Tag Archive for 'buffalo-sabres'
Ahh, Kid’s Opening Day at the Coliseum. A beautiful afternoon. School is out. Free Guerin jerseys. A dozen or more fuzzy mascots acting silly. A perfect way to make some new young Islander fans.
Five game misconducts. Brendan Witt’s head bleeding on the ice. The Isles leaving Joey Mac in there to get shellacked 7-1 while DP keeps the water bottles full. Were the Isles trying to make fans for life, or just scar the kids for life?
No game highlights worth showing. Just video of yesterday’s shennanigans via HockeyFights.com.
A sellout crowd of 16,234 fans welcomed the Islanders home to start the 2007-08 NHL season last night and were treated to an exciting 3-2 Islanders victory over the Buffalo Sabres. Mike Comrie continued his hot start to the season with another 2 goals, including the game winner in the third period. Comrie was named #1 star of the game for the second night in a row.
With the beautiful October weather, the Nassau Coliseum parking lot was crowded nice and early yesterday. I showed up a little later than expected around 4pm and there were already hundreds of cars there. Free parking too, as the booths weren’t manned until sometime after 5pm. Footballs, hockey pucks, and beers were flying across the lot. If anyone doubts the Islanders fan base either in numbers or dedication, yesterday was an excellent example of how strong it is. Fans seem to like the role of the underdog, and that no one is giving the Islanders a chance this season (again). Everyone was really excited for the start of hockey season again, especially after Friday night’s win.
The Isles started the game slowly having to kill 3 penalties in the first period. On the third one, Buffalo’s Jaroslav Spacek scored on a one timer from the point with a lot of traffic in front. Chris Campoli tied it up in the second with his second goal of the season, a powerplay goal. Buffalo ended the night 1 for 5 on the PP, and the Isles 1 for 3. The game was tighter defensively and a little chippier than Friday night’s game with a few scrums and face washes throughout the game.
Third period…Comrie time! Under two minutes into the period, Guerin comes up the left side with Comrie trailing. I think Guerin was trying to snap a shot off but it deflected right to Comrie coming down the middle of the slot. Comrie made a couple of stickhandling moves and then sent a backhander at Buffalo goaltender Ryan Miller. Miller slid along the ice but the puck went right through the 5-hole to give the Islanders their first lead of the night. About 6 minutes later, Guerin banks one off the boards in the Isles defensive end that somehow springs Comrie all alone in the Buffalo zone. He had to go deep into the Buffalo zone to scoop up the puck so he came in on Miller on a bad angle and Miller made the save. Fedotenko followed up the play, corralled the puck behind the net and then found Comrie alone in front for goal number 4 on the season.
Buffalo was pressing hard in the 3rd with 17 shots in the period. DiPietro played awesome last night with a lot of big saves. Jochen Hecht scored for the Sabres with about 6 minutes to make it 3-2, but the Isles defense held on for the win.
The Ol’ Barn looked pretty good inside with a new fresh coat of orange, blue and white paint on the walls. The smoking/extra bathrooms section is now an outdoor patio area with some lawn chairs, flat screen TV’s and a couple of bars. It was great last night with the warm weather, but I’m not sure how popular it will be come December. The Islanders host the Capitals on Monday afternoon and then the Rangers on Wednesday night. 2-0! What a great start to the season! Go grab Comrie in your FHL pools now if you haven’t already!
Highlights from NHL.com
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Now THAT’S how you start the season on the right foot. After last year’s debacle in Phoenix – 11 penalties, 44 shots against, Ricky chased and a 6-3 loss, things had nowhere to go but up. Coach Nolan had the boys ready to play as the Islanders (somewhat) avenged their playoff defeat in Buffalo last season with a 6-4 win over the Sabres last night. The new guys were all over the scoresheet – first star of the game Mike Comrie had a 2 goal 2 assist night, Ruslan Fedotenko a goal and 2 assists, and Captain Bill Guerin with 3 assists. DiPietro had a decent game – I don’t think he saw the first goal of the game but he rebounded about 2 minutes later with a highlight reel glove save on Thomas Vanek and finished the night with 22 saves..
How about that powerplay unit? 3 for 3 last night plus a goal with a man advantage on a delayed penalty. That’s great work and we’re still trying to add Bryan Berard to that unit. Penalty kill was perfect too, 5 for 5. Our PP was awful last year, an improved PP unit will greatly help the team achieve it’s goals this season. Good start.
