Tag Archive for 'sydney-crosby'
Boot camp is back in session here at IslandersArmy and we’re here to give you some 2008 Season Predictions. Murph will probably bounce back with his own take later on. For the time being, you’re stuck with me and my busted up, broken crystal ball.
Atlantic Division
1. Pittsburgh Penguins - Sid the Kid leads a potent offensive attack on a team that should only improve with another season’s experience under their belts. While the scoring should come fast and furious, the big key is likely to be netminder Marc-Andre Fluery. Fleury surprised a lot of people by going an awesome 40-16 with a 2.83 GAA last year. Can he do it again? Another big question is how will the young Pens handle the expectations?
2. New York Rangers - As usual, these guys are loaded. The arrival of Chris Drury and Scott Gomez will bring more energy and skill to an offense that should have tallied more goals than it did last year. Henrik Lundqvist should turn in another good year. Two questions that need answering - can Lundqvist play big for a full season and how long will it take Drury and Gomez to gel with new teamates and a new system? Also, why do the Rangers Suck so bad?
3. New Jersey Devils, aka the Brent Sutter All-Stars - I’m going to have a soft spot for these guys all season. Sutter was a very good Islander and by all indications is a great guy. I don’t plan on rooting against him much. The Devs lost a couple of big names, Gomez and Brian Rafalski, but will still win their share of games thanks to future Hall of Fame keeper Martin Brodeur. I actually predicted the Devils would go to the Finals last year on Brodeur’s back. Big surprise - I was wrong. That said, Brodeur is still one of the best and Jersey has a track record for changing its parts without derailing the team’s effectiveness. They’ll be around all year and by the time the postseason rolls out, a dangerous team if Brodeur is on one of his streaks.
4. New York Islanders - RIP Jason Blake, Ryan Smyth, Aaron Asham, Viktor Kozlov, Sean Hill, and Tom Poti. Thanks for playing. Oh, Alexei Yashin is also gone but damn if that ain’t a big, fat positive. Alexei, if you are reading this, it ain’t personal but you had to go. Actually, I know it is personal for a lot of Islander fans. A lot of money and expectations came with your signing a few years back, followed by a host of first-round exits. The divorce should have actually happened a couple of years ago. Better late then never. The Isles turn to Bill Guerin to be their new leader on offense. Bill plays hard, plays the game right, but is kind of old and has never really carried a big team on his own. He’s just not one of those guys. This season is really going to rest on the play of the $67-Million-Dollar-Man, my goalie and yours, Rick DiPietro. A big season and the Isles can grab that eighth spot and maybe make some noise. Fingers crossed.
5. Philadelphia Flyers - They shouldn’t be as awful as last season but they are still bad. Philly brought in a crop of new players and will hand the keys to the net to Martin Biron for a full season. They should be more competitive but don’t confuse them with the big Flyer teams from earlier this decade. Them, these guys ain’t.
Be sure to catch Witt thumping Sid the Kid at around the :45 second mark.
[ev type="youtube" data="0vQJZWYOnkU"][/ev]
The final voting for the 2007 NHL All-Star Game starters have been released. Not surprisingly, no Islanders were voted in. It appears that Miroslav Satan led all Islanders with 63,067 votes, good for 30th in the Eastern Conference - ouch! Sid The Kid was probably getting that many votes EACH WEEK.
Of course the Islanders are guaranteed at least one All-Star later, when the coaches fill out the rosters. Blake? DP? Who do you think it will be? My $$ is on #55.
