Voided Trade?

It felt like long ago that the Islanders traded for Lubomir Visnovsky, really just 10 months ago. It seemed that he didn't like the deal as he wanted to void the trade but now its 10 months later. The Islanders are tied with the Rags for the 8th spot, given their game in hand. But big news just announced is that Visnovsky has just resigned for 2 more years. This deal will soon bring the resigning of Mark Streit which I say will happen in the offseason, meaning 1 more year to see John Tavares as Captain of this team. It is great to see a first timer with the team wanna resign. Things are starting to look different for this team.

The Test Ahead

Even though the Filthy Flyers are having a bad season they always play the Islanders good. Just a few weeks ago they made the Isles look like a peewee hockey team so I was a little nervous going into last nights matchup. I turned the game on a few minutes late but just in time to see the Flyers go up 1-0. The Isles are not a great 3rd period team hence the blown leads in previous games so I wasn't feeling good about being down 2-0, thank God tho for John Tavares as he put the team down by 1 with a min left in the 2nd. They fought hard and showed a lot of heart in the 3rd period though, something that the team was missing the previous 5 seasons. Colin McDonald who was involved in a little scrap earlier in the game with Scott Hartnell tied the game for the Isles in the 3rd and then scored again to put them ahead 3-2. Then as time winded down a questionable delay of game call against Frans Nielsen put them down a man, and with the Flyers pulled goalie it was a 6 on 4. History told me that the Flyers would tie the game and of course with 30 seconds left history smacked me right in the face. The Isles had a few chances in ot with a man advantage but with no success so it was onto a shoot out. The Isles played catch up most of the game and were forced to do so in the shoot out with Claude Giroux scoring first. Brad Boyes answered though with a nice shot top shelf and a save by Nabby led to Josh Bailey scoring the game winner, a great win vs a team that embarrassed us weeks earlier in the Coli.

Now with 3 wins in a row tomorrow the Islanders face a huge test, the Penguins. With newly acquired faces including Brenden Morrow and Jarome Iginlia it will be tough vs an already stacked team who hasn't lost since February 28th in Carolina. Since then they are winners of 14 in a row including 2 victories over the Isles. However tomorrow is a new day and as the late Owen Hart says "enough is enough and it's time for a change", a Penguins loss would be great, even better will be the Islanders beating them.

The Goalie Scores!!!

On Thursday night Marty Brodeur played in his first game since February 21st and he scores? He scored his 3rd career goal and he has more goals than Marty Reasoner this year. The goal was absolute luck as he just so happened to touch the puck last.

Then in a Polish league a goalie scored on a 2-1, that's right he actually shot the puck into the net. The goal didn't stand since a goalie can't cross the center red-line. The goal was quite amusing and I loved the goal celebration. To make things worse the opposing team was awarded a penalty shot due.

But when I hear about a goalie scoring I always think back to this, Ron Hextall in the '89 Stanley Cup  Playoffs,

Greatest Show On Earth!

Just this past weekend the Barnum & Bailey Circus was at the Nassau Coliseum. The circus was supposed to be long gone last night, but when the Islanders took the ice I couldn't tell the difference. Okay, the first 2 periods were great where the Islanders were up 3-1, Bailey/Neilson/Okposo line were dominating during that time. Some players from both teams appeared to be falling and mishandling the puck due to the poor Coliseum's ice surface, thanks to the circus and an old building. Once the third period started the Islanders blew the lead in 2 minutes. As a fan I saw it coming with this team just like most others due to recent history. Keith Aucoin scored what appeared to be the go ahead goal but was disallowed. Butch Goring was adamant that it should of counted and I agree with him. The game from there was an absolute joke. Granted the Islanders had 6 power plays and they did blow the 2 goal lead right into the 3rd period. The end of this game was totally determined by the refs. First the Aucoin no goal (which was Toronto's doing) and then the failed call that changed the game then Ottawa touched the puck first after Mike Zibanejad's high stick which led to the go ahead goal with 1 minute left. So the one game that the Islanders really needed, now that they have to face Montreal and then Pittsburgh in back to back games. I am very interested to see how the Islanders will respond tomorrow night, I expect the team to come out strong, its just the 3rd period I am worried about. Until then, enjoy:

A Fun Week Ahead?

