Calder Cup Playoffs Update!

The Bridgeport Sound Tigers face the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins tonight in an attempt to stave off elimination in the Calder Cup playoffs. The Tigers--with a refreshed Blake Comeau in the lineup--lost to the Penguins 2-1 last night. ThePenguins now hold a 3-1 lead in the best of seven series.

Peter Mannino had a strong game in net for the Sound Tigers, making 19 saves. Penguins goalie John Curry turned away 32 of 33 shots. Ben Walter scored on the PP for Bridgeport.

Game five can be seen live online at the Sound Tigers website.

Greg Logan's writeup on the Sound Tigers and Comeau is here.

Mike Fornabaio's Sound Tigers blog from the Connecticut Post is here.

Sound Tigers web pregame notes on game five are here.

SOUND TIGERS ANNOUNCE CLEAR DAY ROSTER

22-man roster is set for the Calder Cup Playoffs

Bridgeport, Conn. – The Bridgeport Sound Tigers have released their Clear Day Period roster for the 2009 Calder Cup Playoffs.

The Clear Day roster consists of a maximum of 22 players. According to AHL by-laws, only those players listed on a team’s Clear Day roster are eligible to compete in the remainder of the 2008-09 AHL regular season and in the 2009 Calder Cup Playoffs, unless emergency conditions arise as a result of recall, injury or suspension.

Teams may also add signed junior players or players on amateur tryout contracts, only after their respective junior or college seasons are complete.

Below is the Sound Tigers’ official Clear Day roster:

Goalies:
Nathan Lawson, Peter Mannino

Defensemen:
Joe Callahan, Jon Gleed, Jack Hillen, Dustin Kohn, Chris Lee, Andrew MacDonald, Mark Wotton

Forwards:
Sean Bentivoglio, Jeremy Colliton, Blake Comeau, Micheal Haley, Tyler Haskins, Mike Iggulden, Jesse Joensuu, Junior Lessard, Tomas Marcinko, Kurtis McLean, Jon Sim, Trevor Smith, Ben Walter

For Sound Tigers' Calder Cup Playoffs tickets or information on group discounts, contact the team's front office at (203) 334-GOAL or e-mail info@soundtigers.com.

Islanders Team Report: Yahoo! Sports

Doug Weight had revitalized his career, and with it, his trade value.

But the veteran center—and the Islanders’ second-leading scorer this season—isn’t likely to be moved now at the March 4 trade deadline.

That’s because Weight became the latest Islander to succumb to an unfathomable team-wide injury bug this season. He will miss at least six weeks, and possibly the remainder of the season, after suffering a sprained MCL in his knee Feb. 11 against New Jersey.

“I’m pretty upset about it,” captain and longtime Weight teammate Bill Guerin told reporters Friday. “I feel bad for Dougie. He’s had a really good year for us, and it’s just disappointing for him. I’m disappointed for him. You never want to see guys go down like that. This year has been crazy.”

With an absurd 350 or so man-games lost to injuries this season, is it any surprise the Isles rank in 30th place in the 30-team NHL in points?

“We’ve seen a ton of guys go down with injuries,” Guerin said. “But it’s never a lost season. There are always things you can gain. Some guys can get experience and that’s what we’re doing here.”

Flyers 5, Islanders 1: The Islanders skated stride for stride with the Flyers for about 58 minutes of Saturday’s game at Wachovia Center. Unfortunately for the Isles, they were blown out because of two distinct scoring bursts by the home team at the beginning and near end of the game. The Flyers took a 2-0 lead with goals 44 seconds apart in the opening minutes and then scored three times in 67 seconds midway through the third period—including Simon Gagne’s penalty shot—for their seventh straight home win over the Isles since April 2007.

“There were a couple of swings of momentum, but it was definitely closer than a 5-1 hockey game,” defenseman Chris Campoli said after the Isles fell to 0-4-1 over their last five games entering Monday’s home matinee against Pittsburgh.

Notes, Quotes

• LW Blake Comeau recently has re-established himself as an important component of the Islanders’ rebuilding plan, returning from an AHL banishment to produce on a line with fellow young guns Kyle Okposo and Josh Bailey.