Forwards
Sidney Crosby, PIT 825,783
Daniel Briere, BUF 475,857
Alexander Ovechkin, WSH 475,297
Maxim Afinogenov, BUF 469,431
Evgeni Malkin, PIT 399,081
Chris Drury, BUF 330,000
Jaromir Jagr, NYR 321,578
Erik Cole, CAR 255,063
Rod Brind’Amour, CAR 249,632
Ilya Kovalchuk, ATL 226,602
Marian Hossa, ATL 207,393
Saku Koivu, MTL 199,857
Brendan Shanahan, NYR 174,450
Eric Staal, CAR 168,290
Dany Heatley, OTT 167,021
Vincent Lecavalier, TBL 164,522
Mats Sundin, TOR 157,551
Thomas Vanek *, BUF 154,660
Peter Forsberg, PHI 148,690
Marco Sturm *, BOS 135,038
Patrice Bergeron, BOS 134,895
Daniel Alfredsson, OTT 122,523
Olli Jokinen, FLA 111,203
Jason Spezza, OTT 110,083
Martin St. Louis, TBL 103,573
Simon Gagne, PHI 86,843
Patrik Elias, NJD 80,538
Brian Gionta, NJD 74,599
Brad Richards, TBL 71,944
Miroslav Satan, NYI 63,067
Scott Gomez, NJD 61,901
Michael Nylander, NYR 61,623
Just two days after abusing the Flyers for a goal and 5 assists in a career high 6 point game, Sidney Crosby led the streaking Penguins to their fourth straight win 7-4 over the Islanders last night. Crosby had a goal and 3 assists, giving him 10 points in the past two games. Ryan Malone was the lucky recipient of those 3 Crosby assists for the hat trick.
The Islanders defense continues to play poorly, and the team can’t stay out of the penalty box either. The Pens’ PP was 1 for 10, which is a pretty good night for the Isles’ PK - but 10 penalties are way too many. The Islanders PK unit ends up being on the ice and playing defensively too much for the offense to get any rhythm. Not to blame the refs for the loss, but some of those calls were pretty questionable while other Pittsburgh infractions were let go.
The Isles were outshot 29-13 in the first two periods and trailed 5-1. Coach Nolan replaced DP with Dunham to rest DP for tonight’s game. Malone made it 6-1 eight minutes into the third beating Dunham. The Isles made it a little interesting with a 3 goal rally in a three minute span, including two PP goals. Poti (PP), Blake (PP), and York scored to make it 6-4. The Isles PP was 3/6 on the night, a definite improvement over past efforts. Malone iced the game with his hat trick with less than five minutes to play. The Isles and Pens end up splitting four games in three weeks with each other.
Bad, bad night for the Isles, other than the PP performance. After five days off, they should have been rested and ready. Now they have to host the Southeast Division leading Thrashers tonight. Hopefully Yashin will return, but even if he doesn’t, the Islanders need to right the ship with a win.
Video highlights from NHL.com
Does the Islanders’ hotel in Pittsburgh have internet access? Do they not read IslandersArmy.com, or even ESPN.com? Sydney Crosby returned to the Penguins’ lineup after missing 3 games and it took Sid only 94 seconds to make an impact in the game, assisting on Colby Armstrong’s first goal of the season to put the Islanders down 1-0.
Viktor Kozlov replaced Yashin and centered for Simon and Blake, Kozlov tied the game up at 1 late in the first. The teams traded goals again in the second - Asham for the Isles, Armstrong’s 2nd of the night for the Penguins, assisted by Crosby (again).
They say football is a “game of inches”. Well sometimes hockey is too. Two bad bounces went the Penguins’ way, leading to the lone goal of the period and a 3-2 Islanders loss. First just 36 seconds into the third period Chris Thorburn of the Pens’ checking line banked a behind the net shot off DiPietro’s skate and into the back of the net. He even admitted after the game he wasn’t trying to score.
“I wasn’t trying to shoot it,” Thorburn said. “I was hoping to ricochet it into the slot, and we were fortunate to get the bounce. Jordan (Staal) made the play by driving to the net.”
The Isles fought hard in the third to try and tie the game, but could not get one past Pittsburgh goalie Marc-Andre Fleury. They outshot Pittsburgh 14-9 in the third and 35-28 overall. In addition to a goalpost or two, Andy Hilbert of the Islanders came about as close as you can to scoring a goal…without actually scoring.
