Islanders Continue Push To the Playoffs With 4-1 Win Over Flyers

 photo courtesy of http://a.espncdn.com/

Tonight, before a lively crowd our Islanders won their fourth in a row at home defeating the Flyers by a score of 4-1.  Here are some of my notes:

-Great game from Nabby!!  His last 8 games have just been amazing, hes truly been a rock for this team.  Hopefully, Snow gets him to resign for next season.

-Great crowd tonight!!  It was loud from beginning to end!  I don't care what they say about the Coliseum or how bad we need a new arena (which we do.)  Nothing will ever top a crowded Coliseum for a big game!  The atmosphere is nothing short of amazing!!

-Even though they didn't score, another solid game from the Nielsen line.  The transformation from Kyle Okposo as the season has gone on has been just a treat to watch.

-Matt Martin seems to be becoming one of the better middle weight fighters in the league.  Another dominating win in the game tonight against Schenn.

-Hickey played a solid game

-Grabner may struggle at breakaways, but hes had some nice key goals the last two games.

-Refs were brutal again!!  However, it didn't cost us which is a refreshing change from even as recently as the beginning of this season.

-Nice to see the first line get an even strength goal!  Hopefully, this will get the line on a much needed streak. Nice pass by Moulson to set up the eventual fluky goal.

-It was shocking to me to see the penalty get waived off in the second period.  I had never seen a penalty get waived off in any game at all, especially in favor of the Islanders.

With two tough games coming up later this week, this game was key!!  The team seemed to know that two with the attitude they came out with in the third period.  Instead of playing nervous and cautious, they were determined and put the pedal to the metal.  Butch Goring said many times during the game there is a lot of buzz around the team right now.  He is right, there is more buzz around the team than I can remember in a long time.  With their win tonight, the Islanders tied Ottawa for 6th in the conference and moved ahead of the rival Rangers in the standings.  Who would've thought that back in January?

Next Game: Thursday 7:00 @ Boston

EASTERN	DIV	GP	W	L	OT	P	ROW	GF	GA	DIFF	HOME	AWAY	S/O	L10	STREAK
1	Y - PITTSBURGH	ATL	40	30	10	0	60	27	132	98	+34	16-5-0	14-5-0	3-0	8-2-0	WON 2
2	* - MONTRÉAL	NE	39	25	9	5	55	22	122	94	+28	13-5-3	12-4-2	3-2	6-4-0	LOST 1
3	* - WASHINGTON	SE	40	21	17	2	44	18	120	112	+8	10-8-0	11-9-2	3-0	8-1-1	WON 5
4	BOSTON	NE	38	25	9	4	54	21	108	81	+27	14-2-2	11-7-2	4-2	6-3-1	WON 1
5	TORONTO	NE	39	22	13	4	48	22	121	109	+12	11-7-2	11-6-2	0-4	7-1-2	WON 2
6	OTTAWA	NE	39	19	14	6	44	15	96	88	+8	13-3-3	6-11-3	4-4	4-6-0	LOST 5
7	NY ISLANDERS	ATL	40	20	16	4	44	17	117	120	-3	9-11-2	11-5-2	3-1	7-2-1	WON 2
8	NY RANGERS	ATL	39	19	16	4	42	16	96	94	+2	12-6-2	7-10-2	3-4	4-4-2	LOST 1
9	WINNIPEG	SE	41	20	19	2	42	19	102	121	-19	10-9-0	10-10-2	1-2	4-6-0	WON 2
10	NEW JERSEY	ATL	39	15	14	10	40	13	92	106	-14	10-7-2	5-7-8	2-7	2-4-4	OT 1
11	BUFFALO	NE	40	16	18	6	38	11	106	122	-16	8-7-3	8-11-3	5-4	5-3-2	LOST 1
12	PHILADELPHIA	ATL	39	17	19	3	37	16	107	122	-15	12-5-2	5-14-1	1-2	4-4-2	LOST 2
13	TAMPA BAY	SE	39	17	20	2	36	16	124	116	+8	11-7-2	6-13-0	1-2	4-5-1	WON 1
14	CAROLINA	SE	39	16	21	2	34	16	102	126	-24	7-13-0	9-8-2	0-1	1-9-0	LOST 6
15	FLORIDA	SE	39	13	20	6	32	10	96	132	-36	7-9-5	6-11-1	3-1	6-4-0	WON 1

 photo courtesy of http://www.nhl.com/ice/standings.htm#?navid=nav-stn-main