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

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

The Shenanigans the Islanders have forced their fans to deal with this season essentially started after the Islanders lost in overtime to the Flyers on October 30. Ever since then, watching this team play the final 20 minutes is worse than a prostate exam.

So what does this team need to do in order to get out of the rut they’ve gotten themselves in?

Here are a few of my thoughts:

1- Be more physical, especially in the defensive zone- Giving up 18 shots in the final period on Saturday, this team needs to play with more desperation and more of an edge. Mitch Fritz got into a tussle while up here with the Isles, but I say that isn’t enough. Guys need to start finishing checks on every single shift. Everyone from Mark Streit to Frans Neilsen has to do this in order for it to be effective as well. Being that physical will also open up the ice more and give the few playmakers the Islanders have, guys like Doug Weight and Neilsen room to find the Bill Guerin’s and Trent Hunter’s.

2- Score on the powerplay- Currently ranked 25th in the NHL, Streit and Weight have been brought in to help out and while they have, other players have to start contributing. For starters, the Islanders need to overload the powerplay with guys that can score. Nothing against Neilsen, but he should be one of the last people who get a shot on the PP. Alongside Weight and Guerin, Hunter should play on the other wing with Streit and Chris Campoli. The second unit should be something along the lines of Mike Comrie with Sean Bergenheim and Kyle Okposo with Andy Sutton and Bruno Gervais at the point. While it’s not as deep a unit as I would like it to be, there would be enough diversity to give the Islanders options. The first unit would be all about getting traffic in front of the net and the second would be about puck possession and generating offense from the circles. Once Mike Sillinger comes back, I think this team’s powerplay will get much better, but until that happens, something else needs to be done.

3- Play smarter defense- Going along with my first statement about the team’s need to play tougher, I think the defense needs to cut down on their turnovers. I know it’s not as easy with Rick DiPietro still injured, but overall, this team needs to make smarter passes in their own zone and commit themselves to eliminating traffic in front of Joey MacDonald and limiting second chance opportunities. If they can do that, this team won’t have to score four goals a game every night to stay in games.

Posted under 2008-2009, Pregame Musings

I think first and foremost, the Islanders have to play 60 minutes of consistent hockey to stand a chance against this team. The Penguins have a ton of depth on their forwards lines and without Brendan Witt [who owns Evgeni Malkin by the way] and Radek Martinek, the Isles have to be perfect on defense tonight. Any lapses will result in a letdown worse than any the Isles have experienced so far this season.

For starters, Miroslav Satan seems to be reborn in Pittsburgh, and already has eight goals, compared to the 16 he had last season with the Islanders. Another former Islander, Ruslan Fedotenko hasn’t enjoyed that same amount of success, but with Crosby out of the lineup for a tad, it’s obvious that’s played a part. Speaking of Crosby, he will be in the lineup tonight, making things that much more difficult for the Isles.

Nevertheless, if they get ahead early, stay out of the penalty box and play a consistent 60-minute game, we’ll see what happens.

In other news, Greg Logan of Newsday reports that Sean Bergenheim will be back in the lineup tonight and that Tim Jackman has been called up to replace Mitch Fritz. Nate Thompson has a strained groin, so he’ll be out of the lineup as well. While Jackman isn’t the enforcer Fritz is, he’s a grittier player, who has more talent offensively. He’s been playing well in Bridgeport this season and should fit in fine with the team again this season.

Joey Macdonald will also be in the net as well, cementing his spot as the team’s starting goaltender with Rick DiPietro injured. Like I’ve said before, you can’t really ask for more for this guy. Who you can ask for more out of are the youngsters, Jeff Tambellini especially, alongside guys like Brett Skinner, who have done little or nothing this season.

Also, According to Newsday, Josh Bailey, Mike Sillinger and Martinek all practiced yesterday and are all close to returning. Once they come back, things are going to get mighty interesting with this team. Who stays? Who goes? Who knows. At any rate, it’s going to be fun seeing Bailey, Kyle Okposo play with guys like Doug Weight and Bill Guerin.

