Philadelphia 4, New York 1

Islanders website: Has the recap of tonight's 4-1 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers.

Newsday: This is the link that should eventually contain Newsday's game coverage after being an early AP summary.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
I don't see any miracles here folks, it's basically over for this team now in my estimation and frankly it should be. Philadelphia did not even have to play that well and made the most of the Isles mistakes.

Painfully obvious Bergenheim and the kid line played with the most desperation and effectiveness which says something terrible about the veteran core of this team.

Anyone else wonder how come after Comeau worked to get the Isles a goal from Meyer and then drew a powerplay Ted Nolan simply did not leave them out and give them the two minutes?

Nope. Put Guerin, Comrie, Satan, Hunter out and watch them dump the puck so other teams can read it and clear as they take some low percentage shots and overpass until they turn it over. For the second half of that powerplay put Richard Park on the point.

To the teams overall credit they came out and played a strong first period and draw some powerplays with Hunter's line having one great shift. Having written that how many good chances did they actually produce from all the work? A point shot that hit Biron and dropped down where he did not see it and Bergenheim's rush off Park's pass before Satan got his chance in the third period?

Aside from that a lot of point shots or low percentage chances or Philadelphia's defense blocked the shots because they were easy to read.

DiPietro did not play poorly in terms of stopping shots but his penalty and turnover directly led to two goals, in this kind of game that's fatal. Combine that with some over aggressive penalties by Bergenheim one Berard had to take and that's the game with Philadelphia tipping two past DiPietro.

Philadelphia was crashing the crease a lot in this game. Hunter got thrown away from the Flyer goal and on another powerplay had a puck bounce over his stick where he was moving so slow.

It is what it is. Ted Nolan moved Satan to Guerin's line and outside of a few outside shots and the one Satan missed was very quiet in a game they had to produce.

Richard Park and Andy Hilbert for all their hard work are not offensive players, Bergenheim got his chances anyway. To call that a second line is a joke in terms of production because the career records of Park and Hilbert are not that of top six forwards.

Nice to see Bill Guerin stand up for his teammates, aside from that a few peripheral chances that almost beat Biron who did not have to play very well.

Defense did a solid job for the most part, Witt had one kick off him shorthanded that led the the second goal but that was on DiPietro. Even strength Flyers did not get much more than the Isles.

What else can I write folks? This team simply cannot score enough goals and looks basically lost on it's powerplay. If it's shorthanded play allows four goals they have no chance.

The teams in front of them, the games in hand they have and the head to head games make it virtually impossible and that's without talking about the scoring and powerplay problems.

AHL.com: Reports Steve Regier scored with thirty eight second left to earn Bridgeport a shootout loss point to Portland on Saturday 5-4.

Kyle Okposo scored his eight goal.

Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio did not travel to Portland but will likely have an article on the big comeback to gain a point for Bridgeport.

Sunday and Monday will finally be days off at NYI Fan Central with no blog updates barring any major announcement by the team. Feeders will carry all articles and updates.

3/8: New York at Philadelphia 7pm FSN-2

Islanders website: Has the pregame tonight against the Philadelphia Flyers.

Courier News: Chuck Gormley reports Flyers defenseman Derian Hatcher is hoping to play tonight against the Islanders. Martin Biron will start in goal.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Everyone knows the numbers and the Isles situtation and what they have to do at this point. A good place to start would be playing the game in the Flyers end of the ice
and getting a lot more quality chances then they generated last Saturday at home. Flyers are almost as desperate and have to win to keep their own playoff chances going.

Rick DiPietro returns to the net after a week off and if the rested goalie gets hot his play could carry them tonight.

As Ted Nolan said himself there cannot be any weak links from here, I hope he holds his veterans to that and if the kids do well keep running them out there and give them a good fifteen-twenty minutes and cut the other players minutes. Bergenheim continues to be the most visible forward in the group and it goes well beyond his scoring.

Richard Park, Bill Guerin, Mike Comrie, Miroslav Satan, Josef Vasicek, Ruslan Fedntenko have to step up here and contribute some goals. Hunter could use a big hot streak here himself.

Win a game tonight and finally get a two day break, this club needs a little rest almost as much as it needs points which is saying a lot.

A few more losses and they will get a seven month rest.

Islander News Articles 3/8:

Newsday: Katie Strang has comments from Rick DiPietro on returning to the net and Ted Nolan on a lot of topics as he updates the injuries and the upcoming roadtrip starting in Philadelphia Saturday.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Brendan Witt rolled his ankle, not Berard.

Toronto Sun: Lance Hornsby reports the Toronto Maple Leafs nominated Jason Blake for the
Bill Masterton Trophy, awarded to the NHL player who best exemplifies 'the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey.

AHl.com: That loud thud was not the weather but the Sound Tigers losing 5-0 in Portland.

Ct Post:Michael Fornabaio recaps the Sound Tigers loss with Jack Capuano's comments.

Portland Press Herald: Covers the Pirates.

Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio notes in his blog he is not on this trip.

Islander Notables

Islanders website: Has Ted Nolan's comments about how his players must work from here, that the club will stay on the road after Saturday's game and head straight to Florida from Philadelphia. Rick DiPietro returns to the net as the coach had the following injury updates:

Brendan Witt rolled his ankle but is expected to play against Philadelphia.
Bruno Gervais will join the team on the road trip, but it is unsure when or if he'll play because of the concussion.
Frans Nielsen could be back within the week.
Andy Sutton could meet up with the team in Montreal after skating today.

