mark Josh Bailey started a rush with a stick check and Lubomir Visnovsky got the puck ahead to Tavares for a quick two on one rush.  The captain slid a pass to Kyle Okposo who netted his 8th goal of the year.  

The Islanders continued to force the action and cycled the puck right up until the end of the period.  However, time ran out with the Islanders peppering Price and having all the momentum.  New York ended up out shooting Montreal 14-3 in the period.  Overall, it was a very easy first twenty minutes for Johnson who was not really tested at all.

So much for world domination.  In the second period, the Islanders came out strong, but a turnover and a broken stick by Travis Hamonic in the Islanders own end led to a goal by Andrei Markov, who was playing in his 800th game of his career.  That tied the game a one apiece.  Johnson seemed to be screened on the shot, but he still needed to find a way to fight through it.  That goal seemed to energize the Canadiens as they decided to start playing.  They took it to the Islanders and spent extended time in Islanders zone.  

Montreal then grabbed the lead with a goal by Brandon Gallagher.  To be fair, on the play Johnson had no chance as Gallagher got a rebound right in front of the net.  It was a bang bang play.  However, it could not have been very good goal for Johnson's confidence.  Shots were even at nine for the period, but the momentum had clearly swung to the visitor's side going into the last period.

The Islanders had come from behind in their last four games to win.  However, against the Canadiens it was not to be.  Once again the Islanders had a few good chances in the third period, but could not put anything past Cary Price.  David Desharnais gave Montreal a 3-1 advantage with a little over a minute left as he cut right in front of Johnson and redirected a shot into the net.  It was another great crowd in the ole barn, but on this night they could not will the Islanders to make another comeback.  

New York led the shot parade in the third period 13-9 and had a healthy 38-21 advantage for the entire game.  It was the fourth straight game that they out shot the opposition by at least ten shots.  However, this was one game where the shot total did not tell the story.  The Islanders dominated in the first period, regressed in the middle frame, and gave it the ole college try in the third.  It was not good enough.  

New York might be able to turn it on and off against most teams, but when they play the better teams in the league they need to be more consistent throughout the entire game.  After the game, Capuano cited the lack of a power play and an eight minute stretch in the middle period that were the keys to the game.  There were hints that some of the personnel on the power play will change before the next game.  Also, there were some players that were not playing up to their capabilities.  But then again, he says that almost after every game.

The Islanders fell to 23-11 and are off until Saturday when they travel up to Buffalo to play an improving Sabres squad.  It will be interesting to see if Halak is in net.  Johnson did not play poorly, but the sense was is that he still does not have all of his confidence back.  It is tough for a back-up goalie to stay sharp, but that is what he is being paid to do.  

It was probably a coincidence that it was the last night of Hanukkah and the eve of Christmas eve, but at the same time it was very appropriate that it was also Festivus.  There certainly were no "Feats of Strength" during the game and I am sure that in the locker room that Capuano and the coaching staff "Aired Their Grievances."  However, unlike the game last Saturday night when the Islanders scored three goals in the last three minutes to win in exciting fashion, there was no "Festivus Miracle" this evening. 

Lightning Struck

Tonight the Islanders played the Tampa Bay Lightning at the Nassau Coliseum.   While the Islanders were beating the Red Wings and flying back to Long Island from Detroit, the Lightning were in the process of losing an overtime shootout to the New Jersey Devils at the Rock.  The teams split the first two meetings this year with each home team winning by a 5-2 score.  Coming into the game Tampa Bay was on top of the Atlantic Division with 44 points while the Islanders were second in the Metropolitan Division with the same point total.  

The Islanders went with the same line-up from Friday, giving Jaroskav Halak his first back-to-back starts this year.  With Halak only facing 18 shots the night before, Capuano felt that it would not be an issue to stay with the hot hand and for him to play again tonight.  Tampa Bay was going to go with their back-up goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy in net.  Ben Bishop was out with an injury and Evgeni Nabokov played against the Devils.  The game was the seventh sell out of the year at the Nassau Coliseum (five of which have come on the last five Saturday evenings).  It's starting to get very easy to memorize the number 16,170 when you see it so often.

In the last two games, the Islanders had started flat footed and it took them a full period to get their legs going and for each of the lines to get onto the same page.  However, tonight in front of the home crowd they looked a lot better from the jump.  The only real excitement in the first period came when Brian Boyle kicked a puck past Halak into the net.  The goal was reviewed in Toronto and quickly overturned to keep the game scoreless.  Each team had a power play during the period and came up empty.  The Islanders led the shot parade 12-5 and even won in the face-off circle.  Overall, it was a pretty even period.

In the second period, the Islanders had a couple of more power plays, but once again could not convert.  It is very obvious that New York is really struggling on special teams this year.  It is hard to imagine what their record would be if they were just fair to middlin' on both sides of the power play.  That being said, the Islanders ran into a very hot goalie as Vasilevskiy who had to stand on his head to keep the Islanders off the board.  As the game progressed it was clear that the Islanders were getting the better of the play as more time was spent in Tampa Bay's end of the ice.  In fact the Islanders were starting to dominate.  The Isles had a big edge on the shot chart 15-4 for the period and through two periods they had a 68% edge when they were in the dot.  However, the game remained scoreless at the end of two.  

The last frame saw more domination from the Islanders, however as the game wore on there was a strong feeling that a lucky bounce would give someone the advantage.  With a little over nine minutes gone Connolly got that lucky bounce as he tipped a pass past Halak to give the Lightning the 1-0. It certainly looked like that was going to be the final score sending the home crowd home with a very disappointing loss.  After all, when your team totally dominates the opposition your team is supposed to win, right?  That answer would be a resounding "Yes! Yes! Yes!" After the Lightning goal the Islanders started to play with more urgency.  It reminded me of the Stanley Cup Teams of the past.  Whenever those teams got into a similar situation they played like "they were afraid to lose".  This team is starting to exhibit those very same characteristics.

With a little over three minutes left things got interesting.  John Tavares evened the game at 1-1 with some hard work right in front of Vasilevskiy.  After the goal, Tavares looked to the sky as if a huge weight was taken off of his shoulders.  It was his 13th goal of the year from both line mates Okposo and Bailey.  Then only twelve seconds later, while everyone was still celebrating the tying goal, Anders Lee tipped home a quick shot from Hamonic and in a blink of an eye the Islanders had a 2-1 lead.  It was Lee's 7th goal of the year and second goal in two games.  Nelson got the second helper.  The crowd was beside itself.

Now all the Islanders had to do was withstand a furious Tampa Bay comeback attempt to try to even the score and that is what they did.  Tavares took a slap shot to the ear and had to be helped off the ice.  He looked to be in a lot of pain, however after the game Capuano said he was fine and only needed a couple of staples to close up the wound.  Nickolay Kulemin got the empty net goal, his 6th of the year from Clutterbuck to ice the game at 3-1.  Even though Tampa Bay had the better of the play in the third period, the Islanders still out shot them 19-12 in the period.

