Archive for the 'Miroslav Satan' Category
The Isles and GM Garth Snow have about 24 hours to decide whether to be buyers or sellers in the trade market. As reported by Greg Logan in today’s Newsday and aFeb. 22 piece, the OrangeAndBlue have some pretty good chips to offer, should they decide to let go of some talented veterans now in the hopes of turning them into prospects or high draft picks. Here are some of the names that may no longer be stitched on the back of an Isles jersey come tomorrow night:
Miroslav Satan - Proven scorer (335 career goals, 679 points) who would be an offensive boost to almost any club in contention. He has played 56 postseason games, scoring 15 goals, 23 assists, and a minus-1.
Mike Comrie - At times very good, other times he sort of disappears. Helped Ottawa reach the finals in 2006-07. Has played 32 playoff games in his brief career, registering 4 goals, six assists, and a minus-2.
Ruslan Fedotenko - The 29-year-old was one of the leader’s in Tampa’s march to the Stanley Cup Championship in 2003-04, tallying 12 goals in 22 games. For his postseason career, Fedotenko has 13 goals, four assists in 53 games with a whopping minus-15.
Josek Vasicek - Has been a solid contributor for the Isles for most of the season. Has just five goals and two assists and a plus-3 in 37 playoff games.
Chris Simon - You think anyone is going to touch this guy? For the record, he’s played in 73 playoff games, scored 10 goals, assisted on seven, has a minus-12 and totaled 191 penalty minutes.
All that said, the Isles could easily decide to be buyers and bring in some scoring prowess and blueline skill. With 67 points and 19 games to go, the Isles are tied for ninth with the Flyers and are just one point behind Buffalo for the final playoff spot. Both the Sabres and the Flyers have a game in hand on the Isles.
Our friends at FauxRumours understand Snow’s predicament and have the Isles as a bubble team going into the deadline, which basically means they could go either way.
Whatever Snow decides over the next 24 hours or so will have a huge impact on this franchise. Is there enough there to win now with a little outside blood or do the Isles need to replenish the core with a talented young group from the farm? Decisions, decisions.
Six in a row! Wow. These guys continue to baffle me. Just when you think they might be on their way out, they go on their longest winning streak since December 2003. They may lack firepower and play ugly every now and then but this team has always been resilient under Coach Ted Nolan.
DP notched his third shutout of the season and his second against the Lightning. Miro Satan scored the lone goal. The Isles are now ninth in the East, one point behind Boston, Buffalo, and the Rangers and one point ahead of the Flyers. Twenty games to go. Buckle up.
After 45 shots and 7 powerplays, it’s a miracle the Islanders even got a point last night in Vancouver. With the exception of DP, the team did not look a whole lot better than they did the previous night during their shutout loss to Edmonton. Fortunately, DP played amazing last night and the Isles were able to get a point out of red-hot Vancouver who is 12-0-2 in their last 14 home games.
During a 19-shot first period barrage, Marcus Naslund netted one about midway through the period for the 1-0 Vancouver lead. Captain Bill Guerin tied it up in the second with a little help from video review to confirm. Shots were 31-16 in favor of Vancouver after 2 periods, thanks in part to 6 Canuck powerplays.
The teams traded gift goals in the third - Canuck goalie (and ex-Islander) Roberto Luongo mishandled the puck behind the net and Blake Comeau darted in to bang it home for the 2-1 Islanders lead. Just about a minute and a half later the Canucks tied it up though on a slot snap shot by Daniel Sedin that DP was noticeably upset at himself for letting in.
That was the end of the scoring, until the shootout, where (ex-Islander) Trevor Linden scored in the 3rd round to give Vancouver the 1-0 edge. Miroslav Satan was the Isles’ last chance and he came through with a nifty move to beat Luongo and tie things up again. I was all confused at this point because A) it was 12:30am and B) it looked like Luongo made the save at first. Defenseman Alexander Elder scored for the Canucks in round 6, followed by Luongo stopping Trent Hunter for the 3-2 Vancouver shootout win.
One thing that bothered me about the shootout was the Islanders not getting Luongo to move around too much. Everyone just came right down the middle at him, made a quick deke or fake, and then shot. Satan was the only one to get Luongo to move one way, and the scored the other way.
