Richard Park earns everything he gets!

Park's wrister with 1:17 left in OT gave our boys a 3-2 victory over the Capitals last night.

You have to enjoy this new tough-love "earn your playing time" deal that Ted Nolan is using on the guys. While it was strange to see guys like Andy Hilbert and Blake Comeau on the PP in the third period the other night in Pittsburgh, it's also a really good way to let the star players on the team know that they need to be held accountable as well.

Anyone read US Weekly? Did Lizzie McGuire break up with Mike Comrie? The Islanders need him to get his focus back and start doing all of those things that made the guy the star that he was for the first part of the season.

Miro's first period goal extended his latest streak to six games. He and Big Joe have been getting a rhythm of late while playing with a revolving door of wingers. The Isles really need Miro and Vasicek to keep it going as well. Guerin potted the Isles' second goal. He's playing better of late, I think.

I'm really looking forward to the WJC starting Wednesday. It will be great to see Kyle Okposo play so we can get sort of a free preview of coming attractions. The Isles have other junior players in the tournament and we'll get to spotlighting some of those guys once the games get started.

Also, in a last note, I just want to say that Dominik Hasek is a tool. I was transferring a copy of Classic Series to DVD for a buddy who is a Senators fan and they had the 1997 series between Buffalo and Ottawa where Dom may or may not have faked a knee injury to get out of playing. Of course they had some of the ancillary issues of the series as well, featuring Hasek pushing a reporter and then his lame statements about wanting to play, etc. It is really telling to me that in his press statement after the shoving incident that he named the owner by name, John Muckler by name, and when he should have said Ted Nolan's name, he just said "the coach". It wasn't that he just said "the coach" either, he said it fairly derisively.

Seriously, if you were to make a list of the hockey players you just can't root for under any circumstances, wouldn't Hasek be on that list? Hasek. Roenick. Darcy Tucker. Sean Avery. Oh, man. This could be longer than Santa's!