Isles fall in Game 2, Return Home with Split

The Islanders might want to consider investing in different stick technology for next season, because it seems like they are breaking at the most crucial times this year.

Although the Isles fell 4-3 in Game 2 of their first round match-up with the Washington Capitals, they get to come home with a 1-1 series split and will try and prove that they have taken home ice away from the Caps.

Halak breaks season win record in 2-1 victory over Flames

It was a big night on Friday for the Islanders and Jaroslav Halak as he set the franchise record for wins in a season, notching his 33rd. The Islanders defeated the Flames 2-1 and got two big points that they needed with the Rangers bearing down on and essentially having leapfrogged the Islanders, as they have three games in hand and are only two points behind.

Rangers end Isles Four Game Streak, Brings Weakness to Light

Many people want the Islanders and Rangers to meet in the playoffs. I am not one of those people, unless it is in one of the later rounds. The game between them on Monday night, although it provided some great entertainment showed much of the reason why this is a match-up that could be dangerous for the Isles regardless of what the regular season shows.

Isles defeat Flyers 7-4, Lead Metro at All-Star Break

If the Islanders were looking to have something resonate with the league during the All-Star break then they were successful thanks to their 7-4 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Monday afternoon. The win guarantees that the Isles will sit atop the division for the next week until play resumes after next weekend's festivities.

Isles end Three Game Skid, Hawks Streak

And now, everyone breathe.

After dropping their previous three games including blowing two 3-0 leads, the Islanders completed a thrilling come from behind 3-2 win against the streaking Chicago Blackhawks, restoring some of the good vibes around the team after some fans began to worry and wonder about about a team that still had plenty of room to play with.

Isles kick-off Exhibition Schedule with Sweep of Sens

The Isles kicked off their preseason schedule with a sweep of the Ottawa Senators, defeating them 3-2 in a split squad double header on Monday.

Isles Rally from Three Goal Deficit to Stun Wild 5-4

Given the fact that the Islanders were playing the Minnesota Wild, you just knew that Nino Niederreiter would do his best to make his presence felt. It seemed predictable, and I even indicated as much on the radio show on Sunday morning. While he didn't live up to my pregame prediction of two goals, he had a goal and an assist as he looked to pace the Wild against his former, struggling team and when he gave the Wild the 3-0 lead many - including myself - thought that was all they needed.

Isles drop Fifth Straight in 5-0 Blowout by Wings

There couldn't have been a worse time for the Isles to come out and have one of their poorer efforts of recent memory.

There were very few moments and bright spots for the Isles. Aside from a couple of good rushes there wasn't much substance to this game. There were a lot of the same issues we've been harping on. Turnovers continue to be a problem, and once again was an issue for Andrew MacDonald.

Isles Return Home, End Skid with 3-1 Win Over Nashville

The New York Islanders put forth one of their better efforts of the season, defeating the Nashville Predators 3-1 and finally ended an extended losing skid in their return home.

The thing that stands out the most in this game was the consistent effort particularly on the forecheck. The Isles did a great job of pressuring the defensemen and forcing turnovers which they were able to turn into scoring chances at the other end.

Isles Lose Game to Blue Jackets, Vanek to Injury

Things could not be going any worse for the New York Islanders lately. By 10 PM on Saturday, the Islanders had suffered yet another lopsided loss, this time to the struggling Columbus Blue Jackets and lost new winger Thomas Vanek to an "upper body" injury after just one shift.

Not to mention Evgeni Nabokov kept up his alarming trend of giving up many goals on few shots. The Blue Jackets had trouble getting pucks towards the net for the first half of the game - they only had six by that point - but had two goals to show for it.

Isles Shutout in Carolina

Every team is going to have games where the opposing goaltender makes some fantastic saves and they'll have trouble getting a puck past them all night. Unfortunately, that night came for the Isles at an inopportune time.

