For the last few weeks, Jack Capuano has publicly warned his team that if some of them didn't start to perform, actions would be taken. It started with simple, yet necessary scratches. Now, changes will involve eliminating players from the roster all together.
Showing posts with label Blake Comeau. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Blake Comeau. Show all posts
November 26, 2011
November 18, 2011
Isles Withstand Late Surge by Montreal
When you go to the net, good things happen. Ditto for hustling to loose pucks.
The Islanders had a good grasp of this concept on Thursday night against Montreal. Three of their four goals were scored by either crashing the net or winning battles for loose pucks.
The Islanders had a good grasp of this concept on Thursday night against Montreal. Three of their four goals were scored by either crashing the net or winning battles for loose pucks.
November 16, 2011
Isles Come Back Twice, Not a Third Time Against Rangers
Tuesday night's installment of Islanders-Rangers was a tale of two teams trending in opposite directions. The Rangers were coming off their sixth straight victory, while the Islanders had lost nine of their last 10 and had a pretty poor effort in Vancouver.
Jack Capuano said that he was unhappy with the effort some individuals put in that game, and that he would have to adjust accordingly. When asked about Nino Niederreiter coming up, he quipped that he wished two others were coming up with him.
Jack Capuano said that he was unhappy with the effort some individuals put in that game, and that he would have to adjust accordingly. When asked about Nino Niederreiter coming up, he quipped that he wished two others were coming up with him.
November 14, 2011
Isles Fall to Canucks; El Nino Returns
The Islanders dropped their rare Sunday night game 4-1 to the Canucks as Evgeni Nabokov was tested early and often.
It seems that no Isles goalie can be tested early enough though as Nabokov gave up a goal 1:57 seconds into the game, on a shot by Aaron Rome. It was a bit of a defensive breakdown in front of Nabokov, and would be a sign of things to come for the Islanders.
It seems that no Isles goalie can be tested early enough though as Nabokov gave up a goal 1:57 seconds into the game, on a shot by Aaron Rome. It was a bit of a defensive breakdown in front of Nabokov, and would be a sign of things to come for the Islanders.
October 23, 2011
Lack of Secondary Scoring a Problem Again; Tune into NYI FYI Sunday at 11 AM
The Islanders lack of secondary scoring has cost them yet another game as the Islanders fell to the Panthers for the second time in six games this season.
The Isles had only taken 10 shots through two periods, before getting some powerplay chances in the 3rd and getting 18 in the final frame. John Tavares had seven shots. Blake Comeau once again had none, while Kyle Okposo only managed one. Tavares would finish with a goal and an assist.
The Isles had only taken 10 shots through two periods, before getting some powerplay chances in the 3rd and getting 18 in the final frame. John Tavares had seven shots. Blake Comeau once again had none, while Kyle Okposo only managed one. Tavares would finish with a goal and an assist.
October 20, 2011
Bolts get Revenge on Isles
Somewhere deep down, I think we all realized we didn't see the real Tampa Bay Lightning last week, even if their defense is a bit weak on paper.
On Thursday night, the Lightning showed us why they still are one of the top teams in the East with their offense. Ryan Malone, Vincent Lecavalier, and Steven Stamkos all scored to lead the Lightning to victory.
On Thursday night, the Lightning showed us why they still are one of the top teams in the East with their offense. Ryan Malone, Vincent Lecavalier, and Steven Stamkos all scored to lead the Lightning to victory.
July 28, 2011
Hunter's Tenure Ends, Isles Acquire Brian Rolston from Devils
Who would have thought a late July trade for Brian Rolston would have created as much buzz and talk as it has?
Everyone seems to be making more comments than they probably should be on the Islanders acquisition of the overpaid 38 year old forward who they got in return for the 31 year old oft-injured and painfully slow Trent Hunter.
Many people right away were able to jump to the conclusion that a big motivating factor in the swap was money, and I'm sure it was - no matter how much Garth Snow tries to play it down.
However, some thought that this couldn't possibly be all Snow was working on and that it had to be a part of a bigger deal. As we sit here on Thursday night, it appears that is the case.
It appears now that Rolston comes in to replace one of the current forwards, at least one of which could presumably be moved to bring in a top defenseman.
At any rate, the Hunter for Rolston swap by itself is still a good one. It's not earth shattering, but it's a slight upgrade. Hunter had trouble staying on the ice and went through some prolonged scoring slumps. Rolston is far from the player he once was, but can still contribute 15-20 goals in a checking line role while playing all three forward positions and still be solid enough defensively to get tome PK time. He's also still got that powerful slap shot that will be useful on the power-play.
At the very least, it's better than Alexei Yashin! (Note: I'm not completely against the idea of Yashin back on a one-year deal, but understand what his buyout represents. I'm not going to go into much detail about the rumors on him since I truly think it's helping out a friend to get a better deal in Russia).
I'm noticing a lot of people reading too much into the deal, saying you can do better for the money. Yes, you absolutely can - but when you look at how far behind this team is in overall salary, you can't think about it. Its irrelevant. Snow has maintained all off-season that he wants a top defenseman. There is no reason why picking up $3 million should cause him to deviate from that. If it does, then shame on him.
As far as "helping the Devils out," who cares? If you honestly thought that the Devils were going to have a problem signing Zach Parise to a long-term deal, then you clearly have not been paying attention to the way this league operates. Just look at the New York Rangers. If the Devils want someone signed, they'll get them signed.
As mentioned earlier, this appears to be a precursor of some kind to another move with Rolston replacing a body. Good. It's nice to finally be a part of some exciting rumors now.
Who would move in a trade? Josh Bailey? Blake Comeau? Both? It would all depend on who is coming back. You can safely assume though that the player coming in return would be a defenseman.
Things just got a little more interesting around here. At least it's something to track for a bit to take our minds off of the referendum stuff.
More to come after the possible move. Also look for a referendum related post in the next day or so with my thoughts - those of a 23 year old Long Island kid.
-Chris
nyifyi@gmail.com
Everyone seems to be making more comments than they probably should be on the Islanders acquisition of the overpaid 38 year old forward who they got in return for the 31 year old oft-injured and painfully slow Trent Hunter.
Many people right away were able to jump to the conclusion that a big motivating factor in the swap was money, and I'm sure it was - no matter how much Garth Snow tries to play it down.
However, some thought that this couldn't possibly be all Snow was working on and that it had to be a part of a bigger deal. As we sit here on Thursday night, it appears that is the case.
It appears now that Rolston comes in to replace one of the current forwards, at least one of which could presumably be moved to bring in a top defenseman.
 |
| Photo by C. Hessel |
At the very least, it's better than Alexei Yashin! (Note: I'm not completely against the idea of Yashin back on a one-year deal, but understand what his buyout represents. I'm not going to go into much detail about the rumors on him since I truly think it's helping out a friend to get a better deal in Russia).
I'm noticing a lot of people reading too much into the deal, saying you can do better for the money. Yes, you absolutely can - but when you look at how far behind this team is in overall salary, you can't think about it. Its irrelevant. Snow has maintained all off-season that he wants a top defenseman. There is no reason why picking up $3 million should cause him to deviate from that. If it does, then shame on him.
As far as "helping the Devils out," who cares? If you honestly thought that the Devils were going to have a problem signing Zach Parise to a long-term deal, then you clearly have not been paying attention to the way this league operates. Just look at the New York Rangers. If the Devils want someone signed, they'll get them signed.
As mentioned earlier, this appears to be a precursor of some kind to another move with Rolston replacing a body. Good. It's nice to finally be a part of some exciting rumors now.
Who would move in a trade? Josh Bailey? Blake Comeau? Both? It would all depend on who is coming back. You can safely assume though that the player coming in return would be a defenseman.
Things just got a little more interesting around here. At least it's something to track for a bit to take our minds off of the referendum stuff.
More to come after the possible move. Also look for a referendum related post in the next day or so with my thoughts - those of a 23 year old Long Island kid.
-Chris
nyifyi@gmail.com
June 28, 2011
Free Agent News: Isles Not Qualifying Hillen
Monday was the deadline for NHL teams to extend qualifying offers to their RFA's or risk losing them on the open market when it opens on Friday.
While there were a number of surprises that were not extended offers around the league, Isles fans had one that surprised them in Jack Hillen.
Starting out the year as the odd man out, Hillen had a nice finish to the season, ending up with four goals and 22 points with 137 blocked shots. The last couple of months seemed to be the first time he had gotten the confidence back that he had prior to taking the shot in the face from Alex Ovechkin a couple of seasons ago.
It appears that a lot of fans are upset about the news of Hillen testing the market, and that is understandable. Some are going with the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" adage, but for the Islanders case it is broken. Very broken. They finished in the bottom five in goals against.
Hillen is a quick, solid puck moving defenseman who can get knocked off the puck at times, leading to a loss in possession and a gain in momentum for the other team. The Islanders seem to realize they need to add some more size to the blueline and the exits of Hillen along with Bruno Gervais allow them to try and go down that path. Hillen likely isn't in line to take a 2-way deal as a depth defenseman now for the Isles and will try his luck on the open market and look for a one way.
A contending team may not be willing to give him an NHL spot, but if those teams came calling Hillen would definitely jump for a NHL/AHL deal for a team like that. On this team, it was evident that he was going to be depth once again. The Islanders already have Ty Wishart, who they did qualify, as the go to guy as the 7th man, and Dylan Reese is being kept for his AHL experience and some leadership in Bridgeport.
It remains to be seen if the Isles agree with the consensus in that they need to add one solid top-four guy this offseason, but this move adds some fuel to that argument.
OTHER RFA NEWS: After failing to offer a qualifier to Tomas Marcinko, the Isles agreed to a one year, 2-way deal with the big center. Marcinko doesn't look like he'll become much of an NHL player, but has been a solid defensive forward down in Bridgeport and will continue to provide that this season.
Defenseman Dustin Kohn, a 2nd round pick in 2004 has likely seen his last days in the organization. Kohn was not offered a qualifier and will try to latch on with a team starting on Friday.
Gervais signed a new deal with the Lightning, getting a one way deal at $550K. That's a bit of a pay cut for him, but it's worth it on the one-way deal to try and re-establish himself and get his confidence back up. Good luck to him.
Josh Bailey, Blake Comeau, Micheal Haley and Jesse Joensuu also received offers from the team.
FOR THOSE WHO ARE CONFUSED: A qualifying offer is extended to a player so a team cannot lose their rights. A player doesn't have to accept it until later in the summer, but it gives teams the ability to match any offer sheets that come the players way.
Often times players will not be given QO's and come to terms with their teams anyway (like the Isles did with Marcinko and the Penguins will likely do with Tyler Kennedy).
A QO gives a player a 10% raise if they made less than $660K in the previous season or 5% if they made up to $1 million.
More can be found here.
If you missed our live show Sunday, you can find the recording here or download the podcast of it or previous shows here.
-Chris
nyifyi@gmail.com
While there were a number of surprises that were not extended offers around the league, Isles fans had one that surprised them in Jack Hillen.
 |
| Hillen will look for new work. Photo by C. Hessel |
It appears that a lot of fans are upset about the news of Hillen testing the market, and that is understandable. Some are going with the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" adage, but for the Islanders case it is broken. Very broken. They finished in the bottom five in goals against.
