Dennis Seidenberg scored with 8:07 remaining, and the Boston Bruins rallied from a two-goal deficit to beat the New York Islanders 3-2 on Saturday night in the teams' final preseason game. Tim Thomas played the full game and made 25 saves for Boston, including a stick stop of Frans Nielsen's bad-angle shot during a late power play.

Posted under NHL

UNIONDALE, N.Y. - Mark Streit, Matt Moulson and Frans Nielsen had three points each, and the New York Islanders beat the New Jersey Devils 6-2 in a pre-season game on Saturday night.

Posted under NHL

Mark Streit, Matt Moulson and Frans Nielsen had three points each, and the New York Islanders beat the New Jersey Devils 6-2 in a preseason game on Saturday night. Moulson scored twice and assisted on a first-period goal by Streit, the Islanders' new captain. Nielsen, Kyle Okposo, and Steve Staios also added goals for New York.

Posted under NHL

UNIONDALE, N.Y. - New York Islanders forward Frans Nielsen has been knocked out of the game against the New York Rangers by a head injury, resulting from a hit into the boards, and won't return.

Posted under NHL

Rick DiPietro finally beat the Florida Panthers. Frans Nielsen and P.A. Parenteau scored in the shootout to lift the New York Islanders to a 4-3 victory over the Panthers on Saturday night. Sergei Samsonov and Mike Santorelli were both stopped in the tiebreaker by DiPietro, who made his first start in six weeks and beat the Panthers for the first time in seven games.

Posted under NHL

(Note: Our friends at Dobber Hockey are back for some fantasy fun. All stats are through Wednesday night's...

Posted under NHL

Michael Grabner and the New York Islanders were just too much for slumping Ottawa. Frans Nielsen scored in a shootout Tuesday and the New York Islanders beat the Ottawa Senators 4-3 Tuesday night, winning for the fifth time in six games. Ottawa has lost 18 of 20 games Grabner, the Islanders' star rookie, scored a short-handed goal for New York and set up Josh Bailey's third-period score.

Posted under NHL

While it’s great the Islanders have the number one pick in the draft, it won’t mean a thing without a healthy Rick DiPietro and a competent backup behind him.

With both Joey MacDonald and Yann Danis UFA’s this offseason and a plethora of quality goaltenders available, the Islanders will have no excuses this summer and have an opportunity to get someone that will be able to get the job done just in case DP’s surgically-repaired hips don’t hold up…again.

I’ve mentioned a few of them over the past few weeks, guys like Antero Niittymaki and Craig Anderson, who could easily step in for 25-30 games and spell DP when he needs it.

Nothing against DP, but with the injuries he’s had over the past few seasons, playing in 65-70 games a season may not be the best thing for him. Lets just say hypothetically the Isles manage to squeak into the playoffs, what shape will he be in then?

That’s why addressing the backup situation is so important.

“To me, the most important thing is going to be Ricky,” Gordon told Newsday. “No matter who we draft, it’s going to come down to what we do in net. No matter how good you are, you’re going to break down. You can’t underestimate the value of the guy in net.

“You saw Ricky’s value the previous year when he played so well the first half of the season. When he got hurt, they went from being a playoff contender to struggling. You have to have a guy who is able to run with the ball. No matter who we draft, it gets overshadowed by who’s in net.”

If DP is indeed healthy and if the player the Islanders draft is able to make a significant contribution, the Islanders may be in decent shape, especially when you consider how well guys like Frans Nielsen, Kyle Okposo and Bruno Gervais were playing through the final leg of the season when they were playing spoiler.

The next few weeks should be interesting as the draft is one important piece to the puzzle and the upcoming free agent sweepstakes that will follow will be equally as important. Mark my words, if the Islanders don’t address this concern and sign both a goaltender with experience to play in the AHL and one to backup DP, they’ll be in the same situation they were this past season if he goes down.

Photo by Patrick Hickey Jr.

Posted under Offseason 2009

It may be a long time before next season, especially with the playoffs just beginning a few days ago, but here in Islander country, we can start contemplating possible line combinations for next season.

Here’s my take, considering the Isles pick up John Tavares.