Isles also have prospect updates on Jason Gregoire, Blake Kessel and Rhett Rakhshani.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Ted Nolan is correct that there cannot be one weak link and that there is no tomorrow. His weak link is his scoring and his powerplay and there is hiding from it.

Isles need wins in ten of twelve games or it's essentially over. Just the head to head games by the clubs competing with the Isles make for no other alternative.

One thing going for them is a rare could of days off in a row after Saturday. You hate to use excuses but going back to the Minnesota game on Feb 9th this club has had only two days off in a row twice over a full month. That early schedule that saw them play three times in twenty four days combined with so many injuries is no small factor now.

Friday Newsday Islander Insider

Newsday: Greg Logan had the Friday Islander Insider this week which was on Rick DiPietro and how Mike Dunham has been working with him as well as a lot on the young players and how they have played. More on Ted Nolan deciding on Wade Dubielewicz for the last two games, updates to Mike Sillinger and Jon Sim, who has been skating with the club and could return to the lineup if the Islanders do make the playoffs.

Islander News Articles 3/7:

Newsday: Greg Logan's article was on how it did not matter who was in goal because the Isles could not score and were very loose on defense with Brendan Witt comments. Ted Nolan defended his decision to start Dubielewicz and felt he held them in the game early but his team was outworked. Wade Dubielewicz said he wanted to be the hero but will be ready for his next opportunity.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
If Mr Logan is doing the Friday Islander Insider he did not preview it in his blog.

Newsday: Mark Herrmann wrote to basically tell Ranger fans in a newspaper desperate for Islander coverage how a club with only two more wins than them going into this game could win the Stanley Cup with fourteen games left in the season.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Mark Herrmann sure seems to have put on his rose-colored Ranger glasses for this article. The teams were separated by two wins going into last night's game and had just lost to the Isles. Was this really necessary today with double digit games left in the regular season to stick it to Islander fans with this after a split of a home and home?

It would be nice if Mr Herrmann he just came out and told the folks he's a Ranger fan covering the Islander beat on occasion. You can see it when he turns up and does articles questioning the clubs viability and then writes this today.

NY Times: Lynn Zinser's Ranger centric coverage had Ted Nolan and Wade Dubielewicz comments on the loss.

NY Post: Larry Brooks and Jay Greenberg here: Were all over Ted Nolan's decision to start Wade Dubielewicz and of course to praise the Rangers where the Isles are barely quoted in either article beyond Bill Guerin.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Was anyone expecting anything else from the bad news twins today? Mr Brooks is a life long Ranger die-hard who cannot write a word about the Islanders without some kind of insult included and Mr Greenberg even though he's from St Louis and Philadelphia markets long ago stopped being a hockey writer beyond occasional coverage. Neither one know anything about the Islanders beyond the days they show up to cover the Rangers.

Daily News: The News editor decided to leave Peter Botte at home for an Islander home game against the Rangers so John Dellapina could written two Ranger centric articles where not a single Islander is quoted but did all he could to claim a squabble between the coach and general manager for the decision to start Wade Dubielewicz even though he was too lazy to get quotes from either one of them. He had no problem going to Tom Renney to second guess Ted Nolan.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
I fail to understand why Chris Botta is this nice to the Daily News or Post editors for this pathetic kind of treatment of our club leaving Peter Botte home so not a single player is quoted in either Ranger centric article? The AP could have done a far more fair and balanced job. I guess Mr Botta is more than used to it by now and we all know he lobbies all he can for Islander centric coverage. It's old news to see the Ranger fan/beatwriters take all the coverage space from the Isles and the infrequent Islander beatwriters disappear at times like this.

Garbage journalism from Mr Dellapina to write there is a squabble and use the general managers appearance on WFAN and only print a part of what he said to infer squabble without going to either one for a quote. Garth Snow defended his coach in that interview and only a portion of his comments were used here to make something out of essentially nothing. Later on WFAN Ted Nolan said the owner and general manager leave him alone. Mr Dellapina is the kind of writer who does back flips to protect Tom Renney and even went to him for quotes on Ted Nolan's decision?

Garbage journalism 101. Just another reason why hockey is so far down on the map in the New York market and why the game received no backpages in Manhattan today.

It's amazing the spin a handful of Ranger fans in the media business can create but we all know this is what many Islander fans will read and buy into despite the fact these writers are never around unless it's time to be critical or the Rangers are the opposition and do not follow the club on a daily basis.

This is where the Islanders lose the p.r game in the very limited New York Hockey media market and why some fans of the club need to break into the coverage business who will tell the Islanders story to the New York fans.

Journal News: Sam Weinman has the Ranger centric coverage of their win.

Islanders website: Has the full audio interviews from WFAN's appearance Thursday at the Coliseum.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Maybe Mr Dellapina should listen to Garth Snow's interview again and tell us where there is a squabble between the coach and general manager or at least be professional enough to write everything the general manager said?

The Sarnia Observer: Scott Stephenson reports Islander prospect Mark Katic will miss the rest of the season and the earliest he's expected to come back is the second round of the playoffs with the defender in a sling after injuring his other shoulder with coach Dave MacQueens comments.

Vancouver Province:Steve Ewen reports Vancouver Giants defenseman Brent Regner has heard from the New York Islanders this year as he was not selected in last summer's entry draft with several clubs reportedly interested in the young defender.

Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio had an interesting article on how the Sound Tigers have been doing very well without leading scorer Jeff Tambellini, with Jack Capuano's comments on the club winning despite the call ups. Matt Spiller comments on how hard the club has to work.

