Montreal 4, New York 1

Islanders website: Has the recap of Saturday's 4-1 loss to the Montreal Canadians.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Sean Bergenheim and Blake Comeau are the only forwards who have goals in the last week.

The same players are costing them on defense with critical mistakes, meanwhile without Rick DiPietro it may not have been as close as 4-1.

Isles defense took three first period penalties and still the veterans could not convert one with the chances they had. Fedotenko could not finish but had a visible game. Montreal gave the Isles virtually no second chances and their power play movement was too much for the Isles defense with Kovalev using Sutton for a screen.

Bergeron -3, Berard -2 with a big assist to Bill Guerin for that cross ice pass that put the Isles behind.

It's getting late and frankly this looks like a team in a free fall that cannot score enough or keep the put out of their net with simply not enough offensive talent. If this team is built on character it has to start showing it.

How many times can the coach talk about the effort and poor decision making? A lot of players are simply not making much of a case to resign them.

That move by Huet seemed bush because he could have injured Comeau. Even though Bill Guerin did not think the eleven seconds added to the first period made a difference the Isles had the puck deep in Canadian ice. As soon as the switched sides Montreal not only had one good chance but picked off his cross ice pass and scored on one DiPietro looked like he wanted back.

Newaday: Greg Logan returned with a pregame blog.

Islander News Articles 2/2:

NY Times: George Vecsey has a full feature article on Ted Nolan with comments from Charles Wang, Bill Guerin and Mike Sillinger.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Usual first class work by Mr Vecsey who covered the Islanders during the dynasty years and was at the Coliseum for Al Arbour's press conference.

Winnipeg Free Press: Gordon Sinclair jr reports Chris Simon flew to Winnipeg Friday, met with Assembly of First Nations Grand Chief Phil Fontaine and delivered a message of inspiration at the Manitoba Youth Centre.

Mr Sinclair interviewed Chris Simon outside and he reported the Islander winger who's suspension is up on Feb 20th acknowledges he made some mistakes but that anyone who knows him understands there is nothing wrong with him as he briefly touched up his counseling.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Really good article that's worth reading, too bad no one else picked up on it or will come the time he does return because it was very classy for Chris Simon to fly all the way to Winnipeg to meet the kids and I have no doubt this is the kind of man he is outside a hockey rink because I have read these kinds of stories through most of his playing career.

As for Chris Simon a few hard questions have to be asked. Can he play effective hockey in pressure situations and not over-react in a profession where his specific role is to over react and if he tries to control himself can he still be an effective hockey player?

How will Mr Wang and Ted Nolan feel if there is another incident which is why I ask is their loyalty and support to this man's on-ice career part of the problem?

Based on what happened after his first suspension what's going to be different this time?

What if a player decides to go over the line with Simon, who no doubt at this point will have players from other club's doing all they can to get him off his game to provoke him and likely more.

Also a very fair question has to be asked who leaves this team for his return because Chris Simon, Blake Comeau, Sean Bergenheim, Ruslan Fedotenko and Richard Park are the club's left wingers with Andy Hilbert also capable of playing the left side. Past this season Jon Sim is a left wing with two year's remaining on his contract. From a hockey standpoint all of these players bring more on-ice value to the club than Chris Simon and if the team does drop out of contention how do you not play your prospects in Comeau and Bergenheim who are visible and work hard most games?

Should I even mention Jeff Tambellini is a left wing who's dominating for Bridgeport on a club desperate for scoring?

And if the club does get hot how do you pull players who likely contributed to that?

Newsday did not pick up this story or even tell the fans there is a game Saturday afternoon as Mr Boland filed his story Friday and his editor did not include space to tell folks there is a game today. If your a casual fan looking for Islander hockey today you will not know the Islanders are playing.

No Islander blogs either folks unless you go to Steve Zipay's page who apparently get's paid by the word based on how much he is blogging for his beat.

Sporting News: Reports in a feature number one goaltender Cristobal Huet will start against the Islanders today.

