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.