Bridgeport Sound Tigers at Portland Pirates
WHEN — Tonight, Saturday, 7:05
WHERE — Cumberland County Civic Center, Portland, Maine
ON THE AIR — WICC-AM 1300 (Saturday only); Webcast and B2 Networks Internet pay-per-view at www.soundtigers.com

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Not a misprint, becoming more common for teams to play road doubleheaders against the same team.

Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio in his blog wonders how come WFAN's Chris Russo cannot pronounce Rick DiPietro or Alexander Ovechkin name properly but got it right on Dubielewicz?

Rangers 4, New York 1

Islanders website: Has the recap of Thursday's 4-1 loss to the Rangers where Bill Guerin said the powerplay is awful, Ted Nolan felt the Isles were outworked in the first period and Dubielewicz played well.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
It's a very tough loss and a big hit in the standings but they did play a team that had not lost in regulation in eleven games and it's not going to be easy when you get outworked to start the game and the defense falls asleep on the opening goal on a delayed penalty and then falls behind 2-0 on another play where someone is left open.

Islansders could not get a few past Lunqvist in the second beyond Bergenheim and as usual after a poor start they woke up.

Hard to put anything on Dubie here, he made a lot of big saves and robbed Jagr with his glove. No second guess here from me on the coaches decision, you score one goal it's not going to happen most night's and that's the bottom line. Isles dominated the second, Bergenheim got a shot from a high quality area to give the Isles their goal but Bill Guerin hit the nail on the head when he called the powerplay awful and you have to wonder why the kids see less minutes than these veterans.

You got a powerplay that cannot score on a five on three or work to generate quality chance combined with all the shorthanded goals you are not going to be a winning hockey team on a consistent basis or get games to overtime to add to the point total. It goes beyond one individual.

Gomez deflection goal and the Rangers trap in the third does what it does best and the Isles could not fight through that, Isles defense had the penalty killed and the puck cleared but not all the way down the ice. Islanders got a little lax and that allowed the Rangers to get a shot which led to the 3-1 goal.

All the Islanders can do is move on to Philadelphia very disappointed with a split and hope the return of DiPietro can make a difference. I almost think Ted Nolan had this in mind when he started Dubie to ride the hot goaltender and if it does not work can put in his number one goalie.

One thing for sure is Islanders are running out of games, points and the clubs behind them are right behind them. We'll see what happens with Brendan Witt but you do get to a point where you have to look out for the players future.

3/6: New York vs Rangers 7pm FSN

Islanders website: Has the early preview for tonight's game against the Rangers.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Isles cannot win one, lose one any longer. Islanders cannot even afford to let the Rangers get an overtime point here, they need a regulation win if they want to catch them in the standings.

I guess we will find out during the afternoon if it's Dubie or DiPietro in goal. I would take a gamble with Dubie here and ride the momentum of his solid play because it's worked in Bridgeport and in college while DiPietro gets an extra day or two to relax after a very tough week. He'll be the number one goalie in the long-run regardless because he should be.

Of course it's not my call and in the end there is a hockey game to play and win.

Regardless Islanders are going to need more quality chances, more goals and their powerplay must stop giving the other team momentum, it gave away a point on Monday.

Lundqvist is letting in soft goals, Islanders have to keep getting the puck to the net and test his confidence. Defense will need another huge game to keep the shots down as they did in the third period and overtime and do a better job on Jagr who got frustrated after he did not finish some chances.

That line with Colliton looked very good on Tuesday, Nolan should consider giving them more minutes if they are effective again. Satan needs to be a lot more visible tonight, so does Comrie and Guerin.

Hopefully the league does not determine the outcome with bad calls or a review, let both teams play.

Updated 2:20pm:
Wade Dubielewicz will start tonight for Isles.

Full game report will be on Friday morning.

Updated 3:30pm
Newsday: Greg Logan updates the Newsday blog and has Rick DiPietro, Ted Nolan's comments and his own speculation that this is the biggest gamble in Ted Nolan's two years as head coach.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
There are another thirteen games after tonight and if the coach wants to ride the hot hand it's hard to go against that. Dubielewicz did not get a lot of work against Florida but played well in that game too.

Islander News Articles 3/6:

Newsday: Mark Herrmann's article plays the guessing game as to who will get the start for the Islanders tomorrow with Ted Nolan, Rick DiPietro and Wade Dubielewicz comments.

Daily News: Michael Obernauer is the latest to cover the Islander beat at the News and in this case one article fits both teams. Mostly the goaltending situation is covered with comments from Ted Nolan and Rick DiPietro. The Rangers requested the league check Dubielewicz's equipment and determined it to be legal.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Either the editor made the call or could Peter Botte have needed a rest from all that limited infrequent coverage provided to the team all season? With the Isles going on the road soon the critical games will be AP coverage only if things hold as they have all season.

Seems like the limited media is going all out here to create a goaltending controversy with even Garth Snow having to say it's the coaches decision as to who starts. Dubie played well in his last two games and when he is hot has proven he can carry a team and it's been a very tough week for DiPietro who had not had any kind of rest with the schedule and the all-star weekend. Ted Nolan needs another hot streak so why not ride the hot goalie for momentum? Dubie is a goaltender who thrives on work and lots of shots against.

If it does not work Islanders come back with DiPietro on Saturday which also can bring a positive monentum shift.

As for the Rangers seems bush league to check on Dubielewicz equipment, I guess he's in Ranger management's head to do that which is a good thing for the Isles.

