Damn it feels good to see this team in first place. 
 
I can’t begin to tell you guys how much fun I had at school and work today. Walking around the school with my personalized home Islanders jersey on, I must have rubbed the score of yesterday’s game in to at least 10 Rangers fans today, going as far to mention how Mr. Lundqvist should have became a porn star because he looked so natural on his back. I also had to mention that we were Yashin-less and at least on paper, this team should have smoked us. Luckily, that didn’t happen. 
However in spite of their recent success, there’s one thing that never shows up on the Isles scouting report that’s more important than the goal scoring prowess we’ve been exhibiting lately; and that’s Ted Nolan. So far this year, this team has played their hearts out and has managed to put it together, despite a slow start and injuries to both Rick Dipietro and Alexei Yashin. Now with players like Richard Park, Mike Sillinger, Chris Simon playing great on both ends of the ice and Satan and Kozlov red hot on offense, this team is going to be dangerous to play against. 

Speaking of which, tonight the Senators come to town and regardless of what happens tonight, I know one thing: This is going to be a great game. Ottawa has a solid team with Danny Heatley, Jason Spezza and company, but is most likely going to be without their best defenseman Wade Redden, which means the Isles may have an opportunity to take advantage.

However, the scariest thing about the Senators is their depth, as they have nine players with at least 16 points, so the Isles will have to make sure they play tough on both ends of the ice if they want to go home with two pints. This also looks to be a game where players like Shawn Bates, Park and Jason Blake will have an opportunity to use their speed and take advantage of Senators D-men like Tom Pressing, Andrej Meszaros and Joe Corvo, who have pinched in on offense much more than usual this year. 

Hopefully, the Senators throw Gerber in net tonight, because Emery has been solid all season and I’d really like to see another high scoring game. Islander fans really haven’t been treated to a really explosive offensive team since 91-92 and 92-93 when Derek King, Steve Thomas and Pierre Turgeon were scoring all of those goals. This year, if Satan, Blake, Kozlov and Sillinger stay hot and the “new” Yashin comes back strong, the Isles have the potential to have a few players with at least 25 goals. 
But anyway, getting back to tonight’s contest, as long as the Islanders play a disciplined game and stay out of the penalty box, while playing gritty and physical at the same time, I don’t see why they can’t increase their lead in the Atlantic Division. 

Damn that sounds good saying that.  

Let’s go Islanders. 

Posted under Isles 2006-07, Pregame Musings

Fairy tales will come true, it can happen to you, if Kozlov scores four goals that is!
What an up and down game that was! Not even in my wildest dreams did I ever think that either team would put the puck in the net as many times as they did today, but that’s hockey for you.

While Lundqvist and Weekes both looked horrible in net, DP had to make a ton of saves and despite giving up two soft goals, he played well enough to win.
Ah man, I can’t begin to describe how big this win was or how great it felt to know that this team is capable of scoring seven goals against a playoff team without our best player/leading scorer. Also, in spite of the absence of Yashin, guys like Chris Simon, Mike Sillinger, Richard Park, Arron Asham and of course Viktor Kozlov have stepped up their games and have been the main reason why we’re 2-2 with him instead of 0-4.

On top of all of this, the physical play of Trent Hunter and Brendan Witt has really fortified the stellar play on the ice as of late. Scoring seven goals is great, but standing up for your teammates and making sure none of them get hurt is another. Overall, I couldn’t be happier with the way this team has played over the first 26 games of the season. Sure, they started off a little slow and the team has had problems scoring from time to time, but when we’ve been hot, we’ve played the kid of gritty, blue collar and hard hitting hockey that everyone in the NHL can appreciate.

If you asked any beat writer in the NHL or any hockey fan before the season started if they thought the Islanders would be where they are right now, I don’t think that you’d get an answer that I could write on this site. No one expected the Isles to be anywhere near a playoff position, nevertheless first-place. I felt this team had the potential to make the playoffs before the season even started, but getting the opportunity to watch them through the first third of the season, I really think this team has what it takes.

Ranger fans may feel and think the opposite, but right now we’re in first and they’re not, so truth be told, their opinion doesn’t mean much.

Let’s go Islanders.

Posted under Isles 2006-07, Post Game Rants

According to the Associated Press, the Islanders finally got some offense with Alexei Yashin out of the lineup. According to me, the Isles haven’t played enough games without him for them to make an assessment like that. Finally is a word that’s usually used after something that hasn’t happened in a very long time, happens. Yashin’s only been gone a week. This team is one point out of first place in the division, when will they start getting treated like that?

Anyway, on a more positive note, I’m happy both Sillinger and Kozlov got going last night and Andy Hilbert is slowly starting to come around. As well we should start calling Radek Martinek Michael J Fox, because he’s looked like he went back to the past to find what was missing from his game and has brought it back to the future the past few weeks. Two assists and some smart play on both sides of the ice, does anyone else think he’s the most underrated player on the team?

Last night, against a good Penguins team, the Isles managed to come back after an early deficit and just kept the pressure on and guess what? The goals came. That’s what good teams do; they keep peppering the net and play puck possession hockey, none of this dump and chase bull crap that does nothing but have your players skate in circles in meaningless attempts to secure the puck.

