Give me a “W”. Give me a “T”. Give me an “F”. And give me a giant “?”. What’s that spell?
The Islanders had one of the biggest WTF? nights of the season yesterday when the Lightning steamrolled them 8-4 in Tampa. DP’s line for the night? 36 saves on 44 shots. The team’s performance was uglier than Eliot Spitzer’s chances as husband of the year.
Coach Ted was none too pleased with the $67 Million Dollar Man after the game.
“We ask him over and over again not to play the puck as much,” Nolan told Newsday. “He’s one of the best puck-handlers in the league, but you just can’t overhandle it. When you overhandle it, you get yourself in trouble a little bit.”
“The only thing you can do is keep going through it over and over again. You can’t do that. You’ve got to let our defense handle it a little bit more. He just wants to play it. What can you do?”
The Coliseum Heroes are eight points out of a playoff spot with just 11 games to go. It’s over man. The dishes are done. The music’s dead. All that’s left is to turn down the lights.
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 a crazy stretch at work last week, I had a pretty up and down weekend.
The good:
1. On Friday I had the priviledge of seeing Sly and The Family Stone play at BB King’s. With the exception of one show in November, it was the first time Sly and his band had played in New York in 32 years. Anyone who digs “Everyday People,” “I Want to Take You Higher” and the slew of other Sly hits probably knows Sly is kind of a wacky, unpredictable dude. I placed the likelihood on his even showing up to perform at 50-50.
I’m happy to say he did show up but was probably on stage just about half the the time the band was, disappearing for unexplained stretches, leaving the band to continue jamming with the hopes he’d return. It was really bizarre. I’ll give Sly this much, when he was on stage, he did a great job.
2. Let’s get back to hockey. How about that Islanders’ OT victory on the road against the Lightning on Saturday! I have to say, I didn’t see that coming. Not with the funk the team was playing in, which was more apparent than ever in the previous game loss to the Panthers, and not with the way Tampa usually dominates the series. I’m glad I was wrong. The Isles needed to stop the bleeding and end the five-game skid. A loss would have relegated the team to a .500 record, which would be really tough to swallow after the team got off to such a great start in October and November.
3. I made a key decision to stay home yesterday instead of attending the Jets game at the Meadowlands. I know I’m lame for saying it, but I’m glad I watched that game from the comfort of my couch and stayed out of the cold rain. I’m never happy when Gang Green loses and I really wanted to see Clemens complete the fourth quarter comeback but when it didn’t happen, I was glad I wasn’t soaked and facing a three hour drive back home. That’s the kind of joy that’s available to a fan of a 3-10 team. I will, however, be there for the game against the Chiefs on the 30th to welcome Herm Edwards back.
The bad:
1. The dream for a repeat title in my fantasy fooltball league is kaput. My squad - BigFastMustache - got ousted by the Schrutebucks 128-98. Would have been cool if Chad Johnson showed up (I think he got me about 3 points) but I would have lost anyway.
2. More hockey. This one isn’t really bad but it’s pretty interesting. The Islanders are running a poll on their Web site asking what Islander fans want most for the holiday season. The choices are - (a) Tickets to Islanders games (b) an autographed jersey (c) Guerin and Ricky to make the all-star team (d) a successful Islanders season and (e) win the Islanders auction and join the team on the road. These are all good choices but there should be one answer and one answer only for an Islanders fan and that’s A SUCCESSFUL ISLANDERS SEASON. Thankfully, it is the most common choice selected in the poll but it’s just at 65%. That means that for every two fans who choose success, and we here at IslandersArmy define that as a Stanley Cup Championship season, there is someone out there who is a fan enough to check the Isles Web site and answer poll questions who’d still rather get an autographed jersey than see the 2007-08 season end with an Isles championship. So bizarre.
3. The Isles’ offensive struggles continue. The OrangeAndBlue have scored the fewest goals in the NHL (63) and there don’t seem to be any real viable trade options available to the team right now. The Ducks are said to be dangling some players to free up cap room for Niedermayer, but since they have their own scoring problems, a forward is unlikely. I just hope GM Garth Snow doesn’t go after Anaheim’s Mathieu Schneider. The 38-year-old defenseman is not the answer.
