When a Two goal lead is not enough...

Today is one of those bummer days.

It's rainy and gloomy. I am overtired. There is a lot to do at work and I don't feel motivated. We'll get back to that later.

I'm still not sure what the heck happened in Atlanta last night. The Isles were cruising into the third with another lead and they choked it off in the end and lost to the Thrashers 4-3.

It was pure firepants hockey for most of the game. The pace was sick. Fast breaks were everywhere. And yet, the Thrashers were able to score three third-period goals to earn the win.

I mean, look, I am all for exciting hockey. Let's not forget that before the lockout that the NHL was (as Bill Clement calls it) a "forty-minute game" because whomever was leading going into the third was just going to sit back and trap and bore a submission out of the opposing team.

So far this year--hell, just this past week--the Islanders have let go of two three-goal leads and a two-goal lead when they should have been finishing off the other team. Clearly this team is either not used to winning, doesn't know how to win, or they get too tense and try not to screw it up...which inevitably happens.

Last night was not one of Joey MacDonald's better efforts. At times he's been left alone with some stretchy defensive help but last night you know he'd like to have the entire third period back. MacDonald did have 23 saves in the game.

The scoring started early with Jon Sim's third goal of the season. Thrashers defenseman Garnet Exelby was sent off for holding 31 seconds into the game. Sim's first shot was stopped by Thrashers goalie Ondrej Pavelec but Sim corralled the rebound and fired a wrister past Pavelec's left shoulder at 2:23.

The Mighty Thrash were quick to strike on an Islanders' line change as Slava Kozlov tied the game at 1-1 after a pass from Tobias Engstrom.

In the second, the Isles came alive. Frans Nielsen scored at 9:40 on a pass through the crease by Mark Streit. All-Star Ballot Boy Trent Hunter added another goal 17 seconds later (while I was in the bathroom) on a one-timer over the left shoulder of Pavelec. Streit and Nielsen assisted on the play and all three players had two points on the night.

Then the wheels came off. Third period scoring began with Kozlov adding his second on a nice backhand 29 seconds after resuming play. After MacDonald took a delay of game penalty for playing the puck over the glass and into the crowd, Jason Williams tied the game and I threw up in my mouth.

This is where the Isles stopped skating. Seriously. You could see it coming.

Tobias Enstrom scored the game-winning goal at 11:29 of the third and that was it. The Isles had very little sustained pressure after Enstrom's goal.

Our boys return home for a Saturday night visit from the Pittsburgh Penguins and that #87 guy that you may have heard of. Game time is a 7 PM.

Don't forget to check out "A Day in the Life" with Doug Weight as it replays on the NHLN as well. I saw a little bit of it while waiting for the game to start last night (Atlanta's announce crew is horrible) and it looked to be a heck of a show. I always enjoy those behind the scenes profile things and I'll watch pretty much everything on the NHL Network.

Also worth checking out is the "Voices" show that takes you behind the scenes with some of the great broadcasters of the game we love. Not sure if there is going to be one for Howie Rose or not, but I wish there would be. After sitting through the Thrashers B-team broadcast last night (regular PBP guy JP Della Camera was on MLS playoff duty) you really appreciate what we have in Howie and Billy Jaffe even more.

OK, so to finish up, we get today's work story. It's still pretty early in the day but I have already been asked which super power I would want to have and why. Pretty standard, I know, but we have to remember what we are dealing with here. Everyone wants to be Wolverine so they can skint! blades out of their hands and heal really fast or be invisible, etc. I say that being able to blow green or red mist like The Great Muta would be very handy in situations where people are pestering you with work-related questions when you're trying to write about last night's hockey game. Imagine rendering people helpless just with mist! And you get to wear really cool red karate pants and paint your face!

So, yeah, The Great Muta was pretty cool. See you Saturday night.