Not the night that Al was looking for…

This would definitely be one that the goalie would like to take back.

Five goals in two periods; two were real clunkers, and the Isles lose 6-3 to the Rangers last night, ending the seven game point streak for the team.  According to Coach Capuano, “I just thought he looked tired. He’s been battling for us for a while here and I just thought he looked a little fatigued.”

With the amount of time that he has been playing – that can easily be the case.  In addition, it was told that the he was cramping a little after the latest game.

Nathan Lawson – without any action since the game against Washington, came in for the third stanza, and gave up one goal.

According to reports in Newsday, an old friend may return to the fray.  Rick DiPietro, who has been practicing quite diligently of late, could accompany the Islanders on the Southern swing in Carolina and Florida, and may see some action during one of these games.  He is on the 4-6 week pace that was announced about his injury, and seems to be chomping at the bit to get back to game action.

Doug Weight and Mark Streit are practicing with the team, but there is still no time table for either players return to game action.

Congratulations to Matt Moulson for reaching the 30 goal plateau for the second consecutive season.  Both last year and this year, he did not get the chance to fully celebrate the goal, as both were given to number 26 long after the goal was actually scored.  But for this year, Moulson has 11 games to further increase that total.

PA Parenteau got his 17th, and is three away from giving the Islanders 5 2o goal scorers this season.  John Tavares got his 26th, and assisted on both Parenteau’s and Moulson’s goals.  He has a realistic shot at 70 points this season, which would be a nice second year step for the 20 year older.  He also is the youngest Islander to reach 50 goals in their uniform, beating Pat LaFontaine by about 100 days or so.

Getting back to Montoya, the man knows that if he gets brushed off the horse, that he has to get back on and get moving again.  Friday night, against the Hurricanes, he could do just that.

“Oh, why not? This is what we do. It just shows more character,” Montoya said to the reporters after last night’s game. “We’ll put this one behind us, learn from what we did wrong and get back to the same page where we were.”

And I am sure that the team will enjoy it a little more with better weather coming their way.  Friday, Carolina is the opponent with the Isles heading to Sunrise to battle the Panthers on Saturday Evening.  Tuesday, the Lightning are the hosts in Tampa, before the team heads home.