Not much to complain about last night’s game. Defense was a little loose for both teams but it was only the first game of the season. It’s to be expected, the Islanders need to take advantage of their opportunities again tonight. Speaking of the home opener, the barn should be rockin’ tonight after this win, I’m leaving to tailgate on this beeee-utiful October day in a couple of hours. And I still don’t like the new jerseys – they are too random, little bits of color here, a couple of stripes there, the result is changing the jersey just to change the jersey and make it look different…and it looks like crap. Thanks Reebok.
YouTube highlights aren’t up yet, so let’s try the new NHL.com embedded highlights. The size and quality is a lot nicer, but I don’t like the fact that it “autoplays” when you visit the site and even worse…it autoplays a commercial before the highlights. I can live with the commercial – I understand the league wants to make $$ by sharing the video, but please turn off the autoplay. If it gets really annoying I’ll take it down. Have fun tonight everyone, Let’s Go Islanders!
[UPDATE] Whoops! The embed broke the blog. I removed it for now, here’s the link to last night’s highlights.
[UPDATE 2] Oh, P.S. I almost forgot my rant from last night. What the %$#^@ was that on FSNY last night? Was that the Internet feed? It looked awful on Time Warner Cable in Queens last night, all it was missing was “Buffering…” It’s bad enough TW doesn’t have the HD feed, but can we do something to make the regular feed a little more watchable? I was flipping back and forth between the Isles and the Yanks in HD the difference was ridiculous. On the HD channel, I could count the tiny bugs on Joba Chamberlain’s neck while on the Islanders game the puck was just this tiny fuzzy black blur.
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The Buffalo News reports that NYC mayor Michael Bloomberg passed on the opportunity for a little friendly wager with the mayor of Buffalo. Is Bloomie a closet Islander fan?
The face-off between the hockey clubs from New York State’s No. 1 and No. 2 cities set the stage Monday for a possible friendly wager between Mayors Byron W. Brown of Buffalo and Michael R. Bloomberg of New York City. But when Brown’s office called to set one up, Bloomberg’s office declined. “I hope Mayor Bloomberg’s reluctance to wage a bet is not a sign of his lack of confidence in the Rangers’ chances against the Sabres,” Brown said.
Last call. You don’t have to go home but you can’t stay here. I’m sorry to report the Islanders’ 2006-2007 season is over, as the OrangeAndBlue fell to a clearly superior Buffalo Sabres team 4 games to 1 tonight.
I haven’t had time for proper reflection. All I can say is thanks. Thanks to a team that fought hard, that defied expectations, that made rooting fun and worthwhile. The fact is Buffalo is a better team, which we all knew from even before the puck was dropped. There were of course a few controversial calls but in the end that’s not what this series was about. The better team won. It sucks that it wasn’t the Islanders but that’s the way it went.
A lot of good happened this year and hopefully the Isles can keep the core of the good guys, the ones who gave 100% everyday and who did the litte things to help put this team in the best position to win. Salary caps and contract terms will all play a huge role in how this team is shaped next season but hopefully, the overriding factor will be what’s best for the team. I hope Ryan Smyth and Milke Sillinger stay. I hope a few other guys go.
So I guess this is where I say good luck to Buffalo. I have no beef with you guys. Still, I can’t help but think “what if” which is I guess what keeps us all drawn to playoff hockey, a bounce here, a call there.
2006-2007 ends much like a cheap Mexican dinner. Better than you thought it would be but a little hard to swallow in the end.
Sabres are saying all the right things leading up to tonight’s game, according to Buffalo News reporter John Vogl.
The Sabres have never lost a series after taking a 3-1 lead. They ended four series in Game Five and the other two in Game Six.
No one in the Sabres’ dressing room expects an easy ending to this one. The teams were separated by just one goal entering the final 75 seconds of Games Two through Four, and with a few different bounces or replay decisions the series could be 2-2 or even 3-1 the other way.
“We have the right to feel good about ourselves, we have the right to smile a little bit, but we’re going to have to put in a lot of work,” Sabres goaltender Ryan Miller said. “It’s going to be a tough game. You don’t just say, ‘3-1, series over.’ It has to be four games in the win column. That’s the only way to do it.”
