This time, it was a loss to the Boston Bruins 3-2. It wasn’t as if the Islanders didn’t have their chances or made it close either. No, although they did not come out strong in the first period, they did begin to skate in the second and from what I was able to catch in the third, continued to play well enough to tie or win the game. On top of that, Boston didn’t look all that good at times, appearing as if they wanted to give the game away in a few instances.

The bottom line, however, is the Isles dropped 2 points. After a rather vicious hit from behind by Michael Ryder on Blake Comeau, which led to a 5 minute power play for the Islanders during the closing minutes of the second period, the Isles did not take advantage of the situation. It was a 3-1 Boston lead at that point, and even 1 goal could have helped them tremendously going into the final period.

Josh Bailey had the first goal for the Islanders in the second period, and Matt Moulson brought the boys within one in the third with his 23rd goal of the season. Garth Snow has taken a lot of heat for what he did and didn’t do before the trade deadline, but I don’t hear as much credit given to him as he deserves for the signings of Moulson and Schremp.

Bruno Gervais hit a post later in the third period, which, to me, typified the “close but no cigar” result of this game. Tim Thomas certainly played well and stopped 37 Islander shots, so you surely can’t discount that fact. Nevertheless, it’s onto Philadelphia on Tuesday and definitely Not an easy task for the guys.

It doesn’t help when you fall behind in the first period of a game 4-0. I guess, if there is a positive, the Isles did out score the Thrashers 3-2 after that. In the end, though, a 6-3 loss to a team we have owned in the previous 3 match ups. On top of that, a great opportunity to pick up another 2 points in the standings was squandered.

Tomorrow, the Isles face another struggling team in the Boston Bruins. Let’s hope the boys can rebound and come out with a far more solid effort. I don’t believe anything is over until it is mathematically over, so as far as I’m concerned, the Islanders are still Far from out of the playoff picture. They need to play with desperation and intensity, but this is a point both Gary and I have made already.

Using the Saints line – who is this team? 

It just figures that the day I do not go to a game, we get a great effort, a Hat Trick, and a Giveaway.  Thanks to my buddy Rose for saving one for me.

Driving home last night, I was quite shocked by hearing the horn in the second period against this Blackhawks team.  Not that I was unhappy – hell no!  I just did not expect the jump in the second stanza.  The Isles were severly outshot (22 – 9), and were down 2-1.  Rollie the goalie was outstanding and kept the boys in the game.

Was it the Isles getting their legs faster than their opponent?

Was it that the Hawks were suffering a post Olympic hangover?

I would lean to the second.  Six players arrived in New York on Monday after celebrating the Olympics, or in mourning, whichever you want to look at it.  Those guys had to be sluggish, and the second and third period showed the lack of effort.

You could also blame the netminding too…

The Hawks, in order to move far in the playoff push, definitely need to work on that position.  Huet is a $5 Million bust.  He can not lead these guys, and Niemi is just too young and raw. 

Who can the Hawks look to?

Will he stay, or will he go

Rollie? 

If there ever was a job interview, last night for the 40 year old netminder was doing well.  I am just not sure that a deal will happen, due to the DP injury.  But it is certainly possible.

To the game…

Blake Comeau with six goals in his last 3 games, is making his case to be a permanent fixture.  He learned his lessons with his stints in the chateau de bow-wow, and had made the most of it.

Richard Park – a class act, scored twice as well – and has made a turnaound his his efforts of late.  I like the line of Park, Weight and Sim.

Tavares did not have any points, but looked a little more crisper than he did before the stoppage.  Maybe some home cooking did him some good.

Okposo has some speed bursts that surprised me a lot.  A good sign.

So glad to see Hillen back.  He was playing so well before the injury, and I just feel a lot better with him on the blue line.  Congrats to Andy MacDonald on his contract.  Thanks to Ted Nolan for suggesting that the Isles draft him.

Good luck to Andy Sutton.  He gets a chance to play with a good team, and playing so well of late (except the 2nd period against the Rangers).

Tomorrow – the Thrashers are the home team.  The Isles have scored 16 goals in 3 games against them.  Hope for some more offense.  Then the Big Bad Bruins come to town for a Saturday matinee.  Wonder who will be here, as well as who will not?  Tune in to the NHL Network to find out today.

Have a hockey day folks!

The Swiss get the undaunting task of facing the US again today.  Mark Streit – the Swiss Captain is looking forward to the challenge, but knows what to expect, as he commented to Katie Strang of Newsday.

It’s gonna be a big challenge against the US. We are the clear underdog in this game, they have a lot of momentum after their big win vs. Canada,” Streit said. “We wanna play really good team defense and we need to use our speed and keep it really simple.

The US, as I say about the Islanders all the time, need to keep the intensity level up, and not let down.  I know these guys will be prepared, and I am expecting a similar effort as the Canucks put up against Germany last night.

As for the Canadians, Russia is the next match, which should bring a monumental matchup.  It is not the 1972 series, but this should also  be a classic game for the ages.  Tune in at 730 (on MSNBC) for that one.

Enjoy the matches today!

The Isles are with the exception of Streit and Coach Gordon – are enjoying their time off. 

It will soon be time to get practice in, and hopefully get some guys back on the roster (speifically Jackman, Bailey and Hillen…)

Was nice to hear on XM204, the Wolfpack at the Sound Tigers, and former big team player Brendan Witt got the game winner in a 2-1 victory.  The Tigers beat their arch nemesis twice in the last six days.  A 1-0 loss to the Abbotsford (B.C.) Heat was in the middle of it.  The Tigers are 27-24-3-6 and sit in 5th place in the division – four points behind Lowell, and Hartford 4 points behind Bridgeport.

