With Mike Sillinger rehabbing with the Sound Tigers in Bridgeport and Brendan Witt already back, things look to be changing in the Islanders favor very quickly.

Sure, Mike Comrie is still nursing a hip problem and Kyle Okposo will be out for at least a week with arm problems of his own, but as I’ve said before, this team’s defense is much more important than the offense. The way Comrie and Okposo have played this season as well makes their absence from the lineup not as big a deal as it could have been if they were producing.

As long as the defense supports Joey MacDonald and he can see the puck, the Islanders should be in decent shape. The way some of the role players have responded the past few games, guys like Frans Neilsen, Jon Sim and Tim Jackman especially, it feels like this team will find a way to produce enough offense to win. That’s not something I would have gone out of my way to say a few weeks ago, but if this team continues to skate and draw penalties, I feel that players will score for this team.

Kind of funny how a few hard-earned wins will change someone’s mind eh?

With KO out, Newsday beat reporter Greg Logan believes the Isles will have an emergency callup from Bridgeport will be made, but didn’t give any ideas as to whom it might be. My money is either on Blake Comeau, who many feel should have made the team out of camp this season and has 11 points in 13 games this season, or Mike Iggulden who has 20 points in 18 games. That doesn’t mean the Isles won’t take the safer route though and go with a guy like Kurtis McLean, who also has 20 points, but is a bit older than both Comeau and Iggulden.

Regardless of who joins the team, I think that players like Trent Hunter and Doug Weight will have to continue to lead the team offensively, while Radek Martinek and Witt will have to jump right into the thick of things. These guys don’t have the luxury of waiting a few games to find themselves. The team’s top defensive duo, they will have to be on top of their game against New Jersey on Friday. Winning three in a row, the Isles have to maintain this type of play until they get healthy again.

Then after that, we’ll see what this team can really do.

Posted under 2008-2009, Isles Thoughts 2008

With a 7-6 record, a 2.68 GAA and a .915 save percentage this season, it’s fair to say that New York Islanders goaltender Joey MacDonald has been much more than a pleasant surprise this season.

As a matter of fact, I think he’s been a savior of sorts.

Up until the season started, no one thought MacDonald was capable enough to serve as the team’s backup goaltender. Much like Islanders Jeff Tambellini and Andy Hilbert, MacDonald had several solid seasons in the AHL under his belt, but had problems sticking around at the NHL level. This season however, MacDonald has been rock solid, getting better and better after every game.

Last season, I had the opportunity to cover a preseason game between the Islanders and Rangers at MSG where MacDonald played. The Isles had a ton of youngsters in the game and the Rangers featured most of their stars at the time, including Scott Gomez, Brendan Shanahan and Chris Drury, but MacDonald was still solid. It got me thinking what the future held for the kid. However, at the time, with Wade Dubielewicz backing up Rick DiPietro, Joey Mac didn’t look like he was going to crack the lineup. By the end of the season,he appeared in two games and one in particular, the 45 save effort against the Devils late in the season, confirmed in my mind that he should be given a chance.

Nonetheless, I was a huge Dubie supporter at the time and didn’t want to see the guy leave.

Right now though, I wouldn’t change the Islanders goaltending situation at all. And that includes bring DP back.

Sometimes in this sport, you have to ride the hot horse. Al Arbour is a guy that did that quite often and while the motif in the NHL over the past few years is to have one guy play 70 games, why can’t MacDonald play 30 this season and DP the rest? We know who the guy is going to be in the playoffs for this team, but if MacDonald keeps playing the way he has, and DP continues to battle injuries, it’s better to have Mac in net.

Nothing against DP, he is without a doubt the team’s most important player, but if he’s not 100 percent, he’s not going to be able to help this team. With Brendan Witt’s return possibly this weekend as well, MacDonald will have ever more support in front of him and can be even more of a force if given a chance.

From the perseverance he’s shown on the ice so far this season, you get the feeling he knows exactly what’s at stake.