Hillen is a quick, solid puck moving defenseman who can get knocked off the puck at times, leading to a loss in possession and a gain in momentum for the other team. The Islanders seem to realize they need to add some more size to the blueline and the exits of Hillen along with Bruno Gervais allow them to try and go down that path. Hillen likely isn't in line to take a 2-way deal as a depth defenseman now for the Isles and will try his luck on the open market and look for a one way.
A contending team may not be willing to give him an NHL spot, but if those teams came calling Hillen would definitely jump for a NHL/AHL deal for a team like that. On this team, it was evident that he was going to be depth once again. The Islanders already have Ty Wishart, who they did qualify, as the go to guy as the 7th man, and Dylan Reese is being kept for his AHL experience and some leadership in Bridgeport.
It remains to be seen if the Isles agree with the consensus in that they need to add one solid top-four guy this offseason, but this move adds some fuel to that argument.
OTHER RFA NEWS: After failing to offer a qualifier to Tomas Marcinko, the Isles agreed to a one year, 2-way deal with the big center. Marcinko doesn't look like he'll become much of an NHL player, but has been a solid defensive forward down in Bridgeport and will continue to provide that this season.
Defenseman Dustin Kohn, a 2nd round pick in 2004 has likely seen his last days in the organization. Kohn was not offered a qualifier and will try to latch on with a team starting on Friday.
Gervais signed a new deal with the Lightning, getting a one way deal at $550K. That's a bit of a pay cut for him, but it's worth it on the one-way deal to try and re-establish himself and get his confidence back up. Good luck to him.
Josh Bailey, Blake Comeau, Micheal Haley and Jesse Joensuu also received offers from the team.
FOR THOSE WHO ARE CONFUSED: A qualifying offer is extended to a player so a team cannot lose their rights. A player doesn't have to accept it until later in the summer, but it gives teams the ability to match any offer sheets that come the players way.
Often times players will not be given QO's and come to terms with their teams anyway (like the Isles did with Marcinko and the Penguins will likely do with Tyler Kennedy).
A QO gives a player a 10% raise if they made less than $660K in the previous season or 5% if they made up to $1 million.
More can be found here.
If you missed our live show Sunday, you can find the recording here or download the podcast of it or previous shows here.
-Chris
nyifyi@gmail.com
May 25, 2011
Okposo Re-Signed for Five Years; Thoughts on Tuesday's Hearing
The Islanders entered this offseason with a number of items on their to-do list seeing as it was the first year that some of the major players in the rebuild were due for contract extensions.
Two weeks ago and a little more than a day after having the press conference to announce the plan for the referendum, the Islanders made a statement by re-signing Michael Grabner to a five-year deal.
Today, a day after the Nassau County Legislature officially "kicked off" their seven day review process prior to voting 'yea' or 'nay' for a special election, the Islanders made news once again as they agreed to a five-year, $14 million extension with Kyle Okposo.
Okposo's deal will be structured in a very similar fashion to Grabner's - an incremental increase until the final year where Okposo could be earning $4.5 million. With the way the salary cap works in the NHL though, the cap hit will be $2.8 million for all five years. That's not terrible by any stretch.
The amount of years is a bit surprising, to me at least. When you have a player who is still for the most part unproven, you're always going to have the concerns in the back of your mind. What this move was based on however is potential, and we know what we potentially have in Okposo. He already does have a 50 point season under his belt too.
The RFA most likely to be signed next is Blake Comeau. For him, I would only go two, maybe three years. He had a nice season and should get a decent chunk of change for it, but I'd like to see more of a consistent effort before I commit for a longer term there.
Josh Bailey is another RFA who needs to be signed, and I would think the Isles may take their time there. I don't think that they should be looking to deal him for whatever they could get, but if a deal comes up and you need to deal a young player to bring talent in, then he would be the most expendable in my eyes.
The deals the Islanders are signing now, length aside, are not bad deals and won't be coming around to bite them. They know how useful both Okposo and Grabner can be, and for $2.8 and $3 million respectively, don't break the bank. It also allows the Islanders to re-sign John Tavares next summer to a deal.
The one concern I do have is how much these deals take away from needing to get within the salary cap parameters. The Islanders have some solid players in the organization, but need to make a little bit of noise in the off-season to generate even more excitement and give this team a real shot. I don't want to see them blowing all of their available money in just re-signing their own players. I don't think this will be an issue with (relatively) small raises coming so far in relation to the expected jump in the cap floor and ceiling for next season.
CLOSE TO PASSING THE FIRST HURDLE? One of the first milestones arrived on Tuesday as the Nassau County Legislative Board had that meeting I alluded to earlier to "kick-off" their week long discussions prior to deciding if an August 1st vote is in the cards for the referendum put forth by Charles Wang and Ed Mangano.
The day started off with a rally outside of the County's Mineola offices at 8:30 AM, with many union folks in attendance holding signs and chanting. It's been estimated as many as 300-400 workers showed up for the event. Following the rally, folks assembled in the Mineola offices and did what we've come to do best: wait.
The waiting would go on for quite a while, as the Republicans and Democrats started their hearing by spending the first 15 minutes arguing about which items on the agenda they would argue about first. The Democrats got their wish, and they spoke for the first four hours about redistricting, another big issue and fine mess Nassau County has unsurprisingly been able to get themselves into.
When the time finally came, some folks tried to haggle over the date of the vote with opinions stating a vote on election day or even on the primary election day in September as being better options. Both of these were seemingly killed though, and we have a good shot at August 1st being the date - barring a NIFA smack down of the idea.
As the meeting went on, there seemed to be a good deal of support from the legislatures. There only needs to be a slight majority in order to proceed, and it appears that will happen when the vote happens at the end of the month.
It will be at that point where things will begin to get interesting as it'll suddenly become a two month sell job. Citizens need to understand what's at stake, what they are paying for in the interim and what dividends it'll pay in the long run.
One of the more interesting notes to come out of the proceedings was that as part of the contract that is being negotiated, any overages of the Nassau Coliseum contsruction would be paid by Wang himself. That is rather noteworthy, and something that cannot be overlooked in this whole thing.
Mangano says that the details of the plan will be available in June. The Legislators want to see something by July 1. I don't foresee any issues with that request. Mangano, Wang and all others involved however, MUST make everything clear as crystal. Don't say that the plan will be "transparent" and lie like many politicians do. You can't play games anymore - this is it. Answer all questions the first time around, and if you don't have the answer to one get it ASAP.
In the meantime, as fans we can keep doing what we have been doing. Advocate for a "Yes" vote, speak to friends and relatives in Nassau. Tell folks what this means to you, especially if you are a younger person living on Long Island. Remember: this is, and always will be more than just a new arena for a hockey team. This is a transformation of an entire area to make it more attractive to tourists and those looking for places to live.
DOUG WEIGHT PRESS CONFERENCE THURSDAY: Doug Weight and the Islanders have scheduled a press conference for Thursday at 11 AM, where it is expected that Weight will announce his retirement and new position in the organization.
I've missed many of the events so far this summer, but will be making the trip to the Marriott for the conference. Be sure you're following our Twitter account and I will try to update early and often.
Many folks seem split in thinking if Weight will be getting a front office position or a coaching job. I think for now he prefers to stay in the front office, but being one of the coaches is certainly a possibility. We'll see what it is he prefers tomorrow obviously. I think everyone can pretty much agree though that this isn't to announce he plans on continuing to play.
-CH
nyifyi@gmail.com
Two weeks ago and a little more than a day after having the press conference to announce the plan for the referendum, the Islanders made a statement by re-signing Michael Grabner to a five-year deal.
Today, a day after the Nassau County Legislature officially "kicked off" their seven day review process prior to voting 'yea' or 'nay' for a special election, the Islanders made news once again as they agreed to a five-year, $14 million extension with Kyle Okposo.
Okposo's deal will be structured in a very similar fashion to Grabner's - an incremental increase until the final year where Okposo could be earning $4.5 million. With the way the salary cap works in the NHL though, the cap hit will be $2.8 million for all five years. That's not terrible by any stretch.
The amount of years is a bit surprising, to me at least. When you have a player who is still for the most part unproven, you're always going to have the concerns in the back of your mind. What this move was based on however is potential, and we know what we potentially have in Okposo. He already does have a 50 point season under his belt too.
The RFA most likely to be signed next is Blake Comeau. For him, I would only go two, maybe three years. He had a nice season and should get a decent chunk of change for it, but I'd like to see more of a consistent effort before I commit for a longer term there.
Josh Bailey is another RFA who needs to be signed, and I would think the Isles may take their time there. I don't think that they should be looking to deal him for whatever they could get, but if a deal comes up and you need to deal a young player to bring talent in, then he would be the most expendable in my eyes.
The deals the Islanders are signing now, length aside, are not bad deals and won't be coming around to bite them. They know how useful both Okposo and Grabner can be, and for $2.8 and $3 million respectively, don't break the bank. It also allows the Islanders to re-sign John Tavares next summer to a deal.
The one concern I do have is how much these deals take away from needing to get within the salary cap parameters. The Islanders have some solid players in the organization, but need to make a little bit of noise in the off-season to generate even more excitement and give this team a real shot. I don't want to see them blowing all of their available money in just re-signing their own players. I don't think this will be an issue with (relatively) small raises coming so far in relation to the expected jump in the cap floor and ceiling for next season.
CLOSE TO PASSING THE FIRST HURDLE? One of the first milestones arrived on Tuesday as the Nassau County Legislative Board had that meeting I alluded to earlier to "kick-off" their week long discussions prior to deciding if an August 1st vote is in the cards for the referendum put forth by Charles Wang and Ed Mangano.
The day started off with a rally outside of the County's Mineola offices at 8:30 AM, with many union folks in attendance holding signs and chanting. It's been estimated as many as 300-400 workers showed up for the event. Following the rally, folks assembled in the Mineola offices and did what we've come to do best: wait.
The waiting would go on for quite a while, as the Republicans and Democrats started their hearing by spending the first 15 minutes arguing about which items on the agenda they would argue about first. The Democrats got their wish, and they spoke for the first four hours about redistricting, another big issue and fine mess Nassau County has unsurprisingly been able to get themselves into.
When the time finally came, some folks tried to haggle over the date of the vote with opinions stating a vote on election day or even on the primary election day in September as being better options. Both of these were seemingly killed though, and we have a good shot at August 1st being the date - barring a NIFA smack down of the idea.
As the meeting went on, there seemed to be a good deal of support from the legislatures. There only needs to be a slight majority in order to proceed, and it appears that will happen when the vote happens at the end of the month.
It will be at that point where things will begin to get interesting as it'll suddenly become a two month sell job. Citizens need to understand what's at stake, what they are paying for in the interim and what dividends it'll pay in the long run.
One of the more interesting notes to come out of the proceedings was that as part of the contract that is being negotiated, any overages of the Nassau Coliseum contsruction would be paid by Wang himself. That is rather noteworthy, and something that cannot be overlooked in this whole thing.
Mangano says that the details of the plan will be available in June. The Legislators want to see something by July 1. I don't foresee any issues with that request. Mangano, Wang and all others involved however, MUST make everything clear as crystal. Don't say that the plan will be "transparent" and lie like many politicians do. You can't play games anymore - this is it. Answer all questions the first time around, and if you don't have the answer to one get it ASAP.
