Islanders Army

Game Seven Heaven Tonight

April 22nd, 2008 by murph

Of all the nights to have men’s league hockey this week, I’m have to miss TWO game seven’s tonight?? After Ovechkin turned the 3rd period of last night’s game into “Ovietime” to force game 7 tonight, Washington and Philly start the party at 7pm tonight. I should be able to catch the first two periods of that game before mine.

That’s followed by Calgary @ San Jose @ 10pm. If you see a red Jeep hauling ass from New Hyde Park to Woodside tonight around 11:30p…that’s me racing home to catch the end of that game. Go Flames!

Anyways…the point of this post is not my impending speeding ticket tonight. It’s this article in the Globe and Mail about the CAL/SJ tilt tonight. It’s the first trip to the playoffs for the Flames’ Eric Nystrom, who’s famous father knows a thing or two about playoff heroics.

This may be Eric Nystrom’s first visit to the NHL playoff party, but he spent his whole life hearing stories from and about his famous father, Bob Nystrom, a member of the New York Islanders’ four Stanley Cup championship teams.

Nystrom, the Calgary Flames’ rookie left winger, doesn’t remember a whole lot of talk about famous seventh games; mostly because his dad’s most famous playoff heroics came in overtime of a sixth game to give the Islanders the 1980 Stanley Cup.

“But he’s talked to me about the time they were down 3-0 and they came back and won it in seven,” said the younger Nystrom.

That came in 1975, when the Islanders, just an up-and-coming team three years removed from their expansion birth — they came into the league with the Atlanta Flames — rallied from a 3-0 deficit to win a best-of-seven series against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Then they almost did it again next round, overcoming a 3-0 deficit to get it to 3-3 against a Philadelphia Flyers’ team that would eventually win the series and go on to win the Stanley Cup that season.

Only the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs earned a similar distinction.

“He just said, they focused on one game at a time and slowly climbed back,” said Nystrom. “That’s what you need to do in the playoffs. You can’t let one game upset you or rattle you. You’ve just got to keep focused and push the envelope next game.”

        Post in 2007-08, Bob Nystrom, Calgary Flames, Philadelphia Flyers, Playoffs, San Jose Sharks, Stanley Cup, Washington Capitals    Add a comment

Isles Acquire Defenseman Davison From Sharks

February 26th, 2008 by Tom

Islanders.com is reporting the Isles have obtained Defenseman Rob Davison from the Sharks for a seventh round pick.

The 27-year old Davison, currently in his fifth NHL season, has played 15 games for the Sharks this season. He is regarded as a tough and very reliable stay-at-home defenseman and high character player.

In 176 career games for the Sharks, Davison has registered 2 goals, 12 assists, a plus-2, and 238 penalty minutes.

Is this the Isles’ biggest trade of the day? Stay tuned.

        Post in 2007-08, Rob Davison, San Jose Sharks, Trades    Add a comment

Isles Stun Nabby and Sharks for 4th Straight

February 18th, 2008 by murph

Wild afternoon at the Coliseum as a full house watched the Isles storm back from a 2-0 deficit with three third period goals for the 3-2 victory. Late in the second period, a Radek Martinek shot hit Sharks’ goalie Evgeni Nabokov square in the mask, breaking one of the protective bars and gashing the bridge of Nabokov’s nose. Nabby left for the remainder of the second period, but returned for the third and did not look sharp (or very pretty with that gash and stitches).

Just two minutes into the third period, Sharks’ Captain Joe Thorton made it 2-0 on a backhander over DiPietro’s shoulder. Andy Hilbert got the goal right back for the Islanders by crashing the net as Bill Guerin seemed to harmlessly flip the puck on net. Hilbert got a stick on the rebound and it bounced past Nabby to make it 2-1. 59 seconds later, Mike Comrie undressed Sharks defender Kyle McLaren with the “Comrie-Dangle” and then beat Nabby 5 hole to tie the game at 2-2. Nabby saved his worst for last though, as Freddy Meyer beat him with a simple wrister from the left circle with about 8 minutes left for the game winner.

However all is not well in Islander Country with more possible injuries, this time to Blake Comeau who got boarded from behind in the third and left the game looking woozy. Later Andy Sutton left the game with some kind of leg/hamstring injury.

        Post in 2007-08, Evgeni Nabokov, Joe Thorton, Mike Comrie, Radek Martinek, San Jose Sharks    1 Comment