A look at the final statistics is telling.  The Islanders out shot the Lightning 48-21, inclusive of Kyle Okposo's eight shots.  New York out hit Tampa Bay 46-25 and were 27 for 47 in the face-off circle.  The Lightning had 17 blocks to the Islanders 15, but that is a bit misleading when you look at the overall shot total.  After the game Steve Stamkos said it best, "We were dominated."  It would have been a shame to not get a point after such a great effort.  Getting two points was a well-earned reward.

The fairytale season continues.  The Islanders moved to 23-10 which is good for 46 points on the season as they won their 13th home game which equalled their home win total for all of last year.  Next up is a tough home game against Montreal on Tuesday before the Christmas break.

Getting Healthy

Having three days off between hockey games during the week is sometimes bad and sometimes good.  When the Islanders are going bad those days can not go by fast enough.  The bad taste in my mouth needs to be cleansed like a palate between entrees during a five course dinner.  On the other hand, when the Islanders are going good those days are more manageable.  It provides time to reflect on how well the team is doing and it creates more excitement for the next game coming up.  Right now, I could not wait any longer for Friday's game against the Red Wings in Detroit.  I have reflected long enough, time to get back to winning hockey games.

Good news going into this one.  Not only was I getting healthy and getting rid of my Rhine River cold, but the Islanders were getting healthy.  Johnny Boychuk and Travis Hamonic were taken off of injured reserve and were back in the line-up tonight, which meant that Griffin Reinhart was targeted to return to Bridgeport.  The kid played well and has improved, but needs to develop a little bit more and will do so with top line minutes with the Sound Tigers.  The Islanders went into the game with a healthy defense for the first time in weeks.  First time in a long time you saw Leddy-Boychuk, Hamonic-deHaan, and Visnovsky-Hickey out there.  With a confident Halak in goal it was going to be interesting to see what would develop.  As for the forwards, the only change was Josh Bailey moving up to the top line to play with John Tavares and Kyle Okposo.  Nikolay Kulemin moved down to the second line to play with his buddy Mikhail Grabovski and Frans Nielsen.

The first period started with the Islanders on their heels.  They did not spend a lot of time in Detroit's zone and when they did get there they could not generate a coordinated attack and looked to be rushing everything.  Detroit on the other hand did a good job controlling play in front of Halak.  At about the nine minute mark, Zetterberg got the Red Wings on the board with a screen shot after an turnover by Lubomir Visnovsky at the Islanders blue line.  New York picked up their play after killing off a penalty and started to generate some good scoring chances.  Hard work paid off when Brock Nelson banged home a rebound past Jimmy Howard for his 14th goal of the year.  The goal came with a little over three minutes left in the period and was helped by Visnovsky and Lee.  The Red Wings dominated the first ten minutes of the period, however, the Islanders dominated the last ten minutes.  The Isles had the edge in shots 8-6.  It basically looked like New York had to get some rust out of their system after having three straight days off.

To start the second Petr Mrazek replaced Jimmy Howard in goal for Detroit due to a lower-body injury.  New York got an early power play and the Islanders looked pretty crisp.  They had five scoring chances and four shots on goal but Mrazek off the bench was sharp out of the gate.  The Islanders continued their strong play and then pressured the Red Wings into their own turnover right in front of Mrazek.  Brock Nelson stick-handed a couple of times and was stopped only to have Anders Lee swoop in and jam it home a couple of inches in front of the goal line for a 2-1 Isles lead.  The rest of the period was pretty even even though the Islanders out shot Detroit 16-7.  Over the first two periods the Islanders not only led in shots they also dominated the face-off circle by winning 64% of the rugby scrums for the first two periods.  Those stats reflected the obvious shift in the momentum and validated why the Islanders had the lead going into the last period.

I wish I had a lot to write about in the third period, but I don't, and that necessarily is not a bad thing.  The Red Wings started the period with about 90 seconds left on a power play after a Clutterbuck penalty at the end of the second.  The Islanders killed it off and then locked down defensively for the rest of the period.  They had a couple of empty net chances after Mrazek was caught wandering away from his crease.  Overall it was a very boring but very steady defensive effort in the third period.  The only scare came on an Islanders power play with about three minutes left when Zetterberg got a short-handed opportunity but missed the net wide right.  The Isles barely out shot the Wings in the third  7-5 but dominated over the course of the game 32-18.  Probably one of their best defensive efforts of the year.

The Islanders improved to 22-10.  The kid line (i.e., Strome, Nelson and Lee) shined tonight and factored in both goals.  The top two lines are still a concern and need to start generating some offense.  Its nice to get balanced scoring, but balanced means that everyone needs to contribute.  After a short flight home, the Islanders will be at home to face the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday night.  It will be interesting to see if Capuano gives Chad Johnson a shot or goes back to Halak who has been consistently hot for quite awhile now. It wasn't a very exciting evening, but winning never gets boring.

Unhealthy Scratch

Finally back home from the Rhine river in Germany, however I returned with an upper-body injury and listed as day-to-day.  There were a bunch of people on the cruise that caught some type of bug.  There was lots of indiscriminate coughing going on.  Kellie caught it during the first couple of days and passed it to me right before we boarded the plane flight home.  I rested all day yesterday but need to have at least one more day before I go back to work.

Tonight I got to see the Islanders play a game for the first time in a long time against the New Jersey Devils at the Nassau Coliseum.  I still had a bit of jet lag and due to my injury it took all my strength to stay up for this one.  For tonight's game, Casey Czikas returned and Michael Grabner sat (lower-body injury and is day to day).  The hope is that Grabner's ailment is not related to his sports hernia.  Same defense and forwards as last game.  Also it looks like Travis Hamonic and Johnny Boychuk are getting close for a return.   Halak got the start against  Keith Kincaid. Who is that you say?  Turns out he is a Sachem grad and grew up an Islanders fan. Playing at the Coliseum was his dream. He got to live that dream tonight. 

In the first period, the Devils showed up and the Islanders did not.  New York did not play with any emotion and as a result the fans had nothing to really cheer about.  It seemed like a typical Monday evening game that could go either way.  It was also very surprising how invisible John Tavares was.  The Islanders top line has not been as dominant as it had been in the past.  Kulemin seemed to be a good fit on the top line, however I think there is new blood needed there to spark both Tavares and Okposo.  

The Devils got on the board first with a power-play goal from Zidlicky that Halak never saw.  Then a couple of minutes later Gomez (who just recently returned to New Jersey and is trying to resurrect his career) threw one at the net and it caromed in off of Visnovsky's skate to give the Devils a quick two goal lead.   The Islanders had one power-play but could not put one past the Sachem kid.  However, Jagar took a penalty at the end of the period to give the Isles another shot on the power play to start the second period.  The Devils out shot the Islanders 12-7 in the period.  

To start the second, the Islanders failed to convert on the power play and were passing too much instead of shooting against the rookie goaltender.  Kincaid was not being tested.  Right after the man advantage ended, the Islanders started to cycle the puck behind the Devils net and Ryan Strome found Josh Bailey in front for his 5th goal of the year to cut the Devil's lead in half at 2-1.  Grabovski got the second helper.  The Islanders played a little better for the last ten minutes of the period.  They out shot the Devils 11-7.  There was a strong feeling amongst the broadcast team that the next goal would win the game.  They turned out to be right.