“When you come in and play one or two games a year in the NHL, it’s tough because the different level of play from the American League is so much more up-tempo. Once you get used to the tempo, it’s a game,” MacDonald told the Associated Press.“You’ve got to come up with the key saves. All the good goaltenders in the National Hockey league, Luongo and all of those guys, they come up with the key save and that’s why they’re superstars. That’s my job, and that’s why I’ve got to give the team a chance to win.”

Posted under 2008-2009, Isles Thoughts 2008

Final Score: Islanders 1, Vancouver Media 0.

Seriously, what kind of journalist says something along the lines of the Islanders don’t stand a chance and Roberto Luongo and the Canucks can get away with playing decent and still win?

This is the NHL baby. Every game in this league never has a clear-cut winner. All it takes is for a hot goaltender or someone with a wicked backhand to get an opportunity in the shootout and it’s lights out, regardless of how good your team is.

Luckily, the Islanders got both last night, as Joey MacDonald and Frans Neilsen played superb games, leading New York to an “unlikely” win.

Winners of three in a row and holding a 7-9-2 record, things aren’t nearly as bad as they were a week ago, right? The return of Radek Martinek has quietly bolstered the Islanders defense and all of a sudden Frans Neilsen, Josh Bailey [would you guys keep him around after his nine games are up? As of right now, I totally would] and Kyle Okposo are noticeable out there. Are they playing phenomenal hockey? No, but they are making factors of themselves. The same thing goes for a guy like Tim Jackman, who looks like he may stick around this season after getting a long cup of coffee last season when injuries buried this team and their playoff chances.

This season however, the Islanders playoff chances haven’t really even been realized yet. All this team is doing right now is trying to earn the league’s respect back. In my mind, they are still a legitimate scorer and another offensive defenseman away from being a playoff contender, but if they keep finding ways to win and get Mike Comrie, Brendan Witt and Mike Sillinger back and they can produce, this team is going to be a heck of a lot of fun to watch.

Joey MacDonald alone has been a blast to follow this season and has almost singlehandedly kept this team as close to above water as he can. Nevertheless, I think guys like Bruno Gervais, Chris Campoli, Mark Streit and Andy Sutton have played much better in their own end over the past few games as well, giving MacDonald every chance to flourish.

If this keeps up, this team may just take us on another joy ride for a few weeks.

At the very least, Islander fans should enjoy this and keep their eyes on the prize. This is blue collar, unsexy hockey, but it’s winning hockey. With a host of rookies and aging veterans on this team, you couldn’t really ask for me right now.

Posted under 2008-2009, Post Game Rants

Coming off two consecutive wins against the Senators, the Islanders don’t look anything like the team that has had problems holding leads in the third period all season. Even in giving up two goals in the final period against the Sens in their last game, the Isles have finally started skating with the type of personal accountability they’ve lacked all season.

Regardless of what the pundits think, I think it’s fair to say that this team is starting to understand what they have to do in order to win.

On top of that, Joey MacDonald is playing his best hockey of the season and with Andy Sutton and Radek Martinek both back in the lineup and the return of Brendan Witt looming, the Isles defense will be as close to 100 percent as possible.

With that being said, a team like the Canucks, with all their offensive ability and strength in net, will be facing a much better Islanders team than they would have faced two weeks ago.
Because of that, this should be a fun one to watch.

The Josh Bailey Experiment Continues- Through his first handful of games this season, Bailey has been a lot better than anyone could have possibly thought. From what the team’s coaching staff has said thus far, it looks like Bailey may be sticking around.

“He hasn’t played at a junior pace. So, that’s very encouraging. Whether he’ll be able to maintain that through these nine games will probably dictate whether he stays here or goes back to junior,” Gordon told the AP “I think the bonus for us if he’s able to stay here is that it accelerates his progress for next year.

“If he goes back to junior, granted he’ll play a lot. But he’ll play at a pace that he should be above. Then, it’s a situation where he comes in next year and has to start over getting back into our system versus what they’re doing in Windsor. If he’s able to come in here and play at an NHL pace through nine games, at least we’ll have a better read on what the right thing is to do for this year and next year.”

If he stays here the whole season, I’m cool with that. However, if he ends up hitting a snag in his development, the Isles will be stuck with another Jeff Tambellini. As of right now, Bailey looks like a completely different player, but it’s way too early to judge what this kid is truly capable of yet.

