We have our regular power rankings and media survey -- including one hilarious misobservation -- below the jump, but first some Islanders and NHL links:
- Staple's Newsday piece talks about the five-gamem winless streak, stresses difference from last year. Includes a Cappy bit on Brian Rolston.
-
Kerry Fraser on the awful OT call the other night.
- You can bid on the 92-93 ceremony jerseys from the other night. {Puts wallet in a drawer, throws away key.}
- Fornabaio's quickie on Trevor Gillies had a Mark Katic update that made me feel sorry all over again for Katic.
- Bridgeport playing the Whale this morning. [live audio here]
- Chris Botta talks to John Tavares's agent, Pat Brisson.
- Special "Get Connected" ticket nights for da fans who use da social mediar.
- More on the reffing Saturday: From a blind fan, no less.
- FanShot: Dreaming of a Wang-Wolkoff partnership. It does have a wawa ring to it.
- License Plates: Rock on.
-
FanPost: DP'sKnees' "Guide for Angry Nassau Voters," which should, ahem, stir some debate.
NHL Links
- Nino's conditioning stint poses a roster issue for the Isles (he stays on the 23-man even while in Bridgeport). Out West, Quisp finds a clever way the Kings sort of have a 24-man roster.
- It's funny, John Tortorella really let Joe Thornton have it the morning after Thornton called the Rangers "soft," but I actually preferred the original response from that night, which was a simple Tortorellan "Wonderful."
- This sounds like a cool tool, though it's not working for me (but apparently works for everyone else): A shot location search tool for every player over the last three seasons. [via PPP]
-
Not Exactly News Dept.: "The Sabres signed Ville Leino to be one of their top two centers. It hasn't worked out so far, with just one goal and one assist in 10 games." (Where are the random anonymous drive-by folk who lambast me for saying the Isles don't need to give out Leino contracts?)
- The importance of D-Zone Communication. Respect.
- Although I cherish our Patrick Division roots, I support the division of Pennsylvania.
NHL Media Power Rankings
See if you can spot the guy not really paying attention:
| Outlet | Rank | Last Week | Their Commentary |
| CBSSports | 26 | 16 |
What has turned into a five-game losing streak continued late last week in Pittsburgh when the Islanders watched a 2-0 third-period lead slip away. Making things even more complicated, Rick DiPietro was forced to make his debut this season in the shootout, coming off the bench when Evgeni Nabokov had to exit after overtime with a "lower body injury." |
|
THN (Proteau) |
23 | 18 |
After winning three of their first four games, Isles have dropped their past five. |
| ESPN (Burnside) |
19 | 6 | The Isles are winless in their past five games, and the offense, supposed to be the team's strength, has chipped in just seven goals during the slide. The three-headed goaltending monster continues to plague the team. |
| CBC | 28 | 18 | The Islanders' 3-1-0 start lasted about as long as Kim Kardashian's wedding to Kris Humphries. New York is winless in five games, although they earned points in shootouts. The offence has dried up, big time. In those five games, the Isles haven't scored more than two goals in any of those contests. |
|
TSN (Cullen) |
17 | 11 | The Isles have dropped five straight, though they came away with points in the last two against Pittsburgh and San Jose. There was a time when it looked like C Josh Bailey and LW/RW Blake Comeau would be able to provide complementary offence, but neither has registered a point this season. |
| Fox | 28 | 14 | The offensive depth after the Molson-Tavares-Parenteau line hasn’t materialized. The Isles have seven goals in their last five games, all losses (0-3-2). |
| Average |
23.5 |
16 |
Who TF are Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries?! Kindly replace with quotes from '80s comedies. |
Other Notes:
The Islanders have given up 2.48 goals per game, good for eighth-best in the league so far. Uhh, so goaltending plague, eh?
Quite the (deserved) drop, although we could've told you even during the wins their play left something to be desired. The Sharks OT loss was better than a couple of regulation wins. Note that Cullen's is the only "calculated" ranking in the above. The rest are true media "impressions" prone to narrative from simple wins and losses.
Real Power Rankings
That said, while it's still way too early for a lot of data, Mike's table has the Islanders in the same vicinity. Not many teams below them, but one of them is tomorrow night's opponent (meanwhile, how long do you suppose Edmonton stays up in the clouds?):
| W | L | OTL | Pts | Win Pct | PWR | ||
| 1 | Washington | 7 | 2 | 0 | 14 | 0.778 | 2310 |
| 2 | Edmonton | 7 | 2 | 2 | 16 | 0.727 | 2249 |
| 3 | Pittsburgh | 8 | 3 | 2 | 18 | 0.692 | 2010 |
| 4 | Los Angeles | 6 | 3 | 2 | 14 | 0.636 | 1933 |
| 5 | Dallas | 8 | 3 | 0 | 16 | 0.727 | 1878 |
| 6 | Chicago | 6 | 2 | 2 | 14 | 0.700 | 1868 |
| 7 | Toronto | 7 | 3 | 1 | 15 | 0.682 | 1771 |
| 8 | San Jose | 6 | 3 | 0 | 12 | 0.667 | 1765 |
| 9 | Phoenix | 5 | 3 | 2 | 12 | 0.600 | 1763 |
| 10 | Colorado | 7 | 4 | 0 | 14 | 0.636 | 1697 |
| 11 | Philadelphia | 6 | 4 | 1 | 13 | 0.591 | 1683 |
| 12 | Minnesota | 4 | 3 | 3 | 11 | 0.550 | 1660 |
| 13 | Buffalo | 6 | 4 | 0 | 12 | 0.600 | 1650 |
| 14 | Florida | 6 | 4 | 0 | 12 | 0.600 | 1593 |
| 15 | New Jersey | 4 | 4 | 1 | 9 | 0.500 | 1577 |
| 16 | Vancouver | 5 | 5 | 1 | 11 | 0.500 | 1566 |
| 17 | Tampa Bay | 5 | 4 | 2 | 12 | 0.545 | 1560 |
| 18 | Ottawa | 7 | 5 | 0 | 14 | 0.583 | 1488 |
| 19 | Anaheim | 5 | 5 | 1 | 11 | 0.500 | 1482 |
| 20 | Calgary | 4 | 4 | 1 | 9 | 0.500 | 1468 |
| 21 | Detroit | 5 | 4 | 0 | 10 | 0.556 | 1458 |
| 22 | Carolina | 4 | 4 | 3 | 11 | 0.500 | 1397 |
| 23 | NY Rangers | 3 | 3 | 3 | 9 | 0.500 | 1394 |
| 24 | Nashville | 5 | 4 | 1 | 11 | 0.550 | 1372 |
| 25 | St. Louis | 5 | 6 | 0 | 10 | 0.455 | 1326 |
| 26 | NY Islanders | 3 | 4 | 2 | 8 | 0.444 | 1317 |
| 27 | Montreal | 4 | 5 | 2 | 10 | 0.455 | 1130 |
| 28 | Winnipeg | 3 | 6 | 1 | 7 | 0.350 | 1103 |
| 29 | Boston | 3 | 7 | 0 | 6 | 0.300 | 989 |
| 30 | Columbus | 2 | 9 | 1 | 5 | 0.208 | 606 |
Our weekly "real" power rankings are courtesy of our own ICanSeeForIslesAndIsles (who is the one you'll find tirelessly compiling FIG picks in the game thread), conceived and delivers these week after week. They reflect games through Sunday.
Explanation of how he does it is in the original post. If you have any questions about it, leave them in comments and he'll likely answer. For reference, last week's post is here.