Post Game: Isles lose 3-0

Last night, our Isles fell 3-0 to the Rangers! Here's some of my notes:

-Well for around half the game the Isles looked decent, and the other half they looked terrible! Not going to do much when that happens

-On the second goal, the guys went for a change with the puck at center ice. What in the world are you thinking? You learn when your young to get the puck deep when going off for a change.

I know this is small, but to be honest there's not much to say on this game to me, it was really bad!!

Next Game: Thursday @ Home VS Calgary (Blake Comeau returns to the Coliseum)

Post Game: Isles lose 5-3!!!

Friday night, our Isles fell 5-3 to Phil Kessel and the Maple Leafs! Here are some of my notes from the game:

-Am I the only one who was pretty darn happy when they saw Doug Weight flipping out the bench after the possibly worst penalty call ever on Tavares toward the end of the third period? Its about time someone shows emotion, I don't understand how Cappy wasn't right there with him instead of telling him to calm down. Your STAR player gets cross checked in the head and gets called for a diving penalty and you don't do anything? Cmon now!! Also nice touch with the Gatorade when leaving the bench!

-Can NHL refs be fined for incompetency?? I know this seems like sour grapes, however when two head shots, plus brainless diving and a makeup call are made/missed how could it not be asked? I mean Tim Wallace was plainly hit right in the mouth coming up the boards, but nothing was called, even when he went down briefly. Then Matt Martin gets elbowed right in the face, and once again nothing is called. To top it off, the play continued for more then a little bit with him laying injured on the ice and the play on the total opposite end of the ice. Then the phantom dive as was just talked about. Then after that, they called Hamonic for cross checking in front of the net, and with the biggest makeup call of the year called the Leafs player for diving.

-PA Parenteau did something after the phantom trip that I had never seen before. He made motions with his arm similar to what football players do on defense to try and increase the crowd noise. However PA did it after the Tavares penalty, the first replay as he was skating back to the bench, he appeared to lift his arms in that motion as if encouraging the crowd to boo. I had never seen a hockey player do that before, and to be honest, props to PA for doing that because those refs deserved a lot worse then the extremely loud refs suck chant they got with a little over a minute left.

-The first two goals on Nabby were soft I thought!!!

-The shorty was embarrassing!

Well, two less then stellar games in a row for our Isles!! Hopefully they can turn it around in their next game!

Next Game: Tomorrow 7PM @ NY Rangers

Happy Holidays!!!

We here at savetheisles just wanted to wish you all a very Happy Holiday season. We thank you so, so much for all your support over the last 6+ months and look forward to doing the blog for a lot longer!!

Pre Game: Maple leafs @ Islanders!!

Tonight, a high public enemy in Islander land named Dion Phaneuf travels to the Coliseum with the Maple Leafs to take on our Islanders.

Arthur Staple reported this morning that we will ice the same lineup tonight as last night, goalie included. That means Evgeni Nabakov will be making his second straight start for us. Additionally fighter, Michael Haley will be in the lineup.

The last time Haley was in the lineup vs the Leafs it got interesting. You might remember in a game last season, after Dion laid what appeared to be a questionable hit on forward Justin Dibendetto, Haley went up to Phaneuf and just knocked him right down, and ended getting a two minute penalty for the hit.

I am hoping tensions such as that are in full force tonight, and I expect the boo birds will be out in full force for Phaneuf.

The Leafs played last night to so lets hope the Isles can use the younger legs they have to jump on them early and often. Also throughout this game I have a feeling Phil Kessel and Travis Hamonic will become quite friendly with each other.

Post Game: Isles lose 4-2!!

Last night our Islanders fell 4-2 to the Rangers! Here are some of my notes from the game:

-Poor defense costed us in this one!

-On the first Ranger goal it was like nobody wanted to defend Dubinsky. He just went right through two people like it was nothing! That is unacceptable!!

-The second Ranger goal was blown coverage! No offensive player should ever be left alone in front off a faceoff, let alone a guy with the skill of Gaborik. Bad job by Grabner there losing his man!

-It was nice to finally get some powerplay goals in this game! However, I am still far from sold on it!

-Nice third period by Tim Wallace and Matt Martin trying to give the team some energy to get back in the game.

