The Islanders who lost to the Devils in overtime last night are not the same team that beat their Jersey foes five times in a row to start the season and six of their seven previous contests. No, this was a team featuring the names Brennan, Spiller, Keith, Davison and Okposo. These guys - maybe the new Isles regime, and maybe not - fought hard against a Devils team trying to clinch their own playoff berth. No one fought harder than goaltender Joey MacDonald who stopped 45 shots and I think that was in the third period alone. At least it felt like it.
As down as this team is right now, and believe me, they qualify as down since they have lost 14 of their last 18, but as down as they are they don’t play like they are down. And that is largely a credit to Coach Ted who always has his guys ready, and the youth movement brought in by Nolan and GM Garth Snow. These kids are hungry. They play that way. No one wants to go back to Bridgeport and I say that as someone who has friends from that town.
So, the scoreboard showed another loss last night but I have to say that if the Isles have to go down, this is the way to do it. Go down swinging everytime. Don’t leave anything in reserve. Empty the clip.
Just two games to go, both against the Rangers who are fighting for a better seed in the postseason. I think the Isles will manage to take one. Sure hope so. After this season, they and their fans deserve it.
It’s been a while since I posted something so I figured now would be a good time to get you guys our latest from the Back In The Day series. The below excerpt comes from the Toronto Star and details the rough road ahead for the Islanders…in 2001. You can look at the article two ways - a) either it is depressing to think that in the last seven seasons the Islanders have been unable to climb the mountain and are yet again among the league’s least impressive teams or b) with a good crop of young players, a very talented goalie, a solid coach, and improved attendance at the Coliseum the Isles are not nearly as bad off as there 2001 counterparts were. Your call.
The Isles did bounce back to make the playoffs the following season - featuring the epic series against the Maple Leafs and the Shawn Bates penalty shot.
Islanders coming to end of a trying season — Team focuses on getting out of NHL cellar
Mark Zwolinski
4 April 2001
The Toronto Star
Copyright (c) 2001 The Toronto Star
The New York Islanders are making headlines for two reasons these days: they are trying to avoid the ignominy of finishing with the NHL’s worst record this season and they are interviewing some good candidates for their coaching vacancy next season.
If they beat Toronto tonight in a very crucial game for the Leafs, they’ll also go down as the club that figured as highly as any in the Leafs’ downfall this season.
The Isles downed a first-place Leafs club 3-2 Dec. 15. The Leafs have lost 21 of 48 games since to plummet into playoff desperation.
The Isles are oblivious of the Leafs’ woes since they have endured a very trying season that has fallen well short of expectations.
Owners Sanjay Kumar and Charles Wang received kudos among their peers for taking a hard line, take-it-or-leave-it approach to contract negotiations with three key players: Roman Hamrlik, Zedeno Chara and Brad Isbister, who were told that players unsigned by Sept. 1 would not be offered contracts subsequent to that date.
Hamrlik, seeking $4 million (U.S.) a year, instead settled for $11.8 million over four years while Chara and Isbister accepted small pay hikes after missing the initial deadline.
Kumar and Wang also showed patience with a club that was filled with prime young talent and tabled the NHL’s biggest average size at 6-foot-2, 209 pounds.
They extended several votes of confidence to coach Butch Goring in the midst of a protracted period from December to March in which rumours of Goring’s imminent firing circulated regularly.
Goring was finally axed March 4 following a 6-0 blowout against Tampa Bay, a loss which marked the lowest point of the season for the club.
With the dust settled and Lorne Henning at the helm in an interim role, the Isles remain a problematic club with very poor attendance and in dire need of a new building.
The first step in restoring some of the lustre to the one-time Stanley Cup dynasty came to a close this week when GM Mike Milbury interviewed the final candidate on a list to fill the coaching vacancy for next season.
Former Penguins coach Kevin Constantine was in attendance in Long Island for the team’s 4-1 win over Pittsburgh Monday and was interviewed by Milbury. Other candidates are believed to be Ted Nolan, Robbie Ftorek, Jim Schoenfeld, Bryan Murray and Robbie Ftorek.
Former Leafs coach Pat Burns is also among the list of prime coaches currently lingering in unemployment. Milbury has yet to talk to Burns and insiders don’t expect him to.
The club has scheduled a coaching announcement for June 1 with Nolan, Ftorek and Murray the current favourites.
According to the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, Sidney Crosby returns to action for the Penguins tonight.
A few shifts. Maybe not even that.
In Sidney Crosby’s mind, he and right winger Marian Hossa won’t have any trouble clicking as linemates now that they will finally get a chance to try.
“I don’t see it being too much time at all,” Crosby said yesterday after announcing that he will return to the lineup tonight when the Penguins play the New York Islanders at Mellon Arena.
He has missed the past seven games and 28 of the past 31 because of a high ankle sprain.
As the Islanders try to play spoiler vs the first place Penguins, without Mike Comrie who will miss at least one game.
From what I gathered, Mike Comrie does have an injury to the hip and will indeed miss the game tomorrow - what happens after that depends on how fast whatever the injury is heals.
