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.