Islanders Matinee: Get Kyle to 20 goals, please
by Dominik on Apr 11, 2009 1:41 PM EDT
in New York Islanders Previews
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PrintToday's game shouldn't matter to us. John Tavares (no, Victor Hedman!), NO, John TAVARES -- whoever, one of them -- is ours. The Islanders have two home games this weekend to go out on a partying good note, to leave fans with a warm-and-fuzzy feeling after a season of injury (600+ 575 man-games...) and pain.
Philadelphia Flyers (43-26-11, 4th/E) at New York Islanders (Tavare-0-Hedman)
2 p.m. EDT | Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum | MSG+
Flyers on SBN: Broad Street Hockey
One way to get that warm-and-fuzzy would be to get Kyle Okposo, who returns from injury today, a couple of biscuits to bring his season's tally to 20. The Islanders don't have a 20-goal scorer, since they shipped one off to Pittsburgh for a 5th 4th, to become a 3rd if the Pens behave.
I would make a joke about their scoring prowess, but the fact is a look at their stat sheet shows you just ONE FREAKING PLAYER who has played in as many as 70 games this season. Talk about injury carnage. Kind of hard for anyone to rack up scoring numbers when no one can even rack up games played.
So yeah, please set up Okposo -- a lot -- and bring his tally to 20. That would be nice. Also: sitting at 197 goals for on the season, it'd be nice if the Islanders could collect a minimum of three to change that number.
But it won't be easy. In addition to the Islanders' typically injury-massacred lineup, the Flyers actually have something to play for: They can secure home ice in the first round of the playoffs if they win out. What do ya' say boys ... let's try to make that difficult, mmkay?
A Few Links for the Hell of It
- Islesblogger Mike and Tiger Track Tom each took in the Bridgeport Sound Tigers game last night. Check their live blogs for a taste of the farm -- and a taste of a (baby) Islanders playoff team.
- Newsday has Scott Gordon on this season: "The first two months felt like three years." Pretty much, yeah.
- Forever1940 points out that today is the anniversary of two massive games from Islanders history.
- The official site's bit on the Sarnia signings (Mark Katic and Justin DiBenedetto)
- This is funny: ESPN's Pierre LeBrun, who I normally enjoy, did West and East "offseason makeovers" for the non-playoff teams. Except that's a poor headline, because they weren't so much makeovers as assessments (usually: "Things are bad here.") The Islanders briefing is particularly bad -- essentially (my paraphrasing): "Tavares. Some good young forwards. DiPietro a question."). Thanks for that. I was sort of hoping for a plan, maybe even a cocktail-napkin acquisition suggestion, but no ... nothing.
This is your preview/game thread combo. Go Isles.
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Rechlicz, clean shaven but for the patch
An odd sight. I miss the grizzly look.
Lighthouse Hockey: Side effects may include Weight gain and frequent game loss.
Note:
I’m making this preview post the game thread, since I don’t expect to be around — at least not consistently — for much of this game.
Lighthouse Hockey: Side effects may include Weight gain and frequent game loss.
Bergie's back! 1-0 Isles
Nice. Them young folk came to play today. Doug Weight with the sweet feed from the left wing, where Bergenheim redirects it in past Biron.
Lighthouse Hockey: Side effects may include Weight gain and frequent game loss.
Shots 14-3 Isles
4:20 left in the first…
Lighthouse Hockey: Side effects may include Weight gain and frequent game loss.
End of 1st: 1-0 Isles
Helluva period from the home team. Probably should have potted a couple more, though.
Lighthouse Hockey: Side effects may include Weight gain and frequent game loss.
Bergenheim during the intermission
“Listen, I’m having a lot of fun playing with Doug and Kyle. Great, great players.”
Heh heh, I bet, buddy.
Lighthouse Hockey: Side effects may include Weight gain and frequent game loss.
Flyers PP goal: 1-1
Bah. Lupul with a nice play at the end of the powerplay.
Lighthouse Hockey: Side effects may include Weight gain and frequent game loss.
Oof
Streit impales himself on his stick after checking Lupul.
Apparently, the Flyers have gone up 2-1 while I was away. So much for that strong first period
Lighthouse Hockey: Side effects may include Weight gain and frequent game loss.
Oh yeah, 2-2
Back in the saddle.
Great look-away feed by Bailey, simple shot by Jackman (foul: Biron) for the goal.
Lighthouse Hockey: Side effects may include Weight gain and frequent game loss.
Ties that do not last long: 3-2 Flyers
Simon Gagne, with a nice screen flying by the net on Danis. Bruno victimized by the Mike Comrie™ Gagne toe-drag.
Lighthouse Hockey: Side effects may include Weight gain and frequent game loss.
Jiggs and Butch are talking the finer points of lacrosse
Ah, what the heck, it’s Game 81 in a 30th-place season. Pretty funny conversation, actually.
Jaffe: “Did you wear the same helmet when you played lacrosse, Butchie? Wait, of course you did.”
Lighthouse Hockey: Side effects may include Weight gain and frequent game loss.
Final: 3-2
No goals for Okposo. Tsk tsk.
The Mentor and the Rookie were the highlights: Great pass from Weight on Bergenheim’s goal, great pass from Bailey to set up Jackman’s.
/good night
Lighthouse Hockey: Side effects may include Weight gain and frequent game loss.
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1979-80
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May 24, 1980: Tonelli to Nystrom. At long last, the steady build of the New York Islanders from expansion doormat to surprise semifinalist to annual contender reaches the promised land: Buoyed by a late season trade for Butch Goring that gave the team the depth up the middle GM Bill Torrey had been seeking, the Islanders knock off the Philadelphia Flyers in six games.
The victory justified the faith in coach Al Arbour who guided them from their second season to their first Stanley Cup seven seasons later. The Islanders would not be the first expansion team to win the Stanley Cup, but they would be the only one capable of a dynasty.
1980-81
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May 21, 1981: This time it was much easier. After falling to "only" 91 points in the 1979-80 season, the Islanders returned to their division title tradition, piling up 110 points -- a whole 13 points over second-place Philadelphia.
Between the quarterfinals (where they beat the upstart Oilers in six games) and the finals, the Islanders reeled off eight consecutive wins -- with a four-game sweep of archrival Rangers in between. As they defeated the Minnesota North Stars in five games for their second Cup, their goal difference in the final was a combined +10.
1981-82
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May 16, 1982: Another year, another landslide title. The Islanders won the Patrick Division by a whopping 26 points over the second-place Rangers, and were seven points clear of their nearest competition for the President's Trophy, the still-not-quite-ripe Edmonton Oilers.
A first-round scare against the Pittsburgh Penguins turned in the Isles' favor thanks to John Tonelli's heroics, and a true dynasty was on its way: Past the Rangers in six games, then an eight-game sweep of the Quebec Nordiques and Vancouver Canucks to run away with the Stanley Cup.
1982-83
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May 17, 1983: Not so fast, whipper-snappers. The Edmonton Oilers' steadily rising challenge for league supremacy took them all the way to the finals for the first time, where the New York Islanders summarily dispatched them in a four-game sweep. For the Islanders, the Dynasty was secured. For the Oilers, it was a powerful lesson in where talent ends and the demands of playoff hockey begin.
Four years, four Cups, 16 consecutive playoff series wins (a record that would grow to 19 until the rematch with the Oilers the following year). Mike Bossy scored 60 goals yet again, and Wayne Gretzky became acquainted with Billy Smith's crease.