In other, other news:

I was quoted by the New York Times hockey blog today for my coverage of the New York Islanders.

You can check that article out here as well.

http://slapshot.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/07/isles-move-to-the-back-of-the-line/

Posted under 2008-2009, Pregame Musings

If my memory serves me correctly, the last time the Islanders played the Columbus Blue Jackets, Richard Park showed more heart than I have ever seen in a hockey game before, picking a fight with 6’3 228 pound first round flub Alexander Svitov in a 4-0 Isles win. It was one of my favorite games that season on a team that overall worked their tails off and despite extremely low expectations to start the year, they ended up making the playoffs.

It was a few days before Christmas that year and the way they were playing at that point, it made the holiday season that much more enjoyable.

I wish I could say the same thing about these bunch of guys.

At 2-7-1, this bunch of Islanders lack the depth at forward and defense that those guys had, but there still are players this season that have put a smile on my face. Doug Weight and Mark Streit for example are proving that they are more than just half-hearted acquisitions disguised to make this bunch of misfits resemble a decent team. Their play with the man advantage has been solid and they’ve kept this team at the sub-par level, rather than deplorable. Without them, I don’t even want to know how bad this team would be. As of right now, I think they are easily the team’s only potential All-Stars.

While the Columbus Blue Jackets aren’t quite as bad as the Isles right now, they’ve had a few problems of their own, mainly with goaltending. If the Islanders can generate scoring opportunities and take shots, they should be able to hold their own. Otherwise, the game will be sadder than watching High School Musical 3 with your girlfriend this past weekend [whatever I do in my personal life is my business!], but they’ll be no super hot Vanessa Hudgens or Ashley Tisdale to make you forget that your actually enjoying the movie, despite the fact that you own gonads [why am I talking about this?]. It’ll just be another sad experience in a season that’s been full of them. Far worse than the time when you realized your girlfriend owns your soul and chick flicks are now fair game and even sadder now that you’ve realized that enjoy them.

All jokes aside however, this is a must win game. It feels way too early in the season to be saying something like that, but this team needs to start gaining some confidence.

A good 60-minute effort can do that.

Posted under 2008-2009, Pregame Musings

According to Pat Hickey from the Montreal Gazette [damn is that weird] former Canadien and current Islanders backup goaltender Yann Danis will get the start tonight. How this plays out tonight will be another story. At the very least, it will give Danis an opportunity to show what he’s got. Stranger things have happened before to this team and who knows. Danis could be a step above MacDonald and help this team at least get back to .500. they have a bunch of games over the next two weeks and this should be a great indication if this team is going to sink or swim this season.

While many already believe this team is done for the season, which as of right now I’d have to agree and say the John Tavares sweepstakes are looking like a done deal, the Isles played hard against a good Philly team and may in fact just need a few more games to really get things going.

On another note, please don’t even get me started with Rick DiPietro being put on IR on Thursday. All it does is prove that something else is going on and of course the fans of this team are left in the dust. My hunch is that DP is seriously injured and the team would rather keep fans out of the loop as to not make it look like they are giving up on the season.

From the way they’ve played thus far this season, it looks like exactly that.

This has nothing to do with Scott Gordon, but the Islanders youngsters have looked out of place and aside from a handful of guys that bust their humps on every shift, guys like Doug Weight, Trent Hunter and Mark Streit immediately come to mind, the Islanders are a team that has to play perfect hockey in order to win against even the most mediocre of teams.

They cannot commit costly penalties and must convert on the powerplay. Otherwise, every game will end in 7-1 loss or a 3-2 squeaker that could have been saved if they had a legitimate sniper and a defense.

Simply put, I haven’t seen an Islanders team this bad since the year before they picked up Mike Peca and Alexei Yashin.

So against a Montreal team that is red-hot, the chances of the Isles squeaking out a win solely depend on how badly this team wants to be considered more than failure. It’s completely up to them.

Sink or swim guys.