“Being sent to Bridgeport put things in perspective,” Comeau, who scored eight goals in 51 games as a rookie last season, told the New York Post. “I really thought I had done what I needed to do to stay up here, so it was hard to start the year down there…It was hard to deal with, and you kind of wonder what’s going to happen to you. I definitely remember it, and I don’t want to go back. I just want to keep pushing forward.”

• LW Jon Sim, a veteran forward who has one year remaining on his contract at $1 million, returned to the lineup after being a healthy scratch in the previous seven games, replacing injured center Doug Weight.

“I’ve been ready to play. This is the route we’re going as an organization. I just want get in there,” the 31-year-old Sim said. “The year’s not over. Hopefully I can salvage it.”

Quote To Note: “I just don’t think we were ready to play. We weren’t very sharp at the beginning of the game and it took us a few shifts to get our legs under us. … But one thing our guys haven’t done is lay down and quit.”—Coach Scott Gordon after the Islanders lost their fifth straight game, 5-1 to Philadelphia on Saturday.

Islanders Beat Thrashers 5-4

In the nine games previous to the All-Star break, the Islanders scored just 17 goals.

In the first period last night, the Islanders scored four.

Let me say that again: four goals. One period. Four.

Then they had to hold on at the end to beat the Atlanta Thrashers 5-4.

Good news, though: the mighty Thrash had beaten our boys three times in a row and even with that win, the Islanders are still "leading" the Entry Draft ping pong ball derby.

The veteran-to-young guys hand-off is in full bloom and last night, at least, the kids looked like they belonged. We had to wait for Drastic Measures, I suppose, but seeing Scott Gordon go with lines of Comrie-Weight-Guerin and Comeau-Bailey-Okposo was kind of exciting. It was like a showcase for all six guys: here's what we have for you to scout and here's what we have coming up.

The third period was pretty interesting as the Thrashers made it a game.

Mrs. NYIFORLIFE reports that the Thrashers' announce team of Daren Elliot and JP (What? No soccer?) Dellacamera were claiming that the Islanders were rattled (they were) and that they were ripe for the picking (kinda) but our boys hung on after Danis let in three third-period goals (Bogosian; Peverley, and Reasoner) before Kyle Okposo broke up the party at 12:39 with his second goal of the game. New linemates Josh Bailey and Blake Comeau had the assists.

Of course, Ilya Kovalchuk scored in the last minute to make it interesting, but the Isles were able to escape the last 58 seconds and leave Atlanta with two points.

Interesting first period, though. We all know that a 2-0 lead is the scariest lead to have in hockey, but 4-0 with these Islanders is kind of scary too. Foreboding, even. When you score too much too fast and the other guy has plenty of time to get back in it, you have to be careful to keep your foot on the accelerator.

The Isles have had this maddening great period / crappy period thing going on all season. You get four in the first (Hunter :55; Okposo 7:29, Jackman 10:25, and Weight at 13:17) and then nothing happens in the second. Then the third starts and you're holding on for dear life.

It's just been a strange, strange season.

Breaking the rule

I always tell myself never to blog during a game because it just brings bad luck but I think I am safe right now.

It's 5-1 Atlanta--you know, the worst team in the league--and the Isles have just hit successive posts (Streit and Comeau) and then watched the freaking Thrashers score their fifth goal. Of course there was lots of room for a two on one after Comeau hit the post so it was easy for the Thrashers. Ugh.

Ever notice how the MSG+ cameras always switch to Scott Gordon after the Isles give up a goal or take a penalty and he looks like he just caught someone kicking his dog? Trust me, if you haven't been watching, Scott Gordon must have a mush team of Iditarod doggies that are getting a hoofing tonight.

Big news of late is that Jeff Tambellini has accepted a conditioning assignment to Bridgeport to try and get his game together. See, with a one-way contract, the player has to accept the assignment to the AHL because otherwise the team would have to hope to get the guy through waivers and I am pretty sure some other team may want a crack at solving the Tambellini Rubik's Cube. We sure haven't been able to do anything with it.

And that is how Blake Comeau has made it back to the NHL. Actually, to be honest, the kid has looked pretty good in his first NHL game of the season. He's been in good position and had a heck of a pass out of the corner on a Trent Hunter scoring attempt. Good for Blake.

