Newsday’s Howard Says Isles Defying Expectations
February 22nd, 2007 by Tom
Nice column in today’s Newsday by the always reliable Johnette Howard. Her point is that the OrangeAndBlue, the laughingstock of the league last summer when Neil Smith got hired and fired and Goalie Garth became GM Garth and then signed Rick DiPietro to a 15-year-contract (wow, that was quite a summer), have quietly had a hell of a season. Of course, part of the reason it has happened “quietly” is the NHL gets little ink in the papers or time on SportsCenter and even when it does, the press is usually reserved for the marquee teams in the league.
The Islanders have had a great run so far. Raise your hand if you saw it coming.
The Islanders remain a handful of players away from terrifying anybody. But at least they’re interesting. In a town where the Knicks get a lot of praise for merely being watchable, the Isles have been an underappreciated story. They’re six games over .500.
Now, you can call Wang more lucky than good or give all the credit to Nolan. Whatever you like.
But it’s not often a franchise goes through a public crack-up and comes out looking better. Time to put away the butterfly nets and send the orderlies home.
Big game tonight against the Maple Leafs. Actually, you can make the case that it’s a critical game but I won’t go there yet. Both teams are tied in ninth with 66 points, one point behind the Carolina Hurricanes. Both the Islanders and the Leafs have 22 games remaining. Carolina has 20. Montreal and the Rangers, two other teams in the hunt for that final spot, have 66 points and 63 points, respectively. The Habs have 20 games remaining. The Garden Boys have 22.
