Are The Islanders For Real?

One quarter of the way through the 2009-10 NHL season, the New York Islanders are tied for fifth place in the Eastern Conference.

Did you ever, in your wildest dreams, envision this scenario? Last year, around this time, the season peaked as the Islanders approached .500 and the eighth seed. That team crapped out and finished with 61 points. This year's Islanders team has 23 points after just 21 games. Over 82 games, that projects to 90 points. If you're thinking playoffs already, I've always used the Rule of 92 when it comes to playoff teams - as in, you need 92 or more points to stake a claim to a playoff spot. But even 92 points guarantees you nothing. Florida missed the playoffs last year with 93 points. Carolina had 92 points in 2007-08, but finished ninth. In other words, the Islanders will have to play even better than they are now - and sustain that level of play for 61 more games - if they want to make the playoffs.

Now, contrary to popular belief, the playoffs are not the sole determinant of a team being "for real". Most Islanders fans will take contention for a playoff spot as constituting a "real" team. Hell, I'm just happy the season isn't over at Thanksgiving. The question is, though, can the Islanders keep this up? Are the Islanders for real?

In short... yes, the Islanders are for real.

Botta wrote a piece earlier today about why the Islanders have gotten off to their hot start. I won't regurgitate his rationale. But health, goaltending, John Tavares and Matt Moulson have all helped. It also helps that the players are better suited to Scott Gordon's system; Gordon has helped his own cause by not dressing the likes of Joel Rechlicz and Mitch Fritz for three minutes a game. In short, everyone on the team has a role, and everyone fills theirs well. Even Jeff Tambellini has produced this year, before his inexplicable (and unexplained) absence on this road trip. And speaking of road games, the Islanders have nabbed 11 of 24 possible road points this year - not too shabby.

Perhaps the best thing about this Islanders team is that the Lighthouse isn't looming over the on-ice product - finally. It's amazing what can happen when the focus is solely on the on-ice product. The only unfortunate fallout from the Lighthouse happenings is that Charles Wang likely won't let Garth Snow spend big bucks to bolster the Isles' roster, but we're all probably better off that way. This Islanders team is pretty deep, and the eventual return of Rick DiPietro can only help matters.

There are still some questions about this team, some criteria I have for a good team that the Islanders aren't reaching as of yet. First, they've allowed more goals than they've scored. The disparity has come down significantly in recent weeks, but it's still there. Second, for all the talk about how the Islanders are above. 500 - they're not. It's this writer's opinion (I don't believe Zach shares this opinion) that .500 means winning half your games, not having more wins than losses. Let's not forget that the Islanders are actually 8-13 and have fattened up on, as Howie Rose would call them, "loser points". Oh, and the Islanders have played the most games of anyone in the East.

These are nit-picking issues Islanders fans are wont to come up with, mainly because we're so used to seeing the other shoe drop in excruciating fashion. I, for one, am not even thinking about the playoffs, 92 points, winning 41 of 82 games, or any of the other criteria I'd use to gauge a team's level of success. With these Islanders, they're simply fun to watch. They play hard, as they always have, but this year they have an added layer of skill that scores three goals per game and (usually) keeps them from self-destructing in the third period. After a summer full of Lighthouse acrimony and worrying about Snow screwing up the draft, Islanders fans deserve to watch this brand of entertaining hockey.

And yes, that entertaining hockey played by the Islanders makes them "for real".

Your 2009-10 New York Islanders Drinking Game, Version 1.0

When we first started this blog, one of our first posts was an Islanders drinking game. At the time we posted the game, the Islanders were a below-average team, but they were a far cry from the 30th overall team we saw last year. When your team is really bad, sometimes it can get tough watching the team play.

That's where we come in.

The 2009-10 New York Islanders should be a significant improvement over last year's team, but it doesn't necessarily mean they'll get better results. With this in mind, here's something to keep you interested. If nothing else, we hope it'll keep you laughing (and drinking), something much easier said than done with this team. We'll update this as it becomes necessary.

And away we go!

---

ANNOUNCERS

Drink every time...

- Billy Jaffe stares into the camera with a creepy half-smile while Howie is talking

- Howie Rose or Billy Jaffe reference their listeners on the radio. Chug if they use the phrase "Out In Radio Land".

- A sponsored segment is introduced. Chug if it's a Panasonic Digital Replay.

- Howie or Billy makes a bad pun

- Howie states that coincidental minors "will not affect on-ice manpower"

- Howie dismisses a late-game penalty as "just bookkeeping"

- Billy says something that could be construed as homer-ish. Chug if Billy precedes it with something like "Not to sound like a homer, but..."

- Stan Fischler appears on the intermission report. Chug if he's the best-dressed member of the crew. Take an additional drink every time he says something that would best be described as "crotchety". Kill a beer if he goes out of his way to bash Sidney Crosby.

- Howie praises the Islanders' third uniforms

- Howie complains about the difficulty of the night's trivia question

- Howie or Billy mention crew members (i.e. statistician Eric Hornick, producer Larry Roth, etc.) during the middle of a game

- Billy begins a point by saying "Here's a guy..."

- Billy gives orders to the production truck during a replay (i.e. "Hold it right there", "OK, roll it")

- Billy or Howie compliments the camera crew for getting a particularly good shot

- Butch Goring wears a hideous suit

- Howie or Billy mentions Egg Levine

COMMERCIALS

Drink every time the following commercials air...

- Emblem Health

- Anything owned by Cablevision

- That damn Panasonic commercial with Ryan Sheckler

- Two Brothers Scrap Metal (PLEASE add this to your rotation, MSG Plus!)

- Coin Galleries of Oyster Bay

IN-GAME

Drink every time...

- Scott Gordon is wearing a tie that incorporates the Islanders' color scheme. Chug if his entire wardrobe is blue, white and orange.

- The crowd does a two-syllable chant in honor of a goalie (i.e. "D-P", "Roll-E", "Bee-Ron")

- Kyle Okposo takes a shot with one of his knees on the ice

- Jeff Tambellini does something that makes you curse aloud

- An opposing player dishes out a borderline hit. Chug if the Islanders don't bother to respond.

- An Islanders player is injured

- A Bridgeport Sound Tigers regular is called into duty to replace an injured player. Jeff Tambellini does NOT count as a Sound Tigers regular.

- The Islanders let up a goal while leading in the third period

- The camera gets a shot of a player taking a sip of water

- An Islanders goalie leaves the net to play the puck. Chug if it leaves him horribly out of position.

- A former Islander scores a goal against the Islanders

- The Islanders have more shots on goal than their opponents, but lose the game anyway

- The game goes to a shootout. Kill a beer if Brendan Witt is one of the Islanders' shooters.

The Isles Are On TV Tonight!!!!

Everyone probably knows this by now, but tonight's Isles-Devils game will be televised on MSG Plus! This is the first Isles-produced preseason game I can recall since a post-lockout game between the Islanders and Rangers, where every announcer for both teams piled into one big booth and said "You can't do that anymore!" about 50 times after penalties.

Anyway, while tonight's telecast is big news, it's not the purpose of this blog. We're in the process of updating the Islanders drinking game, which was one of our first ever posts and is in desperate need of a overhaul. If you find anything worth including, please leave a comment. Unfortunately, we won't have Howie Rose and his bad puns tonight, but Jiggs McDonald should be by to butcher a name or two.