-I think Howie was rusty last night because he was screwing peoples names up left and right. He was taking a page from the book of Goring/Peter.

Well, this was a disappointing game to say the least! However lets hope the Isles can rebound with a big win tonight!

Next Game: Tonight @ Home VS Toronto

Pre Game: Isles @ Jets

photo taken from images.wikia.com

Tonight, our New York Islanders travel to the home town of defenseman Travis Hamonic to take on Evander Kane and the Jets.

Al Montoya will get the nod in net for the Isles tonight, with the same lineup taking the ice for the Isles tonight as the lineup in their game over the weekend in Minny.

Arthur Staple reported that Evgeni Nabakov will start at least one of the next three games because we have three in the next four days.

You have to think the Isles will come out looking for revenge because the Jets really took it to the Isles in their visit to the Coliseum back in November. So it should be interesting to see how this game turns out.

Post Game: Isles win 2-1 in shootout!!

Tonight, our New York Islanders defeated the best team in the NHL the Minnesota Wild by a score of 2-1 in a shootout. Here are some of my notes:

-Isles played really really well tonight!!

-Large portion of the game they outplayed the best team in the NHL which is pretty impressive!!

-What the heck is wrong with Mark Streit?

-Backstrom stood on his head for Minny stoning the Isles on many good chances!!

-Tavares and Okposo both had solid games!!

-Hamonic and Amac is def the Isles number one d pair now. Mark Streit definitely isn't a top two defenseman anymore.

-Solid game by the fourth line!!

-The Bridgeport callups continue to play solid games!! They don't look out of place and are doing there jobs well!

-Day off helped Montoya!! He played really solid tonight!!

-Having Amac and Nino back made a difference!! This was one of the Isles best games in weeks!!

This afternoon I said that hopefully the roster upgrades will come in handy and it looks as though they did. This was a huge win as the Isles largely outplayed the best team in the NHL right now! Hopefully we can build on this vs the Jets

Next Game: Tuesday @ WPG 8:30 PM

Pre Game: Isles @ Wild!! Amac/Nino returning!!

Tonight, our New York Islanders travel to the hometowns of Kyle Okposo as well as prospect Aaron Ness to take on Dany Heatly and the Minnesota Wild.

Tonight, defenseman Andrew MacDonald and forward Nino Niederreiter return to the lineup. MacDonald has been out since blocking a shot late in a game in Buffalo a few weeks ago and getting a bad bone bruise in his leg. Nino has been out for exactly two weeks, after being concussed on a dirty hit by Dallas Stars defensman Mark Fistric. Brian Rolston will be out of the lineup tonight after reportedly suffering a concussion in the game the other night.

Al Montoya will return to the net tonight getting the start for the Isles. Hopefully his day off Thursday will help him out!

This will be a tough game for our Isles as Minnesota is a good team!! Getting Nino and Amac back will certainly help though, so hopefully the roster upgrades will help lead us to victory tonight as we could sure use it.

Former Isles coach/GM Milbury facing charges of assault and battery on a child!

According to various news outlets, former Isles and Bruins coach and Islanders GM Mike Milbury is facing charges of assault and battery on a child, threatening to commit a crime, and disorderly conduct.

Milbury through his attorney denied all allegations saying that he intervened in an altercation between his son and another player. Also that noone was hurt or threatened.

According to reports the incident happened on December 9th in a game between Milburys sons team and another team in which Milbury was acting as an assistant coach for his sons team. There was allegedly some talk back and forth between Milburys son and this other boy, and that caused Milbury to come off the bench onto the ice and grab the twelve year old boy.

Milbury allegedly picked the boy up by his shirt collar and shook him before some other parents stepped in to break it up.

Wow, I don't even know what to say to this! If this is in fact true, then Milbury is even stupider then we all thought he was!!

Post Game: Isles lose 3-2 to Dallas!!

Last night, our Islanders fell 3-2 to the Dallas Stars. Here are some of my notes from the game:

-Dallas wussied out by scratching Fistric for this game. They should've played him so he couldve answered for what he did. Hopefully he will get his, sooner rather then later.

-Refs were GOD AWFUL last night!!! I don't know how someone just didn't throw a freaking fit with the amount of soft and just plain bad calls that the refs made!!