In the meantime, as fans we can keep doing what we have been doing. Advocate for a "Yes" vote, speak to friends and relatives in Nassau. Tell folks what this means to you, especially if you are a younger person living on Long Island. Remember: this is, and always will be more than just a new arena for a hockey team. This is a transformation of an entire area to make it more attractive to tourists and those looking for places to live.
DOUG WEIGHT PRESS CONFERENCE THURSDAY: Doug Weight and the Islanders have scheduled a press conference for Thursday at 11 AM, where it is expected that Weight will announce his retirement and new position in the organization.
I've missed many of the events so far this summer, but will be making the trip to the Marriott for the conference. Be sure you're following our Twitter account and I will try to update early and often.
Many folks seem split in thinking if Weight will be getting a front office position or a coaching job. I think for now he prefers to stay in the front office, but being one of the coaches is certainly a possibility. We'll see what it is he prefers tomorrow obviously. I think everyone can pretty much agree though that this isn't to announce he plans on continuing to play.
-CH
nyifyi@gmail.com
March 13, 2011
Isles Fuming After Officiating Against Devils
Jack Capuano has always been politically correct when answering some of the tough questions, but he pulled no punches when asked about the outcome of the Islanders' 3-2 overtime loss to the Devils on Saturday night.
That is some pretty powerful stuff. However, the Islanders haven't been the only team to have games ruined by the refs. It's happened a lot in the league this season, and goes back to the point I was making in February after the game against Pittsburgh. Many teams have had it with officiating this year, and it's starting to boil over.
The Islanders could have made it tougher on everyone if they would have played much better than they did. The fact that they played poorly doesn't help their argument too much. Sure, they battled back from a 1-0 hole to grab a 2-1 lead, but for much of the first period and a good chunk of the second, they were badly outplayed. The Devils had 31 shots, while the Isles managed only 15.
Blake Comeau had a very strong game once again and scored his 20th of the season on a really nice play to make Martin Brodeur go down way too early and leave him flopping in the crease.
Brodeur made some great saves on the few times he was really tested though. Al Montoya also stood tall, and you can't really fault him for the outcome. The shot was a bit of an odd one, and Salmela got it off rather quickly and unexpectedly.
The Islanders should get some credit for taking a team to overtime twice in the same week, not to mention a team that hasn't lost much in the last 25 or so games.
Capuano and company are definitely on to something with the officiating, and I'm really glad that he spoke up. The league is investigating the officiating, but I'm sure nothing will come of it, just like always.
I'll be curious to see if Capuano gets fined for his comments. Lately, coaches have been getting away with saying things like this, perhaps because the NHL is catching on to their mistakes. But i he does, then that opens up another whole can of worms.
Just keep winning. Capuano is right - that's what this will take. Be serious in your pursuit for the playoffs. Actively talk to top free agents and actively explore trades. Show you are serious about spending money, don't just talk about it. You get respect if you win. That's not how it should be, but such is the way of sports these days.
NO NYI FYI: For those of you thinking you missed us for a show on Sunday, unfortunately you did not. Due to an event that Sean had to be at, we were unable to record a show on Sunday. We are hoping to get something, perhaps during the week though. Stand by for an announcement on that. We apologize to you guys for having a last minute thing pop up.
-CH
We got no respect tonight. Maybe if we start winning games, we'll get it. Maybe it's a young coaching staff and they've got an older coaching staff. Maybe it's their players -- their veteran guys versus our non-veteran guys. I have no idea. But it's tough for guys to prepare for a game and then it's taken away from you.
That is some pretty powerful stuff. However, the Islanders haven't been the only team to have games ruined by the refs. It's happened a lot in the league this season, and goes back to the point I was making in February after the game against Pittsburgh. Many teams have had it with officiating this year, and it's starting to boil over.
The Islanders could have made it tougher on everyone if they would have played much better than they did. The fact that they played poorly doesn't help their argument too much. Sure, they battled back from a 1-0 hole to grab a 2-1 lead, but for much of the first period and a good chunk of the second, they were badly outplayed. The Devils had 31 shots, while the Isles managed only 15.
Blake Comeau had a very strong game once again and scored his 20th of the season on a really nice play to make Martin Brodeur go down way too early and leave him flopping in the crease.
Brodeur made some great saves on the few times he was really tested though. Al Montoya also stood tall, and you can't really fault him for the outcome. The shot was a bit of an odd one, and Salmela got it off rather quickly and unexpectedly.
The Islanders should get some credit for taking a team to overtime twice in the same week, not to mention a team that hasn't lost much in the last 25 or so games.
Capuano and company are definitely on to something with the officiating, and I'm really glad that he spoke up. The league is investigating the officiating, but I'm sure nothing will come of it, just like always.
I'll be curious to see if Capuano gets fined for his comments. Lately, coaches have been getting away with saying things like this, perhaps because the NHL is catching on to their mistakes. But i he does, then that opens up another whole can of worms.
Just keep winning. Capuano is right - that's what this will take. Be serious in your pursuit for the playoffs. Actively talk to top free agents and actively explore trades. Show you are serious about spending money, don't just talk about it. You get respect if you win. That's not how it should be, but such is the way of sports these days.
NO NYI FYI: For those of you thinking you missed us for a show on Sunday, unfortunately you did not. Due to an event that Sean had to be at, we were unable to record a show on Sunday. We are hoping to get something, perhaps during the week though. Stand by for an announcement on that. We apologize to you guys for having a last minute thing pop up.
-CH
March 12, 2011
Resiliency at it's Finest as Isles Down Bruins
They always say those late goals at the end of the period can be killers. Generally, the Isles are usually on the receiving ends of having the momentum sucked out of them. On Friday night against the Boston Bruins however, it was the Islanders getting a late goal that completely shifted the game in their favor.
The Islanders had a very pedestrian effort against the Bruins for much of the first and second periods as the Bruins built a 2-0 lead on goals by Nathan Horton and, naturally, Zdeno Chara. The Isles appeared to have trouble containing the Bruins, and you saw numerous times why people have been including them in their Stanley Cup predictions since the summer.
With two seconds left in the second though, things changed. P.A. Parenteau, John Tavares and Matt Moulson had an excellent shift to keep the puck deep in the zone. Parenteau got the puck behind the net to Tavares, who made a no-look behind the back pass to Moulson who was left alone to the left of Tim Thomas. His quick shot surprised everyone and cut the lead to 2-1.
The Islanders came out hard in the 3rd, and didn't let off at all. They would end up controlling the play for much of the period. Michael Grabner would score to tie the game after picking up a rebound after a scramble in front of Thomas. His shot looked rather harmless, but all of the pushing and shoving in front of the net allowed the puck to slowly trickle in past Thomas.
Jack Hillen scored after a puck deflected in off of a Bruin and past Thomas. He tried his hardest to make the save, but when he realized where the puck was it was too late. It had already fluttered in, and the Isles were firing on all cylinders, feeding off of the crowd of 12,119.
Parenteau would get a goal of his own in an empty net. The puck never actually went in, but he was tripped up and taken down on a breakaway which is an automatic goal.
This was resiliency at it's finest. The Islanders battling back, against one of the top teams in the East it an excellent story for this crew.
Since December 16th, the Islanders and the Bruins are tied for the most points in the Conference. I don't need to beat a dead horse, but it's a shame what the outcomes were in the previous 21 to December 16th.
Al Montoya only faced 28 shots, and stopped 26 of them. He made some nice saves and continues to get better and better as time goes on. The Islanders threw 41 shots at Thomas. It was the first time since 1986 that the Islanders won back to back games after taking 40+ shots.
Moulson moved one goal away from getting his 2nd straight 30 goal season, while Grabner moved two away from that mark.
Blake Comeau had a really strong game, and made two really nice plays on penalty killing opportunities. Both times he dove to knock pucks out of the zone. He threw hits and skated hard all night, perhaps trying to get his first career 20 goal year under his belt. He has been playing fairly well in my opinion over the last few weeks, and it's great that he has kept that play up to show some consistency.
The Islanders get no rest as they take on the New Jersey Devils again on Saturday night. This should be another fun game, and another one that's been getting some notice from hockey pundits in the area. Neither team could care less about draft picks and want to win these games. It makes for some fun late season hockey among two teams that are unlikely to make the playoffs. But hey, we've been wrong before. As Captain2Man pointed out to us on Twitter last night:
-CH
The Islanders had a very pedestrian effort against the Bruins for much of the first and second periods as the Bruins built a 2-0 lead on goals by Nathan Horton and, naturally, Zdeno Chara. The Isles appeared to have trouble containing the Bruins, and you saw numerous times why people have been including them in their Stanley Cup predictions since the summer.
With two seconds left in the second though, things changed. P.A. Parenteau, John Tavares and Matt Moulson had an excellent shift to keep the puck deep in the zone. Parenteau got the puck behind the net to Tavares, who made a no-look behind the back pass to Moulson who was left alone to the left of Tim Thomas. His quick shot surprised everyone and cut the lead to 2-1.
The Islanders came out hard in the 3rd, and didn't let off at all. They would end up controlling the play for much of the period. Michael Grabner would score to tie the game after picking up a rebound after a scramble in front of Thomas. His shot looked rather harmless, but all of the pushing and shoving in front of the net allowed the puck to slowly trickle in past Thomas.
Jack Hillen scored after a puck deflected in off of a Bruin and past Thomas. He tried his hardest to make the save, but when he realized where the puck was it was too late. It had already fluttered in, and the Isles were firing on all cylinders, feeding off of the crowd of 12,119.
Parenteau would get a goal of his own in an empty net. The puck never actually went in, but he was tripped up and taken down on a breakaway which is an automatic goal.
This was resiliency at it's finest. The Islanders battling back, against one of the top teams in the East it an excellent story for this crew.
Since December 16th, the Islanders and the Bruins are tied for the most points in the Conference. I don't need to beat a dead horse, but it's a shame what the outcomes were in the previous 21 to December 16th.
Al Montoya only faced 28 shots, and stopped 26 of them. He made some nice saves and continues to get better and better as time goes on. The Islanders threw 41 shots at Thomas. It was the first time since 1986 that the Islanders won back to back games after taking 40+ shots.
Moulson moved one goal away from getting his 2nd straight 30 goal season, while Grabner moved two away from that mark.
Blake Comeau had a really strong game, and made two really nice plays on penalty killing opportunities. Both times he dove to knock pucks out of the zone. He threw hits and skated hard all night, perhaps trying to get his first career 20 goal year under his belt. He has been playing fairly well in my opinion over the last few weeks, and it's great that he has kept that play up to show some consistency.
The Islanders get no rest as they take on the New Jersey Devils again on Saturday night. This should be another fun game, and another one that's been getting some notice from hockey pundits in the area. Neither team could care less about draft picks and want to win these games. It makes for some fun late season hockey among two teams that are unlikely to make the playoffs. But hey, we've been wrong before. As Captain2Man pointed out to us on Twitter last night:
you guys haven't been too great in predicting hockey games recently. That makes me happy.It makes us happy too. Lets hope for another win in our own quest for a late season surge, as well as deliver a blow to the Devils hopes.
-CH
March 8, 2011
Comeau Continues Strong Play, Wins it in OT
There was a point in the third period where I started to think that going to overtime on this particular night might not be a bad thing for the Islanders.