Enjoy tonight's game! And don't forget to give us your most drink-worthy observations.

It Is What It Is

For the past twelve or so hours, the Internet has been on fire with people talking about the Dion Phaneuf hit on Kyle Okposo. As we all know, Okposo was stretchered off the ice last night; he was later diagnosed with a mild concussion and was cleared to travel home with the team. Botta put it best - Islanders fans will see this as a dirty hit, while Flames fans will see it as a clean hit.

There's no sense in pointing fingers. What happened last night is over. Phaneuf won't dress Saturday, there will be a ton of fights between fringe players, and nothing will be solved. The fact remains that Kyle Okposo is still injured and the Islanders now have to live without the services of their best forward.

We can argue forever about whose fault it was (nobody's), whether the hit was clean (it was), whether this kind of hit has any place in the pre-season (again, clean hit), or any of the other things that people are worrying about. Instead, let's look at the two facts we can draw from this.

- We have to worry about Kyle Okposo suffering from more concussions. After you have your first concussion, you're that much more likely to suffer from another one.

- After the hit, Okposo's teammates went out of their way to stand up for their fallen comrade.

As scary of a thought as the first point is, the second is far more significant. Think back to the night Mike Mottau shredded Frans Nielsen's knee. After Trent Hunter fought Mottau, nobody went after Mottau that night, nor did they do so in any of the other four times the Islanders and Devils played. Howie Rose must have mentioned it a million times down the stretch. Nobody cared. Compare that to what you saw last night. The Islanders tried to engage Phaneuf multiple times. Even though Phaneuf wouldn't take the bait - he sent in his underlings to fight those battles - it says a lot that the Islanders, even those with no chance of making the team, would try to take care of business. It shows how important Kyle Okposo is to the team and it shows how much these players truly care for one another. Most of all, it shows the progress made since last November.

All in all, it's a horrible situation, but at least Okposo is relatively okay. There's no need to dwell on it or demand revenge on March 25, 2010, which is when the Flames head to the Nassau Coliseum. And hey, we got visual proof that we have a true team this year. That's a good sign.

One last point about the hit. A few people have compared this hit to the one Doug Weight laid on Brandon Sutter last year - you know, the one that had Brent Sutter apoplectic and demanding Weight's banishment from the NHL. OK, he didn't really go that far, but he wasn't happy. Last night, when it was Okposo getting laid out, the elder Sutter was again involved, this time as the Flames' coach. Sutter's take?

"That's part of Dion's game. When he sees that open ice, Dion has to use it. It's one part of his game that makes him a unique player," said Sutter. "You never like to see anybody get hurt obviously, and it's too bad that happened, and hopefully we've been told, he's going to be okay. But Dion still can't pass up that hit".

Voices: Howie Rose

For anybody who's even remotely interested in the business of broadcasting or even the lives of broadcasters, the NHL Network's Voices is a must-see. Each week, the show profiles a different broadcaster, including clips and interviews with that particular announcer. This week, Islanders broadcaster Howie Rose was on the show.

Overall, the show did a great job of showcasing the abilities of Howie Rose. Howie's a hard guy to dislike; Rangers fans still have reverence for his work with their team, while Islanders fans can claim him as one of their own. Stan Fischler, one of the other broadcasters interviewed, mentioned the difficulty Howie had being accepted by Islanders fans after leaving the Rangers. While the program didn't discuss this at all aside from Fischler's remarks, it remains a remarkable accomplishment that Howie has acclimated himself so well to Long Island.

Obviously, Howie Rose and Stephane Matteau will be forever linked, and Voices devoted an entire segment to the spring of 1994. Islanders fans probably don't want to watch this part, but it's an important part of Rose's career as well as hockey history. Howie discusses his admiration for Marv Albert and how proud he was to share the broadcast of Game 7 versus Vancouver with his idol. In the segment, Rose admits he grew up a Rangers fan and was horribly nervous throughout the third period, which Albert called. At the end, pictures are shown of Rose kissing the Stanley Cup - and after that Matteau call, he has every right to do so.

Unfortunately for Islanders fans, there isn't much devoted to any of Howie's great Islanders calls, probably because there haven't been all that many great moments in his tenure. They did show the Wade Dubielewicz pokecheck that put the Islanders in the playoffs in 2007 as well as some of his amateur calls, which were done on a hand-held tape recorder. Quotes from Rose's current partner Billy Jaffe, his former partner Joe Micheletti, and Rangers announcer Sam Rosen all paint Howie Rose in the best possible light. 

The Voices crew trailed Howie Rose the day of an Islanders-Rangers game on January 13 and gave fans the true experience of a broadcaster. Howie is a noted opponent of the morning skate, so when he showed up to the morning skate and asked Scott Gordon a question, Gordon quipped, "Who's the new guy?" We also got a look at how Howie prepares for the game (mostly game notes and interviews, in contrast to some other broadcasters who pen entire notebooks) as well as a trip inside the booth. Perhaps the most interesting part of the booth is the assistant next to Rose who writes pertinent facts on a Dry-Erase board so Rose and Jaffe can quickly state timely information.

All in all, Voices with Howie Rose was fun and informative, and to be quite honest, it was just nice to see the Islanders being treated like a real team instead of a punchline. Howie Rose's episode of Voices replays tomorrow (Friday) at 4 PM as well as Tuesday at 4 PM. It's definitely worth a look.

News Items

Just a couple of items you might be interested in, with the first topic being of extreme importance...

- 1050 ESPN Radio (by way of Sean Leahy's Facebook status) reports that Tom Renney will be fired tomorrow. This is the only outlet to report this news, so take it as you will. But it wouldn't surprise me one bit. Either way, it's just speculation at this point, so there's not much to discuss. His firing wouldn't be a surprise, nor would it be surprising to see him coach for the remainder of the season. We shall see.

- Howie Rose will be the focus of the show "Voices" on the NHL Network this coming Thursday. This news comes courtesy of the iO Digital Cable Channel Guide. Howie mentioned on the air a few weeks ago that they were following him around for the show, but I can't remember which game it was. Either way, I look forward to hearing what Howie has to say. If I could interview any one person in the entire Islanders organization, it'd be Howie Rose.

- I played the demo of 3 on 3 NHL Arcade tonight for PS3... that's one fun game. The demo is extremely limited, but the gameplay is all kinds of awesome and fun. It looks like the game's options are a bit lacking, with the main gripe being that you just pick four guys from a pool of NHL stars as opposed to playing as the NHL team of your choice. This also means there's no "season" mode or anything, which is kind of weak. Still, for $10, it's not bad at all. And for those interested, Rick DiPietro appears in the demo as one of the two goalies, with Roberto Luongo being the other. It's always interesting to see how the careers of these two intertwine as time goes on.

I'm watching my tape of the Islanders game right now - I already know they lost. But that's okay. For the first overall pick, these are the games you need to lose. This is still a much better team than the one who sucked it up throughout December and much of January. I can live with these losses as long as the team shows signs of improvement, which they certainly have since the All-Star Break.

It's Starting

This is supposed to be a post about the Islanders bringing back Wade Dubielewicz. Or maybe it's supposed to be a series of thinly-veiled shots at the Islanders' training staff, the only people I can think to blame for the roughly 20,000 man games the Islanders have lost to injury over the past two seasons. Or maybe it's supposed to be about two consecutive 2-1 losses, two games in which the Islanders have played extremely well, but fell short to their biggest rivals and the league's best team. Any of these would work.

