Islander vs Leafs Recap, Howie Rose and Ryan Miller

The guy in the above pic looks like an absolute fool. He is also the guy who scored a hat trick in the Coliseum, Nazem Kadri. The Islanders have yet to win a game this year when Tavares is held scoreless but cannot expect to win when this guy nets 3. On his second goal he had I cannot give him any credit as Nabby turned to swiss cheese and failed to catch a floppy wrist shot in the 2nd period. Kadri acknowledged that the goal was pure luck on the 2nd period intermission interview.

One thing I am happy to say is that I was wrong. I really thought Okposo needed to sit a game in display of his recent play, but tonight was his best game in a while. The game started with him showcasing a nasty stick handling move setting up Josh Baileys goal. He also assisted on Amacs goal which brought them within 1 in the 3rd period. Then it happened, Okposo blocked a shot, he got control of the puck, he was being heavily pressured but got the shot off and BAM, GOAL!!! That one tied the game, the Islanders had a few chances in the final minutes only to lose the game in OT. A 2-8-1 home record is better than 2-9 I guess... 3-8 would of been supreme tho.

On a side note, Howie Rose wrote a book. I have no idea why, I guess he had some downtime during the lockout. I will be keeping an eye out for an autograph signing and will be sure to let you know about it. From what I heard is that its about the NY Mets, who Howie does the Mets games on the radio for. This guy has the best job in sports, its actually like my life in going from the Islanders to the Mets every year, maybe he will get involved with the NY Jets. Damn, I think I might be the next Howie Rose!!!


I also gotta give props to the #1 goalie in the world, Ryan Miller with the Buffalo Sabres who stood on his head for 65 plus minutes and helped the Sabres to a 4-3 shootout win. Miller had 40 saves in the game.

Hockey hangover, Bruins 4 Isles 1

The Islanders ran into a wall last night, the Great Wall of Tuuuu that is. They registered 37 shots with Cizikas scoring the lone goal assisted by Bailey who made a nice move to get the puck to the net and Amac with the secondary assist. After the first period the score was tied at 1 and I thought we had a good chance even tho Nabby should of stopped the first Bruins goal.

The 2nd period started with the PA announcer announcing that it was Marty Reasoners birthday, the crowd erupted into boos and bam it was 2-1 Bruins. I thought this was a great time for Matt Martin to try and pick a fight with someone to try to build some momentum and get the crowd back into it but that didnt happen and the score was soon 3-1 with a nice one timer goal for Krecji.

That was pretty much it for the game, the happiest I saw the crowd was at the start of the 3rd period the ice girls came out and shot those stupid t-shirts into the crowd, what joy being an Islanders fan, whohoo a t-shirt!

I left the game pretty disappointed but more annoyed at the Bostonians who were screaming Go Bruins in the vestibule, I couldn't help but to chuck a power bar that was being given out to fans right at one of them in the back of the head. Take that Boston!

After the game Cappy said he was happy to see a surge in the offense, I agree with him, Rask just played outta his head last night. Capuano also spoke about how he remains confident about a playoff berth considering no team is really running away with things, most teams are at about 8 or 9 wins going for the final playoff spot. Having a 2-8 home record doesn't help things at all whatsoever. Next game is Thursday vs the Leafs, I really think it's time to sit Okposo, I love the guy but he just seems out if it.

Islanders vs Bruins on NBCSN

It is now official, Rick Dipietro has reported to Bridgeport and was on the ice today at practice. Tonight the Islanders try to rebound vs the Bruins who won their last 3 games. The Islanders lost to the Bruins in there game earlier in the year 4-2 with dp in net, this go around we will be playing home(sucking sound) and Nabby will be in goal. Another change you will see tonight is Ullstrom will be back in the lineup with Aucoin being scratched.  The Bruins are a team that I feel like to get in there fair share of cheap shots so I have the feeling Radek Martinek will be a scratch and the gentle giant Joey Finley will be back in the lineup. I also would love to see a big hit from Matt Martin on Milan Lucic. The puck drops at 7:30 tonight, I will be in attendance tonight sitting way up high hoping to break the losing streak, Isles are 0-3 with me inside the Coli this season.

Islanders can't hold on vs. 'Canes

The game started in the right direction for the Islanders with Matt Moulson scoring his 10th goal of the year 4:38 in. About seven minutes later Tavares scored his 13th goal of the year to make it 2-0. The Islanders didn't really have any pressure on the offensive end in the first period only getting 5 shots. Kevin Poulin played with confidence early saving all 14 shots he faced in the first.

The Islanders showed more offense in the 2nd period by getting more shots only to collapse and allow 2 goals within 45 seconds to the Staal brothers to end the period. Then the 3rd period started but it looked like the Islanders didn't feel like showing up. Only registering 6 shots in the whole period, Carolina took the lead with Bobby Sanguinetti's first NHL career goal, I don't know what it is but I feel like the Islanders have been allowing goals to a lot of first timers lately.