On the Olympic front — was that one of the best games of hockey that you have seen in a long time?  Canada did outplay the US and getting 45 shots on net.  Miller was on – and to be quite honest, Marty B is showing the signs of an aging goalie.

Bank on the fact that you will not see #30 between the pipes for the next game that Canada plays on Tuesday against Germany.

Celebrate boys - you deserve it!

Only for this week, but it was nice to root for Chris Drury and Ryan Callahan.  Both played inspoired games, and it seems that Drury always does well on the international stage.

Brian Rafalski was great, and nearly got the hat trick.

But the story was Miller.  Yes he did give up 3, but 42 did not go by.  He has been in the net for every second for the Yanks, and don’t expect anyone else.  Mr. Thomas may not like it – but Miller has been among the elite all season, and he totally deserves to be there.

Now – the Americans can rest, and work on new systems, as they wait and see who their next opponent will be.  For Canada, a lot of soul searching, and questioning.  From what I hear, Sunday night in Vancouver more resembled a morgue rather than an Olympic city.  I feel bad, but in many cases, the Canadian fans came out a little cocky just expecting to just be awarded the medals.  Back to your drawing board.

GO USA!

I must confess that I found myself, along with my two older brothers and youngest brother, actually believing that the Islanders were going to go into the olympic break sweeping their weekend home games. Yes, with a 3-1 lead over the Senators going into the third period powered by goals from Matt Moulson and a pair from Blake Comeau, it appeared as if the Isles would beat a team that has been playing great hockey over their last 15 or so games. Although the Sens had come out controlling the first ten or so minutes of the game, the Islanders began to skate and found their rhythm to turn the tide, especially in the second period.

But, alas, it turns out that someone forgot to tell the boys they had to skate through another twenty minutes to earn the victory. Once again, the lack of a consistent, sixty minutes cost them 2 points. The Senators scored three unanswered goals in the third period to beat the Islanders 4-3. While the Isles jammed the front of the net in a desperate push during the closing seconds of the game, the equalizer just could not be popped home.

So, at the 62 game mark, the Islanders now are 25-29-8 with 58 points and some 6 points out of the 8 spot in the Eastern Conference standings. They’ve lost 9 out of their last 11, and have missed a serious opportunity to pick up points and put themselves in the 7 or even 6 spot in the conference. Too many guys have seemed to cool off, and even when they manage to score 3 or more goals, they are giving up more with more than a few defensive blunders hanging the goaltenders out to dry. On top of that, plain bad luck hitting posts or missing great scoring chances have hurt them as well.

Is it all doom and gloom, though? No, not in the least. Can the Islanders still make the playoffs? Anything is possible. There are still 20 games to go, and the way the conference has inconsistently been playing, a nice run of 10 or 15 points over a 10 game stretch could put the guys right back in the 7 or 8 slot. Ten of the twenty games are at home, and with only one Islander going to the olympics in Mark Streit, the team will be able to rest and, perhaps, get themselves reenergized.

I’ll leave it up to Gary to write a “what will it take” kind of post, but, to me, the simple answer is getting back to the system and playing with confidence and consistency as they did a short time back. There can’t be any quit in the boys, and guys like, Tavares, Hunter, Bergenheim and Streit have to get their scoring touch back. Without a doubt, the Isles are way ahead of the expected, development curve, and not making the playoffs will not be a “disaster”, yet somehow squeezing into that final 8 spot would be a tremendous achievement for this young team.

It certainly wasn’t pretty and there were more than a few defensive lapses, but Marty Byron and company managed to pull of a 5-4 victory over the Lightning. Richard Park scored 2 of the goals for the Isles, including the game winner with about 2 minutes and twenty seconds left in the third period, while Blake Comeau had his seventh, Doug Weight netted his first, and Kyle Okposo put in his thirteenth goal of the season.

The game was a back and forth affair with the Islanders opening the scoring in the first period after killing off a 5 on 3 PK and with Rob Schremp setting up Comeau for the tally. The Lightning scored just a minute later and took a 2-1 lead into the second period.

The Isles went on to fight back from a 3-2 deficit to take a 4-3 lead in the third with OKposo and Park scoring quickly after the Lightning had taken the 3-2 lead. On Okposo’s goal, John Tavares took the puck behind the net and managed to center it before being knocked down. Kyle, who was in front of the net, was able to put the puck home while being pressured by a Lightning d-man. Park’s second goal, which proved to be the game winner, resulted from an impressive one-man effort with three separate whacks at the puck, the third finally being lifted over Antero Niittymaki. The goal was not initially awarded, but, for once, league review got it right as Park had put the puck up top below the crossbar where it meets the pipe.

Marty Byron played a great game in net and had to come up with several big saves. The Lightning top line of Steven Stamkos, Martin San Louis, and Steve Downie, in particular, was buzzing all afternoon, and I believe they all maintained various point streaks. Overall, though, it was a big 2 points for the Isles with one more to go before the olympic break.

I think that the observations and statements along the lines declaring that the Isles played “good enough to win”, or just “don’t have any luck” can be, repeated to describe the game against Pittsburgh on Wednesday night. The Islanders certainly did not play badly and, in the third period, surely out played the Penguins. However, in the end, it was a 3-1 loss with Frans Nielsen scoring our only goal. The momentum was really starting to swing towards the Islanders until a bad pass from Blake Comeau to Mark Streit led to the third goal for the Penguins.

Nevertheless, we have two more games before the olympic break. It’s the Lightning and Senators at home. Neither team will be an easy task for a team struggling to regain their collective confidence. Additionally, will there be any “moves” before the freeze on trades today is a question that remains to be answered. The boys have to play each game with desperation and determination in order to turn this thing around. They are not “out of it” by any stretch, so let us hope we get some more points in the standings before Sunday is over.