Globe and Mail: Tim Wharnsby does an article on the Leafs buying out most of their high priced players and what it could cost against the cap using Alexei Yashin as a comparative.

Canadian Press: Former Islander Jason Blake had a lot to say about how the Islanders came back last year and made the playoffs as it applies to the Leafs situation.

Philadelphia Inquirer: Tim Panaccio reports Flyers forward Daniel Briere could return from a shoulder strain Saturday against the Islanders.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
So far Hatcher, Lupul and now Briere have all been in reports to return Saturday.

SI.com: John Rolfe on Tuesday had an article that basically said he's tired of seeing the Islanders roll out the alumni and that doing so only makes the recent past more depressing but also writes those players cannot be honored enough as someone who wrote he loved that team like no other in any sport before or since.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Mr Wang is making up for what other owners failed to do and I think it's the right thing. Al Arbour coaching a game vs the Core of the Four Weekend are two different things. Bottom line, no matter what he does someone is going to be critical.

WFAN.com/Yes Network: Mike Francesa and Chris Russo will be doing their show today at the Nassau Coliseum from 1pm-6:30pm.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Mr Francesa was at the Core of the Four Sunday, no doubt there will be some Islander centric guests on the program. A little surprised the Isles did not announce it on the website. Hopefully Mr Russo can finally pronounce Rick DiPietro's name properly if nothing else.

Updated 11am:
Islanders website: Did an update announcing WFAN at the Coliseum with a list of scheduled guests for today's broadcast:

2:05pm Garth Snow
3:05 Charles Wang
4:05 Bill Guerin
4:25 Rick DiPietro
5:05 Ted Nolan

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Been a very long time since Charles Wang appeared on WFAN which should be a very interesting interview. I will post a link tomorrow if avaialble.

NHL.com:Dan Rosen has a full feature article on Islanders captain Bill Guerin.

Bottom Line: Isles need 21 of 28 available points

Just a quick review of the numbers suggest things are about as desperate as they can be for the 07-08 Islanders.

71 points
14 games remaining
28 points available
Maximum points 99
Likely playoff cut 92 points or higher

This means Islanders in their remaining games can only lose seven points either by regulation or overtime points lost unless a lot of teams struggle that are in playoff position. If that does happen another club below the Isles will go on a significant run.

An awful lot to ask of a team that has a tough time getting games into overtime, there is a fair chance it could take more than ninety two points.

Islander/Sound Tiger Wednesday Notables

Newsday: Mark Herrmann blogged in the Islanders space at Newsday and reported Ted Nolan has not named a starter for tomorrow night's game with both goaltenders thinking the other would start. Bruno Gervais skated. Rob Davison talked about how the Garden sounded like half the fans there were Islander fans as the game wore on.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
I put the player interviews on the sidebar as usual so we get the full interview.

Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio reports in his blog Joey MacDonald was sent back to Bridgeport, Jesse Joensuu's season in Finland is over and a possibility to come over. Injured Robin Figren Oil Kings' season ends next week.

Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio has the Sound Tigers weekly for the Thursday newspaper already on the site with a bunch of items on the team and the Sound Tiger push for the playoffs.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
I had updated a while back on Joensuu signing and reporting to Bridgeport which has happened with other Islander draft picks over the years. I have been checking on Robin Figren in the Edmonton Journal but his injury status is about four weeks which seems a little longer than the first report.

Clock is ticking on signing many of these prospects, the old rules for European Prospect signings no longer applies, it's the same as the North American prospects which means they have to be signed within two years or they can re-enter the draft unless they are in college.

Poll results & New Poll

This weeks poll results are final. The poll was to grade the Islanders deadline decisions.

Nice job on the votes and another big turnout.

I get a good sense from the folks who visit this blog that I have a very knowledgeable group of visitors. I'm impressed with how many folks gave the Islanders an average to above average grade despite subtracting Bergeron from the powerplay and basically being inactive, despite getting some solid play out of Rob Davison so far.

I did not see a single vote for a grade of F before the weekend losses.
I gave the Islanders a C grade as my vote because I think the powerplay losing Bergeron's shot is hurting them.

Anyway here are the final numbers:
A 2 (4%)
B 12 (25%)
C 19 (40%)
D 10 (21%)
F 4 (8%)
Votes: 47
*******************************************
The next poll is a nice hot button topic which will require a quick decision that directly puts you in Ted Nolan's hot seat as head coach.

Who would you start in goal Thursday?
Rick DiPietro
Wade Dubielewicz

Voting closes on this poll Thursday afternoon which is likely when Ted Nolan will announce his starter.

Rick DiPietro is expected to rejoin the team at practice Wednesday.

Islander News Articles 3/5:

Newsday: Greg Logan's game article was all about Wade Dubielewicz with Garth Snow's comments as to why Rick DiPietro did not play or dress with the Islander coach leaving his options open.

Newsday: Mark Herrmann's theme is about the smart money on Rick DiPietro playing Thursday and Wade Dubielewicz with comments from Trent Hunter, Jeff Tambellini, Wade Dubielewicz and Ted Nolan.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Somewhere in these articles Mr Logan & Mr Herrmann forgot to write about a very big win. We don't need DiPietro's recent numbers here, we need more on this win and what it means to the club. Mr Logan wrote an entire blog on the goaltending before the game. Berard, Colliton, Bergenheim were big stories last night too along with Tambellini. Meyer was fantastic again which is a story worth writing about.

A few words of recognition for these individual player efforts should be written about, not what turned out to be the pregame blog reprinted the next day to supplement half of the next days coverage space.

