On Saturday night in Binghamton, goalie Robin Lehner of the Ottawa Senators' AHL affiliate was standing in his crease watching a line brawl develop down the ice with the Syracuse Crunch He skated down, wanting to battle with goalie Jeff … Continue reading ?

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(Not Pictured: Ovechkin uncontrollably laughing.) Once in a while, the National Hockey League learns from its mistakes, which is why you can score a goal with a skate in the crease and Chaka Khan didn't appear on this year's awards … Continue reading ?

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The Philadelphia Flyers early playoff departure means that various players have removed their sweaters for the last time. The goaltending crease needs to be secured prior to next season. Who will emerge as their starter in net?

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Blake Comeau's tip-in with 57.3 seconds left in overtime led the New York Islanders to a 4-3 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday night. Michael Grabner scored his 27th goal at 8:40 of the third period to give New York a 3-2 lead. But the advantage lasted for just over a minute as Nikolai Kulemin's crease-crashing score tied it with 10:12 left in regulation.

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Wings netminder has rebounded after inconsistent stretch, easing Hockeytown's crease concerns and inspiring playoff hope.

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Islanders rookie goalie Kevin Poulin will miss the rest of the season after hurting his knee during pregame warmups. Poulin caught his skate in a rut in the crease and fell awkwardly Tuesday night moments before the opening faceoff against the Toronto Maple Leafs. An MRI on Wednesday revealed a dislocated left knee cap that will require surgery and end the season for the 20-year-old Poulin.

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Wow. For a few seconds, I actually thought this team had a chance. While they did a decent job of stopping the Flyers’ top two lines, the team’s fourth line of Scottie Upshaw, Glen Metropolit and Arron Asham made them pay.

It’s funny though thinking that a team could score four goals in such bursts like that and totally change the dynamic of the game.

In the end, good teams find a way to recover from bad bounces and the Islanders have not all season. You can say it has something to do with injuries. You could say it has something to do with the system the team is playing. But when it’s all said and done, the Flyers, who have been battling consistency problems all season, proved that they are in fact a team that deserves to be where they are in the standings.

Giving up three goals in just 1:13 and committing several costly penalties after putting themselves in a hole, the Isles did the same as well.

On another note, while Yann Danis wasn’t horrible, as one goal was tipped off the shaft of a stick, another two off his teammates, his defense fell asleep at times. The combination of Brendan Witt and Radek Martinek have been better as of late, but lack the polish that once had them as one of the best shutdown defensive pairs in the league.

Marty Biron wasn’t spectacular on the other side of the ice, but he made the saves he needed to. He limited his rebound opportunities and the Flyers defense forced the Isles to take low percentage shots. Anytime you can do that and do it against a team as offensively challenged as the Isles, you’ll be in great shape.

A positive to take out of this game was that Joe Callahan played his best game as an Islander, as he was taking the body and clearing the crease. Jack Hillen was also solid, making several nice passes out of his own zone that started Islander breakouts. Sean Bergenheim was also skating hard, but like most of the season, had problems finishing. Like I’ve said before, if he can’t finish, he’s never going to shake the naysayers that see him as more of a niche player.

One guy that shouldn’t have even been in the lineup was Mitch Fritz. I understand that the team wanted some toughness in there, but why not give a youngster a shot instead? What good is it having an enforcer out there when your team is in last place? I understand the youngsters need protecting, but Fritz is a liability on the ice and he proved it, going a -1 in just 5:29 o playing time.

Nevertheless, Fritz isn’t the only player to blame. The way the entire team played yesterday, a slew of players have some explaining to do.

Posted under 2008-2009, Post Game Rants

Not a bad game to watch overall, in spite of the fact that the Islanders took some bad penalties and couldn’t convert on the powerplay when they needed to.

Too bad Bruno Gervais has hit the goalpost more over his past 150 games than the back of the net as well.

On the whole, I liked the fact that the Isles were attempting to take shots on Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick from all angles. Tim Jackman’s goal, aside from being incredibly sneaky, proved that when you have the puck and shoot it, good things happen. For far too long this season have the Islanders tried to set up the perfect pass and take the perfect shot. Now, it at least looks like they are getting the idea that garbage goals are just as good as highlight reel ones.

Nevertheless, they were still a bit too pensive out there, especially on the powerplay.

Going 12:47 without a shot just proves that.

Speaking of highlight reel goals though, who would have thought that Bill Guerin was going to pass when he had the whole net to himself? It seemed like Doug Weight came out of nowhere. That goal got the Islanders back into the game and gave them some more confidence, but the seesaw battle continued for 60 minutes.

While he had two golden opportunities over the course of the game and couldn’t finish, I really like the spunk Bergenheim had out there tonight. The same thing goes for Andy Hilbert and Jackman, who never hurt the team when they are on the ice and somehow, someway, always do something that gives the team some kind of boost.

