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: