New York 5, Tampa Bay 2

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Last time the New York Islanders were only four games under five hundred was November 6th.

This team was twelve games under five hundred on January 26th. The season low was thirteen games under December 13th at 5-18.

Four points in the Bermuda Triangle for the New York Islanders, long time since that has happened. No, it was hardly a classic tonight.

Nice rush by Hillen, you knew he would get the puck past MA Bergeron, Martin made a perfect shot to beat Roloson, who has to stop Nielsen's short-handed slapshot.

Roloson was solid enough, he defended the 2-0 break perfect, but the Islanders made some good plays for goals. Strange game when two Jurcina shots lead to goals, but any night Okposo-Bailey score is key. Bailey a rebound, Okposo a very nice deflection.

No big complaints besides officiating which seemed to find a lot to call so Tampa had every chance to get back in the game on the pp in the third, before finally giving Bergenheim his usual offensive-zone penalty as Guy Boucher looked like many Islander coaches when Bergenheim got overzealous. A dive on Hillen for touching stick while falling? Four minutes to Martinek?

A 5-2 win almost any way you get it is a solid win and the Islanders did some very good things tonight but they are not at that high skating/crisp level they were at on the homestand when they were just dominating. Tampa has been struggling and it's easy to see the Bolts are out of sync, even with the thirty plus shots they had.

On defense, it seemed Tampa's forecheck from fourth line caught MacDonald off guard one shift, Martinek was more aggressive tonight, and overall the team played well enough on defense.

Still, if Montoya is not sharp the Islanders do not win this game, more than a few times Tampa was buzzing it seemed they did everything but finish.

I'm more impressed with Grabner's back-checking then his offense, he skates hard both ways.

Nate Thompson looks like a much faster and skilled player for Tampa. LeCavalier was getting frustrated and he brushed Montoya's crease.

Buffalo wins again, the number to be eliminated stands at five/with tie-breaker favoring Sabres so number really is four. New Jersey's historic run is over, they stand two points ahead of the Islanders after another loss.

Now we see what happens at home against Atlanta/Flyers.



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Tampa Bay 4, New York 2

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Time Warner, New York did not show pre-game or switch to game until well into first period.

One point out of twenty two, eighteen games, eighteen even strength goals.

What can be written that I have not been writing for a while, one more even strength goal off Zenon Konopka's hard work to Moulson and that's the even strength offense against a struggling Tampa team that easily could have had five or more, and were hardly impressive themselves, that did not even have LeCavalier or Gagne.

Sure Hunter's post could have gone in or a few others for the Islanders, but so many rushes where one player had to beat three or two had to beat four. Nielsen beat three players to get off one shot in the second, but he simply cannot score.

Hunter took a lazy offensive zone penalty, he was not the only one.

Sure seems like this team is going to live/die based on Doug Weight, who is seeing far too much ice on a pp now failing, plus was out with the goaltender pulled.

The pk did not get the job done tonight, neither did the pp again.

In the context of one game, it was a reasonable loss, in the context of eleven games and one point out of twenty two, it's a disaster with no solution in sight based on current roster.

Why not put Grabner and Schremp's offensive skills together, now that Gordon is not the coach why not play Schremp on a wing or move Nielsen to a spot where he can play defense and not worry about goals?

Best moment of the game was Bailey's pass to Comeau, even if he missed that's the offense you try and generate.

Bergenheim had some great chances, Thompson hit the open net but 3-1 stretch leading to the goal was terrible.

Martinek, Wisniewski and defenders played well, cannot complain about that effort.

Dwayne Roloson is reminding me more and more of Gerry Desjardins circa 72-73, this is beyond goaltending.



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Islander News Articles 4/5

Newsday: Greg Logan's game recap of the Islanders 3-1 over Tampa Bay Saturday has comments from head coach Scott Gordon who is interested in his lineup and building something for next season, not the current standings while Josh Bailey talks about the set play with Blake Comeau that led to his third period goal.

Newsday: Mr Logan's second article was on Mark Streit, whether he will return this season where he also discusses playing for Switzerland at the World Championships.

NY Post: Mark Hale covered last nights game with comments from Jesse Joensuu and Scott Gordon.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
At this point unless a writer is dispatched to the Nassau Coliseum from Editor Leon Carter's Daily News sports department I will not be posting their sportsticker updates. I suspect the Daily News New York Islander budget is spent for this year unless there are more articles on former owners.

Tampa Tribune: Erik Erlendsson's game coverage and blog entries here.

St Pete Times: Damian Cristodero's game coverage of Tampa's loss to New York on Saturday.

Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio's article is on Pascal Morency and Mitch Fritz with a preview of Sunday's 1pm home game against River Rats who Bridgeport won against earlier this week in Albany.

Mr Fornabaio is not sure who will be returned to Bridgeport among the Islander callups at this time.

New York 3, Tampa Bay 1

Associated Press: Recaps New York's 3-1 win over Tampa Bay Saturday.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
The surprise of the day for me in this one was Scott Gordon breaking his goaltender rotation and starting Danis who had been struggling badly at home recently with MacDonald needing a home game of his own to start.

Maybe the coach wanted to put him back in and see how he responds? I'm not sure what to read into that.

The rest of this was a lot of callups on both sides and kind of an ugly choppy game with not many great chances on either side. The Islanders were a little more rested and got a nice break in the opening minute on good hustle by Park. Tampa only generated seven shots at Martin Broduer last night but scored three times, tonight Danis had to make a few very good close in saves but nothing sustained.

For the Islanders what caught my attention was Tambellini going shoulder to shoulder with a 6'4 220lb defender on the Lightning and sending him flying, that's how he's going to win the pucks and find space to use his excellent shot which McKenna had no chance on when Tambellini hit the post in the third.

Joensuu had some very visible shifts, two more points and Iggulden flattened someone on the Lightning. The play to set up Bailey for a breakaway goal on the powerplay was as good as you can ask for. Gervais and Comeau very visible and effective games.

Radek Martinek seems to like scoring against Tampa Bay in 3-1 wins at the Coliseum which is his fourth goal since that game on 2/3.

Just have to let the games play out folks and let the lottery take it's course.

Tampa Bay at New York 7pm Msg+

I readjusted the man games lost to injury on the sidebar, everyone has their own number but the Islanders release today is what we will go by for the next week.

This is not a precise thing charted by the league with NYIFC, Fox, Newsday and the Islanders all having different figures at some point between illness-injury.

The final number is going to come in very close to six hundred which says enough.

Tampa Tribune & St Pete Times: Preview's tonight's game.

Updated Player Pos Injury Expected Return
Marek Malik D Lower body Out until at least early April
Vincent Lecavalier C Wrist Out for the season
Cory Murphy D Foot Out until at least mid-April
Mike Smith G Concussion IR. Likely out for the season
Andrej Meszaros D Arm IR. Out for the season
Paul Ranger D Undisclosed IR. Out for the season

Tampa Tribune: Erik Erlendsson reports Defenseman Josef Melichar left the game with a lower body injury in the second period and did not return. He’s likely out for Saturday’s game. Melichar was limping around the locker room after the game and looked to be favoring his left leg.

Also, Ryan Craig left the game at some point in the third period with an upper body injury and looks like he might miss the remaining four games. Craig had his left arm in a sling after the game so more callups are coming with Mike McKenna likely to be in goal.


NYI Fan Central Comments:
I have watched enough of Tampa to know that they come to play and work hard every game, even with their injuries (LeCavalier) they have far more offense than the Islanders without Okposo-Bergenheim-Streit.

Now we see if they need even another callup for Andy Hilbert.

Last night Tampa had the the Devils down 2-0 and even with Kevin Weekes getting injured, Broduer coming in who made several big saves, a thrown stick penalty shot goal finally got the Devils (who looked terrible) who turned a 2-0 deficit into a 3-2 lead, Tampa still rallied to tie the game and then down 4-3 scored again to force overtime.

Stamkos, St Louis, Malone and a lot of the forwards were all over the Devils at times last night, not in terms of shots but generating quality chances when they did shoot.

Both teams obviously need some callups. For Scott Gordon Joey MacDonald has not played at home for a while and Danis has struggled at home. I would guess unless Hilbert can go the Isles need at least three recalls depending on McAmmond.

Sean Bentivoglio and Trevor Smith played Thursday and Friday, Bridgeport is off Saturday but has a big game Sunday.

Because Isles lead Tampa in wins (first tie-breaker) the tragic number to turn the lottery race into a two team contest with Colorado is four with tonight being a four point game.

I guess no coaches post-game press conference tonight because we have to watch Cablevision Hockey Night Live canned coverage. Should be interesting to see how Isles find enough programming to fill twenty minutes of pregame.

Islander News Articles 4/4

Newsday: Greg Logan previews tonight's game against Tampa (mostly about the lottery) with Jeff Tambellini's comments.

Newsday: Mr Logan in the Islander Newsday blog writes contrary to certain contrarians, the sidebar that accompanied the Islanders game story in today's Newsday did not say that injured Kyle Okposo and Mark Streit would definitely miss the rest of the season with their groin strains. It simply suggested that it would not be surprising if that happened as he went on to clarify what happened in the press conference with head coach Scott Gordon's comments.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Of course where Mr Logan fails here is to simply not do a blog entry right after the game on Thursday and cover all angles. This is what Steve Zipay does after almost every game with his blanket coverage so why can't he do that in the only full-time paper that covers this team?

Couldn't the question to Scott Gordon on Okposo and the World Championships wait for another week or an off-day where the winger himself comments?

NY Post: Dan Martin takes his shots at the Isles being well rested because of the lack of playoff series wins while Richard Park feels next year will be different and he will see his first playoff action since he was with the Minnesota Wild that went to the conference finals in 2003.

Sault-Star: Reporter Bill Montague has comments from former Islander head coach Ted Nolan about being a general manager and a return to coaching as he dismissed owning a team. Also reported in this article was former Islander assistant Dany Flynn was named coach of the year in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League earlier this week.

AHL.com: Recaps Bridgeport's 4-3 overtime win against Hershey Friday night on Sean Bentivoglio's overtime goal to clinch the first one hundred point season in franchise history in the post-shootout era.

Joe Callahan and Joel Rechlicz did not play, nor did Robin Figren or any of the CHL players on tryout contracts.

Peter Mannino had twenty nine saves in goal.

1. BRI Fraser, (7) (Joensuu, Wotton), 3:36
1. HER McNeill, (3) (Brennan, Joudrey), 17:46
1. HER Perreault, (11) (Giroux, Lepisto), 18:23 (PP)
2. HER Reid, (2) (Gordon), 2:47
2. BRI Joensuu, (19) (Fraser, Kohn), 11:14 (PP)
3. BRI Haskins, (10) (Bentivoglio, Sim), 5:43
OT. BRI Bentivoglio, (13) (Haskins, Kohn), 0:25

1 x Hershey Bears 76 47 21 2 6 102
2 x Bridgeport Sound Tigers 77 46 23 3 5 100
3 x WBScranton Penguins 75 47 24 2 2 98

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Never say never but Bridgeport needed a regulation win Friday. Hershey plays WBS Saturday. With an eighty game schedule is almost up.

Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio recaps Friday's big win with comments from head coach Jack Capuano, Sean Bentivoglio and goaltender Peter Mannino, who credited defenseman Jon Gleed for a game saving blocked shot in the third period.

Ct Post: Has the following statement from the Bridgeport Sound Tigers Team President Howard Saffan not written by beatwriter Michael Fornabaio:

Howard Saffan, president of the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, issued the following statement Friday:

I want to take this time to apologize to Lynn Carlotto, General Manager of the Arena at Harbor Yard, for my recent criticism of her management of the facility. I have turned what should have been a private business disagreement into a public matter. My comments were emotionally charged due to the fact that we are fighting for the number one seed in the AHL playoffs and because of the Arena's schedule we will not be able to begin our quest for the AHL championship on home ice. We are working to resolve a difference of interpretation regarding the way playoff dates are established at the Arena.

Patriot-News: Covers the Hershey Bears.

Islander News Articles 2/8

Newsday: Greg Logan's game recap of the Islanders loss to Tampa has comments from Bruno Gervais on the game winning goal Gary Roberts got position against him and Yann Danis on the loss.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
I cannot remember the last time a Bruno Gervais quote made it into Newsday.

Newsday: Mr Logan's other article is mostly a repeat of his pregame blog on Bergenheim where apparently he was skating for two weeks but could not get in the lineup because of Nate Thompson with the head coach adding " I think if his focus is on scoring goals, then it's not in the right place, He's got to make sure he's skating and finishing his checks, and the rest will take care of itself."

NYI Fan Central Comments:
You mean like it has for Thompson, Hilbert, Jackman and Park recently? All due respect to these players but they simply cannot carry any kind of offense load for long if at all.

I understand where the coach is going with Bergenheim and wants players thinking defense but to phase out Bergenheim who was getting pushed to the fourth line before his injury (after three goals) for other players without his skills simply does not make a lot of sense in a team that supposedly is going with prospects but leaves first round picks like Bergenheim-Tambellini in the stands while they reside in 30th place?

I have no idea what Scott Gordon sees in Nate Thompson who is virtually invisible when he plays.

St Petersburg Times: Damian Cristodero & Tampa Tribune:Erik Erlendsson has the recap of the Islanders 1-0 loss at Tampa with a very good write-up by both local papers on Mike McKenna for his first career shutout.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Very nice job by both Tampa publications on McKenna.

AHL.com: Reports Bridgeport finally won a game in Norfolk 3-2 on Saturday. Dallas prospect Tobias Stephan had thirty saves in goal for Bridgeport.

2. NOR Lundin, (3) (Bochenski, Konopka), 4:46 (PP)
2. NOR Keller, (8) (Bochenski, Jackson), 6:18
2. BRI Iggulden, (19) (Walter, Smith), 16:25
3. BRI Colliton, (4) (MacDonald), 11:43
3. BRI Joensuu, (14) (Smith, Kohn), 19:03

Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio recaps Bridgeport's game (phone interview with Jack Capuano) in Norfolk against the Admirals Saturday with blog entries here.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
For some reason the Ct Post has not been sending Mr Fornabaio to Norfolk the last few double-headers or for maybe the later game.

Ct Post: Bridgeport plays Sunday at 5pm in Philadelphia to wrap the weekend.

Norfolk Virginian Pilot: Paul White's Admiral coverage of Norfolk vs Bridgeport and Jesse Joensuu's goal in the final minute.

Tampa Bay 3, New York 1

Associated Press & Sports Network: Recaps New York's 1-0 loss against Tampa Bay on Saturday.


NYI Fan Central Comments:
Memo to Scott Gordon, that's how you go after someone at the start of a game when he hits your player and especially injures him in the case of Mottau-Nielsen.

No law that says the same cannot be done in Newark this week.

Shutout by Mike McKenna in his third NHL start, not a good sign for this offense which could have had a similar result at home if not for poor play by Ramo.

This was Tampa's defense: Steve Eminger, Paul Ranger, Cory Murphy, Matt Smaby
Lukas Krajicek, David Koci.

Tampa hyped this up like this was their playoffs/last stand, the Islanders statistically kept up in the hitting/fighting department but that was the game Tampa wanted to play to start things Saturday.

Islanders for their part despite one good powerplay early were dominated for a big part of the first period, that one penalty with Park in the box Danis was under attack and played a great game.

Could have been 3-0 at the end of the first.

Hunter's shot could have gone in, still not enough quality chances generated.

Finally Tampa got a rebound back to the same player who took the shots and Gary Roberts of all people at age 43 tipped in game winning goal.

Very weak call on Okposo, Park a penalty, Islanders almost score with Okposo coming out of the box but they could not get anything going with no time.

McKenna faced a good chance from Guerin early on one powerplay, Islanders did not generate enough here.

Could have been a lot worse without Danis strong play.

Not like the Islanders are getting blown out by teams in virtually any of these games.

I'm confused why Billy Jaffe was talking about the last stand for Bergenheim? He had all those goals before his injury and Jaffe was praising him, now Nate Thompson who's done virtually nothing beat him out for his spot which seemed like the reason given by Jaffe for him not playing?

I know lines got mixed a bit tonight, but Bergenheim should be with Nielsen and Hunter. Tampa was looking for Bergenheim early and tried to force him to take a penalty.

Tampa did a good scouting job for this game.

Anyone notice Scott Gordon's Hilbert-Park-Jackman-Thompson plan simply has not produced a lot of goals lately.

Someone's going to have to explain to me how Jeremy Colliton at this point and Ben Walter are not on this team and Nate Thompspon is because it simply does not make a lot of sense.