-Were you as surprised as I was that they allowed the first Isles goal to stand? After seeing the replay I thought they were going to disallow it but was pleasantly surprised they didn't. They got lucky because they looked terrible in the first period so to come out with a tie was big.

-Poulin played pretty well! Outside of that third goal which I am sorry but he has to stop, he didn't play bad, and I was pleasantly surprised!

-Powerplay is atrocious!!

-If you didn't realize, Brian Rolston left the game last night with a concussion. So thats possibly Staios and now Rolston out with concussions. The only good thing about the powerplay last night was that Rolston was no longer on the point, because he is horrible there! One thing that made me cringe though was seeing Mike Mottau out there.

-Calvin De Haan didn't look bad in his NHL debut, if you didn't see, he and Poulin were both returned to Bridgeport today.

This wasn't an idea game by any stretch of the word, however the Isles didn't play horrible!! Hopefully they are able come back with a better showing tomorrow night!

Next Game: Tomorrow night 8PM @ Minny

Nino Cleared to play!!

According to the Islanders twitter account, Jack Capuano confirmed this morning that rookie forward Nino Niederreiter has been cleared to play.

Nino who hasn't played in two weeks after being concussed by Dallas defenseman Mark Fistric in a game two weeks ago in Dallas would be a big asset for the Isles to get back. Nino seemed to be getting his legs under him right before he got taken out.

Hopefully he is able to return without any set backs and pick up right from where he left off. However as we've seen all to many times this year in the NHL especially with concussions, you just never know.

Post Game: Isles lose 6-3! Hamonic lost on terrible call!

Tonight, our Isles fell 6-3 to the Penguins! Heres some notes:

-AWFUL call on Hamonic in the 2nd period! To me that call shouldn't have even been a penalty, let alone a 5 min major and a misconduct! What the hell was the ref looking at to make that call? I know it certainly wasn't the game!! Hamonic didn't even hit him above shoulder level and Orpiks OWN stick hit himself in the face. One of the most bogus penalty calls period that I have ever seen!! How that is called but the hit on Nino isn't mystifies me.

-Rare bad game for Al Montoya, let in more then one soft goal. Ill give him a pass because its bound to happen though!

-Nice goal by Ullstrom

-Terrible game by Mark Streit tonight!! He was responsible for the first pens goal and just had a bad game all around tonight!!

-Lot of defensive breakdowns which led to many easy chances for the Pens.

-Doug Weight needs to get to work because the powerplay is terrible!!! Hes gotta do something because what ever he is doing now is obviously, not working!!

-Brian Rolston is atrocious!! He brings nothing to the team outside of being an older player which hasn't done much good yet this year!!

-Why is Marty Reasoner playing over Haley??? Haley brings energy to the team which is something Reasoner lacks extremely and Reasoner has stone hands. Sure Haley is no sniper but he can do the role Reasoner has been playing this year a hell of a lot better then Reasoner can.

-Further if Haley isn't going to play why not just send him back to Bridgeport? Makes no sense to make him sit in the press box every game almost.

-Congrats to Matt Martin on his 100th game with the Islanders!

-That third period tonight was just pathetic! Its like I said on twitter, the Isles would've been better off not even coming out for the third because they didn't even play. They seemed to be like asleep for the hole period! After this game I would've been embarrassed to be in that room, because they had a big crowd here tonight and to come out and play like that, just going through the motions basically is disgraceful, and a disservice to the fans!!

After some hot play recently this game certainly lightened the sails so to speak.

Next Game: Tuesday @ Montreal

Pre Game: Pens @ Isles

Tonight, the Sidney Crosbyless Penguins visit the Nassau Coliseum to take on the surging NY Islanders.

Al Montoya gets the start in net for us once again tonight!! It should be the same lineup for the Isles as two nights ago vs the Blackhawks.

If you didn't see, the Penguins will be missing some key players tonight as Sidney Crosby, Jordan Staal, Kris Letang, and Z. Michalek will all not be suiting up tonight for the Pens.

With them out, tonight is a huge chance for the Isles to pull off a victory!!

Lets hope the Isles can keep the hot play up tonight vs a depleted Pens team!!

