Sunday NHL Notables

USA Today: Kevin Allen in his blog recaps the Tampa Bay Lightning owners questionable decisions but also feels if the team is starting to win games, it's working.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Interesting I did not see a lot of these articles for the better part of two plus years after Neil Smith was fired and Garth Snow's team were in a playoff spot?

Also anything the Islanders did that summer pales in comparison to the litany of odd moves by Tampa's incoming ownership in one summer. I guess if you keep making moves there is too much to keep up with so the media tunes out.

Espn: Pierre LeBrun in his blog space had a few words about the St Louis Blues and the terrible runs on injuries they have had this season.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Too bad Garth Snow was not a broadcaster before he became a gm so he could build bonds with people who would listen to his story and write the same things about the Islanders injuries going back almost a full year.

The media will have Davidson's back regardless of the fact the Blues have finished behind the Islanders. Will Andy Murray be the scapegoat if the injuries continue or Larry Pleau's exit be sooner than later?

Quick Hits:
* So once again Dallas has some lockeroom controversy with Mike Modano calling out players on his team along with a poor record. How come inexperienced Brett Hull is not drawing criticism being that he was a former player named as a co-general manager with no experience?

* Of course I'm thrilled Mark Parrish had a hat-trick. Garth Snow has done some classy things giving Sudgen and Parrish tryouts. I did not see Parrish as part of the answer here unless Bill Guerin left.

* I found it fascinating the AP did a huge write up on the Chicago Blackhawks and barely mentioned firing Denis Savard here in a move that would have been the only
story if the New York AP hockey writers reported on our club despite the fact both the Islanders and Hawks had twelve sellouts last season and the Islanders a higher season ticket list a few years ago based on what the Islanders have have told the media.

* If I am going to write and complain about Colin Campbell, I also have to give him his due as well. Apparently the league is reviewing Darcy Tucker's actions against the Wild's Nick Schultz according to Michael Russo in the Star Tribune here.

* So sad that hockey fans buy into Forbes estimates about the value of sports teams and estimates about what they make or lose. I guess when the league does not provide information from it's audits or what revenue is made/shared a lot of poor assumptions are made and Forbes with no access to any teams books exploits that with the hockey fans. Part of the CBA negotiations was an outsider investigator would be given the numbers for every team with penalties for failing to disclose information.

We missed hockey for a full year, why not tell the public? We do not need ads thanking us but a little honesty about the business.

For my money anything that Forbes contributes is complete guesswork with nothing provided from specific teams or the league. Anyone who links to Forbes as a source of information about NHL accounting is not doing their readers a good service.
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BEFORE TUESDAY'S GAME ON VETERANS DAY AGAINST FLYERS.

The Nassau County Fire Fighters Operation Wounded Warrior (NCFF-OWW)here will be collecting care packages at the main box office entrance and Gate 16. If you can stop by and help these folks in their efforts it would be greatly appreciated.

NCFF-OWW is a registered non-profit organization of Fire Fighters who run a collection campaign of care package items prior to the holidays for the past several years.

During the first weekend in December the group will be involved with "Long Red Line" of fire vehicles that bring the collections to the Wounded Warriors who will be spending their holidays recovering in Hospitals away from their families who visit, Fr. Bragg, Camp Lejeune, Bethesda Naval and Walter Reed Army Hospitals.

Islander News Articles 10/24

Newsday: Greg Logan's article has comments from head coach Scott Gordon, Freddy Meyer who felt there are going to be some glitches when guys 'double-think' as opposed to reacting with this system. A team meeting was held afterward which Mr Logan says Bill Guerin described as typical.

Newsday: Jim Baumbach does what baseball writers do and that's go all out on the Tampa Bay Ray angle (see Johnette Howard recently) somehow trying to compare a hockey team that made four of the last six playoffs with a baseball team that never made a playoff until now (after doing the attendance/Coliseum dance) to make his point about an Islander youth movement in the long run.

