New York 4, Tampa Bay 1

New York Islander Fan Central | 11/02/2007 05:45:00 AM | | | |

























NYI.com: Has the recap of Thursday's 4-0 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

"Superstars have a great way of coming back to have superb performances," said Nolan about DiPietro. "We knew he was going to rebound and he did."

"It just goes to show the type of guys we have on the team; they're a class act," said Sillinger. "They're a bunch of guys who really stick up for each other. The teams that win are the teams that care the most for each other. For these guys to give me and my wife Rolexes and shaking my kids' hands, that's a really classy thing.

"The guys have been working hard all week," said Nolan. "And they worked hard tonight for 60 minutes."


NYI Fan Central Comments:
Classy ceremony by the Islanders for Mike Sillinger. Charles Wang and Garth Snow on the ice. Al Arbour upstairs watching.

You take the two points and enjoy the shutout win against a team that's been struggling and you credit the Islanders for some good stretches and you credit Rick DiPietro for outstanding play and a few posts. Defense got stronger as the game went along and made a few key blocks and more confident.

That written, Islanders easily could have given up for goals early and as skilled as the Lightning are when you see Sutton and Bergeron allow to two on zero by over reacting you wonder if this is ever going to work because that was not about Tampa's skill but just a defense that has major chemistry problems that go beyond coaching.

A few other stretches you saw it too where Tampa did not finish but got the puck into high quality area's of the ice and that was more about breakdowns and poor reads.

I know folks reading a blog after a 4-0 win do not want to hear the downside but this is about building chemistry for the long-term. I know the schedule can be part of this too with no game conditions and it's like going through the preseason again in terms of games, but if I did not write this it would not be an honest game assessment.

Witt as usual was fantastic and let Andre Roy take a bad penalty. Martinek did very well as did Gervais and Campoli, who stepped up and made the play that led to the second goal. Bergenehim did not seem to play after he took that penalty with Brad Lukowich. Simon finally got back on the ice in the third period.

Credit to Bill Guerin for a good shot, credit to Marc Denis for bad goal to allow.

Satan had a few nice plays but did not finish. Hilbert looked good shorthanded and hung in after high stick by DiPietro. He finishing skills look no better than last season.

Nice rush on the second goal and Vasicek got enough of the puck where it hit defense man Paul Ranger and bounced in. Third goal was best of all with Comrie making a skilled rush and Fedotenko finishing. Hunter scored on a delayed penalty for the 4-0 goal on some very nice pressure.

Once the Islanders got up 3-0 Tampa skated but they did not have the confidence and looked like a beaten team even with the chances and the goal posts. Tortarella's second period timeout reflected he knew his team needed a jump.

Ok, another game Saturday and no more need to talk about rust because things are going to get busy quickly now. Islanders are now 6-4 with a lot of players due to break out. You put the two points in the bank and you credit DiPietro for some outstanding play.

And you of course congratulate Mike Sillinger for game number one thousand and the classy player he is.