The reality is that the Islanders Youth Experience (TM) has been derailed with the injuries to Kyle Okposo and Frans Nielsen. Okposo looked like he was getting his legs under him right before he went down with the arm and/or hand injury and Frans was getting seriously shifty before Mike Mottau decided to rattle his dentistry.

Monday night the Isles are going to Toronto to visit problem child Jason Blake and the rest of the Maple Leafs.

Isles D Martinek out 4 to 6 weeks; Comeau demoted

UNIONDALE, N.Y. (AP)—New York Islanders defenseman Radek Martinek will be out four to six weeks because of an unidentified upper-body injury sustained during a game last weekend, the club said Tuesday.

Martinek was knocked out of the Islanders’ home opener in the first period Saturday night after he absorbed a hard hit behind the net. He was evaluated by doctors that night and didn’t play in New York’s 7-1 loss to Buffalo on Monday.

The Islanders revealed the length of time Martinek is expected to miss, but still declined to provide any information about the injury.

Martinek was skating along the end boards behind the New York goal and crumpled after being crunched by St. Louis center David Backes with 3:10 left in the period. He remained down on the ice for a few moments before skating without assistance toward the tunnel to the dressing room.

It is the latest injury to the Islanders’ already banged-up defense. Just three games into the season, New York is also missing Andy Sutton (hand surgery) and Chris Campoli (shoulder). Both are expected to be sidelined for several weeks.

The Islanders also sent down 22-year-old forward Blake Comeau to Bridgeport of the AHL on Tuesday. Comeau, who had eight goals and seven assists as a rookie in 57 games last season with the Islanders, didn’t dress for any of New York’s regular-season games this season.

He had no points in three games with the Islanders during the 2006-07 season after making his NHL debut.

Home Opener: Isles 5 Blues 2

What I liked:

--Well, the whole first period. The way the guys were crashing the net and moving without the puck kept the Blues back on their collective heels for most of the night. When the forecheck is working, it is a beautiful thing to watch.

--Joey MacDonald. The guy made what Billy Jaffe called a "sick" save in the second period with a lunge across his crease to deflect a sure Blues goal with his catching glove. He also stopped T-Chuck on a breakaway. The fans were into it for sure, chanting "Jo-ey!" in the same cadence they cheer for DP. Stellar.

--Sean Bergenheim played breakneck and got a goal. Trent Hunter also scored with a nice wrister from just above the circles. The Isles are going to need improved offense from these two to be successful this year. If Trent rediscovers his nose for the net and Bergie buries just half of the chances he seems to have all the time, both guys are going to have good offensive numbers.

--Scott Gordon, who got his first NHL win last night in the home opener.

What I didn't like:

--Radek Martinek went down behind his net again with an apparent shoulder injury. I love Radek as a player and there is no denying that he and Brendan Witt are the team's best pairing but we need to find a way to keep Martinek on the ice. He sure misses a lot of games and he is important to the team.

--The "Somewhere in California" commercial that they play EVERY FREAKING BREAK on the Center Ice package.

--TSN.ca speculated (without giving a source, by the way) that DP was going to be out for a while and was spotted with an ice pack on his knee after the game the other night. Yeesh. These guys really like kicking the can of conspiracy and always like to dig at our boys. If Rick was truly hurt, would they risk putting him on the bench as the backup goalie when he may have to get into a game? What in the name of Bob McKenzie is going on up there?

--Newsday reports that coach Gordon says that Blake Comeau's conditioning is not up to his overspeed standards.

--Josh Bailey is also reported to be out two- to four-weeks with an injury.

NYIFORLIFE.com chat with Sound Tigers' beat writer Mike Fornabaio

Michael Fornabaio has been with the Connecticut Post since 1997 and has covered the Sound Tigers for their entire seven-year existence. We recently had a chance to ask Mike a few questions about the Sound Tigers, the Islanders prospects, and what a beat writer's daily ritual is like.