Coach Nolan shuffled lines all night long, looking for some offense spark. That plan backfired as there was no spark, and not a lot of defense either last night.
Nolan responded by throwing out at least five new lines in the third period to generate an offensive spark.
Coming off a 4-0 shutout loss the previous night in Edmonton in which Nolan benched Ruslan Fedotenko in the third period and played Vasicek and Miroslav Satan sparingly, changes were assured. Nolan put that trio together on a sort of “Doghouse Line” and used them as the fourth line.
Comeau jumped into Fedotenko’s spot with Mike Sillinger and Trent Hunter, and Sean Bergenheim joined Andy Hilbert and Tim Jackman as the third line. Only the top line of Richard Park, Mike Comrie and Bill Guerin remained intact.
The Isles’ roadtrip continues Friday night in Calgary, and then concludes Sunday night in Ottawa.
Couldn’t watch the game last night, but I caught the highlights on the NHL Network this morning. Which by the way, has become a staple of my morning routine now. Wake up, turn on the NHL Network, get ready while peeping all the highlights from the previous night (how about that Devils’ comeback last night?). Highly recommended.
What’s not recommended however, is letting Atlanta score TWO shorthanded goals last night. That’s about as ugly as it gets. Trent Hunter’s powerplay goal in the third earned the Isles a tie though, giving them 28 points on the season so far, good enough for 8th in the Conference right now. The Isles PP struggles continue with a 1/7 performance. The Isles’ PK gets some love, shutting Atlanta down on 9 chances last night.
Vasicek rang the post in OT, but Ilya Kovalchuk’s goal in round 3 of the shootout gave Atlanta the extra point. Guerin and Satan were stopped for the Isles - anyone remember when Satan was money in the shootout? I know we’ve only had two shootouts this year, but it just seems like years ago when Satan was nearly unstoppable for us in the shootout.
Coach Nolan was less than impressed with the team’s performance last night.
“It’s surprising,” coach Ted Nolan said. “We talked about it before going out for the third period. We just can’t do those type of plays from those type of players. Certainly, things are going to happen once in awhile, but Comrie gave it away twice on the same play. We just can’t have that.”
“Maybe we shouldn’t have gotten the one point,” an unhappy Nolan said, shrugging. “Giving up opportunities when you’re on the power play is doubly bad.
Here’s what some of the players and coaches had to say following last night’s 3-2 Islander loss in OT at the hands of the Dallas Stars. Isles did a great job making sure they left the Coliseum with a point after it looked like the Stars would get the regulation victory.
“I don’t sense any frustration on the team yet,” Miro Satan told Newsday. “Our record is fine, and there’s enough experience and grit on this team to go through that.”
“The puck goes to one of the most skilled guys in the history of the game,” Coach Ted Nolan said to Newsday regarding Mike Modano’s game-winner. “It’s just one of those things.”
“It was one of those games where maybe we shouldn’t have gotten a point, but we found a way,” Nolan said.
“The thing you love about (Modano) is he’s getting into the battles,” Stars Coach Dave Tippett told the Dallas Morning News. “The winning goal is one in which he beat somebody to get to the space. It was a hard goal. Mo can be a real factor in games when he plays like that.”
“We took the responsibility for everyone to come ready to play in any situation they are put it in,” Modano told the Dallas newspaper. “The positive is we’re winning games, and everybody feels like they’re contributing and playing well collectively.”
“Normally I would just take him out, but I thought I still had a chance,” Stars goalie Marty Turco said to the Associated Press regarding Richard Park and his shorthanded goal. “You win some, you lose some.”
“We fought all game and did a pretty good job staying with our game plan,” Islanders forward Mike Comrie told the AP. “We got a good power-play goal at the end, but it’s disappointing when you give up that point.”
While Tommy and I were busy drinking last night for his brother’s birthday (Happy 30th Ant!), the Orange and Blue took out the trash from Jersey 2-1 with Satan netting his third straight game winning goal. Another solid effort from the team - only 21 shots allowed and no penalties taken. I could get used to that. Speaking of penalties, a bench minor unsportsmanlike against one of Brent Sutter’s assistant coaches led to the 5-on-3 powerplay and the game winning goal, leaving a bad taste in the Devils’ mouths.
