Islanders 5, Detroit 1: Just Your Usual Red Wings Visit, Is All

just swap Winnipeg and Detroit nextyear season?

its called scheduling

this was Detroit’s 14th game away from home of their last 19, dating back to December 1

so that means they’ve been on the road all through the Holiday season, New Years, and half of January

they are desparate to get home, didn’t need the game, underestimated the Islanders, rested their hurt players, played their backup goaltender

etc

we still suck

They don’t come that often

and they’re back in the race.

JT is on a 6 game scoring streak… 3-9-12 in 6 games… but won’t be in Ottawa for the all-star game. PPG player… #1 overall draft pick… but gets no respect.

We really should change our names to the NY Dangerfields.

personally like the concept of a “coefficient of drag” for a partner that Mark Streit has to carry. And tonight Milan Jurcina was back with Streit (three assists, two at EV), where it again looked like Jurcina’s drag was much lower than that of Steve Staios. Who knows, it’s just one game again, but Streit-Jurcina always looks better to me than Streit-Staios.

This was one of those nights where I want to here all of the Garth Snow Sucks, Fire Capuano people.

The Islanders absolutely embarrassed the Wings Tonight. This was total domination.

The Isles have a lot of talent. Its just a matter of learning how to be good together.

I think Josh Bailey, although he is not showing on the scoring sheet is really playing great overall hockey right now. He really is learning how to protect the puck and create scoring chances.

Also, I like having these vets in the lineup. Pandolpho in particular brings some value with his PK experience.
After Saturday Night, the isles will still have 1/2 of the schedule in front of them. If they can just get some more consistency….they will be in the mix to the last week.

U Guys think they can get to 25 Wins before they get to 25 Losses?

Any big win is a boost for the team’s morale. Yes, the Isles have the Wings number, and I think the last time the Isles lost to Detroit, George Pataki was governor. However, a commanding victory against a top team is still really nice.

When Jack Capuano called timeout on an icing (right? edit: Right.) with 22 seconds left in a 5-1 game. No idea what it was about [Edit: Indeed, Capuano said it was because of the icing, with first line fatigued and where injuries happen], but Mike Babcock’s fuming reaction was pretty funny (as was the Wings announcers’, who almost went to commercial break out of anger or something). It’s nice to play a team that won’t goon it up just because they’re being trounced 5-1, so I hate to look a gifthorse in the mouth. But my bet would be there was some reason, however odd, for the timeout. It’s just 30 seconds of down time, in any case. No one’s pride pants should be in a bunch.

All Conklin had to do was play the puck and end the game. Your team is down by 4 goals and theres like 20 seconds left. But NO, they had Conklin play for the icing. Why do that? If youre gonna do something like that, then you deserve to sit there through a TO.

GREAT game! :D

the ‘Believe’ commercial on the Network Formerly Known as Versus has a brief clip of Islanders fans, one holding a sign with that word on it:)

So infuriatingly inconsistent. Where was THIS Islander team the last 2 games? If it had shown up, we’d be talking about the Isles only 5 out of 8th through 40 games.

Now, should Zombie Ed McMahon come knocking on my door between now and Friday, and we somehow manage to beat Philly, it can erase the stain of fail that was the Anaheim game from my mind.

…..the way they won tonight removed some of the sting from that loss but we need to keep it going against both Philly and Buffalo in front of the home crowd…..

They’re in the playoff hunt surprisingly (6-0-1 in their last seven) despite poor goaltending. Wonder if they would like the services of Nabokov.