2/2: New York at Montreal FSN-2pm

Islanders website: Has the preview for Saturday afternoon's 2pm game against the Montreal Canadians.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
We all know what's happening not only in the division but in the conference. Islanders went up to Montreal a year ago and pulled out a big win around this time and they have to do it today or at least put out their best effort as a team and see if that's enough.

Montreal is coming off a 5-4 ot loss where to Washington where Ovechkin scored four goals. The Habs have been an excellent team all year with a lot of speed and skill that dominated both Coliseum games. They came back from three goals down in that game to force overtime and had won three in a row going in.

Simply put it's getting late and the Islanders are going to have to score some hard working goals and play some defense or they are going to find themselves six points out with at least two clubs between them and eighth. There's not time for anything but this teams best game.

Ted Nolan said this club will define itself by it's second half.

2pm game.

WBS Penguins 5, Bridgeport 3

AHL.com: Reports the Sound Tigers lost 5-3 at WBS Friday night. Jeff Tambellini had two goals, Ben Walter scored a goal and was minus three. Kyle Okposo had an assist.

Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio has comments from Jack Capuano and Steve Regier on the little things the club did not do well and the mistakes that ended Bridgeport's three game winning streak against a team they are chasing for a playoff spot.

Bridgeport plays at Hartford Saturday.

Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio blogged on the loss which included captain Mark Wotton's return to the lineup who Jack Capuano praised as having a second coach on the ice.

Islander Friday notables

Islanders website: Report Friday afternoon Rick DiPietro is expected to play against Montreal with the following line combinations at practice in the latest shakeup:

Comeau-Comrie-Satan
Fedotenko-Vasicek-Guerin
Park-Sillinger-Hunter
Bergenheim-Hilbert-Jackman

Andy Sutton participated in practice with Aaron Johnson also participating as a defenseman. Ted Nolan talked about the flu big finally starting to leave the lockeroom.

Newsday: In Erik Boland's mid-afternoon article Ted Nolan talked about his teams effort has to improve and would not allow the flu to be an excuse, Mike Sillinger did not participate at practice but said it would be a positive for the club to get away while Bryan Berard talked about the club playing in spurts.

Media Blog: Cory Witt reports the Islanders are having problems getting to Montreal with the weather. Tomorrow's game is at 2pm.

Reuter/Countless sources: Report former Islander JP Dumont was signed to a four year contract extension by the Nashville Predators.

Tsn.ca: Scott Cullen put together a trade rumor's speculation thread from various credible media outlets which included Mark Herrmann's own speculation in the Islanders insider from Thursday.

NHL.com: John Kreiser has a full feature article with comments from Bill Torrey and Butch Goring on the deal with the Los Angeles Kings that is still the standard for greatest NHL trades.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Excellent article. I never knew the Isles were also looking at Daryl Sittler but that trade combined with the addition of Kenny Morrow and the return of Denis Potvin was really what got them turned around.

Isles look like they need a shakeup

I do not want to be critical of a team because some players are out with the flu, clearly this goes well beyond one game.

We are at the point a game they give up over forty five shots and score three shorthanded goals is a great effort overall?

Tonight's goal was off the tail end of a Kings power play where Berard made a good read and stole a puck.

Fair to write Ted Nolan's merit system and his patience with a lot of players is being pushed to the max this season and it also seems he is running out of things to try. We have seen this before where the lines are shaken up, when that does not work they go back to the same combinations.

It's also fair to write many are living up to their reputations as players who just are not consistent scorers on a team desperate for offense.

Did anyone go into this season expecting thirty goals from Josef Vasicek and consistent scoring all year?

Did we expect a repeat of Ruslan Fedotenko's big year in Tampa?

Were Bill Guerin and Mike Comrie going to carry a first line without a first line left winger?

Can Richard Park contribute as a first line player in terms of offensive numbers?

Was Andy Hilbert going to have a breakout season?

You go into these things hoping one or two of them work out with career seasons and that things balance out.

Were getting our answers and unfortunately it seems to be no on all fronts.

This does not even touch on the scoring consistency from Sillinger, Hunter or Satan who's offense is critical to the teams success.

Many will recall last year after 1/31/07 this club was a game over five hundred but out of nowhere Sillinger-Hunter-Hilbert scored a bunch of goals and the team got on a winning streak that saw them lose three times in regulation over twenty games.

