The Dreaded Club Sandwich

I did not have a very productive day today in Buenos Aires. Retired to the hotel to get room service, get some work done and listen to the Islanders play Winnipeg at the Nassau Coliseum. It's funny, but others probably think I live the lap of luxury staying in nice hotels and eating out in fancy restaurants, but let me tell you it gets old very fast. It does not matter how good the food is you get tired of it pretty quick because the menu does not change...ever.

It's almost three weeks here in Argentina and it would be great if I could fast for the rest of the trip. But a man has to eat something. I would kill for a couple of buttered bagels in the morning and some of Kellie's home cooking. However, I am afraid that is just a pipe dream at least for a couple more days until Saturday. Tonight I passed on the pizza, the hamburger and the Caesar salad with grilled chicken and settled on the Park Tower Club Sandwich sans ham. They put ham and dulce de leche on everything here in Argentina. I am surprised that they do not have a puff pastry dessert with ham and dulce de leche. Even though my stomach was turning sideways at the thought of room service, it was also grumbling because it needed something. The club sandwich was ordered and on the way..

Tonight was the Islanders last home game before heading out on a five game two week west coast trip. It was imperative for the Isles to get a win before leaving town, but it was not to be. Normally hearing "Jets Win!" is music to my ears. However, this year the New York Jets are an embarrassment with only one win in eight games (I could write a novel on the state of the green and white nowadays but I will spare all others from such torture). Unfortunately hearing "Jets Win!" on a Tuesday night referred to the Winnipeg Jets (who used to be the Atlanta Thrashers).

The Islanders started out once again with the first goal, which they have done with what seems like almost every game this year. Brock Nelson got his team leading sixth goal just a couple of minutes into the game. On my iPad it sure sounded like the Islanders were flying around the rink in the old barn as they maintained a one goal lead at the end of the first period. It was about this time that there was a buzz at the door. Every time someone comes it always a buzz instead of a knock. Every time I jump to my feet like I was shocked for getting a wrong answer is some science experiment. When I opened the door it was room service. My club sandwich finally arrived along with a desert and a ice cold bottle of Coca Cola.

Before the second period I lost the Internet connection on my iPad and it took a good ten minutes to get back to the action. That seemed to be the ball game right there. I should have turned it off at that point. During the outage, Nicolay Kulemin took a five minute major penalty and the Jets scored two goals to take a 2-1 lead. They would eventually stretch it out to 3-1 and things were not looking very good. However, before I finished my apple crumble (which by the way did not contain anything resembling ham or dulce de leche) the Islanders struck back with a goal by John Tavares and then tied the game on a beautiful rush by Mikhail Grabovski before the end of the period. It seemed the momentum was shifting as the teams headed to intermission. Dinner was over and it seemed like the Isles would take control in the third like they did last game against the Dallas Stars.

It was not the case.

Early in the third period the Jets took a 4-3 lead and that ended up being the final score. With tonight's game the Islanders officially the move to the top of the heap as the highest scoring team in the league. Offense is surely not the problem. The Islanders are giving up a lot of goals and their penalty kill is still one of the worst in the league. I really do not understand it because there have been a lot of good changes to the back end this year. Without being able to watch the games it is hard to say if it is due to defensive breakdowns or goal tending or a combination of both. What ever the problem is it needs to be fixed.

It was disappointing to say the least. I would be more upset, but work has me totally consumed right now and I am very tired from a long day. Time to hit the hay.

For the Islanders it is now off to Colorado and the dreaded month of November. The Islanders have pretty much ruined each of the last four seasons with a poor performance in November. I would like to think that this is a different team and that they can be successful on the road this year. If they can at least stay above .500 for the month it would be a major accomplishment. They seem to play better on the road. I am expecting good results. It will come down to the defense and goal tending. I have my fingers crossed.

It was nice to hear "Jets Win!" again tonight. It has been two months since I have heard it. I forgot what that sounded like. It was just on the wrong day of the week and it was the wrong sport. I only hope that I will hear it again before the end of the year and next time hopefully on a Sunday afternoon. One thing for sure, next time when I hear or read those words I certainly will not be sitting down to have a club sandwich from room service.