Tavares Hat-Trick.... New York 5, Buffalo 3

Tweet

Heck of an effort and win Saturday night by New York, worth a blog entry because a lot happened.

Tavares could have had five and the Islanders could have had eight or nine if Miller was not at his best. This kids hands, move to the net are getting better and better, he looks very comfortable/confident in front of net. Miller made right play on all three goals.

Of course, even Mick Vukota can score a natural hat-trick here back in 1989 which was ironically a 5-3 New York win.

Vukota got his with about forty seconds to spare vs Tavares.

Early (aside from Grabner's speed or a Comeau miss in front, Tavares-Pareneau 2-0) the first period offense came mostly from the point, but second period the Islanders simply dominated with a level of skating and skill that was a lot of fun to watch.

That second period was a lot like the effort against Vancouver (after first) and several teams recently. Aside from Bailey, everyone was getting chances or kept moving, the Islanders overwhelmed Buffalo and put on pressure they could not stand up against.

So Jurcina get's a penalty at end of first for high-sticking Vanek who is kneeling in crease, next period a 5'5 Sabre makes contact on Milan Jurcina, draws blood but no call with all these officials on ice? Comical, because rule is you are responsible for your stick.

Rick DiPietro played very well, however his stickhandling at the end of the first led to Buffalo keeping the puck in which gave them a powerplay, then another, which led to their 1-0 goal. That may not be fair but as soon as that puck was barely kept in the Sabres got in close and forced a penalty, you could see it coming.

Either Hamonic/MacDonald spread full out to break up a 2-1 in the second which was great and led to Islanders getting a 2-1 the other way. Gervais was outstanding along with all the defenders tonight.

MacDonald has twelve points since December 18th, he is also -8 since 12/27 to go with huge minutes he is given.

Third period was too much of same script, I almost expected Capuano's time out after the first minutes. They have to keep pushing play, not sit back and let game come to them.

Grabner has been so due, his speed every game is generating chances on every shift, and that was a fantastic shot to beat Miller, and finally take off the pressure.

Buffalo was a desperate team 5-1-1 that needed a win tonight to keep pace, both teams could have scored a lot more but in this one New York was the better team.

Would it be a Buffalo-New York game without Hecht scoring? Officiating was again very questionable tonight.

Steve Montador was doing a lot of solid hitting tonight against Islander players, the Islander staff should be showing that footage in meetings.

Round one of four goes to New York, next up what seems like a Devils team that is showing signs of getting it's game back under Jacques Lemaire.

Jon Sim:
If the Islanders and Jon Sim parting was amiable, I have no problem with it. If it was not he signed a two-way contract and was obligated to see through the agreement he signed last summer when he was free to sign with any other NHL team. Bridgeport could have used his scoring on a six game slide and a veteran to help them as he has in the past.

I don't understand why his scoring was missing this year, last year he had thirteen goals and some big ones to keep the club in games. I do believe he got a fair chance this season and played hard, but without the production. Given the current standings, it made no sense to keep him up here, but without Rhett Rakhshani, Nielsen and Okposo this team could well be short a forward in a game they may not want to dress Trevor Gillies.

I'm going to miss Jon Sim, of course I wish him the best of luck in Switzerland.

Updated:
Did you really expect anything but overt negativity from the Dolan's paper after a big night from Tavares and some very good play that has draw praise from opposing players around the NHL?

You think this paper is in business to hype the New York Islanders or credit DiPietro for solid play, it's not happening.

It was a hachet job, designed to be as negative as possible, surprised Baumbach did not lobby for more Al Arbour wins to be taken away.

The good news was Dolan's spin-doctors had nothing new from Wang's December interview, this article was growing stale sitting around waiting for release, so why not pick a night after a good win/Tavares hat-trick to drive away fans?

No arena in the NHL is older than Msg, which is a dump, you think Dolan's paper will ever write that or about the thousands of empty seats at Knick/Ranger games from their mediocre/poor teams?



New York Islander Fan Central Twitter Page New York Islander Fan Central RSS/not Twitter.

Share |

CONTACT:NYIFANCENTRAL@YAHOO.COM

15/21 Points Earned/No Ground Gained In Playoff Chase/Half-Way Point

Tweet

Not much to write that the title does not tell us.

You want to talk playoffs? Win against Vancouver, then earn sixty of remaining eighty two points for a ninety four point season which this year may still not be enough in this conference.

Tuesday's game (which will likely be played regardless of weather) marks only the half-way point of the 2010-11 season, hopefully the Vancouver media can check it's 1982 grudge at the door for a franchise that has never won anything, but not likely.

As for the Islanders earning fifteen of a potential twenty one points and holding their own vs some top teams left the Islanders still seventeen points out of the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference.

In short, it changed nothing in terms of playoff picture.

Don't get me wrong here, some good wins (pp/flash goal based) but usually out-shot badly. The Edmonton game was the singular game the goalie did not have to be the clubs best player and they lost because pp could not finish.

Still, even in Hawks game their goalie had to be good. Capuano was right that there is no excuse for the Islanders effort given the Hawks were playing their fifth game in eight days.

Disappointing DiPietro's health again failed the team after Roloson was traded, if it's not knee related, it's likely not career threatening, but groin injuries and goaltenders are never a good mix. This was his time to work off rust and see if he can carry club, it's disappointing and reaffirms the decision to use high picks on goaltenders.

Instead both Lawson (goals against Hawks beyond first was not his fault) and Poulin stepped up and played well. I don't see a problem in the teams net costing them games on a regular basis.

Jeremy Colliton? This is why I love doing this blog. I followed him as the Islanders kept qualifying him when he went to Europe. This is a 25 year old player who's a second round pick and was producing in Bridgeport. He produced more pp goals in one game than Frans Nielsen all season.

Colliton does have to clear waivers for those wondering. I would like to see Nielsen, Colliton on this team right now and Sim (waivers/paper transaction Monday) helping Bridgeport or Matt Martin sent down to have the impact he had last year with his offense.

What would you have me write about injuries? It's going to be a 400-500 man game season again which media never writes about. Eaton joins the ever-growing list to a defense that is mostly signed for 2010-11. Is there a need to rush Okposo-Streit, given standings?

Hillen's been a lot better lately and settling down. When Martinek returns I expect
Reese to go back down. Still, despite pp successes, there are no goal scorers on this team from point.

Tavares is showing some nice signs of improvement lately, the moves to the net, the confidence in traffic, the goals have been something too.

Forty one games down as of Tuesday night/forty one to go, hopefully at the very least they can build a core group of players to carry into next season where they don't have to rely much on UFA.

Good news is that's it for West Coast road games.

Bad news is New York returns to the worst hockey media coverage in the US, and have a lot of games to be played without the long breaks they had earlier. Only the negative stories will receive attention regardless of players who have earned some positive press.

What a shock Jamie Langenbrunner being held out by the Devils so he could be traded was not met with the fire-storm of negative media the Islanders received when Bill Guerin was held out before being traded, not.

Looks like Cablevision just traded another front-loaded contract now that the bulk of the money has been paid. That has to be at the top of the next CBA changes.

New York Islander Fan Central Twitter Page New York Islander Fan Central RSS/not Twitter.

Share |

CONTACT:NYIFANCENTRAL@YAHOO.COM