Islanders 2, Senators 1 (OT): Mark Eaton the Hero in His 600th NHL Game

in 20 games this season in which JT didn’t have a point. Who needs secondary scoring when you have Mark Eaton

Still waiting on Boston and the Rags to get in 1 more, but a quick preview:

At 50 GP for all teams:
8th – Washington 26-20-4 56
9th – Toronto 25-19-6 56
10th – Winnipeg 22-22-6 50
11th – Tampa Bay 22-23-5 49
12th – Islanders 21-22-7 49

In this 10 game chunk, we went 6-3-1, tied for 4th in the east with NJ (and possibly NYR).
We gained 1 point each on Washington and Tampa (both 5-3-2) in the 10, 2 points on Carolina and Florida (both 4-3-3) and Toronto (5-4-1), 3 points on Montreal (4-4-2), 6 points on Winnipeg and Buffalo (both 3-6-1).

We gain anywhere between 2 and 4 on Boston.

We lost 1 point to Philly (6-2-2), 2 to Ottawa (7-2-1) and 3 to Pittsburgh (8-2-0) in games 41-50.

And from Zorak, our elimination number vs Toronto stands at 56, but if all teams continued to earn points at the pace of their last 10 games, the Isles would right now finish in 9th place with 91, 1 point out of the post-season.

Among players with 600 or more games played, Eaton is 991st in Points. Among the players he has more points then? Al Arbour, Jody Shelley and Rich Pilon.

ESPN says so at http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/recap?gameId=400046787

0 goals, 0 assist – still #1

or really just Praise for PA Parenteau (by the way I liked how in the highlights, Potvin, said his name with a french accent and also that PA was one of the best passers in the League.) Good stuff.

+ PAP for creating both opportunities to score on both goals. (side note, I know it was initially Martin and JT) But the clutch passing by PAP. CPI = 11. If you catch my drift.

We clearly need to sign PAP, because there is no current replacement for a 70 + point guy (he is on pace for 78 I believe). He has been consistent with his production whether on the PP or ES. It is clear that it really doesn’t matter who is on the ice with him, because as we saw, a cross over of Martin’s line and PAP created the 1st goal. Then with what were Jurcina and Eaton doing that close to the net, made an amazing back pass that confused every Ottawa player when it stuck to the tape of Jurcina’s Stick.

I mean enough cannot be said about that pass, it was perfect enough for Jurcina to then place it directly on Eaton’s Stick, who just went with the flow of being on a line with JT and PAP and scored. It was as if for that very second JT and PAP passed on their gifts of amazement to Eaton.

I think we will see at least 3 years 3.5 million akin to Moulson, if not 4 million 3 years. PAP is in his prime as a player and he will probably never lose the gift of vision and passing. He is a gritty, agitating player who will play physical and try to lay some people out, while also controlling the puck into the offensive zone. He does create some turnovers, but he also plays on a line with FN and MG whom are more than equipped to retrieve the puck when lost.

There we have it, resign PAP like the rest of players we gave a year contract to, to see how they would do it, let PAP cash in for his efforts, because we certainly can afford the payment.

Back to the Plus/MInus:

+ Nabokov, minus that one SH goal. He seemed a little deep and unprepared, but we won, while he made some other excellent saves. Ride the Hot hand. Though tonight you have to think Montoya gets the start.

+ Defense, though the game in the 2nd was a bit more disorganized the defense held their own against a very good ES team. One great positive, is that even though the players on our D are not top tier, they are healthy, which is big. Some cohesiveness goes a long way.

+ Hamonic stepped up a bit offensively, Butchie mentioned this, when seeing how Karlsonn was doing this season. Maybe, Maybe not, but either way, Hamonic had a great rush to the net during the 1st period.

+ And great 1st period, sticking to game plan, even though no goals many opportunities by all the lines. Could have netted a few to take an early lead.

+ JT, even just for that back check that led to the final goal. Does it all.

I guess there should be a Minus,

- 2nd period, not many shots on net, hemmed in the zone from sloppy breakouts and neutral zone play, failed on 2 power plays and let in a SHG. Nabby kept it under raps though, for everything but that one SHG.

But we played pretty well when I was watching.

Matt Martin doesn’t find himself in the slot with the puck very often, but I’ll say he generally seems to know what to do when it happens. It’ll be interesting to see if he can ever develop enough of a complete game to earn top 6 minutes. That said, they could probably already find a place for him in front of the net on the second PP unit.

Speaking of the second PP unit-so now it’s Streit, KO, Rahk, Bailey, and Nino? Could be interesting, but I’m not that surprised they were on the ice for a shorty. I think you need more defense than Mark Streit out there for that forward crew.

I’m curious if we get to see Al tonight. Nabby’s playing well, but you wonder what their plan is with Al given the Poulin call-up and his lack of work even since he’s supposedly been healthy. Of all the strange Islander personnel decisions, their handling of the goalies this year has really been mind-boggling.