Did anyone catch this tweet, which it seems may have been deleted:

@BComptonNHL:
Cangialosi: “Comeau’s found a home here in Calgary.”
Chico: “Well, he’s found a coach.”

great game. lots of fun to watch…isles outhustled, outhit, outgamed the wings. nabokov should’ve deserved the first star (absolutely no disrespect to JT). the guy pretty much stood on his head. the one goal he let in was unfortunate. i thought he could of had it but it took a slight turn around his pad. i would’ve liked to see him got the shutout, but it is what it is. it should definitely make teams more interested come deadline time. other notes and thoughts:

everytime i watch JT, the guy gets not only better, but shows that he is well on his way to being nhl elite. i really like these top two lines capuano sends out. moulson-tavares-okposo compliment each other. besides the already established chemistry of moulson and tavares, i think having a power forward like KO on the top line really opens things up more. this is a good line for KO to really show his skill and he’s been playing very well since.

i’m also a fan of grabner-bailey-martin…this is a fun line to watch. as much as we all love nielsen, i believe this is where you’re going to get the most out of bailey. especially with grabner and martin as his line mates. bailey has been reading the ice well and can find grabner a lot better. martin provides the same type of work that KO provides on the first line in which i’m starting to really see where capuano is going with this. point being: these top 2 lines really compliment each other well.

i loved the timeout call and babcock getting pissed. i don’t expect them to beat the flyers given their track record. i won’t have a chance to watch the game thursday, but i hope they play well enough and reverse the trend.

I wonder if it’s a coincidence that Nabokov’s best game is against the team we took him from last year? Hmmmm.

JT looks great. Certainly capable of being a PPG player throughout his prime. Okposo is being all he can be on that line. Moulson may throw up 40goals. Hamonic looked really strong tonight. Streit came back to life tonight. Bailey is using the stickhandling/passing hands he has a lot more finally. Grabs finished a breakaway. Nabby playing lights out pretty much. And things were clicking for the most part.

O the little things make this season so much more tolerable.

Even watching the Wings lose, as a team, was something pretty to watch. Their excellent positioning, blade to blade passing, excellent transition game, pretty extreme discipline for an NHL team(stuart elbow aside), collapsing on puckcarriers on D, excellent and continual use of a man in front of the net to screen the goalie/clean up rebounds/tip shots, spreading the ice, and a great PP plan. They are a well put together team.

Why can’t the Isles play this well every night?

Now in come the Flyers, let’s keep up the momentum!!!!!!!!!!!!

Could that call be any weaker? Gaborik barely gets tapped by the Coyotes Defenseman and he gets a Penalty shot, IN OT?

this may somewhat explain why the isles have so much success against the wings and most west teams…

there’s no question about it. both conferences display two different styles of hockey. eastern conference teams tend to play grind it out, physically enduring type of hockey, while the western conference teams have more of a flashy, tic tac toe, flow-like style. it would be unfair to say which one is better when it’s more of a preference rather than who is more likely to win. it’s quite subjective…i believe the isles system benefits them against west teams because they can knock them off the puck (even though they’re not that physical to begin with) and create opportunities. not to mention, west teams are not used to the way the isles can cycle the puck and apply pressure on the forecheck. the wings are really not a big team physically, which is why they’re not better than chicago or vancouver. the isles being one of the physically weaker teams in the east, made themselves look bigger than they really are.

from all of the talk about the wings wanting to move to the east, they’d be wise to drop that request. the wings style of play would never last with the physicality of east teams like boston, nyr, and philly. the wings are a western conference team, so hence, should stay in the western conference since they only really prepare themselves for conference rivals.

kthnx.

but we’re the number 1 story on the NHL page of ESPN… mostly re: Tavares

national media attention is always cool

has been tweeting links to Bleacher Report articles like a madman over the last few days? Has he finally lost it? Want to tell him to cut the shit already.

Sounds like it was a lot of fun. But since I can’t see the games anyway, I’ve been going out. Tonight’s alternate to the Islanders: Near Eastern Jazz. AKA “Belly Dancing” music.

(My mom’s ex-boss is one of the best musicians for this type of music, and regularly plays in front of thousands in other countries, including some European ones that might surprise you).

So i got to listen to good (if not incredibly different) music, saw some belly dancing, and came home to find out the Isles p0wn the Wings. Of all teams. Are you sure you want to veto playing this team twice a year, Isles player reps???

Good night, peoples. FIG pool has been updated.