Isles Downed by Oilers; Canucks Tonight

Anyone else notice that Rick hasn't won since he hurt his knee the other night?

This Western swing has not treated our boys kindly. OT loss in Colorado--on a shot that DiPietro should've made--and a gak 4-0 blanking last night in Edmonton. The Isles should be treating games against teams like the Oilers--teams with losing records--as important games where they should not settle for less than two points. But here we are.

DiPietro is probably fired up to play against Roberto Luongo tonight, as he should. Luongo was essentially sent to Florida just so Milbury could shock the hockey world and pick Ricky first overall back in the day. Luongo hasn't really had a ton of playoff heat but he has done one thing Rick has yet to do--get out of the first round of the playoffs.

Now, saying that, does that mean Luongo is better than Rick DiPietro? Right now, I would not make that trade. Luongo has a little more experience than Rick does and yes, he was really good in the NHL Rock the Rink game for the PS1, but then again, so was Taylor Pyatt. To me, Luongo does not have the intangibles of a player like Rick DiPietro and he does not bring what Ricky can when he is in good form.

Was Milbury fleeced by the Panthers? Well, yeah. Kinda. But you have to recall that at the time, the Islander organization is not what it is now. Guys with talent and huge upsides had to take on bigger, more substantive roles than they were ready for. That's why players like Todd Bertuzzi and Eric Brewer blossomed when they left the Island. The teams that traded for them had time to let them grow and had infrastructure in place within the organization that allowed for the guys to mature at a reasonable pace. The Isles needed them to wake up, jump out of bed, and start vacuuming the house. Vancouver and Edmonton were able to allow for Bertuzzi and Brewer to have some coffee first and ease into it. Of course, both have regressed professionally but that's a column for a different day.

Let me ask a different question: what the heck happened to Ruslan Fedotenko? He and Josef Vasicek have been in-freaking-visible of late. These guys are counted on to chip in with the Scoring by Committee Plan as devised by Ted Nolan and Garth Snow. Instead, both guys are getting about the same ice time as I would if I were on the team.

Miro Satan is missing in action as well. This leaves the bulk of the scoring square on the shoulders of Bill Guerin and Mike Comrie. Both of them, by the way, have been known as streaky players. I guess Ted Nolan is really happy they're both on a bit of a hot streak...last night notwithstanding.

What does this mean going forward? Well, obviously, it means that the Islanders as constituted need to pick up the scoring. This is not new to any of us who follow the team, is it? in fact, if the first half of the season had a theme to it, that's what it would be: we need to score more.

And I'm not sure how the heck they are going to do it.

Where's the jokes?

First off, I want to say that I didn't see or listen to the game last night. We got snow up the ying-yang here in CT and I took the opportunity to get reacquainted with an old friend, The Sandman, so I hit the bed early last night.

The boys won 3-2 over the Coyotes and Bill Guerin had two rebound goals. The Tank returned after a couple of games off with an injured shoulder and he picked up an assist. Coach Nolan apparently had a chat with Mike Comrie before the game and Comrie responded with a couple of assists. Jeff Tambellini was the guy who took the brunt of Nolan's displeasure and was assigned back to Bridgeport. Seriously now, that guy has got to decide whether he is an excellent AHL player or is going to be a good NHL player pretty darn soon.

To me, the big news from yesterday wasn't that baseball players are juiced up like the Kool-Aid Man; it was that the Flyers signed their young captain Mike Richards to a twelve-year contract.

So, you know, I checked the Canadian papers this morning. Where are the jokes? The press had a lot of fun when the Isles signed Ricky to the fifteen-year deal so surely they must be having hart attacks running to their keyboards to rip the Flyers for making along-term investment too.

Um, not quite.

No one is making fun of the Flyers as far as the articles I've read--and that shouldn't be too shocking. In fact, I would have been less surprised to read that the Philadelphia chapter of MADD had named Eagles Coach Andy Reid their Father Of The Year. Now, that kind of long-term commitment is a sound business deal. When the Islanders did it, it was fodder. Go figure.

Islanders 6 Buffalo 4

I'm writing this post while eating some apple pie that my wife made. As usual, honey, it rocks.

BIG win last night in the opener. Mike Comrie is still playing like a man possessed. The guy took the opportunity to be a front-line center with the Islanders and he feels like he has something to prove. Great signing by Garth.

That whole rebuilt first line is looking great, eh? Comrie had two goals and the winner was simply spectacular. The Tank had a PP goal and two assists and captain Bill Guerin has 3 helpers. As Greg Logan of Newsday put it, it was a "spectacular debut". We really need for Hilary Duff to keep dating Comrie because he's been unbelievable so far in training camp for the team. A telethon or a online petition, whatever. Someone needs to make sure this happens.

Most gratifying to me was that in the third period, the Islanders outshot the Sabres 11-5. Last season it seemed like our boys were holing on tight when entering the last period with a lead. Trent Hunter added his first of the season in the third as well and the Islanders outshot Buffalo 34-26 overall.

The Isles' effort last night has to be mentioned. They were down at many points last night and even when they took the lead late in the first (after Chris Campoli scored on the PP) and the Sabres answered right back, the boys never out their heads down. That, my friends, is what strong leadership will do for a team.

Great article worth noting by the New York Times' Dave Caldwell about Billy Guerin. You can access it here: Guerin

Big ups to Radek Martinek, too. Radek got a new three-year deal yesterday before the season started. We are big Martinek fans over here. He's a lot like Kenny Jonsson in that he does all of the little things that make him such an important player for the team. Things that may go unnoticed at times.

Tonight we see the same Sabres team that raided their Conference Championship banner last night before the Isles hung 6 on them. I can't wait.

The New Guys

The Islanders had a press conference to introduce the four new guys: Mike Comrie; Ruslan Fedotenko; Jon Sim; and new captain Bill Guerin. All of the pictures can be seen at the team's official website.

The Isles apparently surprised Guerin by naming him captain. Again, I think it is a good move.

The most famous of the rumor sites is reporting that the team is on the verge of a "major" trade. Could this be with Phoenix? No idea. Generally my Spider-Sense lets me know when the Isles are up to something. Nothing so far.