On the physical end, I don’t think they were dominant on the boards and weren’t hustling as much at times. As a result of that, they took a lot of dumb penalties. Speaking of which, Sean Hill would solve all of his penalty problems if he just kept his legs moving. On the penalty he got called on last night, all he had to do was keep moving, but instead he stopped skating and was forced to mug a penguin so they wouldn’t get a breakaway. However, the penalty kill was alright and made up for a few bonehead plays; plus, they won, so I can live with that. Overall, it wasn’t the Isles best game of the season, but they definitely found a way to put it all together in spite of finding themselves down early.

THE RANGERS…

Let me just get this off my chest. While I don’t hate the Rangers as a team, I think a big majority of their fans are ignorant, absent-minded and just plain stupid. Almost 13 years after they bought their last Stanley Cup [That team should have been called the New York Oilers], they still talk trash to us because we haven’t won one since 1983. Enough is enough get over it; your team has made the playoffs once in the past eight years. That’s like a Lions fan talking garbage to a Texans fan, both teams have stunk for a long time, find something else to talk about, it’s boring. But then again, Ranger fans never cease to surprise me in terms of being retarded.

Lets face it, your team is going to make the playoffs and so are the Isles if they keep doing what Ted Nolan asks them to do. Today, the Isles are going to out skate you, out hit you and score a few goals on either one of your overrated goaltenders. Have a great day buttercup.

Posted under Isles 2006-07, Post Game Rants

Rather than talk about the Penguins again [I’d much rather strap myself onto a bed of nails and be forced to watch the 94 Stanley Cup finals with Enya playing in the background and Nathan Lane giving me a foot massage] I figured, this would be the perfect time for another edition of Islander memories.

This time, it’s the last New York Islander to win the Calder Trophy, yes you named it, and it’s not Captain Hook on steroids [even though his vision is 20/400 in one eye and he’s been banned from international play due to steroid use], it’s Bryan Berard. One of the few really talented players on a bunch of bad teams, Berard was one of the reasons why I watched Islanders hockey in the late 1990’s.

Not nearly as solid defensively as he is now [and that’s still not saying much] Berard was basically like a fourth forward on the ice. I vividly remember one occasion where BB was a -3 or 4 one game and on every goal, he was caught pinching. This was during the “Mad Mike” era, so basically as bad as you think the Isles were, you’re probably wrong; they were twice as worse, but anyway, back to my story. As punishment for his tendency to not get back and play defense, Berard was forced to play forward. Let’s just say it wasn’t pretty. Berard could skate, but you could tell he was miserable out there.

Despite that penchant for jumping up and joining the play, Berard’s defense, throughout the year, got to the point where it wasn’t as much of a factor and with 40 assists, he managed to beat out Jarome Ignila for the Calder Trophy. However, like most good things on the Island, they didn’t last long and a year and a half later, Felix “The Cat” Potvin was here in place of Berard. Even though I thought the Isles desperately needed goaltending at that point in time with Tommy Salo not being a good fit [I’ll never forget the time Dan Cloutier beat the crap out of him] and no one to really back him up, it broke my heart to see us give up on someone who had so much potential.

It hurt even more to see BB get hurt the way he did in Toronto, but in spite of everything, he’s had a pretty successful career. He may not have lived up to the hype that goes with being a number one draft pick, but having Masterton and Calder Trophies on your mantle means something at the end of the day, doesn’t it?

Posted under Isles 2006-07, Isles Memories

After two sloppy periods against the Flyers, the Islanders picked up the slack in the third, but it was too little, too late.

Two loses in two games without Yashin. I can hear the Rangers fans talking trash already. Last night’s game was like hanging out with someone who has Tourette’s syndrome. Every five minutes the Islanders would show some a ton of emotion, and then would go flaccid.

On the whole, the way the Isles were playing in the first two periods was driving me crazy. I have no idea why you would play a dump and chase game when you have players that have solid speak and puck handling ability. It makes no freakin’ sense to me, it’s like giving Michael Jordan steel shoes and asking him to try and dunk with them on; not going to happen.

We’ve seen at time how dominate the Islanders can be when they play physical and play a puck possession game. Billy Jaffe made a great comment last night about how the Isles are a better team when they take the body. You would think now that they would put the two together, but they haven’t. It wasn’t until the last period that they started finishing checks and driving with the puck.

As a result, the third period was great. Richard Park and Chris Simon have been plugging away all season and I was happy to see them get goals, but other people have to step up too. Miro Satan played a solid game last night, making one beautiful pass to get a goal and Jason Blake and Viktor Kozlov were noticeable as well. But again, we need other people to step the fudge up!

Speaking of that, where has Mike Sillinger been the last dozen games? You can win all the face-offs you want brother, but you scored 32 goals last year and your on pace for like 16, that’s not going to cut the mustard on my fish sticks.

I’m not even going to get started on Trent Hunter and Andy Hilbert right now.
Overall, the Isles have depth on their forward lines that most teams would kill for. It’s time for these guys to start earning their pay checks. We want goals!

NEXT GAME…
 
The Islanders have another appointment with Bing Crosby and Evgeni “My last name sounds like an STD” Malkin tomorrow. After taking the night off against the Flyers, DP should raring to go. Let’s hope the Isles remember to take the body.  

Posted under Isles 2006-07, Post Game Rants