We here at nyiforlife.com want to thank Mike for taking some time to help us out. At the end of this post will be some links to Mike's work at the Connecticut Post.
--Bill


NYIFORLIFE.com--I think some people must think that covering a pro team is mostly watching games and writing about what happened. Can you give us an idea of what your average day is like covering a Sound Tigers home game?

Mike Fornabaio--Well, I watch the game for two and a half hours, and the other five and a half, I spend on the blog.

No, home games, it kind of depends. If I need to get something, or if something's likely to be going down, I'll make a point to be at the morning skate, 10 a.m. If not, or if I've arrived home from Hershey at 4 a.m., I might not. Then home, usually, and if there's something then to be written up, maybe get it done then, or maybe a little later. Call a few people to (I hope) make sure the world isn't ending behind my back.

Either way, off to the barn to be there two, two-and-a-half hours before the puck drops. Checking in with lots of people -- front office, hockey ops, maybe the other team there if they haven't skated in the morning, the broadcasters, other writers. Just see what's what, maybe chase some whispers. Get set up, check around the Internet for important news and/or for blog-ticker stuff. And if I have to send an early something, send it. And then get down to it: Barring something crazy going on, I want to be in place by the start of warmup, to count heads, to get lineups, to make sure Dennis Bonvie and Chris Thompson don't start jabbing at each other. That's about 40 minutes before the puck drops.

So, yeah, then there's a game. Then there's a 10-minute cooling-off period. Then we go and talk about it for 10-30 minutes, depending on time constraints. For a 7 p.m. start, given no overtime (and given our new, thankfully later deadlines), I'll probably have around 45 minutes to decipher my notes and churn out a game story. Then it'll take me 10 minutes to try to get it to the office before I cave in and e-mail it (The phone lines are quirky at AHY.) Then get down to the postmortem for the blog, which became the norm very quickly two years ago. I've tried to cut back on the endless posts -- I was spending half my life deconstructing three-on-three rushes there for a while -- but still, depending on what else is going on in the world, that can take a while.

Update the stat files I keep, and I'm usually home by about 11:45, or if it's late in the season and we're waiting on scores, 12:30.

NYIFORLIFE.com--Lots of Islanders fans wonder where all the goals went when Jeff Tambellini played for the Isles versus when he played in the American League. What do you think Jeff needs to do to make himself successful at the NHL level?

Mike Fornabaio--Every time Nigel Dawes had a couple of visible shifts for the Rangers recently, I'd think back to early in the year, when he couldn't crack the lineup and was putting up sick numbers in Hartford. I joked to someone in January that the Islanders and Rangers should be done with it and trade Dawes for Tambellini, so maybe they'd both get a shot.

Like for Dawes, I wonder if it's just a matter of time for Tambellini. He came back down in December and was doing all the work-the-boards, go-to-the-net things they wanted him to do, and it paid off here. I haven't seen enough of the Islanders' games to get a great read on what changes up there, but he has too much going for him to think the right fit won't happen eventually.

NYIFORLIFE.com--Jack Capuano. Your impressions on the job he did this past season. I'm thinking it is tough not knowing who will be on your team with all of the injuries and callups this past year.

Mike Fornabaio--Well, his primary job is development, and the Islanders appear to be happy about that. It seems as if the guys who go up fit in pretty well. He's quick to credit assistants Pat Bingham and Bernie Cassell for their work, too. As far as wins and losses, given the inexperience on the blue line, and given the lack of scoring at times from guys not named Tambellini, and given the carousel of call-ups down the stretch, they did all right.

And of course most importantly, the whole staff is great with the media.

NYIFORLIFE.com--Who aside from Okposo and Comeau do you think is ready to compete for a NHL job from the Sound Tigers?

Mike Fornabaio--Depends on what kind of jobs are open. There are some in the organization who would be thrilled to go with a very young lineup. There are others who shudder at the thought. But probably everyone who went up this year could at least compete for a job, given the right role. It seems to be universally felt that Dustin Kohn and Trevor Smith, if they continue to develop the way they have, will inject themselves into that conversation by the end of next season.

Thanks again, Mike. We appreciate it.

Mike's Soundin' Off Blog is great for all of your AHL and Sound Tigers news.
Mike's Archives at the Connecticut Post.