Isles have just lost three regulation games in a row. The five on five play from last year is completely different which got a lot of those games a year ago to overtime and produced that streak.

This year it's not happening and for all of Blake Comeau or Sean Bergenheim's hard work and good long-term signs most games it's not realistic for them to produce on a consistent basis at this point in their careers.

I'm not sure we have seen rock bottom yet because the loss of Campoli to this defense is huge and on a team playing with virtually no margin for error one mistake from anyone can be the difference.

We saw some big mistakes from the team defense against Ottawa from both the forwards and defenders, we saw them tonight where Dubie made a few big saves.

I think Ted Nolan is facing the biggest challenge of his coaching career to get this team to play a sixty minute game at this point and put together the kind of hard working team he projected them to be. Full games where the Isles carry the play just are not what this team seems capable of doing.

We are also well past the point of players settling in to a new team because we have seen Comrie and Guerin have stretches with some goals and points, Guerin got settled in here during his hot December stretch. Comrie had his breakout game against Ottawa recently.

We are also seeing this teams defense produce more than it's offense at times.

I really don't think there is an answer with the talent on the roster. I do not see callups from Bridgeport solving anything and to do this you have to move some players.

The kind of shakeup they need could cost them their young talent or a veteran like Satan. Will it produce any answers or just be a lateral move that would be shortsighted to give up a prospect.

Are the Isles out of contention? Obviously no one is out of anything. They are due for some good efforts and a few wins, but it's fair to acknowledge it could start to fall apart from here, the schedule is brutal and despite Los Angeles winning recently that was a game the Isles needed to come out and outwork the Kings.

It is starting to look like they will be at best a low playoff seed. The separation in the standings from the top clubs is only growing with the teams below them catching up quickly. One thing I do see is a club not capable of winning more than a few games in a row.

Also I do not see five teams from one division qualifying.

Lot's of questions, no answers.

Islander News Articles 2/1:

Newsday: Erik Boland is the winner of Newsday's Islander coverage by committee contest (no blogs) with Mike Sillinger talking about his teams frustration and these one goal games. Ted Nolan was very critical of his club aside from the penalty kill and the goaltending with Wade Dubielewicz thoughts on the lack of offense and getting pucks through to the opposing net.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Steve Zipay had three afternoon blogs for his beat. Not like I want to be critical but this has to be written because our fans deserve dedicated coverage and blogs regardless of who is on vacation at Newsday. If Anthony Rieber can blog for the Rangers when Mr Zipay is off, Erik Boland should be doing likewise if he's assigned the beat for a day or two or Newsday's blog administrator should be telling us why.

NY Post: Dan Martin's article has a lot from Ted Nolan about the lack of effort with Bryan Berard's comments on how the club has to get back to winning on home ice.

Daily News: Peter Botte was provided space for seven very small paragraphs with the only thing new from Wade Dubielewicz on how the winning goal " squeaked " past him.

Los Angeles Times/Daily News only had A.P coverage of the game.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Disgraceful a market with that media no longer covers road trips, but Helene Elliot has written about this for a long time.

Newsday: Mark Herrmann put together the Islander insider Thursday afternoon which was mostly about what the Isles could do come the trade deadline with it unlikely they make a huge move with prospects because they gave up a lot last year for Ryan Smyth.

There was also some praise from Ted Nolan on Radek Martinek and mention of him as an unsung all-star.

Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio has a profile of new Sound Tiger defenseman Jeff Dwyer with Jack Capuano's comments who will replace Dustin Kohn who reportedly is out 2-3 weeks with a shoulder injury.

Bridgeport play at Wilkes-Barre against the Penguins Friday night. Sound Tigers website has a game preview here.

Los Angeles 3, New York 1

Islanders website: Has the early recap of tonight's 3-1 loss to the Los Angeles Kings.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
No fault on Dubie here, he gave his team a chance to win but once again this team simply cannot score or work hard enough to force the opposition into mistakes. It looked like hard word for the Islanders tonight and a team that did not seem very enthusiastic outside of the work that led to Berard's goal. They are not drawing many powerplays either.