This game really didn't bode well for the Islanders. The final score was 4-2 with an empty netter added by Semin. With a great opportunity to put together a 3 game win streak the same old Islanders were the ones to show up tonite in Uniondale who have been terrible at home. Then again if your place looked like this how would you feel?

Angry Jessie Pegula

The Buffalo Sabres have seen better days, they are last in the East and 29th overall in the NHL. The daughter of Terry Pegula is Jessie Pegula who is also a professional tennis player. In the past she would let out her frustrations on Twitter if you remember her tweet on free agent day in 2011 over the Sabres not getting Brad Richards, who by the way is making sucking sounds for the NY Rags. Yesterday after the Sabres 4-0 loss she vented on twitter again saying, "A spade is a spade. The Sabres are just really bad..." It looks like however she regretted the tweet and became more optimistic saying something along the lines of sorry and something along the lines of Rome wasn't built in a day, you know the saying. Poor Jessie, I hope today is better for her as it is her 19th birthday, so go log on Twitter and wish @JLPegula a very happy birthday.

It's Poulin time

Nabakov gets the night off while Kevin Poulin makes the start tonight in Uniondale. Poulin is 6-6-1 with 2 of those wins vs the Hurricanes. Radek Martinek will also make his season debut tonight with Joe Finley not in  the lineup. 

For the Hurricanes, Jeff Skinner skated today wearing a non-contact jersey, he is will likely not play tonight after suffering a concussion recently, his 2nd one in two years, he did however say he is feeling much better so I guess we will see tonight if he plays.

Also around the league I noticed today is Alexei Kovalev's 40th birthday. So Happy Birthday to Alex from the Florida Panthers, you will be scratched in tonights game.

Future of Islanders Ricky Dipietro

I know its a little late for me to talk about the supposedly end of the Rick Dipietro era on Long Island but here it is. I really thought Dipietro's body would be put to the test and get a lot more starts this season. Nabakov started the year hot so Capuano went with the hot hand which makes sense in this shortened season. With the Islanders three points out of the playoffs (which don't mean anything) and the timid shakiness play from Dipietro it wouldn't make sense to play him all that much. Nobody was going to claim Dipietro (even tho I saw comments from stupid Leafs fans that they wanted him), so sending him to Bridgeport makes the most sense right now. Sorry Bridgeport.

I was a big fan of Dipietro when he came into the league and made the Islanders relevant again by leading them into the playoffs 3 times. I even had arguments with Sabre of Light about who would be starting goalie of Team USA, DP or Ryan Miller. Unfortunately the play from Dipietro landed him in the 2008 All Star game causing him to injure his hip. Dipietro continued to play the season until the Islanders were out of playoff contention and then he had hip surgery. As you all know he continued to have injury issues with his hips, knees, head and face. He became a laughing stock of the league with fans saying he would injure himself sneezing, getting a haircut or shaving his beard.(hence his appearance now)

Now the question is, have we seen the last of Dipietro in an Islander uniform? Will his contract be bought out? These are things that are not set in stone at the moment, but I think if Dipietro can stay healthy in Bridgeport and build a little confidence, I strongly believe he will get one more shot with the team next year. On the other hand, he could continue with his bad luck and might not make it to seasons end. Only time will tell, I still see Yashin jerseys at the Coliseum these days but the fan base hates Dipietro so much that management doesn't want him to play in any home games. Poor Ricky, the goalie who lost his way.

Islanders win 4-0, Nabby shuts down Sabres

The Islanders went into the broken home of Buffalo tonight and made things look easy. The Sabres pretty much looked like a classroom of kids with a substitute teacher (Ron Rolston), no control and huge lack of effort. Not much happened in the 1st period besides 2 interference penalties on the Islanders which at least made them look a live. Nabby took control in the 2nd period making some real nice saves. The period finished with goals from Streit and Grabs. I missed most of the 3rd period tho while checking out the Rags losing to the Habs, I however saw the goals scored by Tavares and Mcdonald. I also have to mention ex-Sabre Joe Finley the gentle giant finally starting to become evil with giving Kaleta a facewash with that giant hand.

The frustration of Ryan Miller really showed in the final seconds of the game wanting to throw down with Matt Martin after Martin was pushed into Miller. He was the same guy that played out of his head 2 weeks prior in the state of the art Coliseum to lead the Sabres to a win against the Islanders. Things just keep getting worst for Buffalo, the short season is against them as well giving them less time to bounce back.

Even tho Jesus Christ wasn't on the Islanders bench they were able to get away with the 4-0 win. The biggest advantage they had was the Sabres struggle on the PP who went 0-6. They have only 2 goals in the last 46 times with a man advantage. The Sabres are off until Tuesday when they skate in Tampa vs the Lighting and the Islanders will face Carolina tomorrow night in Uniondale. Maybe Marty Reasoner can tie his career high with the Islanders and score a goal tomorrow, giving him 1 on the year. Tomorrow will give the Islanders a chance to become a .500 team, and who knows, maybe we will see Kevin Poulin in net tomorrow, a young 22 year old who spent last night in the Marriot across from the Coliseum.