Each time the Isles got on the board, it didn't take a lot of time for the Maple Leafs to answer back.
Blake Comeau scored the winner in overtime, ensuring that the Leafs had no way of answering that one. For all their efforts though, they walked away with a point - one that may be much needed in their late season push for a playoff spot.
Zenon Konopka, Frans Nielsen and Michael Grabner scored the other goals for the Isles.
Josh Bailey only registered an assist, but got to wear the hard hat after the game for his effort. He was all over the ice, making some nice plays on both sides of the puck. His passing is getting better and better everyday. I said it in the last post, but it bears repeating - he has looked exponentially better since Rob Schremp has left, and that is no coincidence.
Although Andrew MacDonald has been really solid all season long, I did feel he had a bit of a rough game. Perhaps it was just the infamous Nassau Coliseum ice, but he seemed to have trouble keeping some pucks in at the blueline. It could be nothing, but just something I noticed a couple of times with him in the past few weeks. It's nothing major though, and nothing has come of it yet to be detrimental to the team, bit it's an observation worth pointing out.
Matt Martin has been a beneficiary of the Isles dumping of Schremp as he has moved up to play on a line with Bailey and Comeau. Martin was originally part of a line with Zenon Konopka and Micheal Haley, which was the line I pointed out as being the best when they went on their recent road trip to Toronto and Philadelphia.
Martin got about 17 minutes of ice time, and aside from getting a breakaway (which resulted in a failed penalty shot attempt) and some other nice chances on James Reimer, he had 14 hits. That is an insane amount, sure. But there were numerous occasions where you saw his hits be effective and didn't involve him taking himself out of the play. As a fourth line player, he was still good for about five hits a game, but at times would go out of his way to make those hits. Now, in a scoring role he is getting a chance to be a regular force in front of the net and in the slot area, and finish his checks for more of those solid, honest and hard working type of checks. His skating has improved from what it was at the beginning of the season too.
There were a number of Isles who were denied the chances to find themselves on the score sheet thanks in large part to the posts behind Reimer. The Isles hit the post five times, all within the first 30 minutes of play. That can certainly be frustrating for a team that has generally gotten the puck to bounce their way in the past month or so.
Al Montoya made some nice saves, and as far as making saves with the glove, I felt this was one of his better performances. The rebounds still need some work, and the Leafs were able to capitalize on a couple of chances thanks to fat rebounds Montoya left around the net. That is the one area of his game that is still a work in progress, but everything else is night and day from what we saw in his first two appearances in relief prior to working extensively with goaltending consultant Sudsie Maharaj.
The Isles now have a couple of days to soak this one up before the Bruins come into town on Friday night. The Bruins, who are a very hot team and perhaps the best in the Eastern Conference, will be the focus of many discussions and not because of their outcome in their loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday but because of a nasty hit suffered by Max Pacioretty from Zdeno Chara.
Chara hit Pacioretty rather awkwardly after the puck was already moved up ice. The follow through brought both players up along the boards, where Pacioretty's head hit the stanchion between the two benches. There were 16 seconds left in the period, and the refs had the teams leave the ice and just added the time on for the 3rd. It took that long to stabilize Pacioretty and put him on a stretcher. He was later taken to a hospital, where it was reported that he was awake, alert and moving his extremities. That's all excellent news.
For Chara however, there seem to be differing view points. While I do not think there was any malice in his hit, I also think it's going to be pretty hard to make an argument that a player with that size should be able to ease up and stop just short of finishing a check. Like I said, it seemed to me that the intentions where harmless, but as they went along the boards it was just the wrong place at the wrong time. I see some analysts on Twitter saying they expect a suspension for Chara.
At this time, I'm doubting that he gets one, but if he does it makes the Isles job slightly easier. The Bruins have lost only twice (their last two, actually) since acquiring Tomas Kaberle from the Leafs on February 18. We'll see what news hits the wire tomorrow though as we get closer to game night.
-CH
nyifyi@gmail.com
Click here to download the latest NYI FYI podcast, or here to see the show in video format
Each time the Isles got on the board, it didn't take a lot of time for the Maple Leafs to answer back.
Blake Comeau scored the winner in overtime, ensuring that the Leafs had no way of answering that one. For all their efforts though, they walked away with a point - one that may be much needed in their late season push for a playoff spot.
Zenon Konopka, Frans Nielsen and Michael Grabner scored the other goals for the Isles.
Josh Bailey only registered an assist, but got to wear the hard hat after the game for his effort. He was all over the ice, making some nice plays on both sides of the puck. His passing is getting better and better everyday. I said it in the last post, but it bears repeating - he has looked exponentially better since Rob Schremp has left, and that is no coincidence.
Although Andrew MacDonald has been really solid all season long, I did feel he had a bit of a rough game. Perhaps it was just the infamous Nassau Coliseum ice, but he seemed to have trouble keeping some pucks in at the blueline. It could be nothing, but just something I noticed a couple of times with him in the past few weeks. It's nothing major though, and nothing has come of it yet to be detrimental to the team, bit it's an observation worth pointing out.
Matt Martin has been a beneficiary of the Isles dumping of Schremp as he has moved up to play on a line with Bailey and Comeau. Martin was originally part of a line with Zenon Konopka and Micheal Haley, which was the line I pointed out as being the best when they went on their recent road trip to Toronto and Philadelphia.
Martin got about 17 minutes of ice time, and aside from getting a breakaway (which resulted in a failed penalty shot attempt) and some other nice chances on James Reimer, he had 14 hits. That is an insane amount, sure. But there were numerous occasions where you saw his hits be effective and didn't involve him taking himself out of the play. As a fourth line player, he was still good for about five hits a game, but at times would go out of his way to make those hits. Now, in a scoring role he is getting a chance to be a regular force in front of the net and in the slot area, and finish his checks for more of those solid, honest and hard working type of checks. His skating has improved from what it was at the beginning of the season too.
There were a number of Isles who were denied the chances to find themselves on the score sheet thanks in large part to the posts behind Reimer. The Isles hit the post five times, all within the first 30 minutes of play. That can certainly be frustrating for a team that has generally gotten the puck to bounce their way in the past month or so.
Al Montoya made some nice saves, and as far as making saves with the glove, I felt this was one of his better performances. The rebounds still need some work, and the Leafs were able to capitalize on a couple of chances thanks to fat rebounds Montoya left around the net. That is the one area of his game that is still a work in progress, but everything else is night and day from what we saw in his first two appearances in relief prior to working extensively with goaltending consultant Sudsie Maharaj.
The Isles now have a couple of days to soak this one up before the Bruins come into town on Friday night. The Bruins, who are a very hot team and perhaps the best in the Eastern Conference, will be the focus of many discussions and not because of their outcome in their loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday but because of a nasty hit suffered by Max Pacioretty from Zdeno Chara.
Chara hit Pacioretty rather awkwardly after the puck was already moved up ice. The follow through brought both players up along the boards, where Pacioretty's head hit the stanchion between the two benches. There were 16 seconds left in the period, and the refs had the teams leave the ice and just added the time on for the 3rd. It took that long to stabilize Pacioretty and put him on a stretcher. He was later taken to a hospital, where it was reported that he was awake, alert and moving his extremities. That's all excellent news.
For Chara however, there seem to be differing view points. While I do not think there was any malice in his hit, I also think it's going to be pretty hard to make an argument that a player with that size should be able to ease up and stop just short of finishing a check. Like I said, it seemed to me that the intentions where harmless, but as they went along the boards it was just the wrong place at the wrong time. I see some analysts on Twitter saying they expect a suspension for Chara.
At this time, I'm doubting that he gets one, but if he does it makes the Isles job slightly easier. The Bruins have lost only twice (their last two, actually) since acquiring Tomas Kaberle from the Leafs on February 18. We'll see what news hits the wire tomorrow though as we get closer to game night.
-CH
nyifyi@gmail.com
Click here to download the latest NYI FYI podcast, or here to see the show in video format
March 6, 2011
Brodeur Solid, Halts Isles Streak
For anyone paying attention to what has been going on around the NHL lately, they would have told you that Sunday afternoon's match-up between the Islanders and Devils was actually a game many were looking forward to. While both are fighting for their playoff lives and dreaming of miracle runs, they have actually been two of the hottest teams in the league the past few weeks.
But a funny thing happened on the way to the Isles looking for their 3rd straight win. Martin Brodeur got in the way.
"We know he's a good goalie," Frans Nielsen told me. "You can't think about it too much. You just have to keep shooting and get pucks at him and maybe they'll go in."
Nielsen had several good opportunities on Brodeur, each of which were denied. Nielsen's best chance came not one minute after he took a hard hit into the boards and was slow to get up. Nielsen, who favored his head as he came to his feet, told me after the game he felt fine and was showing no effects of anything wrong.
P.A. Parenteau also had some good chances on Broduer but was stopped as well.
"It's frustrating. Both goalies were awesome tonight, but with Marty he made some saves that made you say 'that's why he's a Hall of Famer' and he's something else to watch. I grew up watching him and he does things that no one else can do."
Parenteau, who was also stopped by Brodeur in the shootout, made some nice plays. His line was the best one for the Isles and they generated some really good chances. Offensively, the Isles wished they could have gotten more going and Parenteau accredited that to the Devils style of play.
"It's Jersey and they play a trap. It's just what they do, what they have been doing for years. You just have to approach it a little differently, and you can't take as many chances. You have to play the same game as them and be patient cause their looking for you to make mistakes."
"For a young group of guys, I thought we played really well and didn't give them much."
I would have to agree there. While the Devils out-shot the Isles by a fairly large margin, many of the shots were handled with ease by Al Montoya. It was the third period where a lot of the better chances came in.
Josh Bailey and Blake Comeau scored the goals for the Isles.
Bailey has been playing well the last couple of weeks, even when not finding his way onto the score sheet. It's no coincidence that once Rob Schremp left for Atlanta that Bailey's play picked up. He no longer has to be moved to different positions, and no longer has that threat of feeling like someone is over his shoulder. When it came to Bailey's struggles, we've talked a countless number of times both in this space and on the radio show about how one of the issues was constantly having his position swapped and playing with different line mates. One thing that you need to get is some consistency with the surroundings, and now that Bailey is getting that, his play has been getting better.
Comeau had been playing well too, and only continued that on Sunday afternoon. As fellow blogger Tony Stabile mentioned to me, "Comeau is playing like a man possessed today."
This was the effort we were hoping to get out of Blake more often than not. The goal was his 18th of the year. Two more gives the Isles four 20 goal scorers, which is certainly something to hang your hat on. Comeau's goal may have been gift wrapped for him, but there were a couple of pucks left out in the slot area by the Devils that the Isles just couldn't get to, but Comeau was great on the fore check here and once the defensemen over skated the puck, he was right there to pick up the puck and fire a wrist shot past Brodeur.
After seeing the game open up as much as it did in the third, it was a shame that this one had to be decided in the skills competition. The shootout ran a bit longer than others we have seen this season, as both Brodeur and Montoya made some nice stops. This was our first look at Montoya in the shootout, and I'd have to say he fared pretty well. Ilya Kovalchuk and Brian Rolston scored for the Devils while Nielsen had the lone goal for the Isles. Ironically, it was both Kovalchuk and Rolston who provided the regulation goals for the Devils. But Montoya did make some nice stops on the likes of Mattias Tedenby and Patrick Elias.