Instead, I'm stuck here fearing the worst.

By now, everyone's heard that the Islanders will be playing a pre-season game in Kansas City in September. Hell, even Howie Rose and Billy Jaffe speculated about the hidden meaning of the game on the air tonight. Of course, they spun it in as positive a manner as possible, but the fact remains that there's a lot of negative that can be gleaned from this story. And we, as hockey fans - forget about the rivalry for a second - need to pay attention to this sort of stuff.

If you've read this blog for a while, you may be aware that we were among the first to raise the possibility of the Islanders being moved. That's not bragging, just a little reading between the lines that is starting to come to fruition. This Lighthouse Project just isn't happening right now, and it's so key to the Islanders' future that Charles Wang is taking proactive measures to get it going. If that means playing an exhibition game in Kansas City, fine. That said, I think we all have reason to panic.

Football fans will remember the infamous "Proposed West Side Stadium" the Jets were championing a few years back. It was the cornerstone of New York City's 2012 Olympic bid. It was a pretty good plan - it would bring the Olympics to the City, it would give the Jets their own home (not to mention actually bringing a New York football team to New York), and would make it a whole lot easier for fans to attend games. So what happened? The stadium became a political issue and the whole thing died shortly thereafter.

The lesson to be learned from this? Nothing we don't already know; namely, once politicians get involved, you can forget about progress being made - ever.

Now, we here at The Rivalry prefer to keep our hockey and our politics separate. So we'll spare you the whole debate over whose fault it is that the Lighthouse Project isn't moving, how much good it will really do, so on and so forth. All we really care about is, will the Islanders be moving? I mean, I'd love a renovated Coliseum, but I'd sit in the crummiest seat in the house if it meant keeping the Islanders on Long Island.

After the announcement of the Islanders-Kings game in Kansas City, I did a lot of thinking. And the obvious facts, namely that the Kings' owner also owns the Sprint Center, were not included in those thoughts. I thought about the possibility that this team might not be here in just a handful of years. I thought about my dreams of taking my daughter to the Coliseum and explaining all the different banners, and the powerful memories behind them, to her. I thought about the virtual guarantee of this team suddenly becoming a powerhouse immediately after leaving Long Island, and I thought about how I might feel about it. I thought about the guy at the Prudential Center who asked me which team I'd root for if the Islanders ever moved and how I couldn't give him an answer. I thought and I thought, because that's all I could do.

This is going to be a time when thorough introspection outweighs fact, when preparing for the worst beats hoping for the best. I know I'll have a lot more moments like these as the Lighthouse Project gets debated for the next eternity or so. Will we end up like the Pittsburgh Penguins, who were all but packed for Kansas City, but ended up staying in Pittsburgh and making the Stanley Cup Final just two years later? Or will we end up like the Quebec Nordiques, a team that finally achieves its great promise upon leaving? Only time will tell, and for much of this time, we will be out of the loop. All we can do is hope and pray for a happy ending.

Happy New Year

Well, the Islanders were able to capitalize on what was a fine effort Monday night, parlaying the strides they made against the Rangers into an impressive 4-2 win against Florida. Here's what stood out to me.

- Mike Comrie is on fire. Over the past three games, he has four goals, two of which were scored in the final minute of regulation in close battles. He had a Gordie Howe hat trick in a losing effort on Monday night. And today, he contributed two goals and was on the ice for a third. It's taken Comrie a bit of time to get back into game shape, but he's been the best player by far over the past three games. Maybe all this talk of being "pain-free" actually has some merit.

- Disappointing crowd of 12,211 on an afternoon day when every kid on Long Island is off from school. You can blame the weather for some of that, but still. You'd like to see a better turnout for an afternoon matinee, especially since nobody does anything on New Year's until later on at night. Anyone who attended the game would have to be impressed with what they saw today.

- I missed the first 15 or so minutes of the first period, so I was surprised to turn on the TV and find Jiggs McDonald doing the game. After a while, I remembered that Howie Rose traditionally takes off when the Isles go out to the West Coast. And who can blame him? With no time off at all between baseball and hockey season, Howie's got to take whatever time he can. Anyway, it was great to hear Jiggs again.

And that's when it hit me. About a month ago, Jiggs McDonald and his wife were being detained in Thailand with a group of tourists. Nobody was sure what would happen, nobody knew when (or if) Jiggs would make it home. Now, not only is he home, but he's calling Islanders games and sounding like he's with the team as often as Howie or Jaffe. What a tremendous broadcaster and man. Those of us who grew up hearing Jiggs call Islanders games are lucky to have heard him for so many years.

- It was nice to see the Islanders put forth a great third period for once. Even though they were only playing Florida (a team Jaffe suggested wasn't giving their best effort), we got to see what might happen if the Islanders could string together 6o successive minutes of quality play. The Islanders got multiple odd-man rushes as the third period progressed; that none of them resulted in goals is no matter. This is the kind of third period the Islanders can build on; the problem is, they're traveling out to the West Coast and might be fatigued before long.

And thus, the Islanders end 2009 having played four good games in a row. Five out of eight points isn't a lot, but it's sure better than the first 20 or so days of December. It's a nice little run that hopefully can be improved upon as January unfolds.

We're obviously going to be watching the Winter Classic tomorrow, as should all of you. January 1 is traditionally a college football day, but hockey is starting to make New Year's Day all its own. Even ESPN.com has the Winter Classic as its headline story right now. Even people who usually hate hockey are sort of intrigued by this thing, so let's hope the Blackhawks and Red Wings give us a good show. I have no doubt that they will. For a lot of people, this is the first time they're seeing this Blackhawks team; I'll be pulling for them. Hockey's comeback in Chicago is one of the biggest stories of 2008, and I hope they can build on that with a big win to kick off 2009.

Great Win Tonight

So tonight was interesting. Two New York teams playing at home against Canadian opponents, two 2-1 shootout wins for the locals. Zach will be by to tell you more about the Rangers game. As for the Islanders...

 - Zach talked me into buying back into online gambling. So I did. I considered betting the under for this game, which was five goals. I ultimately decided against it and bet the under in tonight's Bills-Browns game, which was said to be played in snowy conditions. The under in that game is 41. It's already 13-7 Cleveland with not a drop of snow on the ground. Uh-oh.

 - Caught the pre-game show tonight... it wasn't bad. Filler-laden, sure, but enjoyable. Two segments stood out to me. The first, obviously, was the Stan Fischler-C.J. Papa segment in which the two spent maybe five seconds talking about the Islanders. They'd go on to repeat this during the intermissions. The other was a segment called "Billy's Breakdown" where Billy Jaffe broke down some film for the viewing audience. What I liked was that he didn't pick the scoring plays. Instead, he picked the plays people don't really notice, but can be disastrous if done incorrectly. Tonight's theme was breakouts from the defensive zone, which is harder than it seems. Jaffe also scores points with me for doing NHL Live during the afternoon and still doing the game at night. That's hardcore.