The first half of the third period saw the Islanders pick up the pace a bit.  Then with about nine minutes left, Czikas feathered a pass ahead to Matt Martin who wristed it into the far corner of the net to tie the game at two apiece.  For Martin it was a goal scorer's goal and his 4th of the year.  Every once in a while he flashes some skill that makes you go "Hmmm."  Calvin de Haan got an assist as well.  Right after Martin's goal the crowd started to get back into the game.  All of a sudden the Islanders responded and seemed to get a lot more chances the rest of the way.  

With a little less than two minutes left in regulation, John Tavares got caught for spearing (bad play by the captain) and the Islanders had to kill off a penalty right before the end of the period.  In overtime, Tavares came out of the box and he looked like he wanted to make up for his mistake.  He was all over the ice and came close to winning it.  Then the tables were turned as the Devils had to kill their own penalty to end the overtime period.  In the shoot out the Islanders got goals from Okposo and Bailey.  Halak was Halak and kept the Devils off the board when it mattered most.  The Islanders got the extra point on a night when they probably did not even deserve one point.

The Islanders did not play very well.  However, they turned on the switch in the last period for the second game in a row to get a win.  That was evidenced by the 13 shots vs. the Devils 7 in the period.  For the game the Isles out shot the Devils 33-28.  Not a dominating performance at all.  This was another perfect example of a game that they would have lost last year.  The Islanders remain a  perfect 9-0 in overtime/shootout games which will reap big dividends going down the stretch run next year.

Now its a well deserved three days off before going to Detroit on Friday.  The good news is that the Islanders only have six more games over the balance of the year which spans 16 days.  That means players can get healthy and the team can get in some well needed practice time.  If they can go 4-2 the rest of the month then it bodes well going into the new year.  I need to overcome my own upper-body injury in time so that I can rejoin the team.  I hope when that happens I can crack the line-up because there is no way I want to be a healthy scratch.

Black Forrest

It is the penultimate day of my vacation on the Rhine river here in Germany (I always like using that word “penultimate”). We took a two hour bus ride from Breisach into the Black Forest. We were at the foot of the Kaiserstuhl Mountain on the French-German border in a thick forest of pine trees. The area got its name because the forests are so dense that the local residents described them as black. It was breathtaking at certain points, however it was basically no different than any forest back home. The things I do to please the wife.

Our driving tour had one stop at a cuckoo clock factory. There we got a slice of Black Forest cake and purchased a cuckoo clock. Those were the two highlights of the day. So in summary I basically rode in a bus through a forest for four hours just for a piece of cake and a clock. However, afterwards I did realize one hidden benefit. I can finally cross of one thing on my bucket list. I actually ate Black Forest cake in the Black Forest. Mission accomplished.

Tonight the Islanders and their three game losing streak hosted the Chicago Blackhawks at the Nassau Coliseum. Was it a coincidence that the Blackhawks were in town while I was in the Black Forest…I think not. Anyway, as far as the lineup went, it was musical upper and lower body injuries again. Josh Bailey was back in the line-up for Eric Bolton and Griffen Reinhart was in for Brian Strait (which made the Islanders Twitter-verse very happy). Hamonic, Czikas, and Boychuk are getting closer but not quite ready to get back on the ice. In other player news, earlier in the day New York put Cory Conacher on waivers. No one claimed him and he was loaned back to Bridgeport. Conacher started the year as a first line winger and after a quick and steep free fall is now in the AHL where he is most likely to remain. The Conacher experiment is now officially over with.

A couple of interesting items for this game. First, it was Clark Gilles mini-locker afternoon. The Islanders are 2-1 on mini-locker games so far this year (Potvin and Smith wins vs. a Nystrom loss) with all the games being a sell out. Gilles skated with the team in the morning and was hoping to get into the line-up. However, Capuano joked that Gilles would not be happy being a “healthy scratch.” An interesting quote from Gilles before the game, “I'm looking to grow a playoff beard this year.” which was nice to hear from one of the Islander legends. In addition, it was the first game for Nick Leddy against his old team. There was a nice article on Leddy in one of the Chicago newspapers in which he stated that he was happy with the trade to the Islanders so that he could have a more prominent role with a new team instead of being a third pair defenseman for the Blackhawks.

The internet was down on the ship even though we were docked. Seems that being in this part of Germany makes the internet kind of tricky because there is a confluence of three countries (Germany, France and Switzerland). At least that is what the Cruise Director told us. Anyway, I could not get any Twitter updates until the following morning at breakfast. Chicago was coming into the game with an eight game win streak. Most were expecting the Isles to put up a good effort but fall a bit short. The next sixty minutes were going to be a measuring stick. 

In the first period, there was not much going on. New York seemed to play well and kept in step with Chicago. The Blackhawks had a slight edge on shots 10-8. However, the Isles still struggled on face-offs losing 10-14 during the period. In the second period, the Islanders came out flying and had the first nine shots on net against Chicago's Scott Darling. However, all was for naught as Dan Carcillo got the Hawks on the board first off a weird bounce off of Halak's back. It was only six seconds later, before that goal was able to sink in, that Cal Clutterbuck responded after Duncan Keith made a mistake in his own end. It was Clutterbuck's 4th goal of the year and it was uassisted. The period ended up tied at one. Through two periods the Islanders had the lead in shots 25-17. However, they continued to struggle winning rugby scrums as they were successful on only 12 of 34 face-offs.

Early in the third, Patrick Kane got Chicago the lead back when he breezed past Lubomir Visnovsky and backhanded one past Halak. At that moment I was waiting for the third Blackhawks goal to ice the game. However, I was pleasantly surprised to see Kyle Okposo step up and get his 7th goal of the year off of a rebound to knot the game at two apiece. The goal was fed from Tavares and Leddy right after the ten minute mark. Then, less than a minute later Visnovsky got his 2nd goal of the year from Ryan Strome and Matt Martin. That would end up being the final score in what some called the best game of the year. The Islanders continued the shot brigade by doubling up on the Blackhawwks 16-8 for the period and 41-25 for the game. They were able to protect their lead by winning 9 of 17 face-offs. Not great, but at least they were not dominated in the circle as usual.

Next up is a game against the Devils at the Coliseum on Monday and then the Islanders have three straight off days before heading to Detroit on Friday before returning back home for Tampa Bay on Saturday. Hopefully,, New York can get healthy on the blue line before the end of the week. On my vacation, the Islanders ended up 2-3 with an opening win against Ottawa and a closing win against the Blackhawks sandwiched around a three game losing streak. It will be good to get home and see some games and evaluate where the team is at.

Even though the wins have been well-earned, there is still a lot of room for improvement. The Islanders have faced adversity, especially when it come to injuries. They are the top of the league when it comes to man games lost. Nevertheless, they continue to weather the storm and find ways to win. The schedule is not getting any easier and getting wins the next couple of months will not be a piece of cake. But if the wins to come have to be in the form of some sort of pastry, maybe a nice big slice of Black Forest cake will do.

Sacre Bleus!