Sink or swim.

Posted under 2008-2009, Pregame Musings

With Andy Sutton in the lineup tonight, the Islanders defense should be in better shape to handle a talented Flyers team tonight that despite being without Daniel “Don’t call me Danny” Briere for the next few weeks, still has a plethora of options on offense.

Scary stuff if you ask me.

For that reason alone, this is a game where the Islanders cannot make avoidable mistakes in. Otherwise, this game will be over before the end of the first period. Costly penalties and turnovers did them in on Monday against the Rangers, a team that is playing good hockey right now. The Flyers on the other hand are more like a sleeping giant. They have most of the pieces on their team in place, but haven’t gotten great goaltending this season and their defense hasn’t been that strong either. With that being said, the Flyers will jump all over the Isles if they have an opportunity.

The Isles can counteract this however if they get another solid game out of guys like Frans Nielsen and Kyle Okposo. As I’ve said before on the blog, the line of Doug Weight, Bill Guerin and Sean Bergenheim are playing solid hockey right now, they just have to start finishing. Once that happens and guys such as Jon Sim and Jeff Tambellini start to become factors, this team can hold it’s own. However, until then, this season is going to be a disaster.

Aside from Mark Streit, the Islanders haven’t had a consistent presence on the score sheet this season. We know that this team doesn’t have any legitimate offensive juggernauts, but is it asking so much to have a few guys that can score 45-60 points? As of right now, it looks like Streit and perhaps Weight are going to be the only players close to that. After that, the Islanders offense looks extremely grim.

Because of that and without Rick DiPietro and a bunch of other important players that I’ve mentioned a thousand times not in the lineup, the Islanders defense has to be pretty damn close to perfect for them to break out of this funk they’ve started their season in. If they work hard however, get a quick goal and perhaps a few powerplay opportunities, things could end up differently. So far this season both Marty Biron and Antero Niittymaki have been far from perfect as well, which leads me to believe this game could get hairy really fast if both teams get sloppy.

Posted under 2008-2009, Pregame Musings

Islanders franchise player and starting goaltender is “injured” again, but thanks to the NHL’s new rules on the way injuries are reported to the media, it’s impossible to know to what extent the damage is. Fans will have to settle for a “lower body injury,” or some other obscure term to know how long the players they cheer for every night will be out of the lineup.

I personally feel like DP has never been healthy this season and has tried to play through whatever has been ailing him. Either that or his conditioning is so poor that he ended up getting injured again. At any rate, at least the drama is over Yann Danis is in town and the Isles are going to have to step it up on both ends if they are planning to pick up any points against the Rangers today.

With Andy Sutton, Mike Sillinger, Radek Martinek, Brendan Witt and now DP out of the lineup, let me be the first to stop the obscure terms given out by the organization and that the Islanders are suffering from a “heart and soul” injury and the estimated time out of the lineup for “heart and soul” may be the start of the 2009-2010 season. Last season, the Islanders were in the hunt until about the last 20 games, when injuries completely took over. That made one think that if they were healthy and the youngsters stepped it up, this team could still be competitive.

However, with guys like Kyle Okposo and Fran Nielsen looking out of place through their first handful of games as full-time NHlers, the Islanders are sinking faster than a fat man’s face in a gallon of Edy’s ice cream. Simply put, these youngsters have to play their hearts out over the next 70 plus games or else this season is over.

With that being said, the Islanders need players like Doug Weight, Mark Streit, Bill Guerin and Trent Hunter to continue to play well and produce. These guys are the ones that have to set an example for the youngsters like Okposo, Neilsen and Jeff Tambellini, who for the most part, have looked lost this season.

Games against the Rangers are always a good way to rile up the team, so here’s to hoping tonight does the same thing. I don’t know about you, but a two-goal game from a youngster and a few powerplay tallies would be a good sign of things to come if you ask me.

