Eyes On Isles - A New York Islanders Blog

There are countless disadvantages to being blind. Without a doubt, from life experience, I can testify to this in many instances.

Additionally, being blind, one does miss a lot in every day life as well. In a sport, like hockey, which can be quite visual, I will readily admit that I have to rely on the descriptions and information given to me by others. There is simply no way around that reality for me.

Nevertheless, with all of that said, sometimes, you don’t need to see or have sight to know what is going on. The obvious can plainly be just that to even a blind person. There is no heightened senses or special intuition even required at times.

I have been around the game of hockey for so long that I can figure out elements of a game or even how specific plays in a game unfolded just because I have come to know the sport so well. There is no interpretation or explanation needed in these instances. Experience and familiarity tell me all I need to know, and I can come to my own conclusions without the help from anyone else’s eyes. Continue reading this post »

One time when the referee did not see anything (as usual) - Photo courtesy of Getty Images

Well, Mike Myers (aka Austin Powers) was a happy man tonight.

I definitely was not.

The 2-0 lead of the Islanders was slowly eradicated with much assistance to the lack of calls by the officiating, which not only brought the Maple Leafs back into the game, and in the end, giving the visitors the winning goal in overtime, for a 4-3 victory at the Nassau Coliseum.

I am prefacing the next few paragraphs by simply stating that I, for the most part, am quite objective when it comes to giving the officiating the benefit of the doubt.  I know that are not only human, but due to the pace of the game, they can not see everything going on.

However, looking at the stats that stand out on the official score sheet – it seems that the Maple Leafs had no penalty minutes in the two games against the Islanders.

Let me repeat that…

NO PENALTIES IN THE TWO GAMES.

How can that be?

No penalties in 120+ minutes of hockey.  And we all know that the Maple Leafs are not innocent children, that’s for sure.

For anyone that did not see the game, the Leafs initiated a number of incidents where the Islander players were either cut, checked from behind, or hurt in some way, shape or form, with the overwhelmingly majority of them in front one of the two individuals, and of course, no call.  The only calls made in the game, was on Travis Hamonic getting an extra two for holding on a roughing incident with Phil Kessel of the Leafs, that to all of us together in the press box could not believe that the Islander that did not initiated the play got the extra two.

Continue reading this post »

Not much to say about the game last night.

As Butch Goring said right away in the game, the Maple Leafs would be speedy in the neutral zone, and the Islanders would need to combat that.  Well – it just did not happen.

Although the John Tavares line had some opportunities, nothing was getting by the Toronto goaltender.  JT’s streak was ended at 12 games; longest in the NHL this season.

Tonight – the revenge night, and the last game before the All-Star Break.  What the Maple Leafs did in front of their home crowd, is EXACTLY what the Isles need to do tonight.  Have to establish the hitting, and winning of the battles.

Again, we can say on and on – but it is true…  The secondary scoring is paramount to the team’s success.  The formula is there.

I will be covering the game tonight – so check out my twitter feed @islessection317.

My outfit for the All Star Game

In addition, I will be at the ALL STAR GAME in OTTAWA on Sunday.  Only going to the game – and I am so excited.  I bought my jersey the other day, so I am ready to support my Islander representative.  Also – I am sitting just two rows behind the bench, so expect some pictures, and other stuff next week.

For info on the Maple Leafs side of the story, check out their site
Editor in Leaf

Please visit our NHL main page and the blogs of all of our NHL teams,
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Please check out Fansided’s weekly NHL podcast,
Rink Side Rants

Isles fans: Here’s a special alert on tickets for tomorrow night’s game against the Maple Leafs: Through our ticket partner TiqIQ, you can “make an offer” and essentially pick your price on tickets from Score Big: For a “1 star seat” that would usually cost you close to $40 after all the fees, you can get in for an offer of around $20, with no additional shipping or handling.

But you need to move fast, as this deal expires at 7pm Eastern tonight (Monday!). So make an offer now: http://tiqiq.us/70O

This was a Big Game for the New York Islanders. Make no mistakes about that fact. Whether it was game #46 and being played in January or not, in order for the Isles to give themselves a shot at playing meaningful games in February and March, they had to skate away with the 2 points.

No, it wasn’t the sort of “statement” game I would have liked to see. In fact, the Islanders came out rather sluggish and slow, as the Hurricanes carried the play and out shot the Isles. They also got the only goal in the period from Jeff Skinner, who, after just recently returning from a concussion, hadn’t scored since December 7.

However, the alarm clock seemed to go off in the locker room between periods, and the Islanders came out with a lot more fire and desperation. They put 23 shots on Cam Ward, and though a lot of those shots were from the perimeter, they were crashing the net and it was only the size of the Cane defense that probably helped Ward more than anything else.

Jon Tavares tied the game in that second frame, putting in a Mark Streit rebound. Kyle Okposo and Matt Moulson helped make the goal happen by providing solid net front presence, but it was JT getting himself to where the puck was going to be that enabled him to take out the trash. Continue reading this post »

OK, so I was sick of hearing how many million games it’s been since the Islanders last defeated the Flyers in Philadelphia and overall. For the record, the streak has ended at 13 (going back to April 7, 2007) in the city of brotherly love, and 9 straight overall since their last win over Philly.

To me, 41 shots against was a bit too much and being out shot 41-27 was not “positive”, yet the Flyers only really pressed hard in the third period more than anything else.

Overall, it was a pretty dominating game for the Isles, and Evgeni Nabokov came pretty close to notching back to back shutouts as well. It was also nice to see a 5 on 5 goal, a shorty and a power play goal in the same game, along with an empty netter to boot. In addition, scoring the first goal and building on the lead is a “habit”
I’d love to see the Islanders continue every game. Continue reading this post »

Here are some articles on sites from my fellow FanSided columnists.

Please click on the links:

Blue Line Station – New York Rangers – Artem Anisimov

Broad Street Buzz – Philadelphia Flyers – Non Scoring news

Pens Labryinth – Pittsburgh Penguins – win over Rangers

Cardiac Cane – Carolina Hurricanes – Preview against Caps

At this time – It is my pleasure to give you all my grades at the mid-point of the Islanders 2011-2012 season.

I will give each player a two sentence review, and then the grade.  Of course, this is MY opinion.  Yours can obviously be different, and I would love to hear from you about it.

Continue reading this post »