Post Game: Isles lose 3-2 in shootout!!

Last night, our New York Islanders fell 3-2 in overtime to the Blackhawks. Here are some of my notes from the game:

-Not a bad overall game from the team and nice to get a point!

-The first Blackhawk goal was a rare cheapy!

-Powerplay needs to bounce back, you can't have a full two minute 5-3 and not pot one!

-Nice crowd after tuesdays small attendance!

-Nice comeback from the team though!! They showed good resolve to not be blown down by the fact that they were having trouble beating Emery and just stick with it and low and behold.

-Not the way you would've like to see the game end with the bad rebound but a points a point, now we stroll on to tomorrow!

Next Game: Tomorrow Night @ home vs the Penguins

Pre Game: Blackhawks @ Islanders

Tonight, Patrick Kane and the Chicago Blackhawks travel to the old barn in Hempstead for their lone visit on the year to take on John Tavares and our New York Islanders.

Al Montoya is going to get his 7th straight start tonight in net for the Islanders, and he will go up against Ray Emery for the Blackhawks. Ray Emery is 5-0-1 with a GAA under two versus the Islanders in his career, so hopefully the Islanders can knock him off his high horse so to speak and light him up tonight sorta like they did Crawford last week in Chicago.

Michael Grabner will be returning to the lineup tonight for the Islanders after missing Tuesday Nights game with a back issue. Tim Wallace was switched from an emergency recall to a regular recall and Michael Haley will be scratched tonight to make room back in the lineup for Grabner.

The Islanders with points in their last 5 games are starting to put that month and a half of crap play to bed slowly. Lets hope they can keep it up with another nice effort tonight!!

Shanny does right, Suspends Fistric for 3 games for hit on Nino!

Earlier this afternoon, it was announced that Dallas Stars defenseman Mark Fistric would be suspended 3 games for his hit on Nino in the game this past Saturday night in Dallas.

As a result of this hit Nino suffered a concussion, and hasn't been on the ice since.

In his video explaining the suspension, Shannahan cited the dirty nature of the hit, the injury suffered by Nino, and Fistrics history as key reasons for the suspension. Fistric was given a match penalty and fined for a similar hit last season for those that didn't know.

I am personally happy with this!! I didn't expect him to get suspended this long based of prior history of cases similar to this involving the Islanders. The fact that he got suspended was a pleasing surprise for me. Now, we just need to hope that Nino is back soon!!

Post Game: Isles win 5-1 in dominating fashion!!

Tonight, our New York Islanders defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning by a score of 5-1. Here are some of my notes from the game:

-Congrats to David Ullstrom on his first National Hockey League goal!!! First of many!!

-Nice to see Tavares finally get back on the board!!!

-Matt Moulson is well saying he is on fire is a drastic drastic understatement!! On pace for 46 goals, lets hope!!

-The passing on that third goal was so pretty!! Left me with my jaw on the floor!!!

-Al Montoya continues to be an absolute beast!!

-Crowd was on the smaller side tonight but they were into the game!!

-Nice game by Tim Wallace, picking up the assist on Matt Martins goal and overall played well!!

-Nice goal by Matt Martin, an argument can certainly be made that he is the Islanders most improved player this year!

-I don't know what happened to Marty Reasoner but he hasn't been good this year!! He had 32 points last year which for a bottom 6 forward is pretty good, what happened to that? If this is all he is going to be then Konopka shouldve been kept. In my opinion at least!!

Well, it was certainly nice after their nice road trip for the team to come home and not only beat but in large part dominate the team that made it to the Eastern Conference Finals last year.

Next Game: Thursday @ Home VS The Blackhawks

Nino has a concussion!!

If you missed it, rookie forward Nino Niederriter was diagnosed with a concussion yesterday after taking the in my opinion illegal check courtesy of Stars defenseman Mark Fistric on Saturday night in the Islanders @ Stars game.

About six minutes into the first period the Stars defenseman lined Nino up and came across the ice and in my opinon aimed right for the head and after contact left his feet on the follow through. Right following the hit, Matt Martin who was right beside the play dropped his gloves and went with Fistric. However, the refs broke them up quickly so they didn't really have a chance to go. Look for them to go on December 15th though when the Stars come to the Coliseum.