However, one of the reasons the Kings were able to sneak back in was because of a few bad penalties by the Isles and poor coverage in front of the crease. While he’s been much better over his past few games, Brendan Witt again was on the ice during a key moment and failed to clear the crease. I know he does a lot on the ice, but that’s what is priority should be and he hasn’t been doing it for a big chunk of the season. A lot of this has to do with the fact that he’s been forced to play much more in his own end because of youngsters like Joe Callahan and Jack Hillen

In all honesty, this game should have never went into overtime, but both teams couldn’t finish each other off. With the powerplay opportunities both of them had, this game should have ended in regulation. But when you have two teams that aren’t playoff bound [The Kings could still make it though if they get hot], things like this are bound to happen.

Then it comes down to the crap shoot and the Kings prevail courtesy of a slick move by Jack Johnson.

Game over.

It’s till a game though and a lesson learned.

Stop taking bad penalties and convert on the powerplay.

Posted under 2008-2009, Post Game Rants

Isles win?

Damn skippy.

I could not believe how this this team played in the first period. Sure, they missed a few golden opportunities, but to come out with a 2-0 lead against a team like the Ducks was no simple task. Seeing Kyle Okposo light the lamp from the circle on a one-timer like that is something that I want to see more of in the future. If he can continue to make the most of opportunities like that, he may find himself around the 20-goal mark.

Speaking of players that look like they’re headed down the right bath, Kurtis “Don’t call me Kirk or Brett” McLean has looked good in both ends in his two games as an Islander. Being 28, he’s got far more polish than some of the other youngsters on the team and from the looks of it, can get a good chunk of ice-time the rest of the season. That process will become an even easier one if he continues to put the puck in the back of the net as well.

Frans Nielsen is another player who I feel had some spunk last night and even though he couldn’t cash in during the first on a golden opportunity, the pass he made to McLean on his goal was exactly what I want to see from him the rest of the season.

After those goals however, I feel like the Ducks were the better team. They were getting shots on Yann Danis and if not for him and some good penalty killing by Tim Jackman in the third and good defensive composure, they may have lost the lead. Danis rebound control still needs some serious work as well, but I don’t think it held him back enough to be a huge factor. Simply put, if the defense is skating hard and clearing the crease, those opportunities aren’t an extreme factor.

Sure the Isles were out shot 38-14 up until the last two minutes of the game, but the fact that they could hold on for dear life against a team the likes of the Ducks with Trent Hunter and Doug Weight both out of the lineup shows that this team still has some heart. While the playoffs are obviously out of the question, the fact that this team isn’t looking for a hole in the woods to crawl in just yet is good for the legion of fans that still care about this team.

Posted under 2008-2009, Post Game Rants

Well, the Islanders made it interesting, but in the end, Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals pulled out a victory.

Quickly becoming the story over the past few weeks is the Islanders inability to produce offensively, which continued yesterday afternoon, as the Isles scored only once on 28 shots on goal.

“We’ve got to keep working hard,” Okposo told the Associated Press after the game. “We just have to get some breaks. We’re getting chances.”

Scoring a powerplay for the first time in nearly ten games, it’s obvious the Isles are missing Doug Weight. Not having Chris Campoli and Trent Hunter in the lineup either played a big factor in the why the team wasn’t on the ball offensively.

In the first period, it looked like the Islanders were going to get on the board early though, as Capitals goaltender Jose Theodore was sloshing all over the crease and was out of position. The Islanders couldn’t put one on the board and soon enough, Ovechkin lit the lamp.

Like I’ve said before, playing from behind is something the Isles cannot afford to do and as we’ve seen from the team before, making mistakes seems to be something that happens in intervals with this team.

Today was no different.

However, in spite of my less than encouraging tone lately, I’d be out of my mind to not talk about how hard this team worked on the ice against a team that would be in the playoffs if the season ended today. Sure, Ovechkin had nine shots on goal, but the rest of the team had 29 and 16 of those came from Viktor Kozlov and Brooks Laich.

Alex Semin, Chris Clark, Nicklas Backstrom, Sergei Fedorov, Michel Nylander and Mike Green had a combined five shots on goal for the game. Stopping Ovechkin isn’t going to happen obviously, but the Islanders worked hard in their own end and limited everyone else’s opportunities. That’s all you can really ask for, especially from a team in the situation the Islanders are in right now.

Speaking of all you can ask for, Yann Danis bounced back after allowing a pair of flimsy goals against the Devils the other night and played one of his best games this season. Perhaps losing Wade Dubielewicz to the Blue Jackets wasn’t so bad after all? Giving up 12 goals over his past four games, Danis has given the Isles very similar numbers to what Joey MacDonald was producing before his injury.

As I’ve mentioned before though, the one thing the Isles do need to ask for more is offense.

In the end, the choice is simple, start scoring or finish with one of the worst records in franchise history.

Posted under 2008-2009, Post Game Rants