Forward Lines:

Sean Bergenheim Doug Weight Kyle Okposo
Blake Comeau John Tavares Jesse Joensuu
Jeff Tambellini Josh Bailey Trent Hunter
Richard Park Frans Nielsen Tim Jackman

Spare forwards who will see time during the season:

Jon Sim, Trevor Smith, Joel Rechlicz

Defense

Mark Streit Bruno Gervais
Brendan Witt Radek Martinek
Andy Sutton Freddy Meyer

Spare defensemen who will see time during the season:

Jack Hillen, Dustin Kohn, Andrew MacDonald

Goaltending

Rick DiPietro
?

Not too shabby, eh?

These combinations are also based on the fact that Dean McAmmond, Andy Hilbert, Mike Sillinger, Kurtis McLean, Mitch Fritz, Yann Danis and Joey MacDonald are all UFAs. Chances are that either Danis or Joey Mac could be resigned, but due to Rick DiPietro’s inability to stay healthy, I expect the Islanders to give another goaltender with some experience a chance to backup DP, maybe someone like Kevin Weekes or Antero Niittymaki if the Islanders were extremely lucky. Nothing against either Danis or Mac, who showed signs of brilliance at times, but for long stretches of time they weren’t sharp and this team needs a backup that can be consistent, someone like what Stephen Valiquette does for the Rangers, well aside from that 10-goal debacle against the Stars in February.

The Islanders also have a hearty helping of RFAs in Smith, Comeau, Nate Thompson, Jeremy Colliton that will be signed soon to provide depth at Bridgeport and in Comeau’s case, to give him his first real contract.

All in all, it’s obvious the Islanders will be much younger at the start of next season and with a majority of the growing pains out of the way, the team will be much more competent on the ice.

Photo by Patrick Hickey Jr.

Posted under Offseason 2009

The only thing worse than watching the Islanders lose 6-2 is watching the Islanders lose 6-2 in person.

In the end, I felt horrible for my g/f, who had her first NHL spoiled by the exploits of Phil Kessel and the Bruins, who dominated the living crap out of an Islanders team that was sluggish in both ends of the ice.

Despite that however, you could see that Islander fans and the organization feel better about this team than their record indicates, especially Islanders head coach Scott Gordon.

“We have some elements of team identity to carry over into next season,” Gordon told the Associated Press after the game. “The second half of the season flew by with the attitude and commitment we had.”

After a dismal first half, the Isles were a different team in the second, as many of the youngsters carried them. Up until April, the Islanders were playing close to .500 hockey in the second half, no small feat for a team missing players like Rick DiPietro, Trent Hunter, Andy Sutton and Mike Sillinger. During that span, Kyle Okposo, Frans Nielsen, Blake Comeau and Sean Bergenheim proved that could be everyday NHLers, while Josh Bailey and Jeff Tambellini showed that they may be able to contribute a bit more than they did earlier in the season as well [keep your fingers crossed.] Even the super youngin’s like Jesse Joensuu, Mike Iggulden, Trevor Smith and Joe Rechlicz have shown some potential and will be fighting for a job in training camp next year.

Doug Weight came back for the last few games of the season and showed his support for the team by signing a one-year extension, while Yann Danis fizzled out after a three-week stretch of excellent hockey in February and March.

Sounds like a Soap Opera doesn’t it? Now imagine writing something about a team like this every day for a year and watching half the other dudes and dudettes give up halfway through.

Seeing the Blog Box occupied only by the uber dependable Gary Harding for the last game of the season yesterday was pretty disappointing. Those guys have a privilege and to just give up because the team is losing says way more than any of their writing ever could.

That’s one of the reasons why I’d rather write at home [aside from the fact that I cover minor league hockey, live in Brooklyn, run three other sites and teach college English and journalism] anyway. What I’m trying to say here is that the Islanders should pay attention to these things very closely. When your most dedicated super fans can’t show up to watch the game from one of the best seats in the house and do something hundreds of young journalism students would die for, you know you have a problem.

Simply put, this team needs more offense, needs to stay healthy and needs a new building. Once that happens, all the fans that gave up will have a reason to believe again and this team can gain it’s respectability back.

Nothing short of John Tavares, the lighthouse project and Rick DiPietro back in net can fix that.

Site News: Now that the season is over, I will update less often, probably once or twice a week, in order to give myself a much needed break. Thank you to everyone that helped support me this season. Hopefully next season we’ll be able to talk Islanders hockey a bit longer.

Photo by Patrick Hickey Jr.

Posted under 2008-2009, Post Game Rants