“It was four-fifths of the way over, but it has to go all the way over,” said Hilbert, who played for Pittsburgh last season. “It happened so fast. It’s one of those things where we got a little unlucky.”
Eric Boguniecki, called up to replace Yashin played 10 shifts, 6+ minutes and had 2 hits on the official NHL Superstats report.
Good effort from the Isles last night, it obviously would have been nicer to get a point or two out of the game. They continue to skate hard and compete, so I don’t think we can complain too much. Next game is Thursday vs. the Flyers a game they should win, Yashin or no Yashin.
Video highlights from Yahoo Sports
ESPN.com is reporting that Sydney Crosby has practiced with the Penguins the last two days and is expected to return to their lineup tonight against the Islanders. He’s missed 3 games with a groin pull, including the Isles/Pens game last Friday.
“I felt pretty good. I will be ready,” he was quoted as saying on the Penguins’ Web site Tuesday. “I had two pretty solid days of practice. I think today, I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel in the morning, but I felt pretty good; I felt better than I did yesterday. That was a good sign.”
Happy Thanksgiving everyone, hope you had a great holiday. The boys in blue and orange certainly did, winning all three games of the holiday homestand. The holidays and/or the wins also brought out an improvement in attendance for all three games, including a season high of 15,625 Friday afternoon vs. the Penguins.
Unfortunately, the third win vs. Washington ended on a sour note when Isles’ leading scorer Alexei Yashin was injured in the third period after a knee on knee collision with the Capitals’ Matt Bradley. Yash had an MRI on Monday, and will be out for 2-4 weeks. Yashin has been a quick healer in the past, so hopefully the diagnosis is correct and he won’t miss much more time than that.
Back to the games, last Wednesday night the Islanders came out incredibly strong against the defending Stanley Cup Champion Carolina Hurricanes. The Isles outshot Carolina 20-1 in the first period, with Carolina’s only shot coming with less than 2 minutes in the period on net a harmless dump in that Ricky played into the corner. Shawn Bates scored to give the Isles a 1-0 lead after one. The Isles peppered Hurricanes’ goalie John Grahame with 17 more shots in the 2nd, but could not increase their lead. If this was last year’s team, you could have seen the third period collapse coming. But this is the 2006-07 Isles and Blake scored his team leading 12th goal of the year 59 seconds into the third to give the Isles some breathing room at 2-0. Yash scored a wraparound to make it 3-0, and the Isles won 4-2 as they outshot Carolina 48-15. I can’t find it anywhere, but I think the announced attendance was 13,000+.
Isles/Canes highlights
[gv data="VU37D4iscvQ"][/gv]
Friday afternoon the Islanders played a matinée vs. the Pittsburgh Penguins. Pens’ superstar/Olympic diver/serial whiner Sydney Crosby missed his 2nd straight game with a groin pull. Fans looking forward to seeing Sid the Kid should not fret, as the Islanders and Penguins will face each other four times in the next three weeks thanks to the NHL’s wonderful unbalanced schedule. Richard Park and Rick DiPietro were the first period heroes, helping to kill another 5-on-3 power play against the Islanders. Park broke his stick early in the shift and then proceeded to block two Penguins shots from the point with his body. The Penguins were 0-9 on the powerplay as the Islanders defense, especially shorthanded, is playing very well. Yashin netted the game’s first goal early in the second and then Satan and Hill scored in the third to give the Isles a 3-0 lead. Good to see Satan scoring again - he had a couple of empty netters last week, but it’s been a while since he scored on an actual goalie. The Pens’ other wonder-kid, Evgeni Malkin broke up DP’s shutout with about 8 minutes left to play. Brendan Witt drilled Malkin later in the game with a solid, clean hit that sent Malkin right to the dressing room. Word from the Pens was that Malkin had his bell rung, and his previously injured shoulder was just fine. ‘Atta boy Witter! As mentioned, the Isles had a season high attendance of 15,625 for the 3-1 win.
