Montreal 5, New York 4

New York Islander Fan Central | 11/01/2008 10:02:00 PM |
Islanders website: Has the recap of Saturday's 5-4 loss to the Montreal Canadians.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Devastating loss, the kind that can kill a club for the remainder of a season with fragile confidence and injuries combined with a rookie coach trying to gain confidence himself with veteran NHL players.

We finally saw this team play with a lead and they looked completely lost that simply were over matched without DiPietro, Witt, Martinek and Meyer come crunch time against a club with that kind of skill that is used to that kind of shootout
high-scoring game.

We also saw the continuing trend of the Islanders once they take some penalties they cannot get their offensive game back on track which happened at the beginning of the third.

I do not think a lot of clubs would have come back against the Islanders like that, Montreal is one of those clubs that can and has this ability.

Anyone really expect Thompson, Park, Hilbert, Fritz to give this team a big third period goal or Pock-Skinner to hold up against a highly skilled offensive club like that? They did well (Pock struggled all night) Park drew several penalties and Fritz had his fight but even if the Isles had won here is it worth it for Tambellini to sit in the stands so Laraque can fight by appointment with Fritz or Comeau to sit in Bridgeport?

Win or lose I'm not seeing it.

Worst of all I have no idea why Scott Gordon had Kyle Okposo on left wing with Guerin and Hunter on the right side. Did the staff not tell the coach how changing Okposo's position in Minnesota led to some college struggles a year ago? A few times he had the puck and did not look comfortable with his release. Only thing I can think of was Gordon wanted his shot off left wing because he is right handed and had more net to shoot at.

For two periods a mediocre roster had the best of the Canadians, they outskated them, outworked them and stayed out of the box and showed some good speed and won the battles. Bergenheim had a great setup to Nielsen for the 4-1 goal and Price looked more beatable than any goaltender the Isles have faced this season. Danis had a few shaky moments but unraveled in the third to a small degree but did not have a lot of help.

His save on Koivu in the first was big. Campoli made a great play in the second diving in the crease to cover the net.

I predicted this team for sixth. Without DiPietro, Martinek, Witt and Meyer this is just too much to overcome combined with a club that seems to be spinning it's wheels
only developing a few prospects while fringe NHL players are in some spots.

Outside of Kovalev the Candians big scorers did not do the third period damage either.

I like the speed Scott Gordon's plan has brought, I do not like some of the players in those spots because they are not going to keep up with a game in the balance or make a play to turn the momentum back in the Islanders favor.

If Garth Snow and Scott Gordon are competing for a playoff spot in 2008-09 the record almost demands a trade at this point to shake the mix because the record and the standings do not lie.







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