 - The Isles came out jittery, but started to get it together by the end of the first. The second and third periods showed how good defensive hockey can be. Like Zach said the other night, defensive battles are great, and hockey has better defensive-minded games than any other sport. Joey MacDonald is the obvious first star of this game, but Andy Sutton played an excellent game as well. It's no coincidence the Islanders have gotten their act together since Sutton's return. Here's a stat you might not be aware of - since Sutton came back on October 30, the Islanders have only played two games (out of nine) in which they haven't either won or held a third-period lead.

 - The stat I just mentioned doesn't just reflect well on Sutton, but on the whole team. Everyone loves to dump on the Islanders - more on this later - but the truth is the Isles have been extremely competitive so far in November. This team is starting to figure out what it is. It's certainly not the best team, but it plays hard. It gets ahead early, often loses its way, but is starting to learn how to come back and play a good third period. Three wins in a row is a big deal for a team most people picked for last in the entire league.

 - As well as the Islanders are playing, I still have to question some of Scott Gordon's decisions. Namely, how on earth Jeff Tambellini gets a regular shift in overtime. You really want to throw out a minus-six player out there in overtime? I don't get that one. Nor do I see the logic in giving Josh Bailey a try in the shootout. Had he scored his first NHL goal already, that'd be one thing. But to take an 18-year-old who's trying to figure out the NHL game, trying to get his firsts out of the way, and throw him in there against a top-three goaltender? That's asking a lot. I guess Gordon is still trying to figure out who his go-to shootout guys are. The only player to participate in both Islanders shootouts this year is Trent Hunter - and he missed both of his attempts.

 - Throughout the game, the announcers mentioned the boasts of the Vancouver media that this would be an easy two points for the Canucks. As the game progressed, the announcers became more and more fed up with these remarks. Finally, Howie Rose sardonically remarked after Joey MacDonald's final save, "The all-knowing Vancouver media has some explaining to do!" Look, homerism is a turn-off for a lot of people. For Islanders fans? I think we kind of need that. It's not as though there are a ton of people proudly boasting Islanders merchandise. I wore an Islanders shirt to Saturday overtime last week, and a Rangers fan asked me, "You wear that (bleep) in public?" So yeah. I'll take a broadcast crew that gets behind my team as opposed to one that calls it right down the middle, at least as far as the Islanders are concerned.

As for the articles in question, here's one I found, entitled "Islanders Look Like Team in Oldtimers League".  But I did find this blog, which did your typical "Hockey's in trouble on Long Island" post earlier today and ended tonight's coverage with this nugget: "Canucks lose after scoring in the first minute of regulation, beaten by a career minor-league goalie named Joey MacDonald. Not very good..."

If you've ever wondered why Islanders fans have such a complex about their team, it's because we have to read crap like this pretty much all the time. It kind of gets old after a while. When the Rangers were awful, people made fun of them for spending a lot of money. Nobody said New York City didn't deserve a hockey franchise. Even if it's hard to dispute the facts about the state of the Islanders, it hurts to hear about it so often. Especially from the uninformed Canadian media, who are never wrong about anything. Just ask them.

One last thing about the Canucks, who have been to the playoffs just as many times as the Islanders since the lockout: They stole the Islanders' promotional slogan from last season.

I was happy the Islanders got their two points tonight. But I think I'm even happier that the Isles got to stick it to the media. Something tells me they're going to be in this sort of position a lot this year. But if the first two weeks of November are any indication, the Islanders won't be nearly as bad as many of us feared. I can think of a lot of teams who wouldn't mind taking 11 out of 18 points in November.

Next game is Friday in New Jersey. I'll be making the trip out to The Rock for the game. It probably won't be a very sober one. In any event, it'll be a fun trip to the most wonderful arena that nobody goes to.

Live Blog: Islanders vs. Penguins

I could write a decent open to this live blog. But the Islanders' e-mail newsletter said it better than I ever could... "Commissioner Gordon Takes On The Penguin". Maybe Howie Rose and Billy Jaffe write the e-mail newsletter?

 - We begin tonight's broadcast with - get this - Stan Fischler making an interesting point. He suggested to C.J. Papa that as good as Sidney Crosby is, he might be even better without the pressures that come with being captain of the Penguins. Billy Jaffe disagrees; I'm not sure where I stand. But good thinking by the Hockey Maven.

 - Jaffe informs us that those of us watching in HD will get to watch an exciting game. Um, what about everyone else? Anyway, the HD feed is a little choppy. I feel like I'm watching a streaming video over a bad Internet connection. Those third uniforms look pretty sweet in HD, though.

 - Interesting lineup tonight, as Sean Bergenheim, Jeff Tambellini, and Tim Jackman are all dressed. Nate Thompson, unfortunately, is out with a groin strain. Figures. As soon as he shows promise, he gets hurt. Hey, at least they told us what happened to him; as Jaffe said during the last game, Crosby probably doesn't even know where he got hurt. I love Billy Jaffe.

 - Joey MacDonald looks fairly stout on the first real scoring chance of the game. He pulls an old-school DP move and looks behind him to see if the puck got by him. Thankfully, it didn't.

 - Eight minutes in, we go to our first commercial break... and I don't think the Islanders have a shot on goal yet. They've gotten nothing going offensively. Pittsburgh's doing a good job getting back, and the Islanders haven't had enough chances to get anything resembling sustained pressure.

 - Ad Break #1: Cablevision, Emblem Health, and "Redemption Song" with YOUR new WWE champion, Chris Jericho. At least there's some justice in this world.

 - Maxime Talbot takes a dumb slashing penalty, and we have the game's first power play. Howie points out that the Penguins have the league's sixth-best penalty kill. Suddenly, I'm not so excited about the next two minutes.

 - A tale of two minutes. The first minute was excellent. The second, not so much.

 - Ad Break #2: Bridgestone, Geico, McDonald's. I had a triple cheeseburger for lunch today. Tremendous.

 - Panasonic Digital Replay. Drink!

 - Howie and Billy go over the Penguins' stellar draft record over the past five or so years. I'm a bit jealous. But it also goes to show you - even when things look extremely bleak, as they did for the Penguins not so long ago, there's always hope.

 - Not much has happened in this first period, but we finally have a goal! Doug Weight knucklepucks one over the shoulder of Penguins backup Danny Sabourin to give the Islanders a 1-0 lead. I'm starting to like Weight more these days. This is probably because of his "Day in the Life" special on the NHL Network. Quality program. Anyway, Bill Guerin and Andy Hilbert get the assists. If the Isles can keep this lead until the end of the period, that'd be very nice.

 - Finally, end-to-end action shows up. We're starting to see the game we thought we'd see. Thank God. It only took like 18 minutes to get going, but the rest of this one should be fun.

 - Ad Break #3: Mercedes-Benz, Optimum Rewards, Ridgewood Savings Bank. You know, the one where the guy's jogging on the treadmill in the middle of the bank. I can't even remember the last time I was actually inside of a bank. You can do everything online these days. Why even have branches?

 - One minute left in the first period. One thing I never understood about the Coliseum clock - when the time goes under a minute, the clock gets very screwy. And even on TV, you can see it. It's not a smooth trip from 60 to 0; instead, it starts and stops for half-seconds at a time.

 - Intermission Time! Stan Fischler calls Mats Sundin "a spoiled brat" for taking his time deciding what he wants to do. He then predicts Sundin will sign with the Rangers. But the Maven isn't done. He calls Sidney Crosby a "stiff" and commends Pascal Dupuis for having a nice name.