It’s nostalgia time over at NHL.com as they speak with some of today’s current stars and ask them who was their favorite NHL player while growing up? The oddest choice has to be 8-time suspended thug Chris Pronger’s choice of 3-time Lady Byng winner and all around classy guy, Mike Bossy.
“I loved watching Mike Bossy,” Pronger says. “He was my favorite player when I was growing up. I just loved watching him go down the wing and take that slapper – quick release, great shot, always had a knack for being open in the right spots on the ice. You are able to learn a lot from watching players like that. Becoming a defenseman, you are able to learn a lot from watching that in learning where not to let people stand.”
So if Bossy taught him where not to let people stand, who taught him how to swing his stick at people’s heads, stomp/kick other players, and throw vicious elbows to the head? Pronger needs to go back and watch some more Bossy videos.
While we’re on the subject of “The Boss”, here’s a good link I found on the Legends of Hockey Network.
Bossy was and remains outspoken about violence in hockey. As one of the most gifted and talented players ever to grace the game, he was often the target of thugs. However Bossy took great pride in never stooping to retaliation. The three time Lady Byng Trophy winner who accumulated only 210 PIM in his career, Bossy was often criticized for not fighting back. Critics passed him off as not tough enough. Bossy’s sweet revenge would however often come in the following 2 minutes after the cowardly attacks. Bossy - perhaps the greatest power play weapon in the game’s history - would score on the man advantage, and that would only upset the other team even more. Of Bossy’s 573 career goals, 181 were scored on the power play.
A chronic bad back forced Bossy to retire prematurely. Oddly enough, the back injuries that still haunt him to this day were caused by the constant abuse he had to take on the ice. In his final season he tallied 38 goals, the only season in which he did not record at least 50 goals. Bossy termed the “failure” to score 50 goals as his biggest disappointment. In actuality he probably shouldn’t have played that year either, as his back was just that bad. Bossy’s love of the game outweighed doctors advice. But by doing so Bossy forever silenced his critics. He played through immense pain and showed the hockey world just how tough he really was.
It is an absolute shame Mike Bossy had to call it quits so soon. He is perhaps the greatest goal scorer the game has ever seen. But he also took great pride in working on his all around game, and became a very dependable defensive player and underrated playmaker
Pronger has 126 PIM this season and averages about 100 PIM/year.
Via HockeyFights.com, here’s ex-Islander Chris Simon putting a hurting on the Flames’ Jim Vandermeer.
Ladies and gentlemen, Kyle Okposo’s first National Hockey League goal…
A powerplay, game winning goal versus a future NHL Hall of Famer. Marrrrrr-ty! Marrrrr-ty! You Suck!!
David from HockeyFights.com sent me a pointer to this story from Tuesday’s NYI/TOR tilt.
The Islanders decided to poke some fun at Leafs winger Jason Blake, who scored 40 goals with their team last season before joining Toronto as a free agent. Through 74 games this season, Blake has just 13 goals.
The Islanders erected a mock plaque alongside their wall of fame, which has images of nine greats from the franchise’s history (Bill Torrey, Al Arbour, Denis Potvin, Mike Bossy, Billy Smith, Bob Nystrom, Bob Bourne, Bryan Trottier and Clark Gillies).
Alongside those plaques, the Islanders taped a picture of Blake with the caption “40 goal scorer.”
“It wasn’t framed,” Blake said, laughing.
Anyone in the Blog Box get a picture of this?
Video of Rob Davison’s 170+ foot shorthanded goal last night. If Toronto had lost last night, Toskala would need someone to start his car back in Toronto.
The Stanley Cup is visiting Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan this week.
A group of NHL hockey heroes arrived Wednesday in Afghanistan to give Canadian soldiers a battle of a different sort.
Skating stalwarts like Mark Napier, Chris Nilan and Bob Probert touched down in Kandahar - some of them for the second time in less than a year - in hopes of boosting military morale.
Also on the ground at Kandahar Airfield were country-rock crooners Blue Rodeo, Montreal rocker Jonas Tomalty and Gen. Rick Hillier, Canada’s chief of defence staff.
But the true guest of honour, making its second appearance in Afghanistan, was hockey’s Holy Grail - the Stanley Cup.
“For Canadians, I mean, this symbolizes something that every young boy or girl grows up dreaming about - playing for the Stanley Cup,” said Defence Minister Peter MacKay, whose departure after a top-secret three-day visit to Afghanistan coincided with the team’s arrival.
“The soldiers on the base - there’s probably a few of them who didn’t sleep last night in anticipation of getting to play against some of their heroes, getting to see the Stanley Cup - it’s just a huge morale boost.”
Not much to say here, we knew he wasn’t 100% since the All-Star Game, the season is all but over, and yesterday’s MRI confirmed the need for surgery.
For the second time in two seasons, Islanders franchise goaltender Rick DiPietro will have season-ending hip surgery. The operation will take place Wednesday at Steadman Clinic in Vail, Colo., an NHL source said, and DiPietro is expected to recover in time for training camp in September.
Dr. Marc Philippon, who performed surgery on DiPietro’s left hip last spring, will operate on his right hip this time.
Get well Ricky, see you in September for camp. Should we sign Dr. Philippon to a 15-year deal too?