Posted under 2008-2009, Pregame Musings

“Skate Skate Skate boys.” Those were Doug Weight’s words during the third period according to Islanders head coach Scott Gordon’s postgame press conference. Aside from leading the team in points so far this season, Weight, to me, has been a leader in the locker room and has been on top of his young teammates who have to produce in order for this team to stay above water.

That’s exactly what happened last night.

Sean Bergenheim and Chris Campoli have the ability and heart to score 40 to 50 points a season in this league and with a few years under their belts, they have to produce. With that being said, it feels good to see these guys come through when they need to. Like I’ve said before, guys that can skate the way Bergenheim and Campoli can, are tailor-made for the Islanders new offense and have to continue producing. For me, it’s a given the Islanders aren’t going to have a 90 or even an 80-point guy on the team this season, but if they have a handful of guys with 40 and 50, then they’ll be more than okay.

However, when you talk about guys tailor-made for the Islanders system, Jon Sim is another guy that comes to mind. The pest that he is, forcing him to play puck pursuit hockey just brings out the best in his game. On pace for a new career high in goals, Sim, despite starting a bit slow this season, is starting to come around exactly when the team needs him to.

Speaking of guys that are coming around, what about Joey MacDonald? Shame on me for thinking for one second that this guy couldn’t hold his own with DP injured [yes, I thought it, but I didn't dare say it at the time] or even as the team’s backup for that matter. Nonetheless, as the season has done on, MacDonald’s weaknesses, such as his inability to cover the posts and take care of pucks in the crease, hasn’t been nearly as prevalent as it was before and it’s gotten to the point where he has singlehandedly kept this team in hockey games.

Last night was more of a team effort than anything, but without Joey Mac between the pipes, things could have gotten really hairy out there.

With their next game against the Canucks on Monday, it’s going to be interesting to see where this team goes next.

Posted under 2008-2009, Post Game Rants

As 80s super group Whitesnake once said: “Here I go Again.”

After the powerplay and Joey MacDonald ran rampant the other night, Islander fans now a tiny morsel of hope. Can the powerplay continue to produce? Can Joey MacDonald do his best Wade Dubielewicz impersonation? Can Trent Hunter pretend he’s in .38 Special and “Get Back to where He Belongs” [being the 20 goal scorer every Islander fan knows he should be]? Alright, enough with the 80s music references. In all seriousness, if the Isles can commit themselves to playing smart defense and can take advantage of mistakes on the powerplay, they can play with any team in this league.

It’s just a matter of the stars being aligned properly for those to happen on a consistent basis.

What I’m looking for the most in this game is for the Islanders to come out strong and take the body. Without Brendan Witt, they are really missing their best physical presence and I think some rough stuff could open up the ice more for guys like Kyle Okposo and Josh Bailey.

Speaking of Bailey, it should be interesting where he ends up tonight, although from what Islanders head coach Scott Gordon said the other night, it’s a pretty safe bet were he’ll be.

“Just watching what I saw from Josh the other night (against Philadelphia), it was an opportunity to see what he can do with Kyle and see how it goes,” Gordon told the AP. “We have a lot of young wingers that have offensive potential, but the reality is we don’t have that high-end playmaking center. So, when we look at Josh and what he brings to the table, he has a different element than Richard Park or Nate Thompson, and with Mike (Comrie) being out of the lineup (with a hip injury), it opens up a hole for us.”

Kind of a smack in the face to Frans Neilsen, but it’s the truth. While I think if he continues to develop, Neilsen could be a 30 assist guy in the NHL, Bailey has the pedigree this team is looking for right now. He is the playmaker they need in the lineup, especially without Mike Comrie and Mike Sillinger out as well, who aren’t playmakers and are more of the dangler-type. If he can open some eyes during the rest of this mini-tryout, it’s going to be very interesting what this team decides to do with him next season.

At any rate, we’ll see what he comes up with tonight.

Posted under 2008-2009, Pregame Musings

See what happens when the powerplay works?

It’s almost like a different team out there.

Add in a much better third period as well and the Isles now have some positive momentum for the first time in a few weeks.

