New York at Montreal 7:30pm Msg+

New York Islander Fan Central | 11/24/2008 10:41:00 AM | | | |
Montreal Gazette: Pat Hickey has a recap of the Canadians recent offensive struggles and also reports Joey MacDonald will start tonight in goal for the Islanders.

Mr Hickey also reports there's a chance Guillaume Latendresse will return after missing one game with a sore shoulder.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
I will not have another update before the game so if Danis is recalled and starts here I guess Mr Hickey got it wrong. For Danis to play here would mean he would have played three days in a row and traveled three times.

One thing I know is we are not seeing any talk of MacDonald being locked into a schedule we constantly read about DiPietro which is why all the talk about it months in advance was worthless.

Standings do not lie folks, the Islanders need points out of this game and two out of three games on the road trip. They need to exploit another skilled club with great speed struggling and they have to get the defense and goaltending while staying out of the box.

Fair to write it's highly unlikely the Islanders will win a 7-6 shootout kind of game with the Canadians but they are long overdue for that kind of game.

The Islanders are likely going to need those three goals which seems the dividing line between getting points in this league and losing in regulation.

Good news is anyone who watched against Buffalo even with the 18-2 shot disparity did not see MacDonald forced to make a lot of quality saves. If this is the pattern the team defense can lock itself into that should keep them in games but like we saw against the Devils every game is different.

NHL.com: Lindsay Kramer has a feature on Islanders-Sound Tigers goaltender Peter Mannino with comments from Bridgeport head coach Jack Capauno.

Newsday: Arthur Staple has an interview with Colin Campbell where he talks about a committee of people which include former Islander Pat Flatley in the decision making process regarding discipline/suspension which was how Mike Mottau's suspension was determined along with Mr Campbell's history regarding both New York area clubs, how the process has evolved with more technology and that he would be replaced if the teams did not feel he was doing a good job.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Mr Campbell told me something I did not know and felt was necessary, that several other people are behind these decisions. Unfortunately again what is not consistent is that a player got an injury off a hit to the chin/neck where we can quibble with that vs direct head shot but the result is still the same.

Someone is hurt because someone was careless.

And that's why the suspension has to be longer if you are really trying to crack down on this kind of hitting.







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