Best Intermission Interview Ever
April 20th, 2007 by murph
Ducks hockey + Big Snoop Dogg = High Comedy Fo’ Shizzle!
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Via James Mirtle
Tag Archive for 'playoffs'
The Word Out of Buffalo
April 20th, 2007 by Tom
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.”
Coach Ted Says There’ll Be A Game Six
April 20th, 2007 by Tom
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.
Win Or Die
April 20th, 2007 by Tom
It all comes down to tonight and if things go the Isles’ way, it will all come down to Sunday, and then Tuesday. To use an old sports cliche, the Isles can’t look at it that way and must approach it as one game at a time. The fans need to enjoy tonight’s game and remember how far this team has come to even get here. I’m not waving the white flag, I’m just trying to remind everyone most people had predicted the Isles would finish in the league’s basement. At times like these, it’s good to remember that. Puts things in perspective.
All that said, it’s about winning championships. That’s why these guys play (most of them, at least) and that’s why we all root so damn hard. So at the end of the day, our guys are the ones standing on the mountaintop having vanquished all comers. Tonight, the Islanders need to put up or shut up. We can’t hear anything about bad calls or video replays or no respect. It’s about results. You want to win, make it happen.
And just for good measure, F the Sabres.
Isles Can’t Catch a Break, Pushed to the Brink
April 19th, 2007 by murph
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.
The Night in Video
April 17th, 2007 by murph
Here’s my video from the opening faceoff last night.
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Here are the official NHL highlights.
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Here’s a reply of “the goal” (thanks to Eric at www.IslanderFans.com)
And the ugliness…
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As far as the goal goes, I’ll quote the announcer who thinks it’s a goal: “You kinda lose sight of it” and “You can assume”. The call on the ice was no goal. If there is no conclusive evidence on video, then the on-ice call has to stand. And we all know what happens when you assume. Total garbage that the NHL video monkeys in Toronto did NOT overturn the Ranger game ruling, and then had the BALLS to overturn this one in a playoff game.
The View From Your Playoff Seat
April 17th, 2007 by murph
Japer’s Rink a Washington Capitals’ blog, is running a special collection of other people’s playoff pictures to help them pass the time this off-season. Here’s mine from last night (sect 309).
There are a couple more pics I took last night here. I’m also in the process of uploading a video to YouTube.
Postgame Quotes - Sabres Take Game Three
April 17th, 2007 by Tom
Here’s what some folks were saying after last night’s 3-2 Sabres win:
“Any time you score a goal late in the period, it’s a different thing,” Randy Robitaille told Newsday. ”We were pretty excited. We felt we were right there. We should have come out a little more desperate.”
“We’ve got to find ways to use our creativity to get more pucks to Miller,” Ryan Smyth said of the Buffalo goalie to Newsday. ”A couple shots high in the head maybe gets the goalie thinking a little bit. We didn’t test him much in the third.”
On the fans’ behavior, Smyth told Newsday “They expressed themselves a little too much. You have to show respect, but they’re entitled to their opinion. They paid to watch a hockey game, not for the officials to take over.”
“That was a hard-fought first period,” Ryan Miller told the Buffalo News. “Both teams traded some chances. They caught a crossbar and a few bounced away from me, but I was able get a hold of a few. We were able to get that first goal, it was a big lift. That’s important on the road.”
“They came out hard again on us, but we came out better in the second,” Adam Mair told the Buffalo News.
“We capitalize and it’s a different game,” Coach Ted Nolan told the Buffalo paper. ”Ands, ifs and shoulds are something we don’t want to talk about. We didn’t. We just have to get regrouped and get ready for our next game.”
Isles Lose, Some Fans Look Weak
April 17th, 2007 by Tom
It was a goal. Just wanted to get that out of the way. FSNY showed a replay where you clearly see the puck sliding over the line and then getting kicked back out by DP. It was close but it was a goal.
A very competitive and fun game last night ended in a weak way, with a handful of Islander fans littering the ice with plastic bottles and other assorted junk. Grow up. You want to throw something, wait until you’re watching the game at home and fire bottles at your own TV. It just isn’t cool to throw things on the ice (unless you’re celebrating a hatrick, of course). It’s dangerous and just looks pathetic.
I didn’t see much on the late Robitaille (had mistakenly written Zednick earlier) penalty. While there was some contact, I think the ref has to keep the whistle in his pocket at that point of the game (less than two minutes) in a tight playoff contest. I don’t agree with the call but I also don’t think it was the worst thing ever. And as for the no call when Campoli came flying down towards the net, that too, looked like it could have gone either way. The Islanders didn’t get the home-ice calls either time but you can’t leave it up to the refs. You have to make your own luck, for lack of a better way of saying it.
The real story of this game was the four-minute second period Sabres’ power play. That’s just too much time to give a team with Buffalo’s talent an advantage.
The fact is this is still very much a series. And a little bad blood is starting to brew. The Sabres now know the Islanders are with them every step of the way. Last night’s game could have easily been an Islander victory. That said, the season really comes down to Game Four for the OrangeAndBlue. It’s a must-win if they want to have a shot at advancing.