In the end, the Devils got their offense from two of the only guys who seem to be providing any these days, and the same two who have really carried the team over the last couple of weeks. The Isles were killed in the face-off circle thanks to the work of Travis Zajac and trade deadline acquisition Dave Steckel. This played a large part in Brodeur only being tested with 13 shots through 45 minutes of play.
The Isles stay home for the next few days, with their next match on Tuesday against the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Leafs still have hopes for making the playoffs, and are really close. They are no doubt upset with the outcome of this one, and now have their work cut out for them. With a chance to make a statement on Saturday, the Leafs were killed by the suddenly hot Chicago Blackhawks. They will be looking to come out in their next few games with guns-a-blazing.
NEW NYI FYI POSTED: For those who missed it live, we recorded our weekly Sunday show. We discussed a variety of topics, the main one being the lack of activity at the deadline, and what has to happen in the offseason for this team to become successful. We also talked a bit about the Trevor Gillies situation, bringing up some of the fans thoughts and providing our own thoughts on them, for what it's worth (not much, probably). We hope you guys enjoy it!
You can dowload the podcast here, or find the recording of the show on UStream.
-CH
nyifyi@gmail.com
But a funny thing happened on the way to the Isles looking for their 3rd straight win. Martin Brodeur got in the way.
"We know he's a good goalie," Frans Nielsen told me. "You can't think about it too much. You just have to keep shooting and get pucks at him and maybe they'll go in."
Nielsen had several good opportunities on Brodeur, each of which were denied. Nielsen's best chance came not one minute after he took a hard hit into the boards and was slow to get up. Nielsen, who favored his head as he came to his feet, told me after the game he felt fine and was showing no effects of anything wrong.
P.A. Parenteau also had some good chances on Broduer but was stopped as well.
"It's frustrating. Both goalies were awesome tonight, but with Marty he made some saves that made you say 'that's why he's a Hall of Famer' and he's something else to watch. I grew up watching him and he does things that no one else can do."
Parenteau, who was also stopped by Brodeur in the shootout, made some nice plays. His line was the best one for the Isles and they generated some really good chances. Offensively, the Isles wished they could have gotten more going and Parenteau accredited that to the Devils style of play.
"It's Jersey and they play a trap. It's just what they do, what they have been doing for years. You just have to approach it a little differently, and you can't take as many chances. You have to play the same game as them and be patient cause their looking for you to make mistakes."
"For a young group of guys, I thought we played really well and didn't give them much."
I would have to agree there. While the Devils out-shot the Isles by a fairly large margin, many of the shots were handled with ease by Al Montoya. It was the third period where a lot of the better chances came in.
Josh Bailey and Blake Comeau scored the goals for the Isles.
Bailey has been playing well the last couple of weeks, even when not finding his way onto the score sheet. It's no coincidence that once Rob Schremp left for Atlanta that Bailey's play picked up. He no longer has to be moved to different positions, and no longer has that threat of feeling like someone is over his shoulder. When it came to Bailey's struggles, we've talked a countless number of times both in this space and on the radio show about how one of the issues was constantly having his position swapped and playing with different line mates. One thing that you need to get is some consistency with the surroundings, and now that Bailey is getting that, his play has been getting better.
Comeau had been playing well too, and only continued that on Sunday afternoon. As fellow blogger Tony Stabile mentioned to me, "Comeau is playing like a man possessed today."
This was the effort we were hoping to get out of Blake more often than not. The goal was his 18th of the year. Two more gives the Isles four 20 goal scorers, which is certainly something to hang your hat on. Comeau's goal may have been gift wrapped for him, but there were a couple of pucks left out in the slot area by the Devils that the Isles just couldn't get to, but Comeau was great on the fore check here and once the defensemen over skated the puck, he was right there to pick up the puck and fire a wrist shot past Brodeur.
After seeing the game open up as much as it did in the third, it was a shame that this one had to be decided in the skills competition. The shootout ran a bit longer than others we have seen this season, as both Brodeur and Montoya made some nice stops. This was our first look at Montoya in the shootout, and I'd have to say he fared pretty well. Ilya Kovalchuk and Brian Rolston scored for the Devils while Nielsen had the lone goal for the Isles. Ironically, it was both Kovalchuk and Rolston who provided the regulation goals for the Devils. But Montoya did make some nice stops on the likes of Mattias Tedenby and Patrick Elias.
In the end, the Devils got their offense from two of the only guys who seem to be providing any these days, and the same two who have really carried the team over the last couple of weeks. The Isles were killed in the face-off circle thanks to the work of Travis Zajac and trade deadline acquisition Dave Steckel. This played a large part in Brodeur only being tested with 13 shots through 45 minutes of play.
The Isles stay home for the next few days, with their next match on Tuesday against the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Leafs still have hopes for making the playoffs, and are really close. They are no doubt upset with the outcome of this one, and now have their work cut out for them. With a chance to make a statement on Saturday, the Leafs were killed by the suddenly hot Chicago Blackhawks. They will be looking to come out in their next few games with guns-a-blazing.
NEW NYI FYI POSTED: For those who missed it live, we recorded our weekly Sunday show. We discussed a variety of topics, the main one being the lack of activity at the deadline, and what has to happen in the offseason for this team to become successful. We also talked a bit about the Trevor Gillies situation, bringing up some of the fans thoughts and providing our own thoughts on them, for what it's worth (not much, probably). We hope you guys enjoy it!
You can dowload the podcast here, or find the recording of the show on UStream.
-CH
nyifyi@gmail.com
March 3, 2011
Isles 4, Wild 1; Gillies to Have In-person Hearing
The Minnesota Wild are battling for their playoff lives, and their road trip got off to a start that they needed to avoid.
The Islanders had an excellent effort against a fairly good team, especially goaltender Niklas Backstrom who has had the Isles number since he came into the league. Backstrom was chased after giving up three unanswered goals, two to Blake Comeau.
Speaking of Comeau, there must be something with him when playing teams from the West. He now has 10 points in just 16 games when playing teams from the other conference this season. It was a year to the day after Comeau got his hat trick against the Chicago Blackhawks right after the Olympic break last season. He appears to be well on his way to notch 20 goals this year (currently at 17) which would give the Isles their 4th 20 goal scorer on the year.
I thought Frans Nielsen made some really nice plays out there, but he would tell you otherwise. Despite his three assist performance, he didn't seem too happy with his play in the postgame. I thought his play was pretty good, and can't really point to anything specific that would be considered poor. Perhaps Nielsen, one of the better defensive players in the game, has very high standards for himself and is still upset about the game against the Caps, when he was spun around multiple times by quick passing plays and Alex Ovechkin.
Al Montoya, starting after Nathan Lawson got the nod in Washington and played really well, didn't seem to miss a beat. There was no hitch in his play that would lead one to believe he was worried that his job could be on the line. Obviously, the Isles have both goaltenders battling it out for a spot in the NHL, be it here or elsewhere next season. But Montoya had taken over that starting job, and with a 1.93 GAA through his time as an Islander, the job should be his for now. Lawson hasn't been too great more often than not, and doesn't deserve the benefit of the doubt just yet. For now, I see Tuesday's game in Washington as the outlier.
One of the biggest story lines in this game was Trevor Gillies returning to the line-up after missing nine games due to a suspension from the hit against Eric Tangradi in the infamous February 11th game against the Penguins. Tangradi has been sidelined with a concussion since Gillies elbowed him in the head in response to running and hurting Jack Hillen. Tangradi immediately felt the pain, and Gillies still threw some punches as Tangradi fell to the ice.
It took almost two minutes of ice time for Gillies to get in trouble again. Cal Clutterbuck boarded Justin DiBenedetto, and Gillies came in and hit Clutterbuck, causing him to fall and hurt himself in the process.
I have no doubt that Clutterbuck embellished his injury a bit. But regardless of what Clutterbuck, who appeared destined for a five minute major and a game misconduct, had done there was no need for the equally as childish actions from Gillies.
While Clutterbuck never would have accepted a challenge from Gillies, that's what you do in this situation. When he declines, everyone rides him for not fighting his own fights, and then you have guys like Matt Martin and Zenon Konopka let the hits fly fast and furiously on guys like Pierre-Marc Bouchard and Martin Havlat. In that scenario, Clutterbuck gets frowned upon for angering the Isles once again and for not accepting the fight.
Instead, Gillies comes in and takes the "eye for an eye" approach with a cheap-shot. I don't care if it's from the front, back, side - whatever you want it to be - it was still a cheap shot and the wrong way to respond in that situation.
For Gillies, this is the exact same situation as Chris Simon in the sense that their on-ice decision making, when it comes to how to properly enforce a game is way off. Gillies has the right idea, but goes about it in the completely wrong way, especially at a time when the NHL is all of a sudden deciding to take a stand for plays like these.
Gillies has a hearing in Toronto scheduled for Friday, and will undoubtedly be suspended for quite some time. Coming off a lengthy suspension and making a decision as poor as this one won't help him at all. Over the past couple of weeks, Martin has improved his play and guys like Konopka and Haley have enforced the game in good ways, and contributed as passable hockey players on the ice. In the meantime, and I know this may not be too popular with some of you, Gillies is proving to be nothing other than what many have said about him the past few weeks - a goon.
We'll see how hard the NHL comes down on Gillies, and if Clutterbuck gets anything. He was destined to in my opinion, perhaps until his injury. He may actually be concussed, but should still get something for his action too.
-CH
nyifyi@gmail.com
The Islanders had an excellent effort against a fairly good team, especially goaltender Niklas Backstrom who has had the Isles number since he came into the league. Backstrom was chased after giving up three unanswered goals, two to Blake Comeau.
Speaking of Comeau, there must be something with him when playing teams from the West. He now has 10 points in just 16 games when playing teams from the other conference this season. It was a year to the day after Comeau got his hat trick against the Chicago Blackhawks right after the Olympic break last season. He appears to be well on his way to notch 20 goals this year (currently at 17) which would give the Isles their 4th 20 goal scorer on the year.
I thought Frans Nielsen made some really nice plays out there, but he would tell you otherwise. Despite his three assist performance, he didn't seem too happy with his play in the postgame. I thought his play was pretty good, and can't really point to anything specific that would be considered poor. Perhaps Nielsen, one of the better defensive players in the game, has very high standards for himself and is still upset about the game against the Caps, when he was spun around multiple times by quick passing plays and Alex Ovechkin.
Al Montoya, starting after Nathan Lawson got the nod in Washington and played really well, didn't seem to miss a beat. There was no hitch in his play that would lead one to believe he was worried that his job could be on the line. Obviously, the Isles have both goaltenders battling it out for a spot in the NHL, be it here or elsewhere next season. But Montoya had taken over that starting job, and with a 1.93 GAA through his time as an Islander, the job should be his for now. Lawson hasn't been too great more often than not, and doesn't deserve the benefit of the doubt just yet. For now, I see Tuesday's game in Washington as the outlier.
One of the biggest story lines in this game was Trevor Gillies returning to the line-up after missing nine games due to a suspension from the hit against Eric Tangradi in the infamous February 11th game against the Penguins. Tangradi has been sidelined with a concussion since Gillies elbowed him in the head in response to running and hurting Jack Hillen. Tangradi immediately felt the pain, and Gillies still threw some punches as Tangradi fell to the ice.