With Radek Martinek’s return a possibility on Saturday, things have the possibility of getting even better in the near future as well.

Overall, the defense was solid and Joey MacDonald was extra sharp. For most of the season, despite the injuries, the defense has been solid, but has had lapses in consistency, which hasn’t made things easier for the team’s struggling offense.

Not last night.

Andy Sutton was solid in front of the net and the other veterans on the Isles really held their ground. If this team is going to save their season, that’s going to have to continue.

Good stuff.

Oh and by the way, a very special thank you to Jason Spezza for playing one of the sloppiest hockey games I’ve seen in a very long time.

The “Josh Bailey Experiment” continues- I don’t know how you guys feel about it, but this guy seems awfully comfortable out there. The goal that Kyle Okposo scored was a thing of beauty. It was like a rewind to a Sports Center highlight from the Bruins in 1991, with Craig Janney throwing a pass Cam Neely’s way. Or even better, dare I say Pierre Turgeon to Steve Thomas? In spite of my exaggerations here, seeing them side by side on the bench was pretty cool as well and regardless of what the Isles decide to do with Bailey, I think he’s proving he’ll be in good shape next season.

Yesterday, I had a Doug Weight quote from Newsday on the site and in all honesty, the kid played like a younger version of the Islanders assistant captain last night. He was moving a lot in between the circle and was making solid passes. At the very least, it’s great to have a guy out there with some vision. I only hope he continues to get better.

The only question is, what do the Islanders do after Bailey plays in his ninth game this season?

Posted under 2008-2009, Post Game Rants

Over the past few years, the Ottawa Senators have pretty much had their way with the Islanders.

However, things haven’t been going all that well for them and if the Islanders play smart, they may just be able to sneak out of dodge with a win.

After Dany Heatley, Jason Spezza, Filip Kuba, and Daniel Alfredsson, the Senators have virtually no offense to speak of. Their defense has also been lackluster, as they are -34 this season as a team and are still at 6-7-2. Martin Gerber hasn’t started his season off on the right foot either, losing his spot as the team’s starting goaltender to former 30-game winner Alex Auld [it doesn't really count though since it was on the Canucks. With the offense they had that year, with six players scoring over 55 points, it's pretty safe to assume Pat Jablonski could have won the Vezina there. If you don't know who Jablonski is, you should be ashamed of yourself. Go read a hockey almanac for Christ's sake!], who has been eerily solid. Nevertheless, this is a team the Islanders can defeat.

How you ask?

Score on the powerplay! That’s how!

All season, the Islanders have gotten a plethora of opportunities with the man advantage. Even with the rampant amount of injuries they’ve had, they still have to produce when they’re a man up. No more excuses.

We’ll see what happens tonight.

The Josh Bailey experiment continues: After committing two penalties in his first game, can Bailey step it up in game two?

From the looks of it, Bailey and his teammates are getting more comfortable with each other with every second he spends on the ice.

“I didn’t know what to expect. It was just nice feel like you are a part of things again,” the 19-year-old Bailey told the AP after his first game on Tuesday. “The first period, I needed to make a couple of adjustments. A couple of plays, I was a little slow on. As the game went on, I got more comfortable out there.”

“I think Josh is going to be a player,” Weight told Newsday. “He came into camp, and guys had certain expectations. Every day, he turned everybody’s heads. He’s got great talent and great savvy for the game. I think he’s got it in his mind [to stay in the NHL]. He’s very stoic and very calm. I think he’s real excited to be in this league. When guys have the talent and the mind he has and the urge to be great…I thought he fit right into place.”

Hopefully, Bailey can break through and fill in more than admirably for Mike Comrie.

Posted under 2008-2009, Pregame Musings

What’s worse than working all day and coming home to watch an Islanders game?

Working all day and coming home to watch a game that you already knew the score to.

Ah man.

If I was the Incredible Hulk, my first words on this game would be: “Hulk want powerplay goals, NOW!”

Seriously, it’s actually gotten the point this season where I have to quote superheroes I can’t stand [I'm more of a Spider-Man kind of guy] to depict the way I feel about this team.

