Quick Hits: The Good, Bad & Ugly

New York Islander Fan Central | 1/14/2009 02:31:00 PM |
Point Blank: Mr Botta opens with an excellent interview with Blake Comeau where he discusses head coach Scott Gordon and his earlier demotion.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Limited teaser from me, as always go to Point Blank for the personal content Mr Botta worked hard to provide for us.
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Forgive me for laughing and not that I care but when Boomer Esiason came to the Jets I know I read some things about how he grew up an Islanders fan. Nothing like giving someone a show on Msg to make them say anything.

Whatever.
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Newsday: Mike Casey in Mark Herrmann's infrequently used Newsday hockey blog wonders why the Islanders cannot produce similar efforts against other Atlantic Division teams as they do against the Rangers and writes his impression of Scott Gordon is that he's a pretty gutsy guy (after a dig at Steve Stirling and Ted Nolan) but should have his team playing as hard against teams like New Jersey, Philly and Pittsburgh as they do against the Rangers citing their 0-7-1 record against the rest of Atlantic.

He goes on to write there are a million excuses why the Islanders rise to occasion against team Cablevision but not other opponents or has no good reasons for the losses and feels the Islander coach needs to find a way to tap into his team's psyche and make sure that effort level carries over into the Boston, Washington and New Jersey contests in the next five days.


NYI Fan Central Comments:

Did Mike Casey really write this with a straight face or is he really that misinformed?

Let's not even touch last years Islanders opened 9-0 against the Rangers and Devils winning both season series and won three of five against Pittsburgh with the Simon 2-1 stomp game, a fifty save loss, the Witt redirection goal in the final two minutes deciding another and if I recall a Georges Laraque goal deciding another contest here.

Steve Stirling led a decimated Islander team in 03-04 to a playoff spot, Mr Casey just for reference also.


2008-09 Islanders:

Lost opening night in Newark 2-1
Lost in overtime in Philadelphia 3-2 on a powerplay against.
Lost 3-1 against Philadelphia where the Flyers score an open net goal after a shorthanded goal. MacDonald gave up a softie to open the scoring.
Lost 4-3 in a shootout against Pittsburgh at home in a game they were leading.
Lost 5-2 against Kevin Weekes in Newark.
Lost 5-3 against Pittsburgh at home with a three goal third period lead.
(if I recall Pens had an open net goal also)
Lost 4-3 in Philadelphia.
Lost 9-2 in Pittsburgh.

260+ man games lost to injury.

So the Islanders had a good or better chance to win six of eight games against other Atlantic teams but according to Mike Casey they do not put in the same effort against other Atlantic clubs and are not as competitive?

Scary part is folks read that stuff and actually believe it.

I did enough articles here on the recent road trip where some media in Phoenix, San Jose, Edmonton and Calgary pointed out how competitive the Islanders played.

This is simply shoddy work and not fair to Scott Gordon, his players or the fans and suggests Mike Casey only watches Islanders-Rangers which is his choice but does not give him the right to print outright misconceptions.






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