Sunday Mr Herrmann makes the alumni being a distraction a bigger topic then the hockey game. Today he has more on who play's the next game in goal than the win itself?

Newsday: Steve Zipay's Ranger centric coverage has Ted Nolan's comments the Isles made their own luck as Dubie talks about his connection to Rangers coach Tom Renney.

NY Post: Jay Greenberg showed up and wrote one of his two Islander centric articles of the year where he made his point the Islanders are not good enough, do not have a first or second line at forward or defense but keep hanging around with Wade Dubielewicz comments.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Dan Martin's PSAL coverage did appear in the Post today. I'm not even sure Mr Greenberg's article was about the game but the state of the Isles with no game coverage? It got more space than the postage stamp Larry Brooks received to put the loss on Henrik Lundqvist.

Daily News: Peter Botte's limited space article seems to do all it can to fan the goaltending controversy flames with Dubie's comments and barely writes a few words on the Islanders goals or win.

NY Times: Lynn Zinser's Ranger centric coverage has Wade Dubielewicz and Jeff Tambellini's comments & Journal News: Sam Weinman had Ranger centric coverage.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Nothing like looking for that trickle of New York hockey coverage buried among a sea of baseball, Knicks-gossip and Brett Farve's retirement.

Pionerr Press: Made a footnote in an article about Chris Simon flying to Winnipeg last month.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Where was that footnote when Chris Simon was in Winnipeg? Nothing like putting on the hometown colors that gets the media to sell the player.

Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio
has a quick notebook where he thinks Jason Pitton will have his season ending surgery at this time. Tyler Haskins was recalled from the ECHL.

New York 4, Rangers 3, shootout

Islanders website: Has the recap of tonight's 4-3 shootout win against the Rangers with comments from Ted Nolan, Wade Dubielewicz and Jeff Tambellini.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Big effort and huge win but they needed to win here in regulation and we all why that did not happen. If they have to go to the AHL or ECHL to find someone someone who can run a powerplay maybe it's time to consider it, between Shanahan almost scoring in the second on a breakaway and the goal that tied the game this is something killing this team.

Very tough playing against the Ranger trap because they play for the shot advantage until they fall behind. Ted Nolan just finds a way against Tom Renney almost every time and even after a poor start where Dubie held the Isles in starting getting chances and the breaks they did not get against Florida or Philadelphia.

Comeau's goal was a nice bounce but what impressed me was Colliton just taking the puck from a Ranger at center ice and breaking through to the net, he had a heck of a game and almost scored with a second big chance.

Berard was making some huge plays and then one where he stripped Avery led to Bergenheim's goal where he went to the high quality area, used the screen well and found the top shelf.

Hunter's skate deflection goal was the one they were waiting for all weekend, Fedotenko made a nice play to get the puck.

Dubie was fantastic and for the most part so was the defense, Davison got caught on a goal diving to protect the lane but Meyer, Berard, Witt, Martinek and Johnson did a solid job after a poor start.

Hopefully the shootout goal does something for Tambellini, surprised Ted Nolan did not have Satan in his top three but his shootout combos are always all over the place.

Was expecting a much bigger game from Guerin, Comrie and Satan. Seemed like the kids with Bergenheim carried the club.

Isles got two points, they needed to hold the Rangers to no points and the Islander powerplay was the reason why it did not happen.

Will be interesting to see who gets the start Thursday for both teams. Dubie did what a professional goaltender is supposed to do and that's give his team a chance to win. He did that and more.

3/4: New York at Rangers 7pm FSN-2

Islanders website: Has the early preview tonight against the Rangers.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Time Warner will likely not carry the FSN-2 Feed tonight for Islander fans forcing them to watch the Msg telecast.

Islanders are getting plenty of shots, now they have to finish some plays regardless who is in goal (I expect DiPietro to start) and get to the high quality area's. Not like the Rangers are not letting up goals and Philadelphia hit for four goals playing back to back days. The Ranger trap and goaltending has not been as solid lately but their young players are stepping up and providing key goals.

I always give Ted Nolan a big edge over Tom Renney in the coaching department because he always seems to have the superior gameplan.

Not going to be easy for the Islanders because they have played a lot of hockey lately with little rest like the Rangers have had and have a lot more injuries but that's what being a team and professionals are all about, no excuses. The defense has kept the shots down for the most part and you see them trying to step into the play.

Bottom line and you could write this about any game.

Go work hard for two and a half hours and if it's not enough, so be it.

More often than not it has been enough and the hard work produced the breaks that have the Islanders 3-1 against the Rangers.

Updated:
Wade Dubielewicz will start for the Islanders.

Game summary will be Wednesday morning.

Islander News Articles 3/4

Newsday: Mark Herrmann covered practice Monday had Ted Nolan, Freddy Meyer, Mike Comrie's comments about how the club must pull together here and his own speculation about how important the upcoming games are.

NYI Fan Central Commments:
Islanders may as well be playing Florida again tonight for all the indifference the local and city media have for hockey in the New York market today. Just no time or room in the baseball dominated media any longer for a niche sport.

Big business baseball in the newspapers now with the competition between writers and papers for advertising dollars critial.

A lot more critical than the games themselves.

Philadelphia Daily News: Ed Moran reports Flyers defenseman Derian Hatcher could play Saturday against the Islanders.

Edmonton Journal: Joanne Ireland has an updated on how well Robert Nilsson is doing recently.