As I mentioned numerous times on this site as of late, the Islanders powerplay has to be able to finish. With the injuries and lack of offense they currently have, the powerplay becomes even more important. Mark Streit and Doug Weight were brought here to help the powerplay and while their play overall has been solid, the rest of the team hasn’t stepped up it’s play. Guys like Kyle Okposo, Jon Sim and Frans Neilsen have to play with a bigger sense of urgency and simply score more often.

As Forrest Gump would say “And that’s all I have to say about that.”

From the looks of it, Weight knows exactly how I feel.

“When you go 0-for-8 with two 5-on-3s and give up a short-handed goal, it’s on us on the power play,” Weight told the Associated Press after the game. “No matter what five guys you have out there, you have to change the momentum of the game. You have to score on those. We didn’t.”

Simply put, there are no excuses for this, none at all.

On defense, the Islanders have to play tighter. The legs have to be going nonstop and they have to make a conscious effort to make better first passes out of their zone. With the speed the Isles have upfront, guys like Chris Campoli, Streit and Andy Sutton have to spring players like Sean Bergenheim, Andy Hilbert and Richard Park and get this team a few easy goals. Like I said before, with offense not coming at a level where they can get greedy, the Isles have to get as creative as possible. Otherwise, this season is over, today.

Not even Josh Bailey’s NHL debut can break me out of this feeling that this team is sinking fast. Make no its or buts about it, if this team doesn’t get Radek Martinek, Brendan Witt and Mike Sillinger back and back soon [and Mike Comrie, but who knows how serious his hip injury is at this point] this team is going to easily win the John Tavares sweepstakes.

Posted under 2008-2009, Post Game Rants

The first season the Islanders and I became buddies was way back in 92-93 and it is a season I’ll remember for the rest of my life. While guys like Pierre Turgeon, Derek King and Steve Thomas were my favorite players, my father was always a huge Ray Ferraro fan. I never quite understood it until later that season. Spending a huge portion of that season on the shelf, Ferraro wasn’t as big a part of the team’s success as he was the year before, when he scored 40 goals and added 40 assists and was the team’s lone representative at the All-Star game. Nevertheless, when the chips were down, Ferraro was money in the bank and after a while, his card had a spot on my wall over my bed right next to Turgeon’s.

After the team made the playoffs that season, Ferraro was at his very best. In the first round against the Capitals, Number 20 was all over the ice, creating offense and wasting no opportunities. He was so good in that series that he even out-shined Turgeon, who was one of the best players in the league that season. Thanks to the heart and soul he exhibited in that series, the Islanders took care of business against Washington and were all set to play the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins.

All the team’s success came at a price though. After scoring the nail in the coffin goal against the Capitals in game six, Turgeon was taken out by Dale Hunter [a moment that is perhaps one of the worst in Islanders history. Some Islander fans, including myself, feel that the injury to Turgeon possibly cost the team a spot in the Stanley Cup Finals], leaving them without their leading scorer against the best team in hockey.

Some analysts at the time felt that without Turgeon, the Islanders were a more dangerous team because they had to separate their offense a bit more, giving them four lines that could contribute on offense, rather than three [even though the kid line of Travis Green, Marty McInnis and Brad Dalgarno had some offensive ability, they were often matched up against the opposition's best offensive line. The same thing goes for the fourth line, that usually sported the likes of Mick Vukota and Tom Fitzgerald and mishmash of other players], but make no mistake about it, Turgeon had 132 points that season; he was the heart and soul of that team.

Getting the team to play at the same level as the Pens would be no simple task.

Ferraro however, was uber solid once again and played an influential part in the team’s win in that series, making the pass to Dave Volek with a two on one in overtime that eventually led to a moment that young Islander fans would recreate on the street for years to come.

Well, at least until Shawn Bates’ penalty shot goal in 2002.

Even though he’d be off on the Rangers and an enemy of the state to Isles fans a few years later, Ferraro continued to be a productive player over the course of his NHL career, spending time with the Kings, Thrashers and a few other places before hanging up his skates and joining the broadcasting ranks.

Nevertheless, I’ll always remember him as the guy that almost singlehandedly kept the Islanders on the ice with the best team in the world.

Posted under Isles Memories