ATLANTA - Kyle Okposo said the New York Islanders were looking for a new attitude in their first game after the all-star break.

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Kyle Okposo said the New York Islanders were looking for a new attitude in their first game after the All-Star break. A rare scoring outburst should help their outlook. Okposo scored his first two goals of the season, including a go-ahead shot in New York's big second period, and rookie goaltender Kevin Poulin stopped 25 shots, leading the Islanders to a 4-1 victory over the Atlanta Thrashers...

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With the all-star break behind us here are 10 things to watch in the NHL's second half.

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With the all-star break behind us here are 10 things to watch for during the NHL's second half.

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RALEIGH, - This all-star weekend has been all about the Carolina Hurricanes so P.K. Subban found the perfect way to fit in.

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Alex Ovechkin is the one player that Edmonton Oilers rookie Taylor Hall might try to corner this weekend when the NHL’s marquee men converge in Raleigh, N.C., for the league’s annual all-star festivities. And maybe Nicklas Lidstrom. And Patrick Kane.

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ATLANTA - Almost single-handedly, Ondrej Pavelec made sure the Atlanta Thrashers went into the all-star break with a good feeling after the toughest stretch of their season.

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PHILADELPHIA - Jeff Carter, Claude Giroux and Kimmo Timonen scored power-play goals and the Philadelphia Flyers headed into the all-star break leading the NHL in wins after a 5-2 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday night.

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OTTAWA - The Senators’ final game before the all-star break was a memorable one for at least somebody from Ottawa.

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Last week I wrote about how the Islanders many consider moving to Queens at some point if things concerning the Light House doesn’t get fixed and the places doesn’t get built. It looks like that situation is getting juicier by the minute as yesterday the New York Daily News got an exclusive with Islanders owner Charles Wang. In the piece he even said that Queens or anywhere else for that matter could eventually be an option.

“Right now, the whole focus and the whole plan is on one thing: getting this thing built,” Wang said Thursday. “Obviously, if it doesn’t get done within the time frame, then we look at all options.”

However, the biggest agenda on the mind of Wang and the other people involved is keeping this team on the Island. They don’t want to think of anything else right now.

And for good reason. It’s been over five years since the initial Lighthouse plans were originally made public.

“Bottom line is that if Long Island doesn’t do a good job, we’re going to lose the team,” Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi told The News.

As the Metallica song goes, “Sad But True.”

Is Doug Weight playing for his job?- I also wrote about a week ago how Weight has expressed his affinity for Long Island and would like to be a part of next year’s team. With a handful of games left this season, the All-Star center can make things easy for the Islanders and play his heart out, proving how much he really wants to be here. If the opposite happens, the Islanders may want to wait things out a bit more before they come to a real decision.

Dropping the gloves the other night, it seems apparent that Weight wants to be a leader on this team and wants to be the guy to help the youngsters develop.

“Our team has come a long way the last couple of months and is really coming together,” Weight told the AP after the game. “It’s not like I would do that in a playoff race, but once in a while you have to do that…Our team has been sticking up for each other and really coming together and those things are good to see.”

I personally think that if he had never gotten hurt this season, he’d have more points than Mark Streit and the Islanders decline wouldn’t have been as harsh. Would they still be in last place? That may in fact be debatable.

So when you have a player that can help and is willing to play in the coach’s system, you obviously sign him and make both the fans and the organization happy, right?

Guess we’ll have to wait until July to find out about that one.

Posted under 2008-2009, Isles Thoughts 2009