Pulling into Strasbourg on the French-German border.  I am not a big fan of either country so I am not in the best mood.  The dislike is more culinary than anything else, but there are other reasons as well. Having the Islanders on a two game losing streak (which seems more like a seven game streak) and not being able to watch any of the games does not help either.  To make matters worse I am suffering from an upper-body injury and will be a game time decision.

For tonight's game against the Blues, Josh Bailey was out with a lower-body injury and was replaced by Eric Bolton who was coming off injured reserve.  With Casey Czikas not making the trip, Ryan Strome moved down to the fourth line to center for Matt Martin and Boulton and Cal Cluttterbuck moved up to the third line.  On defense Matt Donovan was in for Griffin Reinhart.  Capuano just wanted some experience in the line-up tonight.  I think that was a sign that he really wanted to win this one.  Halak was back in net looking for revenge against his old team facing Jake Allen for the second time in a week.  The Isles were looking to erase the bad taste in their mouth from the last game at the Nassau Coliseum when they went out to a three goal lead only to lose 6-4.

I slept through the night for the first time on the trip and got up at 5:30AM to check the score, but the internet was down.  It was back up an hour later as we pulled into the port.  The first period saw St.Louis go out to a 2-0 lead on goals by Steen and Jackman.  The shots were even for the period with the Blues having a slight edge 9-8.  The Blues had three power plays to the Islanders two.  The first goal came after a Brian Strait penalty.  Poor guy has been based on Twitter the past two weeks. He has been on the ice for a lot of even strength goals.  Strait is -8 for the year at even strength.  The fans want him waived.  I am sure that he will be out of the line-up once Hamonic and Boychuk return.

In the second stanza, the Islanders stayed out of the penalty box and played strong.  John Tavares got his 12th goal of the year from Kyle Okposo late in the period to make it a 2-1 game.  Okposo won the face-off and Tavares darted through a couple of Blues and put it between Allen's legs.  Then Mikhail Grabovski got his 5th goal of the year from Frans Nielsen with less than a minute to go.  Grabo went top shelf where the expensive liquor is kept to tie the game going into the intermission.  The Isles out shot the Blues in the second period 14-8.

In the last period the Islanders fell apart.  St. Louis got four goals from Steen (his 2nd of the game), Oshie, Stastny and Schwartz.  Okposo got on the score sheet with his 6th of the year from Matt Donovan.  The Blues dominated the period by out shooting the Isles 16-6 and 33-28 for the game.  It was the third straight game that New York gave up at least five goals.  That is a bit concerning.  The only good news is that they are still only a point behind the Penguins for first place in the Metropolitan Division.

December started with two wins against Ottawa, but has been followed up with three losses against St. Louis and Minnesota (none of which were good).  The Islanders go home for the next four of five games so they have a chance to right the ship.  No one expected them to maintain their hectic winning pace the first two months of the season, however they need to plug their holes as soon as possible and stay close to Pittsburgh and far away from the other teams in the conference.  They need to weather the storm for now.  It has been a disappointing week, however it is not the end of the world.  It could be worse.  I could be stuck in Strasbourg and forced to eat Foie Gras and Sauerbraten for the rest of my life.

Nicht Akzeptabel!

As we were sailing from Miltenberg to Frankfurt the Islanders were skating in Minnesota against the Wild (I almost said Northstars).  This was going to be the first of two tough road games.  Casey Cizikas did not make the trip due to an upper body injury.  He was replaced by Josh Bailey who was returning from his own upper body injury.  

Lubomir Visnovsky was also finally returning from an upper body injury and was in for Matt Donovan who was going to be a healthy scratch.  Squatch is getting pretty good at sitting in the press box these days.  All kidding aside, Donovan had done at admirable job at filling in.  Johnny Boychuk and Travis Hamonic were both still out with their upper body injuries.  The good news is at least there were no lower body injuries to speak about. 

What is it with all this upper body/lower body unsinn zueg!  Why is the NHL so secretive about their injuries?  The other professional sports leagues are out in the open, why not the NHL?  I get it.  You do not want your opposition to know what is ailing your players because your opponents might take advantage.  Is that more likely in the NHL than the NFL, NBA or MLB?  It is just verrückt!  

Halak was supposed to be in net again, but because of a minor injury in warm-ups he had to be replaced by Chad Johnson.  I think that Capuano wanted to get Halak back on track after breaking his 11 game winning streak the other day against Ottawa.  It was not to be.  

This game was also interesting because the Isles were facing Thomas Vanek and Nino Niederreiter for the first time this year.  The Islanders decided to not sign Vanek in the off-season (to do so would have been a gamble...pun intended) and Niederreiter was traded for Cal Clutterbuck after Nino complained to the media on how he was being used.  The Isles always have had a tough time against old teammates and tonight was no exception.

I was not able to follow the game live because of the six hour time difference.  The game kicked off around 2:00AM somewhere while I was on the Rhine river.  I woke up around 5:00AM and did a Twitter recap.  As I scrolled through the commentary my emotions ranged from glücklich to angepisst. New York got off to a lead in the first period on a goal by Michael Grabner.  It was Grabs40's 2nd goal in his third game back.  Because he is so streaky it was good to see that he was getting in the right spots to score.  Grabner's goal was helped by Lee and Reinhart, the later getting his first NHL point of his career.  

Later in the first period, Brock Nelson tipped home a one-timer from Leddy after a Tavares pass for a 2-0 lead. It was Nelson's team-leading 13th goal of the year.  Newsflash...the kid is sehr gut.  The Islanders would get one more before heading to the locker room when Matt Martin tipped in a puck behind Backstrom after a shot by"Fish Oils" Hickey.  Visnovsky got the second assist in his first game back.  

At that point Martin had his 3rd goal of the year which was one more than Vanek.  The operative term being "at that point."  Either way,  good move by Snow to not sign Vanek during the off season.  New York out shot Minnesota 11-3 in a very good first frame.  The Isles had the all too familiar three goal lead, which they had last game against the St.Louis Blues.  We all know how that turned out...Schrecklich!

In the second period the teams traded goals.  The North Stars...I mean Wild dominated New York and out shot them 12-1 during the period.  During the period Matt Martin put a crushing check on Keith Ballard who had to be helped off the ice.  It was a clean hit as Ballard turned away at the last instant.  Afterwards, Minnesota finally woke up.  That was schlechte nachrichten.

Kyle Okposo took a high stick penalty and the North Wild (I keep forgetting their proper name) scored on a goal from Pominville. Martin then got the expected obligatory dance with Kyle Brodziak and the Wild Stars seemed to get some schwung back. However, before the period was over Josh Bailey back-handed one in to give the Isles their three goal lead back. It was Bales' 4th goal of the year from Grabovski and deHaan. 

Even though the Islanders were dominated by the Golden Gophers they still had a three goal lead going into the last period. In the third, Mikko Koivu went short side on Johnson for the score to make it 4-2. Then Erik Haula sent one off Hickey's skate and past Johnson to make it 4-3 with about nine minutes to play. Then the nightmare started.