It took almost two minutes of ice time for Gillies to get in trouble again. Cal Clutterbuck boarded Justin DiBenedetto, and Gillies came in and hit Clutterbuck, causing him to fall and hurt himself in the process.
I have no doubt that Clutterbuck embellished his injury a bit. But regardless of what Clutterbuck, who appeared destined for a five minute major and a game misconduct, had done there was no need for the equally as childish actions from Gillies.
While Clutterbuck never would have accepted a challenge from Gillies, that's what you do in this situation. When he declines, everyone rides him for not fighting his own fights, and then you have guys like Matt Martin and Zenon Konopka let the hits fly fast and furiously on guys like Pierre-Marc Bouchard and Martin Havlat. In that scenario, Clutterbuck gets frowned upon for angering the Isles once again and for not accepting the fight.
Instead, Gillies comes in and takes the "eye for an eye" approach with a cheap-shot. I don't care if it's from the front, back, side - whatever you want it to be - it was still a cheap shot and the wrong way to respond in that situation.
For Gillies, this is the exact same situation as Chris Simon in the sense that their on-ice decision making, when it comes to how to properly enforce a game is way off. Gillies has the right idea, but goes about it in the completely wrong way, especially at a time when the NHL is all of a sudden deciding to take a stand for plays like these.
Gillies has a hearing in Toronto scheduled for Friday, and will undoubtedly be suspended for quite some time. Coming off a lengthy suspension and making a decision as poor as this one won't help him at all. Over the past couple of weeks, Martin has improved his play and guys like Konopka and Haley have enforced the game in good ways, and contributed as passable hockey players on the ice. In the meantime, and I know this may not be too popular with some of you, Gillies is proving to be nothing other than what many have said about him the past few weeks - a goon.
We'll see how hard the NHL comes down on Gillies, and if Clutterbuck gets anything. He was destined to in my opinion, perhaps until his injury. He may actually be concussed, but should still get something for his action too.
-CH
nyifyi@gmail.com
January 13, 2011
Sens 6, Isles 4
It's very difficult for someone to say a team played pretty poorly when they scored four goals, but on a night where the Islanders would give up six to the Ottawa Senators you definitely can - well, for the first two periods anyway.
The Islanders came out very flat, as evidenced by Daniel Alfredsson's goal 32 seconds into the game. That would be the first of a few that the defensive pairing of Andrew MacDonald and Travis Hamonic would let get by them.
It has been a bit of a concern lately to see the entire Isles defensive unit give easy chances to opposing players, letting them virtually waltz into scoring areas. It doesn't help that the team's leading shot blocker in Mark Eaton is out for the year, but with Radek Martinek, Milan Jurcina and MacDonald still around it shouldn't be too much of an issue.
The Islanders essentially didn't show up in the 2nd period, allowing the Senators to score four goals while getting out-shot 17-7. The Islanders would get a goal from Blake Comeau just prior to the Sens going on their scoring run, but the excitement would only last for 20 seconds.
The third period the Islanders seemed to finally find their game - and their game plan. By throwing whatever shots they could at the net, they discovered how vulnerable the shaky Robin Lehner, making his first NHL start, was. The 19-year-old looked overwhelmed at times, and it is disappointing that it took the Isles that long to figure that out. Lehner is a really great prospect though, and much like Kevin Poulin could use some more seasoning in the AHL. It comes as no surprise that the game was that high scoring.
The power-play was an Achilles heel for the Islanders, however. Despite getting many chances on the man advantage, the Islanders could not get any momentum going. They were entering the zone really slowly, dumping along the boards and causally skating to the puck. It allowed the Senator penalty killers to get there quicker and easily clear the puck.
Jack Capuano made what is becoming his usual quick hook of Poulin in the 1st after the second Ottawa goal in favor of Nathan Lawson. Lawson was in the net for the Sens next four goals, and after the 2nd period would be replaced again by Poulin. This move is odd, but there is a recent precedent - former Isles goalie Dwayne Roloson was pulled in his 2nd game with the Lightning against Pittsburgh for Dan Ellis and then later re-entered the game as the Bolts went on to lose 7-1. With a 20-year-old in Poulin, perhaps Capuano was just looking to settle him down a bit and wanted to give him another chance to boost his confidence a bit before his possible trip back down to the AHL. Rick DiPietro is a possibility to start the next game against the Sabres.
All in all, it was a tale of two games for the Isles, with their better effort only coming in the final 20 minutes. That isn't enough to win anything, no matter what team you are. While this Isles team is depleted and young, efforts like this should not be happening this frequently. If you can put out good efforts against teams like Pittsburgh, Detroit and Vancouver, with similar line-ups to the ones iced tonight, why can't you do the same against a team that has been essentially a mirror image of yourselves this season? It really shows how long this team has to go in their progression.
We've hit the point now where games are coming at us fast and furious. As I mentioned, the next game is Satruday night, followed by a Monday matinee against the Devils. The Isles need to find a way to put out some more consistent efforts, especially against an opponent they can beat and one that they should. One thing this team still has to work on is that power-play though. The movement is too slow, and the fact that they are dumping and chasing in a very nonchalant manner isn't going to do any good.
We'll see what they work on in practice on Friday.
One last note - Trevor Gillies scored his first NHL goal in the 1st period. Congrats to the 31-year-old fighter who has travelled to many cities playing professional hockey. At least he can now say he has one, no matter how ugly it was.
-CH
nyifyi@gmail.com
The Islanders came out very flat, as evidenced by Daniel Alfredsson's goal 32 seconds into the game. That would be the first of a few that the defensive pairing of Andrew MacDonald and Travis Hamonic would let get by them.
It has been a bit of a concern lately to see the entire Isles defensive unit give easy chances to opposing players, letting them virtually waltz into scoring areas. It doesn't help that the team's leading shot blocker in Mark Eaton is out for the year, but with Radek Martinek, Milan Jurcina and MacDonald still around it shouldn't be too much of an issue.
The Islanders essentially didn't show up in the 2nd period, allowing the Senators to score four goals while getting out-shot 17-7. The Islanders would get a goal from Blake Comeau just prior to the Sens going on their scoring run, but the excitement would only last for 20 seconds.
The third period the Islanders seemed to finally find their game - and their game plan. By throwing whatever shots they could at the net, they discovered how vulnerable the shaky Robin Lehner, making his first NHL start, was. The 19-year-old looked overwhelmed at times, and it is disappointing that it took the Isles that long to figure that out. Lehner is a really great prospect though, and much like Kevin Poulin could use some more seasoning in the AHL. It comes as no surprise that the game was that high scoring.
The power-play was an Achilles heel for the Islanders, however. Despite getting many chances on the man advantage, the Islanders could not get any momentum going. They were entering the zone really slowly, dumping along the boards and causally skating to the puck. It allowed the Senator penalty killers to get there quicker and easily clear the puck.
Jack Capuano made what is becoming his usual quick hook of Poulin in the 1st after the second Ottawa goal in favor of Nathan Lawson. Lawson was in the net for the Sens next four goals, and after the 2nd period would be replaced again by Poulin. This move is odd, but there is a recent precedent - former Isles goalie Dwayne Roloson was pulled in his 2nd game with the Lightning against Pittsburgh for Dan Ellis and then later re-entered the game as the Bolts went on to lose 7-1. With a 20-year-old in Poulin, perhaps Capuano was just looking to settle him down a bit and wanted to give him another chance to boost his confidence a bit before his possible trip back down to the AHL. Rick DiPietro is a possibility to start the next game against the Sabres.
All in all, it was a tale of two games for the Isles, with their better effort only coming in the final 20 minutes. That isn't enough to win anything, no matter what team you are. While this Isles team is depleted and young, efforts like this should not be happening this frequently. If you can put out good efforts against teams like Pittsburgh, Detroit and Vancouver, with similar line-ups to the ones iced tonight, why can't you do the same against a team that has been essentially a mirror image of yourselves this season? It really shows how long this team has to go in their progression.
We've hit the point now where games are coming at us fast and furious. As I mentioned, the next game is Satruday night, followed by a Monday matinee against the Devils. The Isles need to find a way to put out some more consistent efforts, especially against an opponent they can beat and one that they should. One thing this team still has to work on is that power-play though. The movement is too slow, and the fact that they are dumping and chasing in a very nonchalant manner isn't going to do any good.
We'll see what they work on in practice on Friday.
One last note - Trevor Gillies scored his first NHL goal in the 1st period. Congrats to the 31-year-old fighter who has travelled to many cities playing professional hockey. At least he can now say he has one, no matter how ugly it was.
-CH
nyifyi@gmail.com
January 12, 2011
Isles, Canucks Bring The Offense
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| Tanner Glass wins fight over Matt Martin. Photo by Chris Hessel |
After 65 minutes of play, the game went into a shootout where the Canucks won 2-1, giving them the game at 4-3 overall. While there were only a total of six real goals scored in this one, the amount of chances each team had was unbelievable. The Canucks enjoyed a 51-41 shot advantage for the game. It's even more astounding when you think back to how many blocked shots each team had.
Obviously, there were a number of defensive gaffes on both ends by pretty much everyone on both teams on the blueline. For every player I think of, I can think of a good and bad play they made. But it made for some good entertainment.
Kevin Poulin made some nice saves, and let up a couple of big rebounds that Vancouver was unable to convert on. A couple of the goals, however were not his fault. The Canucks passed the puck multiple times from the corner towards the front of the net, and that resulted in two goals for them. Both times, the defensemen on the ice were unable to get the job done. It is worth nothing that both times, Milan Jurcina was one of those defensemen but aside from that he had a pretty good game and laid some big hits.
The shootout did Poulin in unfortunately, as he was beaten by a spin-o-rama by Mason Raymond and a nice deke move from Ryan Kesler. He did make 48 saves, and play as well as he had to to get the job done but in the end the Canucks would walk away with the two points - which puts then 29 points ahead of the Isles, for those of you who are counting.
Blake Comeau has continued his hot play, scoring a goal and registering an assist. Lately he has been scoring by using his slap shot which has been powerful and pretty accurate. I have been getting upset with him lately when he was on a rush and trying to pass the puck off to Jon Sim. It's good to see him taking the initiative now.
John Tavares also kept up his hot streak, scoring a goal on a one-timer after a nice pass from Rob Schremp. He now has 15 goals for the year.
The Islanders should be happy they at least picked up a point in this game. More importantly, they were able to run all game with a team that is very talented and very fast. The Canucks didn't play at the top of their game, but they did have more nice chances than the Isles did and either squandered them or ran into the hot Poulin. All in all, it was a good performance.
The Islanders take on the struggling Senators on Thursday. The Sens are coming off of a 6-0 loss to the Boston Bruins. It was the sixth time this season they have lost by a shut-out. Needless to say, they will be coming into this one pretty annoyed.
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| Rakhshani after being concussed. Photo by Chris Hessel |
We don't know the status of Rakhshani yet, but I'm sure we'll hear some updates in the coming days.
Okposo Practices: Kyle Okposo practiced with the team on Wednesday, wearing an orange practice jersey along with Frans Nielsen. Okposo still seems like he's still a ways from returning to the line-up, but it's a great sign if he can start practicing with the team more often than not in the coming weeks.
