New York 5, New Jersey 2

New York Islander Fan Central | 12/30/2007 01:36:00 AM | | |


























Islanders website: Has the recap of Saturday's 5-2 win against the Devils.

"Nobody can push anyone around in this league," said Nolan regarding the fights. "These guys have a lot of pride. Sutton stood up. You might not want to see Comrie do it too often, but he also stood up, along with Guerin. I thought our team had a very gutsy performance."

"Dubie is one of those guys that as he gets more playing time, the better he's going to get," said Nolan. "A win is certainly good for his confidence and the team knowing we can win with Dubie in net."


NYI Fan Central Comments:
Gutsy effort across the board tonight against a team that knows how to win that came into this game hot and decided to make it a physical which led to a lot of fights and some huge hits.

Islanders showed a lot of character playing without DiPietro, Martinek and Witt for a good part of the first period when they kept taking penalties. I may not like Comrie, Guerin fighting but they held their own and did not back down.

Dubie was outstanding and survived a lot of heavy goal mouth pressure from the Devils in the first and the third period with Gionta and Praise who are outstanding players. A few shots got the post or were missed but he made a lot of big saves.

Despite the Islanders not finishing from the forwards this was not the typical game where the other goalie did not have to work. Brodeur made a lot of big saves on Satan's line and the Islanders worked for a lot of quality chances, especially in the third period. Guerin looked good with Comeau and Hilbert on a few shifts and a second period play where Comeau held the puck and fed a player coming off the bench for a shot was very impressive.

What can I write about the Islander goals? Park, made the play of the night shorthanded to not clear the Devils zone but instead found Campoli, who rifled a bomb past Brodeur. Marc-Andre Bergeron's shot found the Devils defense for the second goal and the goal that turned the momentum and the game Hunter made a fantastic play to find Sutton who let go a great shot.

The open-mouth look from Sillinger was very funny after the goal.

Satan, Vasicek and Bergenheim finally were rewarded for their hard work and chances all night when Bergenheim showed nice hands and finished his chance for the 4-2 goal.

Cannot remember the last Islander en goal.

Huge win against a hot team on a day every team in the division won, it's December and the phrase big win or lose get's overused over eight two games but the Islanders had to have this game.

And they showed a lot of character hanging in with a physical Devils team after they tied the game.

Fair to say at this point based on the season the Islanders can compete with the other clubs in this division.

If they can only keep the scoring up and do something with the powerplay.

Gordie Howe hat-trick for Sutton.