What am I missing about Scott Gomez?

Great win by the boys last night. Coming back in the third with three goals is just the bestest way to end a Rangers' winning streak. And we all had to be so surprised that any team in the NHL could score on the great and all-powerful Man of the Year Henrik Lundqvist. (Memo to Brian Engblom: ugh.)

Let's see, according to the Hockey News' Adam Proteau, the worst signing of the off-season was the Islanders picking up Ruslan Fedotenko. Hmmm. I'm thinking that Proteau is not only lazy, but shortsighted. Why exactly is no one pointing to the contract the Rangers gave Scott Gomez? For all of the bluster from Engblom (and others) about what a gifted offensive playmaker he is, after last night Gomez had 3 goals and 4 assists. That's right: seven whole points. And the guy can't even play with Jagr--Lord knows that they tried--and he skates on what looks to be a third line while Dubinsky brings his AHL Hartford pedigree to skate on first line with Jagr.

Isn't spending a jillion bucks on a third-line center who is on pace for 40 points a bit of a stretch? Meanwhile, The Tank has been solid in every zone of every game I have seen this year. The guy also has 11 points in 12 games. At around 3 million, I'd say that Fedotenko has blossomed playing for Ted Nolan.

A buddy of mine asked me today what the key has been this year for the Islanders. I told him that it's easy: the boys play very, very hard on each and every shift. And when one of the guys is struggling, he has teammates there to pick him up until he's back on track.

Think about this: on the night the team celebrated Mike Sillinger's 1000th game, Deb Kaufman asked Sillinger about his linemates and Sillinger complimented Andy Hilbert for his effort and added that he knows that Hilbert's going to get a goal soon. See? That is a pick-me-up. No finger pointing or blame on the team. They are playing for each other. What used to bug the heck out of me is back during the Peca/Yashin Era, the Islanders rarely stood up for each other when one of the guys would catch a hoofing. Hamrilk was firing shots at Blake's head in warmups and everyone hated Yashin. Now, with Nolan and the leadership of Guerin, Sillinger, and Brendan Witt, the other team has to deal with the whole gang when someone tried to take liberties with the Isles.

I also want to admit that I thought Witt was going to have some problems playing his kind of game after the lockout but I'll tell you the guy is like a 90% Scott Stevens and I will take that any day of the week.

So, to wrap up, DiPietro is great, the Islanders are great, they are a hardworking bunch, and Engblom has to get over his feelings for Lundqvist and move on.

Devils on Saturday as the crucial stretch of seven games within the Atlantic Division continues. Will we see Bryan Berard back on the power play? Billy Jaffe reported last night that Berard has been skating and is shooting for a return to the lineup Saturday night.