“All I’m going to say is that it was taken from behind the bench; it wasn’t a player,” Devils coach Brent Sutter said, refusing to identify which assistant drew the penalty. “It’s tough to lose a hockey game that way.”
“I don’t think they beat us,” Brodeur said. “Look at the two goals they got.”
“It was a [bleeping] terrible call. There’s no way around it,” the Devils’ Zach Parise said.
“I don’t think he needed to call that,” Jay Pandolfo said.
Isles hit the road for 4 of the next 5 games starting with Philadelphia tomorrow night. Check the recommended links for more info on last night’s game from the Blog Box crew.
[Update] Totally forgot to mention the Devils’ Marty Brodeur was going for career win number 500 last night.
You read that right. The Islanders overcame two third period deficits to down the Rangers 3-2 last night at the Coliseum. The win gives the Isles an 8-4 record and a tie for first place with the Philadelphia Flyers with 16 points. The Flyers have played one more game than the Isles.
While first place is nice, it’s a little early in the season to get excited about it. But it’s not too early to get revved about a come from behind win against a hot Ranger team that had won four straight. It was also nice to see the Islanders bring Henrik Lundqvist back to earth. The Ranger netminder had posted seven straight periods of shutout hockey and had notched four shutouts in 14 games this season. Not last night.
For the second time in as many games, Miro Satan put the Isles ahead to stay with a late goal. The Islanders also got goals from Trent Hunter and Ruslan Fedotenko.
The game featured some outrageous goaltending on both sides. Rick Di Pietro put on a show in the third period, denying a barrage of Ranger chances to keep the Isles in the lead. This was truly a team victory.
And while it’s still just Nov. 7, you can never discount wins over divisional rivals. Last night’s victory was big. The Islanders are rolling. They need to keep it up.
Some wins are more than just wins. Miroslav Satan’s game winner with two and change left in regulation gave the Isles a big come from behind win over the Pens tonight and, just as importantly to the sell-out crowd, gave honorary Coach Al Arbour win number 740 in his illustrious career.
It was a night like about 739 others except the names were different. Tonelli, Bossy, Gillies, Trottier, Potvin, Langevin, Smith, Nystrom, and Bourne were all absent from the line-up. Instead, Coach Arbour, who guided the Isles to four straight championships and tonight became the only man in NHL history to coach 1,500 games with one team, had to rely on players who in many cases weren’t even born the last time he raised the Cup. Sure, Coach Ted Nolan was right by his side to help Arbour pronounce names like Ruslan Fedolenko, but we like to think Coach Al was the difference maker tonight. Even if it was just his impact on the fans, it was more than enough. You could feel it in the Coliseum air all night long. Seemingly everyone in attendance was willing the Isles to victory, not for their place in the standings but for Al. Just for Al. Call it a big thank you for the Four Cups, for helping make the Isles a legitimate franchise and for instilling pride in everyone of us who are lucky enough to be Islander fans.
Isles management did a great job with the night, having a legion of Arbour’s former players on hand as well as a family big enough to rival the Sutters. At a postgame ceremony, they took down the “Arbour 739″ banner and replaced it with an “Arbour 1500″ banner. Then the orange, blue, and white confetti rained down. Chills were in attendance as the crowd alternated chants of “Ar-Bour” and “Se-Ven For-ty”. I give the Isles lots of credit for bringing back Al and honoring him this way. Maybe next year we can convince them to get Bossy back out on the ice to try and score goal #574. That would be pretty cool.
It was a really special night and it had its share of laughs. When the Isles Alumni appeared and Mike Bossy was announced, the crowd immediately began its “Bos-sy” chant. Then came Trottier and Gillies, Westfall and LaFontaine, then Benoit Hogue and Eric Cairns! (never saw that coming), and the best was still to come, wait for it, wait for it, Steve Webb! And of course Webb got the second loudest chant for a player of the night. So, for the record, it went Bossy #1, Webb #2, Isles Hall of Famers Trots and Gillies and rest next. Steve Webb. They love that guy in Uniondale.
In the end, this night was really about the last two minutes and 13 seconds. Once Satan’s rebound went past Marc-Andre Fleury, it was a celebration. It was the final minute of Game Four against the Oilers in 1983. It was a victory for all Islander fans, for the players, for the franchise and for Coach Al Arbour. Some wins are more than just wins.