Everything this year's team was advertised to be is just not happening most nights these days.

First period most of the shots came from the defense.

Cannot improve on what Ted Nolan said himself about his team: Lethargic, unacceptable, no energy, cannot expect to win or entertain with that effort.

Looks like a team in need of a shakeup, some players are not meriting their
ice-time. Labarbera did not have to be very good until a few saves in the third period.

Welcome to last place in the division and out of a playoff spot.
More tomorrow.

1/31: New York vs Los Angeles 7pm FSN

Islanders website: Has the preview of Thursday night's game against the Los Angles Kings.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
It's purple, silver and black and we have not seen them since the opening week of last season. I think the last time Los Angeles saw the Nassau Coliseum was the game Trent Hunter went knee on knee with Sean Brown.

Most days do not pass without a Rob Blake trade rumor.

I guess we'll see what the flu does to the lineup, but the Kings have been playing some good hockey 5-2 and are a higher scoring club than the Islanders. Kings just played a one goal overtime loss with Philadelphia and have a lot of young talent.

Islanders need two points here badly. Buffalo is gaining on eighth spot with games in hand. Not the worst game to start Dubie if DiPietro is not a hundred percent.

At this point everyone who visits here knows the drill on possible lineup changes:

1. Check Michael Fornabaio's blog for the Sound Tigers practice report because he knows who's missing first.

2. Check Cory Witt's blog who will report on any recalls after Isles practice.
3. Check out Isles tv for the practice report because Chris King and Steve Mears report who is practicing.
4. See if by chance someone blogs for Newsday which is usually around 5pm.
5. Wait for the telecast or the announcement of changes if your going to the game.

Updated 6:55pm
Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio reports no Bridgeport callups.

Dubielewicz starts, DiPirtro backup. Sutton/Fedotenko still out.

Islander News Articles 1/31

NY Post: Dan Martin reports on the flu bug with Hunter/Guerin comments, Bryan Trottier at practice and the club's struggles at home recently.

Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio has the Sound Tigers weekly which includes seven games against the Penguins in the final 34 games. Jeff Dwyer, from Utah (ECHL) will likely be called up and fill in for Dustin Kohn, who injured a shoulder (earlier reported as seperated) and will likely sit out at least through Saturday.

Note-The LA Times/Daily News only had ap/staff reports for the Flyers game and no updated informaton on Thursday's Islander game.

Islander Watch: Jeff Hamilton on waivers

Newsobserver.com:Rachel Carter reports the Carolina Hurricanes have placed former Islander/Sound Tiger Jeff Hamilton on waivers Wednesday.

The Canes signed Hamilton to a two-year contract worth $800,000 a season in July, he has five goals and 12 assists in 45 games played but was scratched for the fifth straight game Tuesday night. Some may recall he did a good job in Chicago.

Teams have until noon Thursday to put in a claim.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
He sure would not hurt the powerplay and if Carolina is looking for a spare defender the Isles have a few to offer. Of course waivers work by standings.

Poll results

Thanks for the e-mails and votes on the recent poll.

Given that there were three e-mail votes in favor of adding the press conference video to the game highlights with ths six who voted for it in the poll combined with the fact I can put the HTML in the same box I will include both for a while and see how it goes.

Considering Newsday has cut the Islanders coverage during the Superbowl week and the team does not get road coverage or much of anything at home from the city papers I think it's important to have one place where we can hear everything from the coach and players in press conferences because there is not enough space in the newspapers for it.

Bottom line if you want to watch these video's it's available for you here and if not do not click the play button.

Islander notables

Newsday: Erik Boland covered practice Wednesday and reported Rick DiPietro, Mike Sillinger, Bryan Berard, Andy Sutton and Ruslan Fedotenko - all missed Wednesday morning's practice at the Coliseum with the flu and are questionable for Thursday night's game against the Los Angeles Kings with Ted Nolan and Bill Guerin's comments.

Updated 8:30pm
Trent Hunter and some other player comments were added to this article which I guess is Thursday's Islander news article.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
I guess we'll see if someone is called up.

Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio updated the Sound Tiger blog.

Newsday:Kathleen Kerr reports Clark Gillies between 2002 and 2007, who lives in Dix Hills, donated $1million to the hospital for an in-patient pediatric unit.

It should be noted Steve Zipay had three full blogs from Philadelphia on a Ranger offday while Erik Boland/Mark Herrmann gave this team nothing in terms of a blog today.

Greg Logan is on comp time until Friday if I read correctly.

Islander News Articles 1/30:

Newsday: Mark Herrmann is today's coverage by committee person assigned to write on the Islanders 5-2 loss to Ottawa with the story being the Islanders twenty one giveaways, with Ted Nolan's comments that he felt his team played in spurts. Bryan Berard is quoted on the club's struggles at home.

Ottawa 5, New York 2

Islanders website: Has the recap of tonight's 5-2 loss to the Ottawa Senators.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
You make those kind of mistakes on defense and you beat yourself against any team, Ottawa is a good team that did not have to be very good to win and basically dominated the game from start to finish, even if they looked rusty at times.

As usual it seems Bergenheim or Comeau are two of the best Islanders. It's easy to blame Bergeron but where was Sillinger to cover his man on a goal? Meszaros has had a lot of good luck at the Coliseum this year, his pp goal off Meyer set the tone.

DiPietro did not have a lot of help but Ottawa did not need a lot of shots.

Nice play by Bergenhiem to score and Berard to jump in from the point and give the club a powerplay goal, but even at 3-2 it seemed like a matter of when before Ottawa would close out the game.

Another expensive loss in the overall standings with Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Boston winning.

Bill Guerin sure seemed to be hanging on that second Ottawa goal after looking at the replay.

1/29: New York vs Ottawa 7pm FSN-2

Islanders website: Has the preview of tonight's game against the Ottawa Senators with Ted Nolan's comments about the game and a few other subjects.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Dany Heatley or not Ottawa can humiliate a team if they are not on their game and this time the Sens are not coming off a back to back with Detroit. Daniel Alfredsson had seven points in a win for his club before the break who have been losing some games but are an outstanding team overall.

Fedotenko/Sutton out with flu. Berard/Johnson in.

My guess here is Martin Gerber gets the start.

From the Islanders side the quotes and comments are great but we all know the standings and what the Isles must do to stay in contention and it's time for action with the club making a push to get into the top of this division. The even strength and powerplay must do better and this club must protect it's goaltender.

Boston, Carolina and Philadelphia were not good overall efforts at all considering it took three shorthanded goals and almost forty five saves to win.

Should be interesting to see what Comeau going to the second line means for Bergenheim, who has been outperforming Fedotenko.

I suspect the Islander Newsday blog and Cory Witt will have updates today after the morning skate.

For those who may not know Center Ice is having a free preview that begins today if you care to watch some out of market games.

Islander News Articles 1/29

Newsday: Erik Boland has comments from Bill Guerin and Ted Nolan on the Isles success against Ottawa and that this team wants to win the division, not just settle for eighth. Rick DiPietro will be back at practice Tuesday.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
It should be noted the print edition of Newsday in Queens did not include the Islander story today.

NY Post: Dan Martin made a guest appearance at practice and had Bill Guerin's comments about what he saw from San Jose about the Isles last year vs what he wants this season. Blake Comeau practiced with Vasicek and Satan Monday as Ted Nolan wants to increase his role.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Let's see if Mr Martin will be assigned to cover the game. Not the first time we have seen a preview and then no coverage.

Windsor Star: Dave Waddell had Red Wings coach Mike Babcock comments on Monday was very impressed with Rick DiPietro at the all-star weekend.

Winnipeg Sun: Bruce Garrioch reports some folks are considering the possibility of the All-Star weekend/skills competition be overhauled or outright scrapped after next season.

Sports Business Daily: Reports the all-star game drew a 0.8 preliminary rating on Versus, up 60% from 0.5 in 2007. The game drew a 0.3 in host city Atlanta, down 63% from the national average was on pace to be the second-lowest rated All Star Game since at least 1991, though previous All Star Games aired on broadcast television, as opposed to cable.