The two ex-Isles gave all the Islander fans some sodbrennen.  Within one minute of Haula's goal, Vanek put one in to tie the game.  Then after killing off a Vikings power play Niederreiter swept in the go-ahead goal on his back to make it 5-4 Minnesota with four plus minutes left. New York had a late power play but came up short. The North Wild Stars pulled off the come from behind win with four goals in the third period. After out shooting Minnesota by 8 shots in the first, the Islanders ended up being out shot by 11 for the entire game. The power play was only 1-5 and they won only 20 of 64 face offs. Clearly nicht akzeptabel.

That makes two games in a row that the Islanders have had three goal leads in the first period and both have ended with losses. Without seeing the game it is clear that Johnson is not up to the task.  He played well for Boston last year as a back-up, however, this year is completely different.  He consistently giving up 4-5 goals per game and that is simply not good enough.  It cannot be blamed solely on the defense.  He knows his role and he needs to be ready.  As good as Halak has been, the Islanders cannot play him every game for the rest of the season.  Johnson must be better or be ersetzt.

The Islanders have gotten off to a very good start at 19-9.  Everyone has been excited and those that have not followed the team in years have jumped back on the musikwagen.  The start has been primarily due to balanced scoring across four lines and great goaltending by Halak.  However, it is safe to assume that the balanced scoring will not be there every night and the goaltending will come back to earth at some point.  If the Islanders do not get better production from their top line, get a more consistent power play, significantly improve their penalty kill and face-off percentage they will be in schwierigkeiten.

It is only two games, but the Islanders have another tough one at St. Louis on Thursday.  There is no need to panic, but there needs to be some sense of urgency to fix the problems that they have right now.  If they don't address their issues you know that the rest of the league will start to doubt them and start saying: "Wenn ist das Nunstück git und Slotermeyer Islanders? Ja! Beiherhund das Oder die Flipperwaldt gersput!" Oh how true that is! 

P.S. Any improper use of the German vernacular is a direct responsibility of Google Translate.  This blogger takes no responsibility for any inaccuracies or improper use of the words including in this hockey recap.  That is my story and I am sticking to it.  Auf Wiedersehen!

Heidi & The Goats

I spent this morning visiting The Palace of Justice where they held the Nuremberg Trials after World War II. then it was a short stop at the Rally Grounds and Zeppelinfeld, followed by a two hour trip through the Documentation Center.  The Documentation Center is a museum located at the unfinished Congress Hall in Nuremberg which depicts Hilter's rise and fall from power.  The afternoon ended up finally with a three hour walking tour through the Christmas Market in Altstadt or "Old a Town" which included window shopped and sausage eating. 

I returned to the boat and went to dinner with Kellie and my iPhone. The Islanders were playing the St. Louis Blues at the Nassau Coliseum in an early afternoon tilt at 1:00PM. That meant 7:00PM for me here in Germany which coincided with dinner.  It was also the Islanders third installment of mini-locker night with the honoree being Mr. Islander, Bobby Nystrom. New York was going for their 20th win of the season against just 7 losses.  

Coming into this game the Islanders were really hurting on defense with Boychuk, Visnovsky and Hamonic all out. The Isles already called up Griffin Reinhardt from Bridgeport for the previous game against Ottawa and today did the same with Ryan Pulock. New York had all seven defensemen out on the ice in warm-ups and afterwards they sent Pulock back to the AHL club.  The good news is that meant Visnovsky will probably be ready next game. As for the Blues game, it was the same cast of characters at forward with Halak in goal against Jake Allen.

At dinner I had my Islanders Twitter feed all fired up.  Before I was able to get to my entree the Islanders got out to a three goal lead.  After an unsuccessful power play the Blues committed yet another penalty and on the ensuing advantage Frans Nielsen knocked one home for his 6th goal of the year.  It came off of a behind the back pass from Okposo after a shot by Nick Leddy.  Before the period was over Ryan Strome slapped one past Allen for his 6th goal of the year and then Michael Grabner got his 1st goal of the year since coming back from sports hernia surgery. Strome's goal was unassisted and Grabner's goal was helped by Donovan and Leddy.  The Islanders had their fifth sell out of the year and the Coliseum was rocking.

In the second period the Blues would make a change at goal and inserted the former Devil Martin Brodeur who had just signed a contract with the team in the past week. The fans were yelling Marty's name and they got their wish. It was a good move by St. Louis.  The Blues made a comeback and scored two straight goals to make it a 3-2 game. The St. Louis goals came from Stastny and Berglund.  By that time dinner was over so I went back to the cabin and tried to get an audio feed for the game.  Listening to Chris King's voice was going to be great.  However, Tune In was not cooperating.  Seems that internet radio from the states for certain stations does not transmit over the satellite here in Germany.

I went back to the Twitter feed but the internet was down.  The Cruise Director told us that there was free wifi on the boat at all times.  However, he said that there are some spots along the way where the ship may lose the satellite signal.  It is usually when the boat passes by "Heidi and the Goats" along the Rhine river.  What's funny about that statement is that there is a precedent.  It was not the first time that Heidi interrupted a New York sports team.  Back in 1968 the "Heidi Game" or "Heidi Bowl" pitted the Oakland Raiders against the New York Jets.  The Raiders won 43–32. The game is remembered for its exciting finish, as Oakland scored two touchdowns in the final minute to overcome a 32–29 New York lead. It came to be known as the "Heidi Game" because NBC Television controversially broke away from the game, with the Jets still winning, to air the 1968 television film Heidi at 7:00PM.

When I finally got re-connected to the internet the Blues tied the game 3-3 on a goal by Shattenkirk.  However, the Blues committed another infraction as Donovan lost an edge and a phantom trip was called.  John Tavares made them pay as he potted his 11th goal of the year which left him one goal behind Brock Nelson for the team lead.  It was a power play goal from Okposo and Nelson.  New York had regained the lead going into the last period.  The fact that the Islanders got the lead back after playing so bad seemed to be a good sign at the time.

The Isles had out shot the Blues in the first period 12-10, but the Blues dominated the Isles in the second and third periods and out shot them 16-8 and 14-7, respectively. Overall, the Blues put up 40 shots to the Islanders 27 and scored three times in the last period for a 6-4 win.  Oshie, Stastny (his 2nd goal of the game) and Tarasenko were the goal scorers for the Blues.  Halak failed to get a win against his old team and his win streak was stopped.

You can't win them all.  However, this was a disappointing loss.  The Islanders had all the momentum until they started the second period.  It was Bobby Nystrom day and it was a sold out game with 16,170 in attendance.  Halak had won a franchise record 11 games in a row and was facing the team that gave up on him.  Giving up a three goal lead was reminiscent of last year's team.  The Islanders need to shrug this one off quickly.  Next up are two road games against Minnesota on Tuesday and St. Louis on Thursday.  It is not going to be easy.  

I did a bit of research regarding Heidi". In the story it turns out that Heidi befriends her new neighbors including Peter the goat herder and his mother and blind grandmother.  At one point Peter is jealous of Heidi's relationship with Klara and pushes the blind grandmother down a mountain.  Fortunately she did not die and eventually was able to walk again.  Maybe that is a sign that the Islanders will be pushed and start to free fall from where they are right now, but it could also mean that they will bounce back and be stronger than ever.  Either way, that leaves me a bit nervous for the rest of this trip because it seems like the outcome is going to somehow involve a guy named Peter. 