It is almost that time of year where you have to look at your team and see if your a real contender. Don't get me wrong, there is still lots of hockey left to play but the trade deadline is approaching. Some teams who are on the bottom trying to play catch up are going to be looking at there roster and see if they want to go all in and try to add a few missing pieces or to roll back and go for it next season. As time goes on and the deadline gets closer more and more teams could become sellers. A team like Florida can shop players like Stephen Weiss whose in a contract year who they will most likely lose in the off-season anyway and at least get something in return.

Now the Islanders being just 2 points out of the 8th seed I have to say I am glad for how things are till now with the exception of Michael Grabner and David Ullstrom injuries and 2 blowout losses vs the Flyers and Pens. I know I maybe making it seem that the Islanders are a lock for the playoffs but hey, the team is over .500.... by 1 game. For real though, they are due to make the playoffs soon or a later with not being there in the past 5 years. It would be only fair to the fan base that they make an attempt to make a little run.

It is still real early into the season but this week is a big test for the Islanders. A game on Tuesday vs an Ottawa team looking for revenge from the previous shootout loss, and even more versus the Habs on Thursday who the Islanders beat twice so far. The worst part of the week but  has a chance to be the best part with an Islanders win would be the game versus the Pens. It will be a back to back coming off of Thursdays game at the Coliseum. That game will be a tough task for the Isles considering last game was terrible vs Pittsburgh let alone the Pens dominating right now winning 9 in a row. Damn you Crosby whose still crying from getting hit with the puck last game in the Coliseum.

 I feel as tho I would be asking too much to see them go 1-2 over this 3 game stretch but an 0-3 will definitely change the tune I am singing as I look at my team just 2 out. We do have Florida to look forward to on Sunday but even they nearly tore the Islanders hearts out coming back from a 3 goal deficit to then lose in regulation. Come on tho, the Islanders have the longest current drought in the NHL when it comes to winning a playoffs series which came 18 seasons ago. All I have had since then was hope and that is all that I can have now, but this time we got John Tavares and a young group with Dougie Weight helping us and he has been to the playoffs more recently then the Islanders team has. 

Islanders Gameday and JAY-Z in the house!

It has been over a day since the Islanders played the Rangers at the Coliseum in which the Isles played one of their best games of the year but lost in OT. I really feel that this loss tore the hearts out of some Islander fans, some that I spoke to have been pretty down and others who were planning to attend today's game vs Washington are staying home instead. The thing that worries me the most is how much life it took out of the Islander players themselves. The post game interviews after that game were very depressing. A loss like this can be the start of some pretty bad games. Yeah it was the second game in a week where they didn't get 1 Power Play opportunity and yeah they got 1 point in each of those games but the game vs the Rangers was a real heart breaker. Honestly if you ask me I almost rather them lose that game by the score of 3-1 or something like that. They will need the true leaders of the team in Tavares and Nabakov to upbring the locker room to get ready for today's game vs the Capitals.

Today's game has a 1PM start which is the last of the 7 game homestand in which they are 2-2-2. A win today could turn everything around, bringing the team to .500 for the first time since they went 4-4-1 on February 5th, more importantly getting rid of the somber mood around the team following a tough loss. They will have their hands full today playing against Alex Ovechkin who has 19 goals and 11 assist in 21 career games vs the Isles. I expect Visnovsky to play today since he returned to the island yesterday. Now lets see if they can get a Power Play opportunity today to utilize him or if we will see another perfect game by an Islander opponent. The nature of the game is so physical so its hard to believe a team can play a perfect game let alone 2 in 8 days. Brent Thompson will serve the first of his two game suspension today for verbally abusing the refs after Thursdays game.