Ottawa Citizen: Ken Warren reports Senators goaltender Ray Emery arrived late at practice yesterday which could lead to a fine or a suspension by the club who have had several problems with the goaltender. Jason Spezza and Daniel Alfredsson flew in from the ASG but did not practice. Dany Heatley is out with an injury.

Nanaimo Daily News : Reports Bryan Trottier will be participating in a local game with former NHL stars, in aid of the Brent McDougall Foundation, on Monday, 7 p.m. at Nanaimo's Frank Crane Arena.

Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio has an all-star notebook on Jeff Tambellini's goal to tie the all-star game with his comments while AHL President talked about a possible AHL outdoor game.

Projecting out the standings Pt One

My favorite feature of the NHL season where I look at the trends of the Islanders season look at the their upcoming schedule and project out the Islanders point total and if they can acquire enough points to make what I consider the playoff mendoza line which starts at ninety two points but could go as high as ninety six points.

As a rule for me part of that mendoza line has to be ten games over five hundred.

Every week or so I will revisit this and we can laugh at how wrong I was about the game or how close I came to getting it correct.

For the first edition of this feature we start with the current standings and the games played. Islanders go into the break with thirty two games remaining and fifty four points.

Note-Regardless of what happens with the Islanders or any team in terms of trades/injuries all predictions made today are final for the rest of the season.

Eastern Conference
Games played/points
1 Ottawa Senators* 50 66
2 Philadelphia Flyers* 48 59
3 Carolina Hurricanes* 52 52
****************************************************************
4 Montréal Canadiens 49 60
5 New Jersey Devils 49 59
6 Pittsburgh Penguins 49 58
7 Boston Bruins 49 55
8 New York Islanders 50 54
*****************************************************************
9 Rangers 51 54
10 Washington Capitals 50 51
11 Atlanta Thrashers 52 50
12 Florida Panthers 51 49
13 Buffalo Sabres 48 48
14 Toronto Maple Leafs 51 48
15 Tampa Bay Lightning 50 45

Islanders remaining games:
Record 24-20-6 54 points
Jan 29, Senators-Loss 54 points 24-21-6
Jan 31, Kings-Win 56 points 25-21-6
Feb 2, at Canadians-Loss 56 points 25-22-6
Feb 5, Ducks-Loss 56 points 25-23-6
Feb 7, at Penguins otl 57 points 25-23-7
Feb 9, at Wild W 59 points 26-23-7
Feb 12 Flyers L 59 points 26-24-7
Feb 14, at Maple Leafs L 59 points 26-25-7
Feb 16, Thrashers W 61 points 27-25-7
Feb 18, Sharks W 63 points 28-25-7
Feb 20, at Capitals ot L 64 points 28-25-8
Feb 21, Lightning W 66 points 29-25-8
Feb 23, at Devils L 66 points 29-26-8
Feb 26, Penguins W 68 points 30-26-8
Feb 28, at Thrashers W 70 points 31-26-8
****************************************************************
Mar 1 Flyers ot-L 71 points 31-26-9
Mar 2, Panthers W 73 points 32-26-9
Mar 4, at Rangers W 75 points 33-26-9
Mar 6, Rangers ot-L 76 points 33-26-10
Mar 8, at Flyers L 76 points 33-27-10
Mar 11 at Lightning W 78 points 34-27-10
Mar 12, at Panthers otl 79 points 34-27-11
Mar 15, at Canadiens L 79 points 34-28-11
Mar 18, Leafs W 81 points 35-28-11
Mar 21, at Devils L 81 points 35-29-11
Mar 23, at Flyers W 83 points 36-29-11
Mar 24, Penguins W 85 points 37-29-11
Mar 27, at Penguins otl 86 points 37-29-12
Mar 29, 2 Flyers W 87 points 38-29-12
Apr 1, Devils W 89 points 39-29-12
Apr 3, Rangers otl 90 points 39-29-13
Apr 4, at Rangers W 92 points 40-29-13

There we are folks, ninety three points, eleven games over five hundred and what is a good shot at one of the last playoff seeds. Could be wrong by a lot either way or correct but this is how I see things projecting out given the trends and not too many critical injuries or major trades for a club going for it now or cashing in if they go into a major tailspin.