Isles/Pens highlights
[gv data="L-I70WEQHqo"][/gv]
Finally, the Islanders wrapped up the homestand on Saturday night as Bob Bourne was inducted into the Islanders Hall of Fame (photos). In addition to the pre-game ceremonies, the team sported “BB” patches on their jerseys. Jason Blake continued his scoring assault, notching the game’s first two goals - one in the first, and one in the second. Richard Park scored late in the second giving the Isles a 3-0 lead. Washington’s own wonder-kid, Alexander Ovechkin scored a PP goal early in the third to cut the lead to 3-1, but that’s as close as they would come. Trent Hunter iced the game with a shorthanded goal late in the third for the 4-1 final. Another strong job by the Isles PK as the Capitals were 1/8 with the man advantage. Announced attendance was 13,000+.
Isles/Caps highlights
[gv data="vpJp-ZJKKRg"][/gv]
The Isles play the Penguins (10-8-4) (again) tonight in Pittsburgh, their first game without Yashin. Eric Boguniecki was called up from Bridgeport to replace Yashin. Boguniecki had 3 goals and 5 assists in 12 games for the Sound Tigers. I think it’s a slightly interesting move considering the future of the Islanders, Jeff Tambellini and Robert Nilsson are leading the Sound Tigers in scoring. It’s apparent that Coach Nolan or someone at Bridgeport feels these two aren’t quite ready to contribute consistently at the NHL level. Personally, I’d like to see their speed out there over Boguniecki’s veteran experience.
In other action last night…
Penguins’ superstar Sydney Crosby feels he doesn’t need to defend himself from Coach Nolan’s statements on Thursday night…but he went ahead and did it anyways.
“I don’t need to defend myself,” said Crosby, who has not been called for a diving penalty this season. “I think my play more than shows the type of player I am. I’d be worried if I went out there and did that, but I don’t.”
Make up your mind Syd…oh, and stop diving like the bastard love child of Wayne Gretzky and Greg Louganis.
Once again penalties were the deciding factor in another Islanders loss. Sergei Gonchar’s PP goal in OT won the game 4-3 for the Penguins last night. Yashin was sitting in the box for a hooking call while icing his bleeding hand after a no-call slash by Penguins superstar Sydney Crosby. Coach Nolan had some not so kind words about Syd the Kid’s style of play…
“I think for a world-class player, for a guy of his caliber, he’s diving every time someone touches him.”
“No question in my mind, he should have been called for a slash before Yashin had a chance to hook him,” Nolan said. “I’m not saying Yashin’s wasn’t a penalty, I’m just saying there should have been a penalty before. If Yashin maybe acted like Crosby and dove, maybe he would have gotten that call.”
As much as we like to pick on Yashin, I can’t complain about his performance last night - 1G, 2A. He has played well on his new line with Kozlov and Blake. Sure the penalty led to the game winning goal, but under the circumstances you can’t blame him for the loss.
The Penguins converted 2 of their first 4 PP chances for a 2-0 lead early in the second. The Isles impressively stormed back with 3 goals in 3 minutes late in the second. Yashin scored even strength to make it 2-1, and then assisted on Sillinger and Blake’s PP goals as the Isles led 3-2 after 2 periods. Pittsburgh finished 3/8 on the PP, and the Isles 2/7.
The Penguins newest wunder-kid, Evgeni Malkin tied the game up at 3 with his 2nd NHL goal in as many games. Malkin was setup by Crosby who kicked the puck to him from behind the net. The pass surprised Dunham, and Malkin’s shot found it’s way behind the Islanders’ goalie. Dunham finished with 32 saves.
Rick DiPietro returned to the Islanders roster last night, but Nolan elected to give his groin pull a couple of extra days as Mike Dunham got his fourth straight start in goal. Prior to last night’s game, Dunham was leading the league in save percentage. I’m pretty sure we’ll see Ricky’s return Saturday night vs the defending champion Carolina Hurricanes,
Video highlights from NHL.com