 - Some sloppy hockey to begin the second period. Crosby gets hurt on the ice and for some reason, jumps over the boards instead of walking through the door that's opened just inches away from him. Still, he had a better shift than Ruslan Fedotenko and Thomas Pock, each of whom had awful giveaways.

 - Tyler Kennedy makes one of those plays you see coming a mile away, but you can't stop. He brings the puck over the line, passes it, acts like he's going to hang back at the blue line, then cuts to the net and taps in the easy goal. We're tied at 1. You have to tip your cap to Kennedy for that one. Nice moves.

 - The Islanders haven't rebounded too well from that goal. We need a fight. Of course, there's a penalty, so that's not going to happen for at least two minutes.

 - Sloppy PK work from the Islanders. Pittsburgh had a number of good chances, but somehow couldn't convert. The Islanders almost ended up with a home run pass to Richard Park, but no luck. Beats letting up a power play goal, though.

 - Ad Break #4: Bridgestone, some tourist promo, Panasonic.

 - A close-up of Ruslan Fedotenko, who has parlayed his 2004 playoff into yet another bad contract. Good for him. He'll be getting a great view of the Penguins from the press box sooner rather than later.

 - Weight takes a slashing penalty, which is just retarded. He had two guys right behind him; had Malkin beaten Weight, there were two d-men ready to take Malkin out. I smell a PP goal.

 - No power play goal. However, my six-month-old daughter let out two massive burps. Clearly, she inherited Daddy's flatulence genes.

 - Weight comes out of the box and enters into a two-on-one with Tim Jackman. Weight takes forever setting up a shot, which rebounds right to Jackman, who jams it home. 2-1 Isles. That's two points for Weight tonight. Andy Sutton gets the other assist. 

 - Still waiting for that fight. Jackman could be the guy. Howie says Jackman had six goals and five fighting majors in Bridgeport so far this year.

 - Ad Break #5: Geico, Lincoln, Marines. Immediately upon returning, we get a Panasonic Digital Replay. Hooray!

 - Howie drops the name of Dean Chynoweth, whose dad is being inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. Chynoweth's dad was the president of the Western Hockey League; presumably, he did a better job than Dean did as an Islander.

 - Suddenly, it's the Islanders who are taking it to the Penguins. They're getting the puck deep almost every time, while the Penguins are just getting it over the blue line and dumping it in (if that).

 - Just as I note the Islanders' ability to get the puck in deep, the Isles set up their third goal. Sutton gets it to Kyle Okposo, who has Hilbert as a screen. Hilbert instead positions himself for a pass, Okposo reads the play, and Hilbert has an easy goal. 3-1 Isles. That's another two-goal lead. Uh-oh.

 - Ad Break #6: NY Red Bulls (they need to win tomorrow), FSN Final Score, Qantas (the world's most experienced airline), and some show about Jon & Kate on TLC. Whatever.

 - And just like that, the Islanders get to work on blowing their two-goal lead. A bouncing puck eludes Bruno Gervais' stick, Jordan Staal hops on it, and puts a nice move on MacDonald to put the Pens within one. Howie and Billy have been talking about the subpar ice surface of the Coliseum all night, but that's no excuse. If you're Gervais and Staal gets by you, you have to absolutely maul him. Worst case scenario, he gets a penalty shot, which he pretty much already has anyway.

 - Penalty to Guerin. Here we go again.

 - Crosby makes a beautiful play to dump the puck in so that it bounces off the boards, then the side of the net, and right to a cutting Miroslav Satan. Jaffe tells us Crosby spent an extra 40 minutes after practice working on angling off the boards. I don't doubt it, either. This is something Wayne Gretzky used to do all the time.

 - Sean Bergenheim gets loose on a shorthanded breakaway opportunity, but Kris Letang is all over him. See, that's what you're supposed to do there. It really doesn't matter what you do in that situation as long as the other guy doesn't score. Good play by Letang, one of the more underrated d-men in the league.

 - Gervais gets whistled for doing... not all that much. Tough night for Bruno. The Penguins have had something like four power plays in a row; the Islanders have had one for the entire game. Just saying is all.

 - Intermission Time! I like C.J. Papa's tie. Stan's outfit looks like one of those shirt-and-tie combos you buy from Kohl's for $15. Stan wastes no time in breaking out the alliteration; this time, he says the Islanders need to use "aggression and acumen". Apparently that means "avoiding stupid penalties, none of this business about the ice not being good, Gervais should have taken the man, period." Meanwhile, C.J. Papa is trying not to laugh. Fischler goes on to state that Richard Park is "a ferret on the spore of a loose puck", whatever that means. But, as usual, he's not done. He then calls out the referees for not telling Scott Gordon why exactly they've called like 20 slashing penalties on the Islanders tonight. And just as C.J. is breaking into an awkward segue into the Family Fun Pack promo to end the segment, Stan stops C.J. and asks if he agrees with his take on the referees. C.J.: "I always agree with you. We're wearing the same suit, we have to agree." I swear, these segments are absolutely must-see TV.

 - We get a teaser for Hockey Night LIVE! Prediction: Of the 30 minutes of airtime, approximately 28 will be dedicated to the Rangers.

 - The third period opens with the obligatory "Islanders Blown Leads" graphic. Thanks, guys. The power play has a number of close calls, but MacDonald is game each time. After the final flurry, Howie exclaims, "Stan Fischler will be singing barnyard tunes after that one!" Have I ever mentioned how much I love the Islanders' broadcast team?

 - Pittsburgh has the first five shots of the third period. Nice to see the Islanders have learned their lessons from their many blown leads. If I were Scott Gordon, here's what I'd tell my team. "Look, if you try to protect the lead, you're going to lose anyway. Why not just try being aggressive?" I don't think coaches really think this way, but it'd be nice if they did.

 - Okposo gets a great feed in the slot and does that stupid thing where he goes down on one knee to take his shot, which ends up doing him in. If he had stayed straight up, he could have at least put a fake on Sabourin. Instead, it's an easy save for the Penguins goalie.

 - Pittsburgh is absolutely buzzing. This is like watching a stay of execution. You just know Pittsburgh is going to score, it's just a matter of when. How depressing.

 - Jaffe states that Andy Sutton has eight blocked shots. Wow.

 - A Matt Cooke shot rings off the post. Time to use that timeout, Mr. Gordon.

 - The Penguins are not only putting tremendous pressure on MacDonald, but they're also swarming the puck carrier every time the Islanders gain the offensive zone. I'm more than a bit worried right now.

 - We're halfway through the period and we haven't had a TV timeout yet. The Islanders have iced the puck three straight times. I love how Scott Gordon coaches with both hands around his neck late in games. Even Mike Milbury would have called a timeout by now.

 - Frans Nielsen gets open in the slot, doesn't shoot for some reason, but draws a penalty. Finally, a TV timeout! The Ice Girls are going to be awfully busy going forward.

 - Ad Break #7: Bridgestone, Marines, Emblem Health. And, of course, a Panasonic Digital Replay.

 - What an awful power play. No shots on goal, of course. The Islanders spent two minutes trying to make the perfect play, forgetting that two of their three goals tonight came on rebounds.

 - Ad Break #8: Infiniti, Christian's Children's Fund. Sadly, we're cheated out of a crappy third commercial.