Okposo goes 1 and 1 as the Islanders stop six-game skid

Well, now the hype machine can stop and get a fresh for a little bit. Islanders top prospect Kyle Okposo scored his first NHL goal last night as the Isles beat the Devils in Newark, 3-1.

The Islanders riddle has been difficult for the Devils this year. The win puts the Isles' record at 6-1 on the season. The Devils are in a dead-even tie with the Penguins for second in the Eastern Conference; one point behind the leaders, Montreal. If the Devils even split the season series with the Isles, you'd think that they'd be running away with the Eastern Conference crown.

The Isles were paced by Wade Dubielewicz, who made 34 saves, to raise his record to 3-0 against New Jersey. Dubielewicz made many acrobatic stops in the final period when his net was under siege.

The Islanders goals were scored by Blake Comeau (who has certainly seen his stock rise this season with the team), Okposo, and Trent Hunter, who added a late empty-netter to seal the game.

Clearly, the story of the game was Okposo. At a time when the team and it's fans could use some good news, Okposo has been a bright spot in his first two NHL games. He hasn't looked out of place, has cycled well, and has received praise from his coaches and teammates. He doesn't seem afraid to use his body to improve his positioning and always is ready to head to the net. These are all great attributes in a young player.

Islanders win third in a row!

Forgive Islanders goalie Rick DiPietro if he was lonely Saturday night. The team in front of him only allowed the fiery Atlanta Thrashers ten shots on net. Rick gave up one goal late in the game when he was probably too bored to do anything about it. The Isles beat the Thrashers 4-1 in front of a sellout crowd and have now won three games in a row.

Odd, isn't it, that without three of the team's top defensemen: Brendan Witt, Bruno Gervais and Chris Campoli, the Islanders held such offensive stalwarts like Ilya Kovalchuk and Marian Hossa and the rest of the Thrashers team to just ten shots. Think about that for a second. Ten whole shots. And yes, that is the lowest amount of shots in a game by an opponent in Islanders team history. Ricky lost his shutout when the luckiest Atlanta player, center Todd White, scored on the power play with just over one minute left in the game. But by then, it was so seriously over.

If White was the luckiest, then Atlanta defenseman Garnett Exelby was the dumbest. Exelby lost his cool in the third period and went after Blake Comeau with a spear and some punches. Exelby received a combined 17 minutes in penalties and was given a game misconduct. Comeau was okay, though, and the Fox cameras caught him laughing about Exelby's attack afterward on the bench. We here at nyiforlife.com are glad that Comeau was able to see the inanity of the whole thing because watching Exelby lose it was just plain weird. And the spearing was just plain stupid as Exelby was clearly aiming for a very personal area on the person of Blake Comeau.

Speaking of Comeau, another impressive night for The Kid Line of Comeau, Frans Nielsen, and Jeff Tambellini. The Bridgeport Connection was buzzing around the Thrasher net all night and had quite a few reasonably decent scoring chances. We know that Ted Nolan is playing the kids together out of necessity, but we hope that he can keep the line intact because they are creating chances for themselves. Eventually, one of these chances is going to get in the net.

Miroslav Satan, Ruslan Fedotenko, Marc-Andre Bergeron and Sean Bergenheim (third goal in four games) scored for the Islanders. Fedotenko and Satan have been paired with Josef Vasicek of late and the whole line seems to have been able to come out of their collective funk together. We've been impressed particularly with the play of Vasicek and The Tank around the net of late. Both guys are big enough to make people move out of their ways when they assert themselves physically.

Satan's goal, and it bears mentioning, came on a very nifty pass by Richard Park. Park was skating behind the goal when he slid a pass on his backhand through the crease at the side of the net to Miro, who buried it into a open net. Great vision on the play by both guys; especially by Park, who never gets the credit he deserves.

The Islanders currently have 61 points in 59 games after going 3-6-1 in their last ten. Of course, the Isles have won their last three games after dropping an OT game to Minnesota on the ninth and losing 6 in a row before that. Today the San Jose Sharks are at the rink for what promises to be a loud and partial crowd of children on winter vacation. Presidents Washington and Lincoln would be happy to know that hockey is being played on the day we celebrate their birthdays!

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.