Star.com: Damien Cox reports former Islander Chris Simon has started a blog to reach out to the Minnesota Wild fans at the Wild gm's request because of the strong negative response the trade has received.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
You think Mr Cox would at least provide a link after going to all this trouble to write an article he is blogging?

Here is the link to Chris Simon's interview with Chris Snow here. Tough to tell if this is in fact a blog or a one time article.

Islander/Sound Tiger Monday notables

Islanders website: Reported Bruno Gervais is out Tuesday and Aaron Johnson will return to the lineup as Ted Nolan talks about his team and the upcoming games.

Newsday: Mark Herrmann had three Islander blog updates Monday afternoon.

One was on the effect of the moves at the trade deadline and whether trading Marc Andre Bergeron could have been a mistake as Miroslav Satan did not looke good at the point on the powerplay. A second was on Bruno Gervais being day to day with Rick DiPietro a game time decision tomorrow but will rejoin the club Monday night. Finally a third blog asked if it's too much on the current players trying to carry the burden of what the past Islander team accomplished and play a game afterward?

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Agree with of the first blog about Marc Andre Bergeron's departure but include a disclaimer this team had been letting up goals against with it's powerplay all season and were terrible with Bergeron here for long periods also.

Second blog about Gervais I would suggest taking a step back until we know what day to day is. For Frans Nielsen it became two-four weeks.

Third blog is somewhat strange beyond Ted Nolan's comments. This team came out flat on Saturday against Philadelphia and fell behind on Al Arbour night. By Mr Herrmann's logic here no club should honor anyone because of the burden of the game afterward on the current roster. Not for anything but they did get fifty plus shots playing a third game in four days. Not like they took the ice and lost 8-3 like they did to Carolina.

Sound Tigers.com: Reported Sound Tigers forward Trevor Smith has been named AHL rookie of the month with eight goals and seven assists for 15 points in 13 games for the Sound Tigers last month.

Latest from Mr Prospects

As everyone knows Mr Prospects does a great job on the message board here for everyone updating how the Islander prospects do on a game by game basis.

With things so busy lately regarding the Islanders I wanted to add his work to a separate blog posting for everyone as soon as possible and thank him once again for doing an outstanding job at something time would not allow me to include here or do it nearly as well.
*******************************************************
Febuary 29
QMJHL-Rimouski 7,Victoriaville 1-Maxime Gratchev,1 assist,+1.
OHL-Kingston 6,Barrie 3-Tomas Marcinko,1 goal(19)-3.
Sarnia 6,Plymouth 5-Mark Katic, 1 goal(5),+2.

College-Harvard 3,Colgate 3(OT)-Doug Rogers,Harvard,1 goal(11),Brian Day,Colgate,no points.
Clarkson 4,Princeton 3-Shea Guthrie,Tyrell Mason, no points each.
Wisconsin 2,St. Cloud 1-Jase Weslosky,32 saves,34 shots.
Miami-Ohio 4,Ohio State 3-Shane Sims,1 assist.
Denver 1,Michigan Tech 0-Rhett Rakhshani,no points, even.

USHL-Waterloo 3,Cedar Rapids 2(SO)-Blake Kessel,no points,even.
Lincoln 4,Tri-City 2-Jason Gregoire,1 assist,+1.
**************************************************************
March 1

OHL-Brampton 3,Barrie 1-Tomas Marcinko,1 assist,+1.

College-Clarkson 8,Quinnipiac 0-Shea Guthrie,1 assist,Tyrell Mason, no points.
Dartmouth 5, Colgate 2-Brian Day,no points.
Harvard 3, Cornell 1-Doug Rogers, no points.
St. Cloud 3, Wisconsin 2-Jase Weslosky,25 saves, 27 shots.
Michigan Tech 2, Denver 1-Rhett Rakhshanim1 goal(13),even.

USHL-Ohio 4, Waterloo 3-Blake Kessel, 2 assists,even.
Lincoln 5, Des Moines 1-Jason Gregoire,1 goal(26),+1.
******************************************************
Mar 3rd
OHL-Kitchener 4,Sarnia 2-Mark Katic,no points, even.
USHL-Waterloo 2,Green Bay 1-Blake Kessel,no points, + 1.

Message to all subscribers

Sorry folks, I know there are a lot of subscribers here but there were problems with the scrolling ticker which led to having to change all feeds, gadgets, widgets/ect.

Anyone using the old feeds will no longer receive updates so you need to subscribe once again.

All readers/feeders and subscribers on this blog are now updated with the new feed content. Good news is some new things were added to subscribe from extra news services.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

* In other blog news recent games were added to the video section.
* The weekends Core of the Four Header goes into mothballs but will find a home like the Header for Al Arbour's return at some point.
* I updated the new blog box feeds to include the latest ten messages from all thirteen bloggers.
* The new feedburner color scheme is now Islander centric.

Desperation time for 07-08 Isles

Sorry folks but it's officially desperation time for the 2007-2008 New York Islanders and no hiding from it any longer.

Even the coach and players feel this way and most of the reasons to expect this club to go quick and quiet from here are very vaild ones.

So let's take a look at the problems and what things are in the Isles favor.

Scoring: Worst kept secret this team cannot score when it needs to but to have two games like this in a week where they throw fifty plus shots at the opposing goaltenders and not only fail to produce points but cannot get the puck into the high quality areas is just something they cannot overcome beyond a handful of game and has to be very disheartening.

Isles worked as hard as they could in the second period yesterday firing a club record twenty nine shots, most of them were angle shots and easy saves against a team struggling that could barely get out it's own way playing a backup who has played well recently but rarely saw a rebound. We saw the desperation from the defenders all weekend as they stepped up and tried to make a play that led to a goal.