 - Five minutes left in the third. Shots on goal this period: Pittsburgh 12, Islanders 0. About that whole "We're not going to sit on the lead anymore" thing? Yeah.

 - Well, we all saw that one coming. With 3:15 left, Pittsburgh ties the game. Kennedy deflects in a slapshot from the point to make it 3-3. Of course, they have to get your hopes up before blowing the lead. But you know what? They deserve it. Zero shots on goal in the third? You reap what you sow, and I don't want to hear another word about how the Islanders are "learning" about how to play with a lead. That's now FOUR GAMES OUT OF FIVE where they've blown two-goal leads. Even if the Islanders win this one, it goes down as a disappointment.

 - Ad Break #9: McDonald's, Lincoln, Islanders promo, Boomer Esiason Show.

 - The iO replay is Andy Hilbert's goal. Shots on the net. I remember those.

 - Jeff Tambellini makes a nice play. A blocked shot leads to a semi-breakaway and the Islanders' first shot on goal in the period. Whoo-hoo.

 - Nielsen gets a point-blank opportunity to win the game in regulation with just seconds left, but misses the net. Overtime. That's one point. Great. Two should be in the bank already.

 - Overtime Bonus Ad Break: NHL.com. Should've been a car ad. We've only seen 80 of those tonight.

 - Looks like the Islanders remembered how to play hockey in this overtime. We're seeing more of the team that played very well for two periods. I guess the time off served them well.

 - The final 90 seconds of this game just totally open up. It's reminiscent of the final round of a boxing match, when both guys are just letting the punches fly before the judges make their decisions. Both teams have their chances; the chippy ice hinders the options of both teams. It's a shame it took this long for the teams to figure out that they should just put ANYTHING on net, because it's the most reliable option out there.

 - Just to stick it to the Islanders, Mark Streit draws a four-minute penalty with two seconds left. Wonderful.

 - We're headed to a shootout. Sykora, Satan, Crosby for the Penguins; Weight, Guerin, and Hunter for the Islanders. I bet anything Satan goes to the backhand. That's all he ever did with the Islanders.

 - The Islanders have blocked 29 shots tonight. Wow.

 - Weight goes five-hole, but Sabourin gets a pad on it. 0-0.

 - Sykora puts on a nice backhand move to beat a sprawling MacDonald. 1-0 Pens.

 - Guerin tries to wait out Sabourin, who doesn't commit, and Guerin just shoots it right into Sabouin's glove. 1-0 Pens.

 - Satan eschews the backhand in favor of a Guerin-esque move. No luck. 1-0 Pens.

 - Hunter shoots one into the middle of Sabourin, who falls back into the net. It's called a no-goal. The officials call Toronto. The replay shows the puck go under Sabourin's left pad, which stays right on the line. You can't see the puck at all under the pad. It looks like the puck actually goes inside the pad. I don't see how this gets overturned. Not to say it didn't go in, but the evidence doesn't appear to be here.

 - No goal. Pens win the game, 4-3. That's a fair ruling. It's one of those calls where the call on the ice was going to stand no matter what. It's also fair that the Islanders, who didn't show up for the third period at all, didn't get two points out of this one.

 - Next Islanders game is Tuesday against Philadelphia. Those of us who have work won't be able to watch. Maybe that's a good thing. These blown leads are a serious, serious problem. And with the ending of this one, the focus will be on the ref's decision, not yet another blown lead. Seriously, if they can't figure this out yet, when are they going to? It's maddening.

Two Thoughts

1) Ah, the joys of watching a young team. For those of you keeping count at home, that's three games out of four in which the Islanders have blown leads of two goals or more. In two of those games, they lost in regulation. In a third game, they ended up winning in overtime; thankfully, it was against a Western Conference opponent (Columbus), so the point they gave away can't come back to haunt them. But this is starting to get ridiculous.

It's about time for Howie and Billy to dust off the old cliche we've heard so many times on Long Island: "The Islanders need to play to win instead of playing not to lose." And it's true. The Islanders have a problem keeping the pressure on in the third period, something that happens to just about every team at some point. Truth be told, you'd rather it happen earlier in the season instead of later, not just so you can learn from the whole thing, but so that these things aren't fresh in people's minds when you miss out on the playoffs. But it's a process for this team, even if it probably shouldn't be since like half the team is over 30.

If you're an Islander fan, you have to try your best to forget the egregious choke job you just saw in the third period and focus on the positives. And there were quite a few of those. You saw a number of breakaways, the defense getting in on the offense and getting back in time, and you saw Frans Nielsen have a hand in two goals on the same shift. The record doesn't show it, but things are starting to come around on Long Island. You wish the big names would start scoring goals, but it'll come. For now, even though the Islanders should have at least four more points than they actually do, there's a decent amount to be excited about.

2) Watching this Thrashers team tonight, I thought about the whole "non-traditional hockey market" thing, as I often do when watching teams like Atlanta. What can I say, I'm a dork. Anyway, the arena looked pretty desolate in the early going and, though it filled up pretty well as the night progressed (the same cannot be said for last night's Devils home game), I got a little bummed. Here, you have one of the game's best young stars in Ilya Kovalchuk, the coolest blue scansions in the entire NHL, and nobody really cares. Now, usually when people bring these things up, it's because of the area and because nobody cares about hockey in the South.

I disagree.

Look at Dallas. Is Dallas a "traditional hockey market"? No way. And yet so far this season, the American Airlines Center is playing to 96% capacity. Last year, it was 97% full. The difference between Dallas and Atlanta? Talent.

Think about all of the struggling teams in these markets that are so often ridiculed. Florida hasn't won a playoff series since their run to the Cup finals in 1996. Columbus hasn't even cracked 80 points in a season yet. Phoenix hasn't made the playoffs this century. Nashville might be better off had they not run into Detroit and San Jose every time they made the playoffs. Can you really blame the people in these cities for staying away? What do they have to cheer for?

And consider this. How many of just happened upon a hockey team? I know I'm an Islander fan because my parents were Islander fans. These teams that are playing in "non-traditional hockey markets" are teams that have been implemented over the past fifteen years. In other words, the tradition, the passing down of sport between generations, hasn't happened yet. So it stands to reason that the problem isn't the game of hockey, it's that fans just don't have a reason to get all worked up about these teams with no playoff history and no familial ties.

What does all this mean? Pretty much nothing. People are still going to dump all over the Phoenixes and Nashvilles of the world, just because they're easy targets. However, nobody gives the same treatment to the NBA's Charlotte Bobcats or the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars, even though both of those teams are young and aren't top priorities in their respective cities. But as we saw in Tampa Bay just a month ago in the MLB playoffs, all it takes is one playoff run for fans to get excited. There's still hope for fans in Atlanta - even if tonight's announced attendance of 14,122 doesn't seem all that accurate.

Islanders Win Game 2

Well, that was unexpected.

I sort of expected the Islanders to crap out at some point. Maybe I was just preparing myself for the worst. You sort of learn to do that every now and again when you support this team. But it didn't happen. If anything, the Islanders got stronger as the game went on.

The first period was some pretty awful hockey. In fact, let's forget it ever happened. The second was a little better, but the Rangers pretty much dominated play. It wasn't until the third period that things got going... or, to put it more appropriately, for the Rangers to shoot themselves in the foot.