Mr Baumbach also reported Bill Guerin called a players only meeting and speculated Guerin and Doug Weight are not here for a youth movement.

Daily News: Peter Botte made sure to point out attendance first and after quoting Bill Guerin on the special teams and Scott Gordon on the team play did not even know Wade Dubielewicz is no longer on the club or that's what folks were chanting?

NY Post : Dan Martin's game recap has Bill Guerin's comments on the pressure the penalty kill was under along with Scott Gordon who defended his goaltenders play.

Dallas Morning News: Has the Stars coverage along with Star-Telegram Tracy Myers article.

Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio's update is on defenseman Chris Lee who is ready to return after his pre-season concussion against Florida in the Islanders final preseason game.

Ct Post: Mr Fornabaio also has a preview for Friday's game.

Bridgeport Sound Tigers at Portland Pirates
WHEN -- Tonight, 7
WHERE -- Cumberland County Civic Center, Portland, Maine
ON THE AIR -- Webcast and Internet pay-per-view at www.soundtigers.com

Dallas 5, New York 3

Islanders website: Has the recap of tonight's game against the Dallas Stars.

Associated Press: Has the recap of tonight's 5-3 loss to the Dallas Stars.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
What can I write? You almost expect another injury to a defender going into these games now because this is what the track record of this group is. Spin the wheel with Witt.

4-6 weeks, a few months or the grand prize?

Did not look good but he went off on his own.

No team can sustain these kind of injuries to a Witt or Martinek and expect to win a lot of games in a row.

As for the game itself, this was not the Buffalo game where the Islanders simply got nothing going and Lalime could have taken a seat, first shift Islanders got some good chances and were strong on the forecheck on a lot of shifts and you could see a little bit of the system coming through in how they were forechecking and the defense jumping in. If the Islanders did not come out against a team playing it's third game in four nights that were just shutout I would be somewhat more encouraged by the chances they created but that was a club that had to be a little fragile that had some significant injuries of their own.

Dallas looked like a team due to breakout and frankly made some good plays for their goals. I cannot blame DiPietro or the defense for any of those goals against but the defense at other times let the Star forwards get behind them. Without DiPietro it could have been worse.

Campoli played about as well as you can ask for someone in his first game, Streit had a nice play for his goal.

What was the game changer for me? 1-0 Comrie makes a great play to send a forward in alone and Turco makes the save. If this were Tambellini, Nielsen, or Okposo I could accept not scoring there because the club is giving it's young players ice-time but having Richard Park in that spot expecting to give this club an offensive lift is just not something that is not going to happen enough to merit him in that spot.

Last year should have taught Garth Snow this, Park is not the right player for that role and neither is Andy Hilbert. I have no idea what Nate Thompson is here for because he looks slow or invisible and seems to hold down his line. At 3-0 that is when I want to see Thompson send a physical message.

Dallas came right down and scored and to me that set up what happened the rest of the game, have to finish that chance.

Bergenheim was outstanding all night and if this does get him off the fourth line I have no idea what will, what a nice touch pass to Guerin with a bouncing puck, the best player on that line with Guerin and Weight.

They really called Bergenheim for a rough on that last play with Avery? Islanders pk was not very good tonight but again Dallas made plays. I guess it's easy to blame Tomas Pock for Krystofer Barch's defelection goal but that's just a good play by Barch, Pock had his man and was pushing him to the angle.

The second goal was poor coverage by Pock on a play that was not an odd-man rush, the third was just a good play to knock a puck out of mid-air on a Gervais clearing attempt.

I know the Islanders did everything but score with their second period powerplay but far too many outside chances, Hunter was outnumbered 2-1 on one clear with a five on three man advantage. Tambellini and Nielsen were not as involved in this game as they needed to be.

First Dallas goal one Islander had a chance to clear all the way down the ice and with time only flipped it to center so they could not make a change.

We move on to Saturday, regulation losses in this league are killers in the long-run and other clubs are piling up the points with every other game a three point game.