Vanek, Poulin Star to Give Isles Win vs. Bruins, Four Point Weekend

For the first time in what certainly seems like quite some time, the Islanders finally got all four points available on a back-to-back, and even won a game at home against a good team to do so. The Islanders snapped their funk at home and defeated the Bruins 3-1.

Sabres Earn First Victory on more Blown Leads by Isles

While it's certainly not time to panic yet with so many games left to play, the fact that the Islanders are having trouble playing against teams that (on the surface) they are better than does bring a cause for concern.

When I look at the way the last two games against the Nashville Predators and Buffalo Sabres have gone, I'm disappointed in the way this team has played. It's still the same problems we've seen recently.

Isles Drop Both Ends of Split Squad to Flames

The Islanders got their first preseason games under their belts, playing a pair of games against the Calgary Flames in split squad matches.

Naturally it's tough to gauge anything in the early preseason games as it's more of a tune-up. In general vets don't want to get hurt, and that's the best strategy of them all.

Gillies Suspended 10 Games; Blues at Isles

The NHL came down hard on Trevor Gillies on Friday when they announced that they suspended him for 10 games for his hit on Cal Clutterbuck of the Minnesota Wild.

I was very adamant about how I felt about what happened in the post game write-up. I still stand by those and have no problem with this suspension.

Gillies didn't hit Clutterbuck hard. Thankfully, DiBenedetto wasn't hurt from Clutterbuck's hit, either. But the fact of the matter is that it was a pretty senseless thing for Gillies to do coming fresh off of that nine game suspension. Again, the proper way to handle this situation is challenge Clutterbuck to a fight. When he declines (which generally does happen) then you let Matt Martin and Zenon Konopka take care of hitting anything that moves. A few hits to the likes of Martin Havlat and Pierre-Marc Bouchard takes care of everything and forces the entire Wild team to have to answer the bell for Clutterbuck's hit.

I know people point to the NHL's inconsistency in handing out these suspensions, and that is still the case here. We can argue all day if either of Gillies suspensions fit the crimes. While I support a lot of what happened in that Pittsburgh game, what Gillies did to Tangradi wasn't cool, hit or no hit on Jack Hillen. Continuing to pummel an injured player is terrible no matter how you slice it. That's why they came down as hard as they did on him, or so they thought.
For Gillies to come out after that suspension, and hit Clutterbuck up high - it doesn't matter from the side, from the rear, whatever - is mindless. I'm not sure what was going on in his head. But the reason this suspension is so lengthy is due to what he was just coming off of, not two minutes (of ice time) into that first game back.

The suspension most likely gives Gilles seven (potential) games left of his NHL career.

ISLES TAKE ON BLUES: The Islanders take on my favorite team from the West as the St. Louis Blues come to town. The Blues are a team that has had a rather up and down season, and they made their feelings known on the teams collapse after their hot start with their trade of Erik Johnson and Jay McClement to the Colorado Avalanche for Kevin Shattenkirk and Chris Stewart.

Stewart has been on fire for the Blues, and is the type of player we can hope Kyle Okposo turns in to. While they were drafted far apart in the first round from each other, both were first round picks in the 2006 draft. Stewart hasn't been held back by injuries though and has put together two straight solid seasons as a power forward. He is the guy the Isles have to key in on.

The Blues have some other solid players who are having good season's, like Andy McDonald. He's the guy setting up the likes of Stewart or David Backes.

Ben Bishop starts in goal for the Blues. Bishop has been up and down between the NHL and the AHL's Peoria Blues, but has had some solid games recently when Jaroslav Halak was hurt. Bishop's play led to the waiving of Ty Conklin.
Micheal Haley gets back into the line-up after missing time with a knee injury. He takes Gillies spot in the line-up. Al Montoya gets another start coming off that stellar performance against the Wild. If he puts in another one like that, it's going to be really hard to not start him Sunday against the Devils, no matter what Nathan Lawson did in Washington.
All in all, a pretty good match-up for a Saturday afternoon. Two teams that play similar styles that actually match up quite well with each other. It should be a fun one.
-CH

nyifyi@gmail.com

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