Two horrendous giveaways on the power play led the Islanders to score two shorthanded goals. And while I'm still not convinced that their standing as the team with the most shorthanded goals in the NHL means anything more than that they take a lot of stupid penalties, those two goals were huge. That they came from the likes of Nate Thompson and Richard Park is quite telling. Because these are the players the make the Islanders a tough team to play against. Nobody's under the illusion that the Islanders are an extremely talented team, but when you're going against guys like Thompson and Park, you have to work a lot harder to win.

After those two shorthanded goals, the Rangers were putty in the Islanders' hands. The Rangers immediately started pressing, trying to make the perfect play. That never works. The Rangers got frustrated, as evidenced by Nigel Dawes dropping the gloves with Jeff Tambellini with less than ten minutes left in the third period. The Rangers ended up getting one to make things interesting, but the game effectively ended after the Isles' secondhanded goal.

So, who to blame for tonight's poor performance by the Rangers? Pretty much everybody. Michal Rozsival is going to get the blame for much of this loss - Billy Jaffe said it best when he said Rozsival was "guilty of not being effective" - but you can also pin some of this on the offense for not scoring, on Dmitri Kalinin for being Dmitri Kalinin, and on Henrik Lundqvist for getting beat on the second goal, which he easily should have had.

For the Islanders? Much of the team played well, even if the supposed "scorers" continued what has pretty much been a season-long vacation. The star of the show would have to be Joey MacDonald, who probably played the best game of his career. Islander fans needed to see this kind of performance out of Joey MacDonald. Going into the building of your biggest rival and coming within 100 seconds of a shutout is pretty special. Plus, his performance led to this post-game exchange between C.J. Papa and Stan Fischler...

C.J.: So, Stan, what'd you see out there tonight?
Stan: I'll tell you what I saw, and it was Old MacDonald's Farm! "And a save-save here and a save-save there, here a save, there a save, everywhere a save-save!"

Had they heard this, I think even the Ranger fans among us would have to say it was all worth it. And as someone who hears these nursery rhymes dozens of times a day, it made me particularly happy. Every MSG Plus broadcast makes me a smarter hockey fan, but a dumber person. And for that, I'd like to thank everybody involved in making the magic happen, from Howie and Billy to C.J. and Stan. You all do a wonderful job.

Anyway.

Jaffe brought up the dreaded "Ranger hangover" in the same sentence as "Thursday's winnable game against Atlanta". Gulp. Make no mistake about it, the Islanders will be destroyed by an awful Thrashers team. The Islanders have been pretty awesome lately, but it can't last forever. At least not as long as guys like Mike Comrie and Doug Weight aren't scoring goals. The Rangers, on the other hand, are facing a Tampa Bay team on Thursday that has won three straight games and are finally living up to their pre-season hype. It's about time. To be honest, the Rangers-Lightning game will be a better one than Islanders-Thrashers. But like tonight, it'll be a good night for hockey in New York.

Who's The Best Announcing Team In New York?

Slow night tonight, with all the local teams off. In fact, the only local team playing tonight is the Knicks, who are already in mid-season form; Boston is blowing them out in a pre-season game. So what better time to discuss a very important topic... announcing.

We're pretty lucky to live in New York for one crucial reason - we have the best announcers available pretty much anywhere. Five of the six broadcasters who regularly work local games have done national broadcasts over the past few years, with only Chico Resch waiting for the call. Sam Rosen does NFL games for FOX, Joe Micheletti worked for NBC for a couple of years after the lockout, Billy Jaffe is an analyst for Versus, Howie Rose worked a MLB game for Fox this year, and Mike Emrick is the voice of both NBC and Versus. Not bad, eh? We also can't forget Al Trautwig and his yeoman work on the final episode of the first season of NBC's The Contender. Obviously, there's lots of talent here in New York.

So, then, who's the best?

That's tough to say. We're all biased towards our own teams, but most of us here are willing to call a spade a spade. Or, at least I think we are. So let's look at these broadcast teams and see what we've got.

- Mike Emrick/Chico Resch. While the Devils are an abhorrent franchise that ruined hockey, they do have a pretty good broadcast. Mike Emrick is no Gary Thorne, the greatest announcer of all time, but the Doc does a pretty good job. He obviously knows the game well. Lots of people find his voice annoying, but there are a lot of worse guys out there. Emrick is also extremely dedicated; each year, he creates a pronunciation guide which provides the correct pronunciation for the name of every player in the league and sends it to every NHL broadcaster.

(Fun Fact: Emrick not only replaced Thorne as "the voice of American hockey", but he also replaced Thorne as Devils broadcaster on SportsChannel in 1993. Emrick also does hold a doctorate in radio/television/film, hence his nickname of "Doc".)

Chico Resch is probably the most generic of the local broadcasters, but he isn't awful. I'm almost certain he wears a toupee, but we won't hold that against him. However, we WILL hold against him his rampant homerism and perpetual defense of Martin Brodeur. As if Brodeur needs the press to constantly toot his own horn.

All in all, the Devils' guys don't to a bad job... but I think we'd all like to hear our own broadcasters.

- Howie Rose/Billy Jaffe. Just minutes into the first game of the 2007-08 season, Zach sent me a text message saying, "Howie Rose is the biggest homer I've ever heard." He's probably right. But Howie Rose is one of those announcers that does an excellent job, but never gets mentioned with the top announcers in the league. God knows he's seen enough bad hockey in his day and deserves the recognition. Rose isn't a traditional hockey guy - he spends half his year calling the Mets on WFAN - but he knows the game extremely well and rarely gets in his own way.

Jaffe replaced Joe Micheletti after the 2005-06 season and has proven to be very popular with Islander fans. Micheletti probably knew the game better, but Jaffe is more entertaining and charismatic. He also has tremendous chemistry with Rose, which is almost a blessing and a curse. It's great to hear these two go at it, but lopsided games can sometimes end up being conversations about anything and everything outside the world of hockey. It's kind of like watching Al Michaels and John Madden or Gary Cohen and Keith Hernandez do a game. They're great when the game is competitive, but when the game is out of reach, hilarity ensues. Depending on your tastes, that can be either a great thing or an awful thing.

- Sam Rosen/Joe Micheletti. When I was younger, I used to always turn on the Ranger broadcasts when the Islanders and Rangers faced off. Even though I wasn't supposed to, I always loved Sam and John Davidson. I thought they were very fair and I wanted to hear what they had to say about my team. They also knew the game better than anybody and were very passionate about their team. Now that JD is gone, Sam is the lone old-school Rangers voice, but he's still getting it done. Like Zach always says, it's annoying to turn on a Rangers broadcast and hear someone like John Giannone doing the game.

Most Islanders fans are familiar with the work of Micheletti, though some hold a grudge toward him for going to the Rangers. (Note: Stop. That's stupid. I'm almost certain he didn't have a ton of say in the decision.) He's not the most exciting color guy in the world, but he knows a ton about the game. My personal favorite memory of Micheletti comes from an Islander game he did where the Islanders beat the Sabres, 3-0. At the end of the game, Lindy Ruff sent out all his goons to start a brawl, which is exactly what happened. Micheletti absolutely flipped out and urged viewers to turn the game off. Of course, Ruff never got in trouble for it, and even did the same thing when Chris Neil cheapshotted Chris Drury two years ago.

