Even though the Islanders are still stuck in an offensive rut, it had to feel great to se two guys like Richard Park and Andy Hilbert get goals in a victory. By my estimation, the Isles should have had at least four goals in that game, as Miroslav Satan and Chris Simon had golden opportunities, but couldn’t finish. However, the Islanders defense was much better today and they peppered the net with shots. By playing the tight defense that they were, the opportunities on offense were present all game long. While they obviously didn’t take advantage of all of them, they ended the game with the win. In the end, you can’t ask for more than that.

Like I said, seeing Hilbert and Park get goals was great. Hilbert, for all the times I’ve gotten on his case over the past year and a half, works his tail off. He just doesn’t have the confidence needed to put more pucks in the net. A repeated 30-goal scorer in the AHL, Hilbert has the wrist shot and hustle needed to be score a dozen goals a year on a third or fourth line, but takes his time getting started every season. He had 28 points last year and to my knowledge, at least 90 percent of those points game after the All-Star break last season.

A lot of people look at Hilbert as a guy that is too good to play in the AHL, but not good enough to play in the NHL. In all honesty, sometimes I agree with them. But every so often, he’ll do something that makes him stand out and I want to see him gain confidence and get over the hump. Ted Nolan has to have a similar mindset on the kid too, because why else would he keep him on the ice when he wasn’t scoring regularly? Why else would he keep him on the second line as well? He’s got to have some kind of faith that Hilbert will blossom. I hope he’s right on this one.

Park on the other hand, is a player that could score three goals all season and I wouldn’t care. He’s just so good defensively and is such a sparkplug that his offense is a bonus. However, I do think he could score a dozen goals a year just because of his hustle and speed. Over the past week and a half, he’s been playing some of the best hockey I’ve ever seen him play and if he keeps it up, he may get bumped up to the third line on a more permanent basis.

We’ll see what happens in the next game against Dallas though before I start making crazy predictions.