Nino, at first looked ok, but after he started skating you could see he was out of it and needed to be helped off the ice. What got me was, on the play it actually resulted in the Islanders being down a man since Fistric wasn't penalized for the hit. Matt Martin was given a double minor for roughing and Fistric simply a roughing minor. Very, very poor job by the officials there!!!

Speculation from Chris Botta and BD Gallof on twitter suggest that they expect Fistric to be suspended between 1 and 3 games. I hope they are right because it would be a gross injustice if they let him off scot free.

Post Game: Isles win 5-4 amognst injuries!!

Tonight, our New York Islanders defeated the Stars by a score of 5-4. Here are some of my notes:

-I have will have an entry following this one on the Nino hit, briefly though I thought it was dirty and think it will be reviewed by Shannahan.

-Matt Moulson is the story tonight!! 4 goals in a game, wow he is crazy hot right now!! Five years to the day since an Islander got 4 goals in a game (Kozlov 12/3/06 vs the Rangers)

-Why does Marty Reasoner play over Haley?? Now with the injuries they'll both be in there, but before the injuries it didn't make sense to me. Capuano requests Haley be called up, he plays two games, does his and job and well then gets scratched for the subsequent games. It makes no sense to me!!

-Al Montoya saved us again in the third period especially in the final minute! He is simply amazing!!

-Rick Dipietro was injured in the second period today which is why Montoya had to come in. One has to wonder if this injury is severe enough to warrant a Bridegport callup.

-Congrats to Dylan Reese on his first goal of the season!!

-Even though he isn't scoring Tavares continues to put up points.

-Pa Parenteau is quietly having a solid season!!

-Travis Hamonic was huge in the final minute killing nearly ten second taking on three Stars players.

In the pre game I said that this game could go one of two ways. Either they could come out tired and put up a clunker or they could come out play another solid game and start to prove something. I don't know about you but I am very happy it was the latter.

Next Game: Tuesday @ Home 7PM VS the Lightning

Pre Game: Isles @ Dallas!!

Tonight, our New York Islanders finish off their 4 game road trip and travel to Dallas to take on Brandon Morrow and the Dallas Stars.

Andrew Rycroft will be in net for Dallas, and although it hasn't been announced given his heavy workload recently I expect Al Montoya to get the night off tonight and have Rick Dipietro get the start between the pipes.

After a very solid game last night, but a long game it should be interesting to see how the team looks. There is a chance that after a 65 minute game plus shootout last night then flight after the game that they could come out tired and have this be a real downer to end what has otherwise been a pretty solid trip. Or they could come out and start to prove that they are ready and put on a solid showing. Either way it should be an interesting game from Dallas tonight!!

Post Game: Isles lose 5-4 in a shootout!!

Last night, our New York Islanders fell to the Blackhawks by a score of 5-4 in a shootout. Here are some of my notes from the game:

-Outside of the second period this was a very good game!!

-The second period was awful, the team got ridiculously outplayed and its fair to say that with a better second period that we would've gotten the extra point in this one.

-The third period however, might've been the best third period I have seen this team play throughout the course of this rebuild. They simply dominated them from start to finish coming just two shots away from setting a franchise record for shots in a period.

-You know this game is something when the powerplay actually plays well!!!

-40 shots on goal must be a season high, it was really nice to see the team actually SHOOT!!!

-Al Montoya is a beast!! Simple as that!!

-Great shot by Nino on the tying goal!! Hopefully this gets him started!!

Overall, minus the second period this was a very good game from the team!! Hopefully the play continues tonight, should be interesting to see if the team is any different since I expect DP to be in net.

Next Game: Tonight 8:30PM @ Dallas

Pre Game: Isles @ Hawks!!!

Tonight, our Islanders travel to Chicago to take on Patrick Kane and the Blackhawks.

The goal tending matchup will be Al Montoya starting his hometown for the Islanders against Corey Crawford for the Blackhawks.

Michael Haley is scratched once again for the Isles as they go with the same lineup as the other night vs the Sabres when they won 2-1.

Hopefully the Islanders can keep up this play they have exhibited over the last week give it take. If they can, they have as good a shot as any to win the game tonight. It should be a good game!!