Posted under 2008-2009, Isles Thoughts 2008, Pregame Musings

After an abysmal defeat the other night against the Stars, things aren’t going to get any easier for the Islanders today, as they face off against the Carolina Hurricanes. While this isn’t the same Carolina team that won the Stanley Cup a few years ago, they still have players who can produce on offense and without their two best defensemen in the lineup in Brendan Witt and Radek Martinek, things aren’t going to be easy for them tonight.

In the games the Islanders have won this season, it’s easy to see how hard they’ve worked in both ends of the ice. Practically swarming the puck the entire game, the Isles have proved Scott Gordon’s coaching system works, as long as they stick to it. However, for the majority of the young season, the Isles have looked tentative and seem unable to push the kind of pace on the ice they need to in order to win hockey games.

Perhaps as the season gets going and they get key players back this will change, but as of right now, this is starting to look like the beginning of a very long season.

On another note, according to Newsday, Andy Sutton is very close to returning and Mike Sillinger skated with the team for the first time this season a few days ago. If Witt is out long term, Sutton’s return is a crucial one. Even though he isn’t the defender Witt is, he’s a solid defenseman who can even help out on the powerplay if he has to. He’s also the crease clearer this team desperately needs right now. Guaranteed if Sutton is the lineup against the Sabres and he was on the ice for a few of those goals in front of the net, there could have been a few that he could have got in the way of. His toughness too is something this team desperately needs as well.

The same thing goes for Sillinger, who if healthy, gives this team an offense threat and a guy that can win important face offs. With Mike Comrie, Doug Weight, Sillinger and possibly Josh Bailey at center, the Isles will be solid depth wise at that position. Nothing against Frans Nielsen, but he’s another youngster on this team that while showing flashes of brilliance at times this season, has for the most part, looked out of place.

Can’t think about any of this tonight though, as the Isles will simply have to stick to the guns they have and hope they’re firing.

It is something to think about as the season continues though.

Posted under 2008-2009, Pregame Musings

The Dallas Stars haven’t started their season the way they would have liked to, but that’s no reason why they shouldn’t be taken seriously.

Aside from Brad Richards, Mike Ribeiro and Brenden Morrow scaring the bejesus out of opposing defenses, they still have Mike Modano and Phillip Boucher, alongside role players like Steve Ott, Sean Avery and Stephane Robidas and not to mention, a hot stud rookie in Fabian Brunnstrom [a few more goals and we'll see him in a “I Can't Believe It's not Butter” Ad] and an amazing goaltender in Marty Turco.

Simply put, this is a team the Islanders can and will have a ton of problems against if they are not on their game.

However, there is a ray of hope here.

Through his first six games, Turco has a deplorable 4.05 ERA and a Rosie O’Donnell-esque save percentage of .844. If the Islanders can get consistent pressure on the guy and generate some scoring opportunities, they may have an opportunity to break the game wide open.

If not, expect another tough 2-1 game that can go either way.

On another note…

Could Parrish work again with the Isles?

Just got off the phone with good buddy of mine, one New York Islander Blog Boxer Gary Harding. For those of you that don’t know, Mr. Harding is an extremely knowledgeable hockey fan and one of the few people I enjoy talking about the game with. [Anyway, enough brown-nosing. Gary gets enough hits on his site and he knows he's my homeboy, even if he owns a Josef Vasicek jersey, eww] During the course of the conversation, Parrish came up and we talked about how much Parrish could teach a guy like Kyle Okposo about being a prescence in front of the net despite not being a huge guy.

For those that don’t know, according to Eric Duhatschek on the GlobeandMail.com Hockey Blog, Parrish just signed a 25-game tryout contract with Bridgeport after scoring only 16 goals in limited duty with the Minnesota Wild last season. With Nate Thompson’s play not doing much for me and Richard Park being able to play center, I say throw Parrish on a wing with someone and see if he’s still got it. 15 goals from the guy in a third or fourth line role would do more than suffice and would help the youngsters develop some more, while giving the Isles another depth winger who can net the tough to come by garbage goals they desperately need right now.

Posted under 2008-2009, Pregame Musings