Haywire night. Missed the first period to find the Isles had held up well against the East Conference leaders. And as the clock moved on, they were still in it -- with big hits from Comrie, Witt, Okopso, and a goal from Bill Guerin just minutes after I mused in the game thread how long it had been (8 games, since goals #399 and #400). Yann Danis played well enough other than, heh, the two regrettable goals he let up. Ah well, I could see him again. Don't need to rush Dubie.
Afterward, I stumbled into the disappointing news (well, bloggy "news," anyway) that a rogue poster at Mirtle's "From the Rink" blog was none other than Islanders blogger B.D. Gallof. [I won't go into that here -- I reflected on it in a FanPost already, and if you'd like to discuss that or related issues, please comment there rather than in this game recap. Oh, alright fine: comment wherever you want -- it's the Internet!]
[Game Summary | Event Summary | nhl.com Recap (by BlogBoxer Tom Liodice)]
Stanley Cup of Chowder has the Bruins' perspective.
So yeah, 41 shots on Tim Thomas. Several of them even decent! Trent Hunter had six of them, Blake Comeau five, but other than that the shot parade was fairly spread out. I think we're all tiring of "well, that was a good effort, at least," but amid the discomfort and pain of this understocked growing phase, we are seeing glimpses. Kyle Okposo, all of 20 years old, is using his body in ways that promise very good things for him. Better yet, I don't expect we'll ever hear him pout that he can't be the next Clark Gillies.
I confess, even with the Bruins' injuries, without Weight I underestimated how close the Isles could keep it. The problem remains a) they don't score at 5-on-5, and b) they don't score on the power play without QB Doug Weight to help relieve pressure on Mark Streit. But these kids will need to keep getting their reps, and eventually step into the bigger roles Scott Gordon is making for them. Tavares can't do it alone, heh.
Meanwhile, the other news of the day -- the Kansas City PR move that's already paid for itself: Chris Botta has a round-up of thoughts and all the pertinent links, including insight about working with Charles Wang that non-Isles followers probably don't know.