New York vs Dallas 7pm Msg+

Islanders website: Has the pregame for tonight's game against the Dallas Stars.

Dallas comes in playing it's third game in four nights, New York needs a good effort here with the upcoming schedule anything but easy. Only lineup suspense should revolve around Chris Campoli.

Islanders have to start banking points in a conference most games early have been three point games with even the Flyers getting a high scoring game to overtime against San Jose last night. DiPietro gets his first home start and hopefully Avery does not go after the goaltender.

No excuses for any rust here, Islanders should come out wanting to send a message to their coach, the fans and take the play at Dallas team who came in off a brutal effort against New Jersey where Marty Turco was pulled.

This is why changes were made, I expect a sixty minute effort and a breakout game by some players.

On a media note Msg+ had five people involved in telecasting last night's Devil game
(Ken Daneyko, Steve Cangialosi, Stan Fischler, Doc Emrick and Chico Resch with a full pre and postgame with lockeroom interviews. C.J Papa has to do his interviews on the ice as Deb Placey did as if the clock was running before they had to get off the air.

Updated:
Newsday: Greg Logan reports in the Islanders Newsday blog Chris Campoli will return tonight and wear a visor for the first time in his career. Andy Sutton could play as early as Saturday and Mike Sillinger is getting close to a full practice with the team.

Islander News Articles 11/27:

Newsday: Greg Logan's recap is on the lack of scoring and Satan's play that led to the tying goal.

"I don't sense any frustration on the team yet," Satan said. "Our record is fine, and there's enough experience and grit on this team to go through that."

"Bergeron has a pretty hard shot," Satan said. "If it's not a goal, you get a hard bounce. That's what happened, and Mike [Comrie] came off the puck and tied up the defense and the puck was loose for me."

Newsday: Greg Logan's other article is on the Islanders rolling three lines, Marc Andre Bergeron's not being just a powerplay specialists, when Shawn Bates could play and Fedotenko being used on the second line.

"If there's a week to put him in, this would be the week," Nolan said of Bates, who hasn't played an NHL game since January. "We could play seven on defense for a while, but we can't do it for any length of time. We have to get four lines going. With our schedule right now, we need more forwards."

"We don't want him to be a one-dimensional guy to kind of come in and fix the power play," Nolan said. "That's like a DH: If you don't hit the ball, you don't get to play. So he has to be much more, and he's very capable of doing it." ..

NY Post: Dan Martin was permitted to cover the game and got reaction from Ted Nolan, Mike Comrie and Brendan Witt.

"It's real frustrating," Mike Comrie said. "We've had so many close chances. Goals that you think are in, don't cross the line . . . chances you'd like to have back."

The defense was strong again, which is enough for Brendan Witt.
"It'll come," the defenseman said of the offense. "The main thing is we're playing well defensively."

NY Times: Dave Caldwell of course did not cover the game but did do a feature about where the goal judges have been relocated in the arena and why they are no longer in the front row behind the goals.

“We know it’s a tradition, and it was not something we take lightly, but in the end, we decided it was better for the customers,” said Chris Botta, an Islanders spokesman.

Daily News: Brian Bohl covered the game for the Daily News.

"It's really important we scored on the power play and held their power play to zero," Nolan said. "That's a big difference and one of the reasons why we got the point."

Dallas Morning News & Ft Worth Star Telegram: Has the Dallas Star coverage on their win.

Dallas 3, New York 2 ot

Islanders Website: Has the recap of Monday's 2-1 overtime loss to the Dallas Stars.

"It was one of those games where maybe we shouldn't have gotten a point," said head coach Ted Nolan. "We found a way to get a point and it all equals out in the end."

"If the chances aren't there then maybe there should be frustration," said Nolan, "but as long as you have the opportunities, eventually they'll go in."