My Critical Mid-season stats

Islanders did their first half stats and game highlights breakdown showing the top leaders in stats like hits or blocked shots among several statistics.

I thought I would go the other way and look at the key trends that were a problem last year.

* As many know last year the Isles were a very good five on five club and this year they simply are not with the plus minus telling that story.

* Where things are different is last year the Isles pp to penalty was over a minus ninety disparity. At this point Islanders have improved if you want to call it that to a minus twenty eight at two hundred seven times on the powerplay vs two hundred thirty five times shorthanded.

* Isles are twenty third in powerplays vs fifth in times shorthanded so again Colin Campbell's officials seem to not be giving the Isles anything close to an even split, never mind the teams who are a plus in this department.

* Islanders are sixth best shorthanded.
* seventh in shorthanded goals scored with seven.
* twenty seventh in powerplay goals with only thirty three.
* twenty ninth in powerplay goals against with nine. (Carolina 30th)
* Isles are ninth in faceoff percentage.
* Isles are in a mix around 20th in overtime losses with six.

Jeff Tambellini scores in all-star game

AHL.com: Reports Jeff Tambellini scored his first all-star goal in tonight's game which did tie the game and force overtime which the Canadian all-stars won in a shootout.


Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio blogged during the game.

NYI Fan Central Update

Some subtle changes to NYI Fan Central over the weekend.

* A New York Islander Roster section was added linking to all the current players along with statistics, game reviews and the schedule.

* Sound Tigers section added more links to current roster, stats, standings.
Ct Post articles
Standings
Roster
Complete schedule
Statistics
Radio/Webcast


* Several Prospect links from major websites added.

A few words about Chris Botta

Chris Botta for those who may not know is the Islanders media relations VP and has been associated with the club for over twenty years and does a blog this year called Point Blank here as media relations coordinator Cory Witt does a media blog on the club here and for the most part when both are not assigned to cover other assignments do a very good job with the updates.

Some may feel because Mr Botta/Mr Witt were kind enough to add New York Islander fan central to the list of people they selected for the blog box I would give them a free pass on things I may disagree with?

Anyone who follows this blog knows that has not been the case and when I feel Mr Botta or the club have gotten it wrong I have written about it.

I tend to think fans are under the impression Mr Botta spins the truth but so many occasions he has written and given his opinion which at times has turned out differently than what the Islanders actually do.

Folks need to understand the difference between Mr Botta issuing a press release for the club vs instances where he gives his personal take on a subject. He's also not part of the hockey staff making decisions which a few folks at times seem to forget.

For myself Chris Botta and the staff were the star of the show in Atlanta with so many interviews of writers or media people this blog has been critical of and will continue to be based on what they write. I look for fair and objective treatment of the club based only on how they play or how they are covered and I think it's important to ask hard questions when this does not happen.

I like the fact Mr Botta sent out e-mails, got responses and let the fans get to know these writers, their viewpoints and appreciate how hard the Islanders have worked to tell the Islander story this weekend. It's really above and beyond what I expected and to read a Ray Ferraro talking about 1993 just makes it even better.

I'm sure it does not hurt to have some of these writers see and deal with the club directly which will make them think a little more before they unload on a decision the Isles make in July and August. Given some of Adam Proteau's and Ken Campbell's articles earlier I want to see what they have to write now that they have met some of these people in person as Mr Campbell did with Rick DiPietro.

Mr Botta let the writers responses speak for themselves which is absolutely the correct thing to do even if it's not what we may want to read or what I may not agree with, but that's another blog for another day.

Anyone who has followed Mr Botta for years knows on occasion he has not been shy about stepping up and claiming unfair treatment of this club by the media. He also seems to understand he has to keep a good working relationship with the Times, News, Newsday, Post and countless other publications in the process who want to set up interviews with players so he will ask questions of Leon Caver at the Daily News and the Daily News commercials on the radio but at the same time correcly point out wrote " we want and need the Daily News coverage " which makes it a tough balancing act.