Pour de Vrai

The New York Islanders went to Ottawa to take on the Senators in the second game of a back-to-back.  The Isles took the first game with a thrilling 3-2 win in overtime.  Thursday night's game however, was a challenge for a number of reasons.  First, the Senators were celebrating Daniel Alfredsson's retirement earlier in the day.  He skated with the team and dropped the ceremonial puck to start the game.  The crowd was loud and boisterous.  Secondly the Islanders  looked like the walking wounded.  In addition to Boychuk and Visnovsky being on injured reserve, Travis Hamonic was out for this one as well with an upper body injury.  Griffin Reinhardt was called up from Bridgeport to take his place.  Lastly, Josh Bailey and Cal Clutterbuck were still banged up from the last game.  That gave Cory Conacher another chance to crack the lineup and also allowed the speedy MIchael Grabner to make his season debut after missing the first 25 games after sports hernia surgery. 

I landed in Paris a little after 1:00AM EST.  I was on my way to Germany for a well needed vacation.  Tomorrow I will be leaving Nuremberg on a cruise down the Rhine river.  The game came and went while I was somewhere over Atlantic Ocean.  The best I could do was a Twitter recap.  After we touched down  I scrolled through the tweets.  Halak was in goal again against Anderson.  The first period was scoreless.  The teams traded goals in the second frame. Brock Nelson got his 12th goal of the season from Nielsen and Leddy.  The kid leads the team in goals and he is only in his second full season.  The Islanders doubled up the Senators on shot attempts 18-9 through two periods.  In the third period, Casey Czikas did it again.  Burying a shot to the right of Anderson after a neat pass from Thomas "Fish Oils" Hickey.  It was Zeeker's 4th goal of the year.  The Islanders finished the game with 25 shots to the Senators 21.

New York moved to 19-7 with 38 points and gained sole possession of first place of the Metropolitan Division with a Pittsburgh loss.  In addition, they remained tied with Tampa Bay for tops in the entire NHL.  What can I say about this team that has not already been said?  They are gaining confidence and winning games even though they have a lot of injuries on defense and their top line is not scoring.  Everyone is pitching in on every line.  Also, it does not hurt when your goaltender is playing lights out.  Halak won his 11th straight game to set a franchise record for most wins in a row by a goaltender.  But indeed there still is something that can be said about this team: "Les Islanders sont pour de vrai"....The Islanders are for real!

Fish Oil For The Win

The Islanders played the Ottawa Senators tonight in the first of back to back games between the two teams. Does that sound familiar? Sure it does. Coming into tonight, the Islanders had played 25 games this year with this being the fifth time they have played the same team two games in a row. On two occasions they were able to sweep both games (Carolina and Pittsburgh) and in the other two (Tampa Bay and Washington) they split. Halak was going for his 10th win in a row against Craig Anderson who was in the nets for Ottawa. The Islanders were going with the same lineup from Saturday's game against the Devils.

I had to work late tonight so I listened to the first period in the car on the way home. Really was a boring 20 minutes. I really did not miss anything. The only action ended up being a goal by Mike Hoffman to give the Senators 1-0 lead halfway through the first period. There were no penalties at all and there were only 14 shots on goal with the Islanders getting 9 of those. When I got home I had to take care of a few things and missed the first half of the second period as well. Again, I did not miss anything as there were no goals and no penalties up until that point. 

After eating dinner, I settled in to watch the rest of the game. Towards the end of the second period, it looked like the Islanders were not going to generate enough offense and that the Senators would score another goal to take a commanding lead going into the last period. But that was not to be. With a little less than two minutes to go, Brock Nelson got his team-leading 11th goal of the year from Kyle Okposo. Breaking news alert…Brock Nelson is pretty damn good. 

The score was even. The teams would finally trade penalties and both power plays would come up short. Then as time was winding down in the second period, Casey Czikas stole the puck and blasted a slap shot passed Anderson with no time left on the clock. It seemed that the Islanders got a lucky 2–1 lead right at the end. However the officials waived off the goal as the puck passed the goal line literally a tenth of a second too late.

Nothing to worry about.  The Islanders got their 2–1 lead back early in the third when Ryan Strome banged home his 5th goal of the year after a shot by Thomas Hickey. Brian Strait got the second helper. Things started to look good as the Islanders defense settled in and was protecting a 2-1 lead for most of the period. However, Ottawa was able to tie up the game with about nine minutes left to go with a goal from Macarthur. The game ended up going to overtime. Again what else is new? The Islanders had already played seven overtime games this year coming into tonight. They were 7–0 in those games, winning either in the overtime or the shootout. After 60 minutes of play, the Islanders had out shot Ottawa 24–18. It clearly was not one of their better performances. They were lucky to get a point.

In extra time, New York played better. Then after about three minutes, Hickey got the puck on the right circle with a defender on him. Hickey did a backwards 360 and went behind the net and tried to stuff it in the goal on the short side. The puck bounced off a Senators skate and went in behind Anderson to give the Islanders a 3-2 overtime win. It was the second great game in a row by Thomas Hickey.  Earlier this year the Islanders players were all interviewed as they went on a long West Coast road trip. They were questioned about what was one thing that they couldn't do without during the trip. When it got to Thomas Hickey for some reason he said “Probably my fish oils. It keeps you healthy.” If that's the case, he should pass them out to everybody else on the team.

New York stole a second point tonight. They clearly did not play a good name but still managed the win. It was Halak's 10th win in a row which tied him with Billy Smith for the franchise record for most wins in a row by a goaltender. The Islanders moved to 18–7, good for 36 points and a tie for first place in the Metropolitan division with Pittsburgh. The Nassau Coliseum had a good Tuesday night crowd of almost 14,000 against an average opponent. It was the largest Tuesday night crowd in about six years.  I bet Nassau County politicians are kicking themselves right about now.

The Islanders are still banged up on the blue line. Boychuk and Visnovsky are still day-to-day and Hamonic went off late in the game after a hard hit. Cal Clutterbuck also got banged up as well. It will be interesting to see if that will enable Michael Grabner see his first action of the year. New York goes to Ottawa on Thursday for the rematch. Programming note - I will not be able to watch a live hockey game for the next week and a half. I am off to Germany to take a cruise down the Rhine River. It is a well needed and long-overdue vacation. I am not sure if I will try to watch the games on a delay. I will be following the results very closely.  I have been waiting way to long for this and I will try my best not to miss a second.  Whether I get to watch or listen to a game depends on how much free time I have. Either way, I will try to post my thoughts if I can.

Potvin Doesn't Suck

After last nights loss the Islanders were hoping to bounce back against the New Jersey Devils at the Nassau Coliseum. It also happened to be Dennis Potvin mini locker night. This was the second of these events. All throughout the season the Islanders are inviting back some of their past heroes from the Stanley Cup era and honoring them with their own night. The first one was last week when Billy Smith came back to the Coliseum.