"Considering the team we're playing, it was nice to get that power play goal and keep them from scoring on the power play," said Nolan regarding the Stars' five power plays. "That was the big difference and one of the reasons why we got the point."

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Dallas came into Monday on a five game winning streak, they may have been due to lose but have plenty of confidence when the game is on the line.

No one is happy losing a game but the important thing is to get the game to overtime and make sure to get at least one point. As I wrote after the Boston game Saturday in the context of one game it was a good team effort.

Islanders did not lose from lack of hard work. Ted Nolan seemed to try everything in terms of line combinations. Islanders generated some quality chances but could not finish. Teams that score two goals or less in nine straight games simply have a problem that goes beyond coaching. As tough as it has been on offense that's how good it's been on defense.

Chris Simon's no goal is the perfect examply of shots not going in for this club, great save by Turco, perfect setup by Comrie.

To score a shorthanded goal against a powerplay this good was a very impressive play by Martinek and a great finish by Richard Park. Marty Turco made a terrible read and had another bad turnover.

Nice work by Andy Sutton on Hagman as he pushed him away from the front of the net and breaking up a home run pass by Dallas in the first period.

Powerplay did come through with a big goal by Satan when they needed it most and it was a great shot. Bergeron's hard shot got through from a bad angle and he hesitated to draw the defender down and get a lane.

You can see the Islanders pressing. Bill Guerin had three penalties and none in the defensive end of the ice. Park was given an offensive zone penalty late in the second period. Refs seemed to make a few terrible calls against the Isles in this game on Guerin too. Defender on Richard Park lost an edge, he was not pulled down.

Rick DiPietro played well and robbed Stu Barnes early in the third period. Modano made a good shot for the Dallas goal off a rush. Halpern's goal for the 2-1 lead was just a broken play where Sillinger made the block and it went right to him for an empty net. Robidas, Riberio also had great chances DiPietro stopped.

Modano beat Martinek on the game winner after DiPietro made the save crashing the net. Robidas made the play coming in from the net.

Next up an Ottawa sitting around angry aftrer losing 5-0 to Philadelphia that is likely getting back Daniel Alfredsson.

Islander News Articles 11/26

If there is a Newsday article today for Islanders-Dallas it did not make it to the print edition of the paper.

Dallas Morning News: Mike Heika previews tonights game.

Dallas: RW Antti Miettinen (groin) is questionable. D Mattias Norstrom (facial laceration) and RW Jere Lehtinen (abdominal strain) are out.

Ft Worth Star Telegram: Dallas Stars coverage.

Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio has coverage of Bridgeport's shootout win Sunday against Albany.

Sound Tigers Website: Has recap of Bridgeport's 4-3 win against Albany Sunday.

Updated 3:30pm
Newsday: Greg Logan checks in with a blog update on Rick DiPietro and the club about to have a discussion about getting Wade Dubielewicz some work in Bridgeport if necessary.

Islanders Website: Jason Lockhart has an update on the shots against being down significantly this season with quotes from Bruno Gervais and other players.

11/26: New York vs Dallas FSN 7pm

It's green and gold and something the Islanders have not played hockey against since November of last season which was the final West Coast road game.

Islanders won 3-0 last year in Dallas.

Dallas Stars Website: Has a recap of their fifth straight win at Msg Sunday. Where they were outshot badly but won with their backup goaltender in net facing over forty shots.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Dallas is red hot since the gm change. They have two capable goalies and likely will have Marty Turco rested for the Islanders. They have a very fast, skilled team and just got Brad Winchester healthy and back in their lineup who many may recall from the Roman Hamrlik trade about eight years ago.

Should be interesting if the Islanders can finally break through with some offense or can they hang around for another two goal game and win or does Dallas score early and force the Islanders into opening up. With Ottawa and the Rangers back to back in a few days, these are points they need to take.

With Tim Jackman demoted, I expect Shawn Bates to play or Ted Nolan to go with seven defenders again. Usually when the Islanders win Ted Nolan keeps the same lineup.