Isles Lose close one to Flyers

The Islanders were coming off of a 4 game winning streak, and the Flyers were unbeaten at home. Obviously, something had to give. Unfortunately, the Isles winning streak ultimately ended.

The Islanders lost to the Flyers 3-2 in a very tough game. Rick DiPietro played so-so in my opinion, but I felt the first 2 goals were not his fault. The first was off a give away in front of the net by Ruslan Fedotenko, while the 2nd was a breakaway where Bruno Gervais fell and lost his balance, leaving Scottie Upshall alone for the breakaway. The Isles had come back 2 times down by one goal off of goals by Mike Sillinger and Chris Simon.

Overall, I felt the Islanders had come out strong. However, the powerplay did not look very good at all. Marc-Andre Bergeron has been good filling in for Bryan Berard, but he had a bad game last night. It was his turnover that lead to the shorthanded goal by Mike Richards half way through the 3rd period.

The Islanders play the Penguins Thursday night in Pittsburgh. That should be an interesting one as the Isles look to rebound. It will be tough, but I think if they come out with a good effort and tighten up the defense a bit more then they should be OK.