I wouldn’t put in this in the same category as Joe Namath publicly guaranteeing victory in Super Bowl III, but it’s still good to hear. My wife’s friend Pepper, a big-time Islander fan, saw Ted at Champions over by the Coliseum after Game Four. Coach Ted predicted an Islander victory tonight and said he’d see everyone at the Coliseum on Sunday for Game Six.
Let’s hope it was before Coach Ted had a few pops and got all hopped up on sugar. Actually, maybe he should share some with Yashin and get him going, too.
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It’s just not fair out there on the ice, there are 10 guys wearing blue and gold and only 6 guys wearing the orange and blue. The 4 “impartial”, “neutral”, “officials” may as well be wearing Sabres jerseys out there. As has been the case all season (2nd fewest PP opportunities in the NHL) the Islanders are not getting any calls, and for the second straight night at the Coliseum, the story of the game was not what happened on the ice, but what happened in an office in Toronto.
Just like Monday the Isles came out strong in the first period, controlling the play and getting the better scoring opportunities. Unlike Monday, they got the first goal as Jason Blake finally netted his first goal of the playoffs just seconds after a Islanders PP had ended.
Buffalo countered with a pair of goals in the first and was about to take a 2-1 lead into the locker room when Ryan Smyth’s hustle negated an icing call and led to an Islander PP goal to tie the game up at 2 with just 15 seconds left in the period. But then Richard Park took a completely unnecessary interference penalty at the 20 minute mark. Buffalo started the 2nd period on the PP and it only took 39 seconds for Chris “Playoffs” Drury to score his second of the game and give the Sabres the lead again.
Down a goal entering the 3rd period, the Islanders played much better than Monday night’s 3rd period, even outshooting Buffalo 7-5 in the period. They had more chances than that – missing the net several times as well. With 1:42 remaining it looked like their hard work paid off when Brendan Witt crashed the net, knocking the puck, Sabres’ goalie Ryan Miller, and even the kitchen sink into the back of the net. Referee Mike Leggo immediately waived off the goal and headed to the on-ice officials to check the video replay. After the review Leggo waived it off again, and was showered with boos from the Coliseum faithful. FYI: Entering this season, Leggo had called a whopping 2 playoff games in his career.
Shortly after, Bergeron coughed up the puck in the defensive zone, Pominville scored and the Islanders are headed back to Buffalo down 3 games to 1.
After the game, GM Snow had a little video review session with reporters in the Coach’s office.
In the absence of a favorable decision by NHL video replay officials on a disputed tying goal by Brendan Witt in Game 4 of the Islanders’ first-round playoff series against Buffalo last night at Nassau Coliseum, general manager Garth Snow called a group of reporters into the coaches’ office, where video coordinator Mike LaZazzera ran replay after replay.
With 1:42 left and the Sabres clinging to a 3-2 lead, the puck can be seen hitting Buffalo goaltender Ryan Miller and dropping on the goal line in front of him. Witt skates in from the right side untouched, gets his stick on the loose puck and sends it between Miller’s legs. LaZazzera freezes the frame and uses a red marker to show neither Witt nor Miro Satan, crashing down the middle to the net, has yet banged into Miller.
But referee Mike Leggo saw it differently. He waved off the tying goal and then waited while replay officials reviewed the play in Toronto. When the decision was announced, everyone assumed a replay decision had gone against the Islanders for the second time in two games. But Snow said that, after reviewing the play, Stephen Walkom of the league office said the ruling was made on the ice by Leggo.
Random thoughts…
- Jason Blake gets boarded by Numminen and the Isles get (1) 2 minute powerplay. Should have been at least a double-minor.
- Ryan Smyth dragged down or held up numerous times, no calls.
- The Islanders are missing the net or making one too many passes too often. Shoot the freakin’ puck on net.
- I think it is time to buyout Alexei Yashin’s contract, he’s awful come playoff time. He brings ZERO leadership to the table, and should be stripped of the Captain’s “C” immediately.
- 1st period, Kozlov, wide open net…either he missed, or it got deflected because he took too long to shoot.
- I like Bergeron, but he’s got to be more careful with the puck. The other teams know he’s going to get it up high, they jump on him quickly and when he turns it over, it’s an odd-man rush everytime.
- I forgot my camera last night, I would have loved to get some shots of the Islanders fans driving around the NVMC parking lot in a pickup with Islanders banners and a fake Stanley Cup. Kudos to those die-hards.