Before the game Potvin said “It’s like that torch is really being passed to them and they’ve got a chance to do something. It’s all about them. You don’t have to prove yourselves to us. They have a great opportunity now to write their own history.” He also planned to address the team before the game and then lead them out onto the ice. It's great that he was able to make it back for this event. It was another sellout crowd and as a result the Islanders were flying at the start of the game.

As far as the hockey goes the Islanders had Halak in net. Cory Schneider started tonight for the Devils. Halak had won nine games in a row and had only given up 10 goals in that time frame. Visnovsky and Boychuk were still hurting from last night so that meant that Strait and Donovan were back in. Still no Michael Grabner in the lineup. Not much information coming out of the Islanders as to when he will be available for game action. One wonders if he's not ready yet whether the Islanders are trying to decide how to make a roster spot for him.

After the ceremonial puck drop by Dennis Potvin, The Islanders came out with more energy than they did last night. New York got an early power play and had numerous chances but unfortunately Schneider was up to the task. The Devils had their own power-play but the Islanders were able to kill it off. Very fast paced period with lots of up and down action. With a little over seven minutes left in the period Kulemin knocked in a rebound off of a Okposo slap shot to make it 1–0. Tavares got the second helper on Kulemin's 5th goal of the year. However, just a couple minutes later the Devil's got the equalizer. It was a shot that was re-directed in front of Halak by Brunner. New York would have one more chance on the power play before the end of the period, however they again failed to convert. Both teams finished the first 20 minutes even at 1–1. Isles had a slight edge in shots 11–8 for the period.

In the second period, the Devils came out of the locker room and had the better of the play. The Islanders could not get out of their own end for a couple minutes. It seemed like the momentum was changing a bit. Then The fourth line stuck again after a face-off in the Devils zone. Calvin de Haan took a blue line slap shot from the center ice area and it deflected off Cal Clutterbuck's skate to give the Islanders 2-1 lead. Overall, it was a good period for the Islanders. New York out shot New Jersey again this time 15-10. However, as well as the Islanders have played they were only up one goal until the last period.

In the last frame it was all Devils. After two periods the Isles had the edge in shots 26-19 and had the better scoring chances, however, in the final 20 minutes the Devils out shot the Islanders 16-2. In the final two minutes New York had a to kill off a 5 on 3 power play and Czikas iced the game with an empty net goal for the 3-1 win. It was Casey's 3rd goal of the year and his 4th point in the last three games. In a game when the Isles could not convert on the power play they came up big on the penalty kill. Halak was lights out stopping 34 shots to get his 9th straight win. In those games Jaro has only given up 11 goals. Truly stellar play from Halak who may just be the best goalie in the NHL right now.

With the win the Islanders move to 17-7 and will still have a share of first place with a Pittsburgh win. After the game the Islanders took the league lead in wins, barring the outcome of the Montreal game. It was one of those games that they would have found a way to lose in prior years. Another good sign for this team. Now it's on to a home in home with Ottawa next Tuesday and Thursday. The NHL schedule maker was a little lazy this year and scheduled a bunch of home an home games this year.

Go to any game (not just against the Islanders) during the year at Madison Square Garden and you will hear jealous Ranger fans yell “Potvin Sucks!” It's all part of Rangers tradition and Islanders lore. That could not be farther from the truth. After having a career in which he had 310 goals and 1,052 points, 4 Stanley Cups and a hall of fame induction, Potvin clearly does not “suck.” Guess what…neither do the Islanders.

Thanksgiving Leftovers

Today was Thanksgiving leftovers day. That means back to back days of turkey and all of its accouterments. So it probably made sense that the Islanders traveled to Washington on Friday to play the second half of back to back games against the Capitals. They were coming off an exciting 3-2 overtime win at the Nassau Coliseum on Wednesday. Surprisingly, Capuano went with Chad Johnson in net. Halak will most likely go tomorrow against the Devils. Holtby was in again for Washington. Only other item of note was that Brian Strait was in for Johnny Boychuk, who is day today with an upper body injury.

The Islanders played a great opening 10 minutes of the first period. They had a lot of jump and dictated play. In fact they had the first six shots on goal. Then a little bit after the 12 minute mark Matt Martin hooked Ovechkin. You can guess what happened after that. The Capitals scored on the resulting power-play goal by Niskanen to take a 1-0 lead. Johnson really did not have a chance. As good as everything has been this year, the penalty kill has been equally as bad. The Islanders came into the game with the second-worst penalty kill unit in the league. The Islanders tried very hard to get the equalizer before the end of the period. However, just the opposite happened. Washington got a break out and Johannson wristed one over the right shoulder of Johnson for 2-0 lead. It was not a very good goal and should have been stopped.

Just when you thought that the Islanders were going to go into the intermission down two goals, the unexpected happened. With about two minutes left John Tavares banged in his 10th goal of the year from Leddy and Okposo to cut the lead in half. That would've been good enough but the Islanders were not done yet. It was only 31 seconds later that the Islanders tied the game with a goal from Anders Lee. It was Lee's 5th goal of the year from Hamonic and Czikas. It was an impressive comeback by the Islanders that only took a couple of minutes. It was only fair because they totally outplayed Washington in the first 20 minutes. Johnson did not look sharp even though the rest of the team was flying around the rink. The Islanders out shot the opposition 11–5 in the opening frame. The Islanders netminder would need to pick up his game if they were going to win this one.

In the second, it wasn't too long before the Capitals got their second power play of the game. However, you should really sit down for this one, the Islanders managed to kill it off. I know it's hard to believe but miracles do happen. It seemed that Johnson was a lot sharper in the period. Must be a trend with him. Maybe it's a function of being the backup goaltender. That probably explains why he is 5–2 coming into this game even though he had a high goals against average. Then about midway during the period, Washington reclaimed the lead 3-2 on a goal by Ovechkin. New York got their first power play in the game with about five minutes left in the period. However, Okposo fanned on a one-timer and the Islanders couldn't convert. Washington got the better of the shots on goal during the period with a 13–8 edge.

As the third period started I pretty much resigned myself to the fact that the Islanders were going to lose this game. After all, you can't win them all. Halfway through the last frame, Washington extended the lead to 4-2 on a goal by Kuznetsov. The Islanders got the chance to get one back with a power-play at the nine minute mark. however, they failed to convert once again. The Islanders pulled Johnson with about two minutes left in the game. However, the two goals lead was just too much to overcome. The Capitals added a empty net goal to make it a 5–2 final. Shots were even in the third, and I'll there's even out shot Washington for the 28-27.

Vinosky left the game with an upper body injury. That's never a good sign, considering his past with concussions. Now that the winning streak is over, it's fair to say that a couple of players are struggling a bit. Okposo, Nielsen and Grabovski have not scored in quite a while. The penalty kill a struggling also. I think it's time to get Michael Grabner on the ice stat. I would not be surprised if he laced up the skates for tomorrow evening's game against the Devils at the Nassau Coliseum. If the defense is hurting tomorrow, you will probably see Donovan get back in a game and you might see Ryan Pulock brought up from Bridgeport. He is leading the Sound Tigers with 8 goals as a defenseman this year. He will most likely help out the power play quite a bit with his big slap shot.