Speaking of injuries, Garth Snow expects Rick DiPietro to return either Thursday or Saturday.
-CH
nyifyi@gmail.com
January 9, 2011
Isles 4, Avs 3 (OT); Tune in to NYI FYI on Sunday!
As I had originally thought, the Islanders indeed decided to go with Kevin Poulin after his strong NHL debut in relief of Nathan Lawson on Thursday night. Unfortunately for Poulin, this one didn't start off as smoothly. In the end though, Poulin would end up with his 1st NHL win.
Within the first three minutes, the Avs had a 2-0 lead on the Isles. But they seemed to regain composure, and Poulin started making some nice saves. Jeremy Colliton, playing with the Isles for the first time since leaving North America last season to go to Sweden, got the Isles first goal on the power-play putting in a rebound left by Craig Anderson. Later in the 1st, Colliton would score again, being left alone in front of the net, and scoring on one heck of a wrist shot. The former 2003 2nd round pick of the Isles looked good and for this game and finally showed glimpses of why he was so highly regarded a number of years back. Colliton is just 25 years old, and it was nice to see him contribute. The odds are against him, but perhaps his dream can still come true of contributing to an NHL line-up.
Like I mentioned, Poulin made several key stops after settling down from the slow start, but the Avs really pressed in the 3rd. They finally broke through with only seconds remaining, setting the stage for John Tavares to make a nice cut towards the net for the game winner in overtime.
Blake Comeau was also a standout to m in this game. His goal came off of that awesome shot that he is known to have from time to time - and I really wish he would use it more. Lately we are seeing the Comeau we were all hoping to see at the beginning of the year. There were a couple of plays he made that stand out because of how he hustled. He laid a hit on an Avs player after he was beaten to the puck, but Comeau really went full speed to the area and even though he just missed winning the puck in that battle, he slammed the player into the boards by the benches. It's things like that that make me smile and say that's how he's supposed to play. Now if only he could find a way to put in that kind of effort every night and not only when he wants to.
As a side note in this game, of course, Rick DiPietro was sent back to New York on Friday night to "rest and get treatment" on that tweaked groin of his. For many this raises red flags. Unlike Sean, I have been very optimistic about anything DiPietro since his quick stint on the IR three weeks ago. Generally, this situation doesn't earn the benefit of the doubt but I am once again giving it to them. He wasn't going to play in either of these weekend games supposedly, so sure - send him back to prepare and not risk further injury. I don't think he's serious right now but could possibly be very close to being hurt bad once again, so better to let him take the entire weekend off and go from there. We'll see. hopefully we can ride with the "Poulin Wall" (thanks for the nickname, Chris Botta!) for a little bit to buy some time.
NYI FYI Sunday at 11 AM: Sean and I will be on live at 11 AM for the next installment of the NYI FYI show. You can watch us do the show through UStream where we will have a chat room up and running, as well as AIM. We'll give you the SN when we're on. For those who can't watch the live show, you can watch the recording on that UStream site or as you have been able to in the past, just check out the podcast site. We hope you guys enjoy and for those of you joining us live, come prepared with your thoughts and questions!
-CH
nyifyi@gmail.com
Within the first three minutes, the Avs had a 2-0 lead on the Isles. But they seemed to regain composure, and Poulin started making some nice saves. Jeremy Colliton, playing with the Isles for the first time since leaving North America last season to go to Sweden, got the Isles first goal on the power-play putting in a rebound left by Craig Anderson. Later in the 1st, Colliton would score again, being left alone in front of the net, and scoring on one heck of a wrist shot. The former 2003 2nd round pick of the Isles looked good and for this game and finally showed glimpses of why he was so highly regarded a number of years back. Colliton is just 25 years old, and it was nice to see him contribute. The odds are against him, but perhaps his dream can still come true of contributing to an NHL line-up.
Like I mentioned, Poulin made several key stops after settling down from the slow start, but the Avs really pressed in the 3rd. They finally broke through with only seconds remaining, setting the stage for John Tavares to make a nice cut towards the net for the game winner in overtime.
Blake Comeau was also a standout to m in this game. His goal came off of that awesome shot that he is known to have from time to time - and I really wish he would use it more. Lately we are seeing the Comeau we were all hoping to see at the beginning of the year. There were a couple of plays he made that stand out because of how he hustled. He laid a hit on an Avs player after he was beaten to the puck, but Comeau really went full speed to the area and even though he just missed winning the puck in that battle, he slammed the player into the boards by the benches. It's things like that that make me smile and say that's how he's supposed to play. Now if only he could find a way to put in that kind of effort every night and not only when he wants to.
As a side note in this game, of course, Rick DiPietro was sent back to New York on Friday night to "rest and get treatment" on that tweaked groin of his. For many this raises red flags. Unlike Sean, I have been very optimistic about anything DiPietro since his quick stint on the IR three weeks ago. Generally, this situation doesn't earn the benefit of the doubt but I am once again giving it to them. He wasn't going to play in either of these weekend games supposedly, so sure - send him back to prepare and not risk further injury. I don't think he's serious right now but could possibly be very close to being hurt bad once again, so better to let him take the entire weekend off and go from there. We'll see. hopefully we can ride with the "Poulin Wall" (thanks for the nickname, Chris Botta!) for a little bit to buy some time.
NYI FYI Sunday at 11 AM: Sean and I will be on live at 11 AM for the next installment of the NYI FYI show. You can watch us do the show through UStream where we will have a chat room up and running, as well as AIM. We'll give you the SN when we're on. For those who can't watch the live show, you can watch the recording on that UStream site or as you have been able to in the past, just check out the podcast site. We hope you guys enjoy and for those of you joining us live, come prepared with your thoughts and questions!
-CH
nyifyi@gmail.com
December 27, 2010
Isles Win 3rd Straight During Blizzard
The Islanders tried to have Sunday night's game against the Montreal Canadiens postponed, but Colin Campbell and Gary Bettman denied the request. Their reasoning was that the NHL has a rule that if the two teams are in the city where the game is being played, then the game can proceed as planned.
Quite frankly, that is a really stupid rule and on a night where the NFL cancelled their Sunday night game in Philadelphia, the league came off looking rather foolish between the games on Long Island and in New Jersey.
The NY Post's Larry Brooks voiced his displeasure on Twitter, and I agree with him here. There really was no point to have these games, but the NHL went ahead with them anyway. As a result, 3,136 came out to see the Islanders win in convincing fashion over the Canadiens by a score of 4-1. Those who had tickets to the game, even if they showed up, are given the opportunity to exchange them for another game of their choosing. That's a excellent move on the Islanders part, and the decision was made a lot quicker than last years. Good stuff from the organization right there.
I shouldn't say that they won in convincing fashion because of how they were outplayed in the 2nd period. But, the effort in the 1st and 3rd periods were similar to that of the ones against Tampa and New Jersey, which is what we said on the podcast they needed to have. Montreal had some power-play opportunities, which obviously helped the shot total in their favor but the Islanders had a major power-play in the 3rd, which later became a 5-on-3. The Islanders were able to use that to their advantage and grew their lead to 4-0.
The story of the game was Dwayne Roloson once again. He made 38 saves, and was incredibly quick and so sound positionally. When the Canadiens out shot the Isles 16-7 in that 2nd period, Roloson stopped every one. Even though the Islanders effort was pretty solid, when they had a couple of lulls throughout Roloson let them know loud and clear that he had their backs. In 10 of his 18 starts this season, Roli has given up two goals or less. He has now won his last three starts, giving up one goal in each of those games.
Michael Grabner had a really nice game of his own. His rush on the Islanders 2nd goal tells you why he is here. I can't even remember the last time we saw a player who could go that fast from a standstill, but he used his speed to create a breakaway that looked unlikely and made some excellent moves to fake out Carey Price and give the Isles the 2-0 lead. We've seen some great stuff out of Grabner this year and hopefully he can keep it up.
Speaking of the good stuff, Blake Comeau has been showing us some as well. He has quietly been racking up some points in the month of December, mostly due to his pairing up with the red hot Rob Schremp. The two of them have found some chemistry this month and it was Schremp with a very nice pass to Comeau to open the scoring for the Isles. They need to keep that up, and there's no reason to think they won't. Their efforts have been unbelievable lately, and Schremp wore the hard hat after the game. A huge part of this is trying to out-work your opponent to get chances, and both are doing so lately.
If there was one thing I didn't understand it was using the line of Matt Martin, Zenon Konopka and Jon Sim on the power-play a few times during the game. I wouldn't have cared too much in the dying seconds of the game if Jack Capuano hadn't already put them out there a few times earlier. I know he mentioned a couple of weeks ago that if they continued to struggle with the man advantage he would consider putting a whole new unit of five out there, but that's not what many people had in mind. How about putting someone like Grabner there? The fact that he hasn't already is really a sin.
But in the end, the Islanders scored twice on eight chances on the power-play and won their 4th of their last five games. They go right back at it Monday night against the Rangers. No word yet on who will be starting in net, but I would imagine that news will come down within the next couple of hours.
If you haven't already done so, please be sure to check out our latest podcast here.
-CH
nyifyi@gmail.com
Quite frankly, that is a really stupid rule and on a night where the NFL cancelled their Sunday night game in Philadelphia, the league came off looking rather foolish between the games on Long Island and in New Jersey.
The NY Post's Larry Brooks voiced his displeasure on Twitter, and I agree with him here. There really was no point to have these games, but the NHL went ahead with them anyway. As a result, 3,136 came out to see the Islanders win in convincing fashion over the Canadiens by a score of 4-1. Those who had tickets to the game, even if they showed up, are given the opportunity to exchange them for another game of their choosing. That's a excellent move on the Islanders part, and the decision was made a lot quicker than last years. Good stuff from the organization right there.
I shouldn't say that they won in convincing fashion because of how they were outplayed in the 2nd period. But, the effort in the 1st and 3rd periods were similar to that of the ones against Tampa and New Jersey, which is what we said on the podcast they needed to have. Montreal had some power-play opportunities, which obviously helped the shot total in their favor but the Islanders had a major power-play in the 3rd, which later became a 5-on-3. The Islanders were able to use that to their advantage and grew their lead to 4-0.
The story of the game was Dwayne Roloson once again. He made 38 saves, and was incredibly quick and so sound positionally. When the Canadiens out shot the Isles 16-7 in that 2nd period, Roloson stopped every one. Even though the Islanders effort was pretty solid, when they had a couple of lulls throughout Roloson let them know loud and clear that he had their backs. In 10 of his 18 starts this season, Roli has given up two goals or less. He has now won his last three starts, giving up one goal in each of those games.
Michael Grabner had a really nice game of his own. His rush on the Islanders 2nd goal tells you why he is here. I can't even remember the last time we saw a player who could go that fast from a standstill, but he used his speed to create a breakaway that looked unlikely and made some excellent moves to fake out Carey Price and give the Isles the 2-0 lead. We've seen some great stuff out of Grabner this year and hopefully he can keep it up.
