Maybe I talked about Joey MacDonald a little too early.

45 saves against a playoff team with the Islanders defense. Not too shabby if I do say so myself. Most goalies would have just lied down and died in that situation, but MacDonald was solid. It’s too bad his teammates couldn’t match his intensity.

If the rumors are true that he has a one-way contract for next season, things are going to be extremely interesting this offseason, especially considering how well Dubie has played this year. If MacDonald starts the last two games of the season and plays well, this situation can only get crazier.

While I have already stressed my opinion that I believe Dubie is the man to backup Rick DiPietro, it’s hard to argue how good MacDonald was last night.

The Islanders defense was also solid in the first period, as they cleared the front of the net and kept guys like Zach Parise and Patrik Elias out of the slot, but afterwards, the Devils were in full control. It was like a hockey clinic the rest of the way and the only thing keeping the Isles in that game was MacDonald. Unfortunately, like it has worked out for most of the season, the Islanders goaltending wasn’t enough to keep them in the game and the offense couldn’t punch in a few. The Isles even got a few opportunities to cash in with that man advantage, but again, like they’ve been pretty much all season, they were unable to click and get quality shots on the opposition.

It wasn’t that Martin Brodeur was amazing last night either, Joe Vasicek’s goal was proof of that; the Isles just couldn’t generate any real offensive chances. They weren’t skating very hard and were really struggling to maintain possession in the neutral zone. The toughness and gritty play that a lot of the youngsters were bringing to the ice over the past half dozen games seemingly disappeared. Guys like Matt Keith and Kip Brennan weren’t given much ice-time and other seedlings like Kyle Okposo and Mathew Spiller didn’t play their most spirited games either.

Sean Bergenheim however, played one of his best games as an Islander in my opinion. Aside from drawing an assist on the Vasicek goal, Bergenheim was probably the only player on the team busting his hump on the ice, aside from MacDonald. His skating has gotten progressively better as the season has gone on and it’s going to be fun to watch him continue to develop.

With two games left to go this season, watching the youngsters is pretty much the only reason left to tune in.

Maybe they can step it up against the Rangers and give some of the diehards something to smile about.

Posted under Post Game Rants

Today kind of sums up the entire Islanders season, doesn’t it? It was like a crappy April Fools joke, a whoopee cushion under your seat, an Oreo with toothpaste in it, or even worse, that goddamn fart spray that always seems to find its way on the shelves this time of year. However, despite all the things fans of this team have had to go through this season, this year has been an important one.

It has single-handedly proven that the New York Islanders cannot continue to grow as a team the way they are. They cannot simply snatch up second-rate free agents and mix them with the grinders they have and make the playoffs. Like the Penguins and Blackhawks before them, the Islanders have to build in the draft and through trades that are geared towards building for the future, rather than the present.

Despite how horribly this team has played down the stretch and regardless of how inexperienced they are right now, this team, which consists of more no name players than the Charlestown Chiefs, is working very hard on the ice. Youngsters like Blake Comeau, Sean Bergenheim, Kyle Okposo, Mathew Spiller and Frans Nielsen are ready to play in this league and are done staying behind the spotlight. Maybe I’m being a tad melodramatic here, but I think with some seasoning, all of these guys can be solid players for this team.

I definitely see Comeau in the Trent Hunter mold and I think Bergenheim and Okposo can be 20-30 goal scorers in this league. Spiller seems able to play a ton of minutes and looks capable of holding down a role similar to Andy Sutton. Nielsen has shown as well that he wants to play and can do all the little things like making smart passes in the neutral zone to winning key face-offs. All they need is time. Next season, if the Isles are smart, they dedicate it to making sure they get that time.

And I know that the organization is contempt on building a winner and they want to make the playoffs every year, but I think the fans would be more receptive to this team saying “We need to develop our youngsters so we can maintain a winner,” rather than another huge signing or something else of that nature. Let the Ruslan Fedotenko’s, Miroslav Satan’s and Josef Vasicek’s go and give the youngsters a chance to become those players.

I really wish that this was an April fool’s joke and this team was sitting in the seventh or eighth spot in conference. But even if they were, would they even be able to make it past the first round? I don’t think so. So what is the joke here? A team that hasn’t won a playoff series since 1993 or a team that won’t admit that it needs to rebuild? You be the judge.

Posted under Isles Thoughts 2008