Can't be too upset about this one. Like I said earlier, you can't win them all. In honor of Black Friday, I'm going to do pretty much what all retailers are doing today. I'm going to significantly discount this game. It's just one game. On to the next one. Time to start a new streak tomorrow.

The 1980s Are Back

There was a snow storm outside, but inside there was a full house of 16,170 on Thanksgiving eve at the Nassau Coliseum to watch the Islanders take on the Washington Capitals. New York basically went with the same lineup as Monday's game against the Flyers with the only difference being the re-insertion of de Haan and Hickey on defense. Halak was in net again looking for his 8th straight win facing Brandon Holtby of the Capitals.

New York played a strong first period and out shot the Capitals 12–9. The Islanders got on the board first, shortly after the five-minute mark, with a goal from the “kid line”. Anders Lee camped out in front of the goalie and jammed home the first goal of the game after getting passes from Strome and Nelson. It was Lee's 4th goal of the year, all coming at home. All three kids played together in Bridgeport last year and as a result have developed some very good chemistry. The Islanders dictated play for most of the period until Alexander Ovechkin blistered a slap shot during a power-play to even the score 1-1. That really wasn't unexpected, as Ovechkin seems to always score against New York. Then with a couple of minutes left in the period, Travis Hamonic got a great screen from Matt Martin to get the one goal lead back. It was Hamonic's 3rd goal of the year from Clutterbuck and Czikas.

The second was a pretty even period as evidenced by the fact that both teams had 10 shots on goal. However, with only a few minutes left, the game was even once again. Lee got into a scrap and took a two-minute penalty. Another penalty led to another goal and a tie game. It was Ovechkin again, who tallied the 89th multi-goal game of his career. It was basically the same play as the first goal. The Capitals swung the puck around to the left side where Ovechkin was waiting to slap it home. Lee would fall one assist short of the “Gordie Howe hat trick.”

What what was really impressive about the game, was that the Islanders were not giving the Capitals anything during five on five. It was a pretty even game for the first half of the third period.then the fans started to get into it. It was the loudest “Let's go Islanders "chant that I've heard on television in quite some time. Almost immediately the Islanders picked up the pace and started putting a lot more pressure on Holtby. But for the second game in a row the opposing goalie stole a point on the road. An extra session was needed.

In the overtime, the Islanders had the better of the play. Then with about 2 ½ minutes left Brock Nelson had his stick held and New York went on the 4 on 3 power play. The Isles were able to keep the puck in the Capitals zone. Tavares took the puck from the right dot and made a nifty move to get to the center of the ice and slapped one past a Boychuk screen and more importantly past Holtby for the win. It was Tavares' 9th goal of the year from assist-machine Ryan Strome and Johnny Boychuk. The Islanders out shot Washington 5-0 in the extra period and 35-27 for the game. Halak did indeed win his 8th game in a row and in those games has only allowed 10 goals.

With the 3-2 win the Islanders improved to 16-6 and have won 10 of their past 12 games. They are a very confident group and as a fan I have as much confidence as they do that they can beat almost anybody they face. Instead of figuring out how to make a comeback or hoping for a miracle win, I find myself just trying to figure out how are they going to win. That is the expectation now. The ole barn was rocking once again. It has taken 30 years, but both the crowd and the play of the Islanders were back. I guess that is the best evidence that it is indeed the 1980s all over once again. That is fine with me as long as I don't have to wear a Member's Only jacket on the weekend.

It's Good To Be The King

When it comes to opinions, everybody has one...including ESPN.  The sports channel that gave up on hockey a couple of years ago came out today with their weekly power rankings.  They had the New York Islanders at #1 out of 30 teams (a jump of 8 spots in one week) due to their impressive sweep of the Penguins over the weekend.  That was a beautiful sight to see.  The Isles are for real and the rest of the world is just finding out.  Times like these remind me of a famous line uttered by Mel Brooks in *History of the World Part 1*, "It's good to be the king!"

Tonight the Isles were at home against the Philadelphia Flyers.  I originally thought that the next game was on Wednesday against the Capitals, but to my pleasant surprise there was indeed a game tonight.  The Flyers had won 15 out of the last 20 games against the Blue and Orange over the past couple of years.  They seem to have the Islanders number.  However, this is a different team and a different year.  The Flyers may have something on the Islanders of the past, but have nothing at all on this team.

For the first time this year, the Islanders feed was coming through on Center Ice.  I got to listen to Howie Rose and Butch Goring for once.  It's nice to have a home game once in a while.  As far as the game goes, Halak was in net trying to get his 7th straight win.  Strait and Donovan were in on defense for de Haan and Hickey who were feeling the effects of the flu.  For Donovan it was his first game of the year after 20 healthy scratches.  If was also his first action since last April.  He had been practicing with the team, but nothing takes the place of real game action.

Pretty uneventful first period.  No one found the back of the net and the Islanders had the only power play.  They did have the edge in shots 12-6 and had many more scoring chances.  However, they were terrible in the face-off circle losing 13 of 17 face-offs.   The second stanza was a little better  Islanders again had the better chances as they once again out shot the Flyers 15-10.  Mason was in net for the Flyers and stood on his head.  He really was the only reason that the Islanders did not have the lead.  What stood out during the period was the play of the Strome-Nelson-Lee (a.k.a. kid line).  They applied a lot of pressure and cycled the puck at will.  Strome especially has impressed as of late.  He not only was making smart decisions with the puck, he is also checking well and playing solid defense.  The Islanders just had to keep the pressure and eventually they would be able to break through the wall that was built by Mason (I just could not let that pun slip by).  

In the third period I found myself flipping back and forth between the scoreless hockey game and the Darren Wilson Grand Jury decision.  I wanted to stay with the Islanders game, but I was a transfixed on what was happening in Ferguson, Missouri.  As a result, I did not see much of the rest of the game and barely saw the overtime.  The Flyers stole a point solely based on the play of Mason.  However, the Islanders clearly deserved the extra point.  They out shot the Flyers 46-21 (including a 19-5 edge in the third period and overtime).

The skills competition once again decided the Islanders fate.  After Okposo missed in Round #1, Nielsen did what he does best and gave the Islanders the advantage.  It was Fransy's 37th career shootout goal which tied him for the most all time.  Tavares then sealed the deal with what is becoming his signature shootout move.  He skates towards the goalie, slows his pace to almost a complete stop, stick handles a million times and backhands it in the net before the goalie realizes what happened.  He is so slow in his skating it almost seems illegal

The win gave the Islanders 15 wins in the first 21 games for the best start in team history.  With Pittsburgh's win the Islanders remained tied for first place in the Metropolitan Division with 30 points.  At this point it does not matter who the opponent is.  Instead of hoping to win, it is just matter of figuring out how they are going to win.  As Jack Capuano said after the game the Islanders have a "swagger".  I can't remember the last time they had this much confidence.  I will say it again.  "It is good to be the king."

Now I can say with full confidence that the next game is indeed against Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals on Wednesday.  It will not be easy.  I am sure it will be another day in the office for both me and the Islanders.  Hard work pays off.  Ain't it the truth.