It seems this process picked up out on the West Coast to let some of the media that have not seen the Islanders in years get to reconnect with the franchise. To the staff's credit this was also done at a time when a lot of attention was on Kyle Okposo coming to Bridgeport back here.

I remember a long time ago Mr Botta did a feature when the Milstein's purchased the club. Howard Milstein, Steven Gluckstern, Tom Gulotta had the press conference and wanted the Stanley Cup present. Mr Botta's instincts at the time felt that was not a good idea and put it in his article. He went on to write they gave him the hope of dreaming about the club winning another cup by doing so but at the time it was an honest answer where he even went on to admit he did hold back in some past updates because things were not too good at the time but it was not going to happen again.

I may not agree with everything Mr Botta writes but I really learned to respect him for letting us get to know him a decade ago, regardless of how things worked out on the ice under those owners and if they did not live up to their promise.

Of course in his final blog entry from Atlanta here Mr Botta does his usual great job crediting Charles Wang and Atlanta for giving Rick DiPietro and Islander fans a first class show.

For myself in Atlanta Chris Botta and the staff have been the MVP of the Islanders show despite the Islander goaltender getting a lot of votes, it made me pay more attention than I was expecting to.

Rick DiPietro one goal allowed

One period, one goal against for Rick DiPietro.

The Western Conference scored their only goal in the opening twelve seconds while DiPietro was talking on a live microphone through the first period.

A few very good saves, one great one on Cory Perry.

Former Islander goalie Chris Osgood let in five but also made a few great saves. Eastern Conference while DiPietro was in had a big edge in the play.

Mike Emrick did a great job letting him do play by play in the final seconds.

MVP? Doubtful because he did not have to make a ton of great saves.

Updated:
Eric Staal of Carolina won the MVP, Nabakov of San Jose was outstanding in the second period as was Tomas Vokoun of Florida.

Globe and Mail: David Shoalts felt Rick DiPietro was the games best player for the first twenty minutes in his recap.

Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio is in Binghampton blogging on the AHL all-star games and skills competiton reporting on how Jeff Tambellini is doing for the Canadian all-stars.

AHL.com: Recaps the skills competition which the Canadian all-stars lost.

Islander News Articles 1/27

Islanders website/Point Blank: Report Rick DiPietro will start the all-star game tonight in Atlanta with Chris Botta's Point Blank leading the coverage with several interviews and updates.

Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio's game article is how the Sound Tigers scored the tying goal with forty seven seconds left and won the game in a shootout with comments from Jack Capuano, Steve Regier and goaltender Mike Morrison on how the team stuck together and worked well.







Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio has an article on Jeff Tambellini who will appear in the skills competition tonight for the Canadian All-Stars in Binghamton, N.Y.; tonight's skills contest begins the festivities, and the All-Star Game is Monday night.

The American Hockey League via it's B2 Network is offering the skills competition Sunday night and the game Monday night free to everyone
here which also includes all television outlets that will carry the skills competition and the game.

AHL.com: Reports Jeff Tambellini will participate in the following events at the skills competition tonight:
Event 2 - CCM U+ Skate Fastest Skater
Event 3 - CCM U+ Stick Rapid Fire
Event 7 - Toyota Breakaway Relay

NYI Fan Central Comments:
I wonder why Dave Andrews and the folks in the AHL who make these decisions decided to put the skills competiton on the same day as the NHL All-Star game? Considering the AHL wraps up it's regular season a week after the NHL was there some reason they could not format this better so NHL fans could watch both on seperate days?

Should be noted Ranger beat writer Steve Zipay has had four blogs since all-star weekend began and did a brief write up on the Rangers at the Young Stars. Meanwhile the Islander franchise goaltender is hurting during the skills competition and Mr Logan who made a lot of claims about the club's improved coverage to Chris Botta in an e-mail interview is AWOL aside from the stock article written before the skills competition.

Anyone else think Mr Logan could have taped the event if he did not have time to watch it Saturday and update his blog this morning for the fans? That's what I do for this blog at times when I cannot see a game live.

Newsday had space in it's papers today for the Sunday NHL feature which of course had no mention of the Islanders.