One more thing, last night was a good one, I made it to the Barclay Center for the first time ever. Although it was a basketball game being played instead of a hockey game, it was still a good time. It was pretty easy to get to by train but could be expensive if you wanna go to a bunch of games. The train ride home was packed by Ranger fans who looked pretty sad just taking a beat down by the Senators. The refs came up short in the one. I wonder when the Islanders move to Brooklyn will Jay-Z be sitting rink side? Maybe, but if he is at an Islanders game here is a little preview of what you could see:

Visors? No Way!!

Nobody ever wants anyone ever getting hurt playing hockey. The sad part is that injuries are part of the game and that goes for any sport. Hockey however is a sport where guys wear steel blades and carry sticks. Sometimes a player is hurt but they act like they are ok just so they can keep playing. It is kind of humorous because the other day I saw a soccer game and a player acted hurt when he wasn't, the total opposite, but I am not here to take shots and make fun of other sports. 

Just last night you all must of heard by now that Marc Staal suffered a gruesome injury. It wasn't a dirty hit from behind or a high hit to the head that would cause Brendan Shanaban to get involved, it was a puck traveling over 100 MPH straight into his eye. Now when I saw the injury I really wasn't thinking about if he could still play, I was much more concerned if he will still have sight in that eye or let alone an eye at all. Staal had no chance of avoiding the shot as it was right off a face-off and happened so fast. He is out indefinitely right now and since then the team has claimed Roman Hamrlik of waivers from the Washington Capitals. Staal also missed almost half of last season due to a concussion, which ironically was due to a hit from his brother Eric.

This event however has raised the question should players wear visors? I think that wearing a visor should be the players choice. Some guys in the league are old school and if you gave them the choice they wouldn't even wear a helmet. Other players would say that they cannot wear a visor because it gets in the way of their sight paths. Of course the NHL would want to mandate the rule making everyone wearing a visor because an injury causing a player to loose an eye would be devastating to the game. 

MInutes Before Puck Drop

Minutes before the game starts and Islanders get ready for their game vs the Habs who should be looking for revenge. The Isles are coming off a rare home game win last Sunday and will have Nabby in goal as confirmed this morning. He has given the team a good chance to win every game he started even though sometimes they fall behind early, but Nabby is usually able to rebound and hope for a comeback which is what happened in the last game vs Montreal.

Vishnovsky is out tonight and Thursday as well vs the Rags, unfortunately this is because of personal reasons, it seems a good friend of his crashed a helicopter and his friends child who was 13, didn't survive. This has nothing to do with his old team Slovan Bratislava who were already eliminated in the playoffs. He will be back on the weekend.

John Tavares played great on Sunday but he has been under the weather. We can not really afford to have him out of the lineup. I really don't want to see that happen, he should play tonight.

I will also keep an eye on the Sabres game vs the 'Canes, Ryan Miller will be in net so it should be easy. Should be a good night of hockey, Game On!

Dipietro A Winner!

Rick Dipietro played in consecutive games for the first time this season last night, that's if you consider him playing on Friday night vs the Whalers. Bridgeport coach Scott Pellerin said he pulled him after the 1st to send a message to the team because he didn't like the way they played in front of him. Last night didn't start to well either for DP by taking a penalty four minutes into the game, which was killed off tho. Things did get better and the Sound Tigers won the game 4-3 with Dipietro making 22 saves. It was good seeing him get the win with the way Friday's game turned out for him.

Today should be a fun game, especially for the kids. Spongebob and Patrick will be in the Coliseum for the game and I hope the Islanders can pull off a win and not disappoint the crowd. Most games this year at the Coliseum showed a decent presence of the opposition crowd in the stands. Even the past 2 games we heard loud chants for Tukka Rask and also Go Leafs from the visitors from Toronto. However I think today would be different against Ottawa.

And also the Chicago Blackhawks play the Red Wings today in Detroit. I really thought the Blackhawks would lose to Columbus, I saw that game as a let down game and it also was a back to back game for Chicago, they did barely escape with the win and needing overtime to do it. That game will be on NBC so the pressure is clearly on Chicago.