Speaking of the good stuff, Blake Comeau has been showing us some as well. He has quietly been racking up some points in the month of December, mostly due to his pairing up with the red hot Rob Schremp. The two of them have found some chemistry this month and it was Schremp with a very nice pass to Comeau to open the scoring for the Isles. They need to keep that up, and there's no reason to think they won't. Their efforts have been unbelievable lately, and Schremp wore the hard hat after the game. A huge part of this is trying to out-work your opponent to get chances, and both are doing so lately.
If there was one thing I didn't understand it was using the line of Matt Martin, Zenon Konopka and Jon Sim on the power-play a few times during the game. I wouldn't have cared too much in the dying seconds of the game if Jack Capuano hadn't already put them out there a few times earlier. I know he mentioned a couple of weeks ago that if they continued to struggle with the man advantage he would consider putting a whole new unit of five out there, but that's not what many people had in mind. How about putting someone like Grabner there? The fact that he hasn't already is really a sin.
But in the end, the Islanders scored twice on eight chances on the power-play and won their 4th of their last five games. They go right back at it Monday night against the Rangers. No word yet on who will be starting in net, but I would imagine that news will come down within the next couple of hours.
If you haven't already done so, please be sure to check out our latest podcast here.
-CH
nyifyi@gmail.com
December 26, 2010
Isles Look for 3rd Straight on Snowy Sunday; Podcast Posted
The Islanders take on the Canadiens tonight at 7 PM on a very snowy day on Long Island.
The ironic aspect of this game is that just last season, Long Island was hit with it's biggest snowstorm in years on a December day when they played the Canadiens. I attended the game, being the nut that I am.
Many fans chose to stay home for that one, and I don't see where the situation would be any different here.
For those of you who are heading out, please be careful and use your best judgement. While it doesn't seem to be awful right now, take into account that that most likely will not be the case a few hours from now.
We hope that you all enjoyed your Christmas, for those of you who celebrate it, or Boxing Day for those of you who are up North. To everyone else, well, we hope you're enjoying the holiday season. We have been, which is why we sort of disappeared the last couple of days.
Since I last wrote, the Islanders had an excellent effort in which they defeated the Devils 5-1. Josh Bailey, who could have easily walked away with two goals in the Tampa game, made up for those missed opportunities on Thursday. His steal and fake of Martin Brodeur on the first Isles goal was an awesome play all around, and the sign of a much more confident 21 year old. He'll need to continue that this week against tough opponents in Montreal, the Rangers, the Penguins and the Red Wings.
Prior to that game I had said the Islanders needed the same exact effort as they had for half of that Tampa game. They did exactly that, and walked away with two points in a rather convincing fashion.
Despite the Devils, and more shockingly Brodeur's struggles, that was a good win for the Islanders. Young players like Bailey and John Tavares were excellent and noticeable and confident. Tavares has been putting together some nice games, and now he has goals in two straight games. Blake Comeau is keeping up his decent play as of late as well and added a goal of his own against the Devils.
Meanwhile, the Islanders prepare to face a team that they haven't fared well against in recent history. Rick DiPietro is now off the IR, but it is Dwayne Roloson with the start - as it should be right now. Matt Martin will also be returning after serving his two game suspension.
Sean and I got together early this morning to record a podcast before the snow started. You can download and listen to the podcast here.
We covered a wide variety of topics, and were sure to give plenty of time to the Nelson Peltz rumors and our thoughts on Charles Wang and Garth Snow on Gary Bettman's show on XM's NHL Hour.
We'll have more later after the game.
-CH
nyifyi@gmail.com
The ironic aspect of this game is that just last season, Long Island was hit with it's biggest snowstorm in years on a December day when they played the Canadiens. I attended the game, being the nut that I am.
Many fans chose to stay home for that one, and I don't see where the situation would be any different here.
For those of you who are heading out, please be careful and use your best judgement. While it doesn't seem to be awful right now, take into account that that most likely will not be the case a few hours from now.
We hope that you all enjoyed your Christmas, for those of you who celebrate it, or Boxing Day for those of you who are up North. To everyone else, well, we hope you're enjoying the holiday season. We have been, which is why we sort of disappeared the last couple of days.
Since I last wrote, the Islanders had an excellent effort in which they defeated the Devils 5-1. Josh Bailey, who could have easily walked away with two goals in the Tampa game, made up for those missed opportunities on Thursday. His steal and fake of Martin Brodeur on the first Isles goal was an awesome play all around, and the sign of a much more confident 21 year old. He'll need to continue that this week against tough opponents in Montreal, the Rangers, the Penguins and the Red Wings.
Prior to that game I had said the Islanders needed the same exact effort as they had for half of that Tampa game. They did exactly that, and walked away with two points in a rather convincing fashion.
Despite the Devils, and more shockingly Brodeur's struggles, that was a good win for the Islanders. Young players like Bailey and John Tavares were excellent and noticeable and confident. Tavares has been putting together some nice games, and now he has goals in two straight games. Blake Comeau is keeping up his decent play as of late as well and added a goal of his own against the Devils.
Meanwhile, the Islanders prepare to face a team that they haven't fared well against in recent history. Rick DiPietro is now off the IR, but it is Dwayne Roloson with the start - as it should be right now. Matt Martin will also be returning after serving his two game suspension.
Sean and I got together early this morning to record a podcast before the snow started. You can download and listen to the podcast here.
We covered a wide variety of topics, and were sure to give plenty of time to the Nelson Peltz rumors and our thoughts on Charles Wang and Garth Snow on Gary Bettman's show on XM's NHL Hour.
We'll have more later after the game.
-CH
nyifyi@gmail.com
December 17, 2010
Isles Defeat Ducks to Snap 6 Game Losing Streak
Prior to the game against the Ducks, the Islanders received some good news as they learned that both Radek Martinek and Milan Jurcina would be returning from injury for the game. Jurcina had been out since October 29th with the injured hamstring, while Martinek had missed the last couple of games after taking that Zdeno Chara slap shot off of his left wrist last week.
Jurcina only played just over 13 minutes in this one, but he did block two shots and throw four hits. I thought he played well given the fact that he was coming off of a major injury. It certainly was nice to have him back. Martinek, meanwhile, was his typical self - a very stead presence on defense. He also once again jumped in on the offense a couple of times, something that he has been doing more of lately. He's a very good skater and has a heck of a slap shot so if he gets more power-play time he could be deadly.
The real star of the defense for this one was Andrew MacDonald. Those of you who watched the telecast heard Howie Rose and Butch Goring rave about him constantly, while those of you who attended saw that he was selected as the game's 2nd star. He blocked eight shots last night and threw a couple of hits. Those of you who have been checking in with us regularly may have seen a trend coming from recent posts where we have a daily mention of MacDonald's play and this is exactly why. He's been absolutely amazing, and it's great to see that he has not regressed from what he was last year, but rather improved exponentially. This is why he is wearing an 'A' on his sweater.
Rick DiPietro, the games 1st star, played well. Sure, there were some things I didn't like but for the most part he stayed in his net. He fell a couple of times, and flopped around but at the very least he did it in the crease. He didn't have to make any spectacular saves, but there were enough chances where he had to work for his 30 saves. Good game from him after a couple of off ones.
The Islanders got three goals in 1:39 after not scoring in the previous 77 minutes, all in the 1st period. P.A. Parenteau and Blake Comeau scored two of them, continuing their recent trend of getting on the score sheet. I still don't agree with Parenteau getting 1st line minutes, but we won't go into that for now. They had good games.
One thing that is still alarming, win aside, is that when the Ducks got their first goal from Joffrey Lupul, Rose pointed out that we had to beware of the tide turning. That is exactly what happened from that point on. The Ducks continued to to press, and even though they were down by two they came out of the 2nd intermission fired up and it showed. The way they controlled the puck for the first few minutes of the 3rd looked like an Anaheim power-play, and the game the Islanders were playing earlier on was getting away from them. The Isles went into a collapsing defense mode, and quite often all five Isles players were stationed right in front of DiPietro, which is a bad position to be in when you are facing so many skilled players who can find holes and are deadly from the slot area.
It was showing signs of a team, and even a coach as one follower in Twitter pointed out, that are scared of losing and slightly inexperienced. It's not a great way to handle the adversity. But at the very least, they held on for the win and DiPietro made some key saves in the 3rd.
The Isles prevented themselves from going to an all-time organizational record of .500 for the first time in 33 years, as statistician Eric Hornick pointed out to us.
On a personal note, I wanted to give a shout out to all of those who following along with us. Last night on Twitter we hit the 200 follower mark, and it's something we're very appreciative of. We hope that you all continue to spread the word.
The Isles take on the Coyotes next, and I'll be in the press box for that one.
I may have some additional comments to post in this space, so be sure to check back.
Jurcina only played just over 13 minutes in this one, but he did block two shots and throw four hits. I thought he played well given the fact that he was coming off of a major injury. It certainly was nice to have him back. Martinek, meanwhile, was his typical self - a very stead presence on defense. He also once again jumped in on the offense a couple of times, something that he has been doing more of lately. He's a very good skater and has a heck of a slap shot so if he gets more power-play time he could be deadly.
The real star of the defense for this one was Andrew MacDonald. Those of you who watched the telecast heard Howie Rose and Butch Goring rave about him constantly, while those of you who attended saw that he was selected as the game's 2nd star. He blocked eight shots last night and threw a couple of hits. Those of you who have been checking in with us regularly may have seen a trend coming from recent posts where we have a daily mention of MacDonald's play and this is exactly why. He's been absolutely amazing, and it's great to see that he has not regressed from what he was last year, but rather improved exponentially. This is why he is wearing an 'A' on his sweater.
Rick DiPietro, the games 1st star, played well. Sure, there were some things I didn't like but for the most part he stayed in his net. He fell a couple of times, and flopped around but at the very least he did it in the crease. He didn't have to make any spectacular saves, but there were enough chances where he had to work for his 30 saves. Good game from him after a couple of off ones.
The Islanders got three goals in 1:39 after not scoring in the previous 77 minutes, all in the 1st period. P.A. Parenteau and Blake Comeau scored two of them, continuing their recent trend of getting on the score sheet. I still don't agree with Parenteau getting 1st line minutes, but we won't go into that for now. They had good games.
One thing that is still alarming, win aside, is that when the Ducks got their first goal from Joffrey Lupul, Rose pointed out that we had to beware of the tide turning. That is exactly what happened from that point on. The Ducks continued to to press, and even though they were down by two they came out of the 2nd intermission fired up and it showed. The way they controlled the puck for the first few minutes of the 3rd looked like an Anaheim power-play, and the game the Islanders were playing earlier on was getting away from them. The Isles went into a collapsing defense mode, and quite often all five Isles players were stationed right in front of DiPietro, which is a bad position to be in when you are facing so many skilled players who can find holes and are deadly from the slot area.
It was showing signs of a team, and even a coach as one follower in Twitter pointed out, that are scared of losing and slightly inexperienced. It's not a great way to handle the adversity. But at the very least, they held on for the win and DiPietro made some key saves in the 3rd.
The Isles prevented themselves from going to an all-time organizational record of .500 for the first time in 33 years, as statistician Eric Hornick pointed out to us.
On a personal note, I wanted to give a shout out to all of those who following along with us. Last night on Twitter we hit the 200 follower mark, and it's something we're very appreciative of. We hope that you all continue to spread the word.
The Isles take on the Coyotes next, and I'll be in the press box for that one.
I may have some additional comments to post in this space, so be sure to check back.
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