How Do You Say "Stinker" in Chinese?

I'd check Altavista, but I am much too lazy.

The Isles squandered another 2 goal lead today and lost in OT to the visiting Carolina Hurricanes with children's teams and General Colin Powell in attendance.

Andy Sutton's crosschecking penalty gave the Hurricanes a PP in OT and Cory Stillman scored at the 52 second mark to give the visitors the extra point.

Billy Jaffe said it in the second period: the dogs were out tonight. I'm not sure why it is, but it always seems like afternoon games are (shall we say) a little less spirited than the ones played at night. This one was no different--totally devoid of emotion and grit even though there were lots of kids in the rink on this Martin Luther King Day.

The Isles were paced by Andy Hilbert and Miro Satan and opened up the 2-0 lead about halfway through the second. Hilbert's goal came on one of those weird Coliseum caroms. Freddy Meyer tried to dump the puck into the zone but the biscuit hit the boards and popped right into the slot. Hilbert flipped a nifty backhander over Cam Ward and the Isles took the lead with 3:17 left to play in the first.

Scary moment as the second ended when Ricky DiPietro seemed to flop wrong on his right knee and he was slow to get up. A couple of stretches and Flexes and we all held our breath to see who would be leading the team out to the ice to start the third period.

Billy and Howie suggested that Dubie could be making the start tomorrow night in Carolina for the second part of the home-and-home. Makes perfect sense because you know that Rick is going to start the game in Boston on Thursday and then he is off for the All-Star festivities next weekend. Besides, you don't send a guy to Bridgeport for conditioning purposes and then not use him after he gets his confidence up. Expect Dubie tomorrow night.

Good news was that Radek Martinel and Brendan Witt made their returns to the lineup this afternoon. Radek had missed the last 13 games with a bum ankle and Witt missed the last four with an ankle issue as well.

WTF? No game on Center Ice?

Any good reason why tonight's game wasn't available on the Center Ice package?

Against my better judgment, I will allow that the score is presently 4-2 Islanders with still 7:45 left to play.

I'm following the game along with Steve and The Kinger online with the Bloomberg radio feed. Also, Yahoo has a damn handy boxscore area with running updates. I like it as much as the stuff you can link to from the Islanders' website.

Blake Comeau has 2 points tonight so far; as does Andy Hilbert. Satan (his ninth, from Josef Vasicek & Brendan Witt) and Trent (Mike Sillinger & Ruslan Fedotenko) are the other goal scorers.

Hockey Night In Canada

Tonight the boys are on HNIC. I only wish the Islanders were in a better state right now for the big game in Ottawa, but they're not. At the very least, we get to see Don Cherry.

In the past few days, Freddy Meyer has been shut down with a broken finger. Accoring to the team website, Fred's been gutting it out with the finger for some time now. Hats off to him. He's proven to be a team guy.

It also looks like Bruno Gervais is going to be shut down with that bad ankle as well. Again, it is a good move. Both guys have shown promise and have long careers ahead of them.

Garth Snow has brought in some replacements on defense--and boy, do we need it. Deron Quint and Todd Simpson have been signed for the rest of the season. At the very least, bringing in two veterans to take over for the depleted squad show the guys in the room that the team brass is still trying to make that playoff push.

Bad news on the guys up front too. As everyone already knows, Captain Canada was out of the last game against Buffalo with a leg problem. I hope Ryan Smyth plays tonight in Ottawa. Andy Hilbert's shoulder kept him out of the Buffalo game as well.

There's speculation surrounding the goaltending situation for the Islanders. Ricky's concussion issues--and yes, they are officially concussion issues now--may keep him out for the rest of the year. Wallace Matthews in Newsday wrote that the team should keep Rick out of the rest of the season, and I have to say that I agree. Whatever side of the 15-year contract you're on, no one wants to see a young man cut down in his prime.

Expect Wade Dubielewicz tonight. I thought he was solid coming in for Dunham in Buffalo.