Just when the hockey world counted out the Isles and gave the Peguins a walk into round two, the boys gut it out and steal game 2. We go to Long Island tied up at a game a piece and the old NVMC will be rocking come Sunday. I’m just sad that I will be on a plane instead of enjoying the scene, but I’m sure the fans will do us all proud.
The Pens may be the better team, and may yet win the series, but the Islanders are declaring themselves a team to be dealt with going forward.
Thanks to this week being a busy work week, what with out annual user conference being in Vegas this week, I wasn’t around to follow the Islanders and/or Jets games last night. I had to wait until I was finally free of social obligations to check the scores and realize that, despite all the expectations of the experts for this team, that the Islanders are a playoff team!
Honestly, I didn’t expect this to happen this season. Coming into the season I thought there were still too many question marks among to young prospects, and was beginning to wonder if a couple of them maybe needed to go. But they have proved their metal in this stretch run and shown me that they are definitely coming of age.
I don’t know what their first taste of playoff hockey will be like, but I’m going to enjoy it knowing that this team is only going to get better from here. Look out NHL, the Isles are back in the playoffs!
Both Anders Lee and Ryan Strome scored in their debuts last night, Lee with the Islanders in a big 5-2 victory to help them stay on a roll that has them contending for a playoff spot, and Strome with the Bridgeport Soundtigers.
After watching all those other prospects make their debuts after the lockout, it’s nice to see some of the Isles kids doing the same, and having an immediate impact.
Isn’t this the same story we recently had about Nabakov? Balks at idea of playing for the Islanders, finally relents when he realizes team is not going to let him walk away, winds up enjoying it and signing an extension to stay.
So why does the media still consider the Islanders a joke when, obviously, some of the players who might have thought that previously wind up staying?
Well, with the Blue Jackets, the team I adopted while living in Columbus, moving to the same division as the Islanders, the team I’ve rooted for since I was a little kid, it might soon be time to truly say goodbye to Columbus.
Moving to the East is definitely good news for the Jackets though, in terms of less travel, more games in the same time zone and budding rivalries wit teams that are closer to Ohio, like Pittsburgh, Buffalo, etc.
On the other hand, they run into the same problem that the Isles have, trying to improve and make the playoffs in a division that already has the Pens, Flyers, Rangers and Devils, without having the same budget to spend and other advantages used to attract free agents that those teams do.
Not just win, but both come from behind, on the road, in places that are usually a nightmare for them. First the Jackets on Vinny Prospal’s goal with under 25 seconds left in Detroit, then the Isles with Hickey getting his first NHL goal in overtime to get the win in Montreal.
Maybe there is hope for my two favorite teams yet…..
Islanders make a trade based solely on getting above the salary cap floor, without having to actually spend any money, proceed to lay down and play a listless game against the one team they should never, ever struggle to get up for.
At least the trade for Tim Thomas I can understand, but it’s still embarrassing to root for a team that has to resort to this kind of thing so instead of focusing on the on-ice product, we’re back to talking about financials, and arena deals, etc. I can’t wait until the Islanders get moved to Brooklyn, and, hopefully, become a money-making enterprise. It may not ever happen, but at least there’s a slimmer of hope out there beyond 2015, and ultimately, as Islander fans, we should be used to hoping.
Yes, that was obviously the relevant number for me last night. I followed three games closely last night, the Islanders 4-2 loss to the Penguins, the Blue Jackets 4-2 loss to the Kings, and Ohio States 76-74 loss to Michigan.
Ohio State scored all of 2 points in the overtime period.
In all three cases, a failure to generate more than 2, mostly due to a failure to execute a good offense, meant a loss for the team I root for. For the Islanders, a sudden inability to do anything with powerplay chances put them behind and kept them there. For the Jackets, going 18 minutes of game time without even getting a shot on goal tells you everything you need to know, and for the Buckeyes, well as much as I love Aaron Craft’s hustle and defense, the end of that game was pathetic as he consistently drove into traffic and got his shot blocked instead of looking to drive and dish to an open shooter.
So my message to my teams this morning is, score more points!
Perhaps one of the most impressive Islander outings I’ve seen in years. Of course, I don’t live in the New York area so I don’t see them play that often, but what a great way to represent on national TV!
Especially nice to see Crosby and Malkin, for all the hype, get shut down and have zero impact on the game. Nice job Islanders!
The NHL Network ran this game a couple of weeks ago, and naturally, I had to set the DVR so I could remind myself of the Islanders glory days. I’ve watched bits and pieces of the game over the last few days, and a few things occurred to me. I thought I would write them down, and see if anyone else agrees, or remembers differently.
1. Bob Bourne and Ken Linseman were simply faster, by a wide margin, than anyone else on the ice. I know there are some amazingly fast skaters in the league now, but the difference in speed between them and the rest of the players on the ice is nowhere near as noticeable as it was in 1980. This is one obvious area where the game has changed, everyone can skate.
2. Goaltenders and their equipment are ridiculous larger now than they were then. That is one reason the game features much less scoring now. I’d argue the size of the other players on the ice contributes just as much, there simply aren’t shooting lanes because there’s less space on the ice all the way around. On the other hand, ice conditions are much better now. As you watch an entire game from that era, watch how many poor passes are made due to the puck bouncing and just being difficult to control all the way around.
3. Clutching and grabbing got a lot of the blame for the low scoring prior to the 2004 lockout, but it had nothing on the hooking, slashing, holding, etc. that went on in this game. Granted, this was the Flyers and that was their SOP during those days, but both teams were guilty of a ton of things that would be penalties now. Even as it was, there were a ton of penalties in the game!
4. Watching the game reminded me that much of the Flyers success defensively came from the fact that they would simply hold, hook, mug, whatever you want to call it, all the time and dare the officials to call them all. There’s no doubt it was successful for years, because even though they took a lot of penalties, they knew they could still use those tactics to stop you more than you could take advantage of the powerplays. In the 1980 Finals the Islanders scored 15 powerplay goals in 6 games. I think that started the momentum away from that type of play, the 80’s era Oilers put it to death completely.
5. Butch Goring gets a lot of deserved credit for being the “final piece” to the Isles dynasty. But let’s look at something else. Just before that trade was made, the Isles added Ken Morrow from the US Olympic team. They then include Defenseman Dave Lewis in the trade, giving Morrow a top 6 spot in the lineup. Let’s not underestimate Ken Morrow as the piece that made the trade possible. As I watched the end of this game, I am struck by the fact that a kid with 18 regular season games of NHL experience is playing short-handed with 7 minutes left in a tie game 6 of the Finals, and had plenty of ice time in the final couple of minutes and overtime. How many times have you seen that? And what a difference does it make on the result that the Isles played 6 defensemen regular shifts while the Flyers, due to the injury to Joe Watson, and unwillingness to play McHilhargy, were only playing 4?
6. The Isles third line was Wayne Merrick centering Tonelli and Nystrom. As it was pointed out by the announcers, that line had gone -11 in the playoffs. About halfway through the game, Al Arbour switched Lorne Henning to that line and Merrick barely played after that. The weak line that Philly had hoped to take advantage of became the most dangerous line immediately, and well, you know the rest. Brilliant move by Arbour, but what took him so long? ;-)
OK enough of my fond memories of the Isles glory years. Time to focus on the 2013 team in Pittsburgh tonight.