Does not make a lot of sense after they scored five against Atlanta to not be able to build on that but this has been the story all season. Islanders are twenty ninth in team scoring for a reason.

Powerplay: Islanders powerplay is ranked twenty eighth with only forty three powerplay goals, they have allowed the most goals with the man advantage with thirteen in what is completely unaccecptable. Many games it seems the Isles powerplay gives the opposition momentum as they do not have a legitimate first line offensive defender.

Isles rank in the bottom ten in powerplays draw.

Even Strength: For myself the biggest factor and the biggest difference from last season. This is where the Isles survival skills in games a year ago got games to overtime and produced a streak where they lost only three times in twenty regulation games. This year most of the roster is deep into minus territory and cannot get games to overtime for a critical point.

Depth: To expect a club to stay in contention with the depth problems they have at this point and a schedule that allows for vittually no rest is almost asking for the impossible to say nothing at asking for them to play at a very high level that will be required to win the games. Isles played three games in twenty four days in October and had three defenders on the sideline who could not get into the lineup. Rangers by contrast had a five, four and three day break in the past three weeks at a time a club needs the rest most. Isles get on a run into next week, they have a heavy travel schedule and little rest.

With Bergeron traded, Bruno Gervais likely going to be out for a while, Andy Sutton on the shelf and Brendan Witt not looking good as he gutted out yesterday's game where is the depth on defense going to come from that can not only fill out a lineup but give the team not only defense but the offense it desperately needs?

Speaking of the forwards most of the prospect have been recalled, how does this team survive any more injuries without Ben Walter and the prospects being put into key roles in the top three lines to say nothing of a playoff series?

Standings/Schedule: We all know the standings and how much ground the Isles have to make up on the club's ahead of them. Philadelphia is officially out of their slump and accumulating points again. The Rangers and Bruins are on long winning streaks and the Sabres even though they have been spotty still can score in bunches. Islanders having one of the worst goal differentials in the league do not control the tie-breaker with Buffalo and have already lost to Buffalo and Boston in that department which means they must gain an extra point unless they beat them out in overall wins which is not likely.

Worst of all it's fair to write Islanders need not only to win but do it in regulation to the teams they are chasing which presents an even tough challenge. The games in hand situation and other head to head games involving the teams ahead of the Isles make for no other alternative.

So what can the Isles do?: There is no doubt they have been competitive with the Flyers, Rangers in the head to head games and no doubt they are getting shots at the opposing goaltenders in these games. The defense and goaltending have kept the club in games by keeping the shots down and the penalty kill has been solid all season. I do not see that changing unless this weekend convinced this group it's over and play that way and mail it in which is another blog entry for another day.

Islanders also contol their own destiny and have the Rangers head to head where they have had success. One team looking to get back in contention, the other looking to put the Isles basically out of any realistic contention. For this to work for the Isles they need to go 3-0 this week.

This may not make a lot of sense to some but hockey is a game of streaks and slumps that do not have a lot of logic behind them but do happen. Frankly speaking the Rangers, Bruins are due to lose some games and the Isles due to win a few just if a few shots start bouncing in off opposing players.

Finally it seems for most of this year when everyone counts the Islanders out, that's when they start winning and fighting back out of nowhere.

You can bet it's where Ted Nolan teams are most dangerous. Work harder and make more plays than the other team for two hours a thirty minutes and win a game, nothing is won on paper.

We shall see but it's desperation time for the 2007-2008 New York Islanders.

Islander News Articles 3/3:

Newsday: Mark Herrmann covered the Core of the Four Celebration with comments from several of the players on the team and the weekend's events.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Mark Herrmann sure is working hard to make his point this could be the last time those players will be together, despite Mr Wang's statement the team would honor the alumni once a year.

Newsday: Greg Logan reports the Islanders set a record back to when shots on goal were kept in 1955 in a game a club was shutout. Ted Nolan talks about the team not having a pure goal scorer and the effort while Wade Dubielewicz, Ruslan Fedntenko talk about the loss.

Daily News: Peter Botte in his limited space spends more time making his point about Bill Smith and Wayne Merrick not in attendance than covering the game. Bill Guerin said there has to be desperation but not panic.

NY Post: Dan Martin had Mike Comrie's comments where he did not think his team played with a lot of desperation and made Craig Anderson look good with their shot selection.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Pathetic job by the Post/News editors not allowing for a second article on the Alumni and the ceremonies. NY Times sent Dave Caldwell to cover Saturday's game but not Sunday?

No excuse for such shoddy treatment, absolutely none unless it's intentional. The News had two articles for one day twice this week but did not provide an extra article or one at all for this incredible group of players returning?

Newsday gave the steroids the majority of the back page and did not even have a picture of the club in the headline.

Florida Sun Sentinel: Blogged on Denis Potvin and the ceremony which also featured Panther Director of Player Personnel Duane Sutter. Florida Sun Sentinel: Steve Gorton provided game coverage.

Palm Beach Post: Brian Biggane's Inside the Panthers covered the Core of the Four ceremony, on the Florida connetion in Denis Potvin, Bill Smith, Duane Sutter, Jiggs McDonald, Bill Torrey and their past or current ties to the Panthers.

Palm Beach Post: Brian Biggane also recaps the game in his coverage.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Sure say a lot about the city editors when even the Florida papers have some seperate entries on the ceremonies yesterday.

Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio's game covered on Bridgeport's win which put them a point out of a playoff spot has comments from Mike Morrison and Tim Jackman. Dustin Kohn returned from his shoulder problems, Justin Bourne scored and Steve Regier was a big factor in the win with his play.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
A little surprising not to see anything in print from Jack Capunano and sparse space provided in the Ct Post for the game. I have noted the overall drop in space allowed for game coverage this season but Mr Fornabaio's blog does supplement this very well. Chris Elsberry has done nothing this season on the Sound Tigers but still covers sports in the paper and is listed as a sportswriter but not included on the writers page.

Ct Post: Michael Fonabaio had more in his blog after the game on the win and the race for a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

Lowell Sun: Covers the Devils AHL affiliate.

Florida 1, New York 0

NHL.com: John Kreiser had an excellent feature on the Core of the Four Celebration today.

Islanders website: Covered the events outside the Coliseum on the walk of fame with some excellent pictures.

Newsday: Greg Logan blogged on the Core of the Four Weekend and his past recollections of the Islanders during their championship era talked of who he would pick for the Islanders Hall of Fame as the club announced they would have weekends like this once a year in the future.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Wonderful ceremony that was not overdone and loved seeing the 1980 retro jersey's with the Olympic patch.

Islanders website: Has the recap of today's 1-0 loss to the Florida Panthers.

Newsday/AP: Has the early recap of the Islanders loss to Florida.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
It takes something very wrong with a team to take fifty shots twice in one week, set an all-time record for shots in a period and go 0-2, scoring only two goals in both games. I have never seen anything like that in this team history and maybe in any teams history.

They worked as hard as they could in the second period, they could not finish or create a chance where Anderson was out of position.

Poor showing put on by the present day Islanders today against a club that was waiting to get beat that looked terrible. Islanders came out in the first and played with absolutely no desperation and it was a terrible sign with Booth scoring to give Florida their goal.

Isles played a good second period and got their best chances which was a post by Comrie and the save on Fedntenko. Comeau's line had some chances and one very good shift and Martinek did a good job stepping up again to try and create offense but the Isles offense is too predictable.

Two or three pucks could have bounced to players for rebound goals today and everyone would be happy with the win but fact is this team simply does not have the offense to stay competitive beyond a few games. In terms of individual play Park, Bergenheim, Hilbert, Comeau, Colliton, Fedntenko, all skated well and created chances with their skating, you would think the five goals against Atlanta would give them some confidence to finish or set up a goal but they could not make that happen.

All due respect to Craig Anderson but out of his fifty three saves he had to make two or three good saves, one on Fedotenko. Most of the chances were low percentage chances from poor angles with no rebounds. Florida's defense blocked another twenty five shots.

Now they lose Gervais to a concussion/leg injury and Witt looked like he gave all he could to stay out for the last two periods and played hurt.

Dubie played very well and the defense kept Florida contained most of the day, hardly a small sidebar but seemingly more about how much the Panthers are struggling, that written they had the better quality chances to score, Isles could not even make them take some penalties in the third.

During the game the building was dead beyond killing a third period penalty where a forward held the puck in the Panthers end for an extended amount of time.

Worst possible result with both the Flyers and Rangers gaining points.

Hate to write it but unless this club has another six game winning streak in it and discovers an ability not to lose in regulation they are not going to return to the playoffs.

Sound Tigers.com: Reports Bridgeport defeated the Lowell Devils 3-1 Sunday on the road with Tim Jackman scoring two goals. Mike Morrison started and played well in the win.

3/2: New York vs Florida 4pm FSN

Islanders website: Has the preview of Sunday's game against the Florida Panthers.

Islanders reported earlier this season the 1500 banner for Al Arbour will be replaced this weekend with a 740 banner. I wonder if the Hall of Fame Banner will be altered to include all seven players part of the four championships which includes Lorne Henning who won two as a coach.

No doubt it will be a fantastic ceremony and another first class event by management. No game report until late tonight or Monday morning.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
2pm: Walk of Champions
3pm: Pregame ceremonies begin
4pm: New York vs Florida

We all know the circumstances for the 07-08 Islanders and Panthers, two very desperate clubs that cannot really afford many more regulation losses. Florida has lost three in a row. Isles according to reports had Mike Mole in Bridgeport and Dubie will start today. I guess we'll see what's decided but whoever is in goal the team has to shake off yesterday's loss and keep working and you start with winning a shift at a time. Dubie's paid to be professional goaltender and it's his job to make sure he's ready for his role if the call comes and I suspect if he does start his play will not be a negative.

We all know a lot of players are due for a goal on this roster, it's time to step up and produce.

Greatest team ever for all the right reasons

I know for a lot of folks here never did get to see these incredible Islander teams but beyond all the Stanley Cups and the numbers that made them special and unique like no other team in the history of professional sports was the character of the people that were so dedicated to being a team first and anything else second.

It was never about the individual and that started with the example set at the top.

That's what made Bill Torrey and Al Arbour unique like no other management team in the history of professional sports. That's how they carried themselves and what they passed on to the players. This group simply let nothing get in the way of doing what it took to win and had the character to raise their game with the pressure.

A lot of folks used to write or say those Islander teams could beat you any way they wanted to and that was the truth, but in the end these teams simply were a closer group with no ego that was never about the individual and that helped them play any kind of game they had to. To me it was the secret of their success.

They don't make teams in pro sports like this any longer, any further proof you need is the fact no team has matched their accomplishments. I do not see another club ever winning nineteen straight playoff series or four championships in a row.

The New York Islanders won for all the right reasons, it was all about being a team.