Anyway. Micheletti and Rosen do a broadcast that's mostly straightforward, but is made fun by the addition of the trivia questions and trivia stats, which none of the other teams keep. Rose and Jaffe keep things loose and fun (and corny), but they clearly know their stuff. And the Devils have a good crew, but we all hate the Devils and nobody watches their games, so F them. We added a poll on this topic, so feel free to voice your opinions.

Random Musings

Random musings while watching the Jets score three touchdowns in a six-play span, with only one of them counting...

- I was talking with my buddy Rich at work last week about the Islanders' new goal song. He said something like, "I'm sure it's wonderful. Too bad we won't hear it until their third home game."

Well, then.

Last night's first period would have to rank up there with any period of hockey this team played last season. They just did everything right. The four goals were wonderful, but that only tells part of the story. The players just played. They didn't spend two minutes on the power play looking for the perfect shot. They reacted to the situations that presented themselves, didn't think too much, and simply tried to do their best to keep things going. It worked. Nobody tried to do too much. Every hit was finished. Opporunities were cashed in, the Coliseum was rocking, and everybody was happy.

The other two periods weren't like this, and I'll attribute that to the three-goal lead. You can't help but change the way you play when you've got a considerable lead, even if going more conservative isn't the best idea. But that's a good problem to have. So, heading into tomorrow's game, the challenge is to keep up the intensity we saw during the first 20 minutes last night. This time, though, let's hope it stays around for the duration of the game.

As for the actual goal song itself... it works. Not saying I'm going to download the MP3 or anything, but they could have done worse. It just reminds me too much of the Rangers' goal song - and that's not good.

- Lots of good stuff coming out of last night's broadcast, but the best part was the coverage of the Rick DiPietro injury and the TSN story about swelling around his injured knee. Both Howie and Billy insinuated that the report was false, stating that if DP wasn't healthy enough to be a backup, he wouldn't have dressed for the game. They also went on to slam the league's new injury policy, which lets teams choose how they want to disclose player injuries. Howie suggested that these not-so-reliable reports will become the norm now that there will be so much speculation about injuries. And he's right.

This new policy isn't really going to solve much. One one hand, you're not going to hear stupid things like "upper body injury" and "general body soreness" anymore. But on the other, teams are going to keep as much in-house as they possibly can, and now that they aren't required to disclose anything, they're not going to. How many teams are going to volunteer that their players are banged-up if they don't have to?

There's no real right answer for how to handle injury information. But I don't think this is any better than the old way. If anything, it's worse.

- Last night's entertainment was the band Seven Mary Three. Which would have been great if this was 1995. Hey, if we could get Bill Guerin and Doug Weight back to 1995, that would be really great. We can only hope they played "Cumbersome", their one big hit. Still, I guess they were a better choice than the crappy cover bands that used to play at every game a couple of years ago. The same can't be said for Kevin Connelly at the opening faceoff. Now, I don't watch "Entourage" or anything, but I'm sick of seeing the same people over and over again. Speaking of ubiquitous celebrity fans, Christie Brinkley sure disappeared quickly, didn't she?

- Is it just me, or is scoring way up around the league this year? I know it's way too early to tell, but I think the modifications made to the goalie equipment are having an impact. Saves that used to be easy ones are now a little trickier, and even the shots goalies stop are finding their way into the net. Time will tell if this is just a temporary thing or if goalies will adjust as the season progresses, but it's been enjoyable so far. On the topic of the season's first weekend, I've watched a fair amount of hockey, but I have yet to see my first fight of the season.

- Tomorrow is Columbus Day, which means you may or may not be stuck at work tomorrow. If you are, check out NHL GameCenter, which is free until the 15th. The game broadcast will almost certainly be blacked out because it's a local game, but you can at least follow along. If NHL.com is blocked at work, you should be able to find a game tracker on CBS Sportsline. Feel free to post any other sites that will let you follow the game. And if these options fail you, do the right thing - call in sick.

EDIT: I forgot a couple of things. First, MSG Plus dropped the ball yet again last night with the lack of pre-game show. So we miss an entire period of play on Friday and we don't even get a pre-game show before our home opener. That's nice. Secondly, I think my daughter has a crush on Martin Brodeur. She kept smiling while his interview with Stan Fischler on NHL On The Fly. I'm officially worried. I'd sooner her have a crush on The Hockey Maven himself.

Remembering Former Greats

As you may have heard, Shea Stadium closed its vaunted doors for good today. Never again will professional baseball be played in the Mets' now-former home. Fittingly, the Mets summed up 45 years of mediocre baseball by getting four hits in a game that, had they won, would have forced a one-game playoff for the Wild Card. Collapsing in September? Surely, you jest.

Anyway, watching the Mets pay tribute to their former legends - and isn't it interesting how important people in Shea Stadium history like the Jets and the Beatles were barely mentioned - I couldn't help but think about my Islanders. As we all know, no local team honors tradition like the Islanders. The Yankees do a good job as well but it's different with the Islanders. So often the Islanders have had to rely on their past to sell the present. Obviously, the Yankees don't have that problem. Neither do the Mets. So theoretically, today should have been a nice day to remember the good times at a ballpark that, quite frankly, didn't have very many.

As a devoted Islander fan who has seen more than his fair share of celebrations, I have to say the Mets nailed this one, even down to the questionable decision to do the ceremony after the game ended. This ended up being a good thing; by the time it was all over, I'd almost forgotten that the Mets performed an egregious chokejob for the second straight year. And even though it only amounted to Howie Rose reading out a bunch of names and then those players walking out onto the field, it was nice to see.

It's always interesting to see who gets the biggest reactions. It tends to be some combination of the biggest stars and those people who don't come around very often. I barely remember Al Arbour Night - it was my birthday and I was extremely hammered - but the biggest pops came for the guys we don't see very often, like Pat LaFontaine and Benoit Hogue. The Dynasty guys are here all the time; hell, half of them work for the team. It doesn't diminish anything they've done or their value to the team today, but it's worth noting that when fans get one shot to show their appreciation, they make the most of it.

That's what happened today at Shea Stadium. If I had to venture a guess, the loudest cheers were for Dwight Gooden and Mike Piazza. Not coincidentally, neither of them had been back at Shea since they retired. Piazza was so beloved by Mets fans that he received a curtain call when he hit a home run at Shea in 2006... while playing for the Padres. And while the surprising retiring of #31 never happened, it was nice seeing him as part of one of these things. The same can be said for when LaFontaine showed up at Arbour Night. As great as it is to see our heroes, sometimes it's even better when they keep themselves a bit more scarce.

What's my point?

Maybe it'd be wise to keep these ceremonies to a minimum. I love seeing the Islanders honor their past, but sometimes they go a bit overboard with it. They said after Core Of The Four that they weren't going to be doing any more elaborate ceremonies, but only time will tell. Meanwhile, the Mets never do this sort of thing, and I think that's why today was so important. At the same time, though, you don't want to end up like the Rangers and have a forty-year gap of time where nobody has any idea who even played for the team or how they did. I'd rather try too hard like the Islanders do, and that's not because I'm an Islander fan.

Random Notes - Again

1) Rough night on TV last night. I was so looking forward to San Jose-Calgary, but it was on Versus. Which meant it wasn't being shown on Center Ice. So when Philadelphia-Washington ran late, I couldn't catch the late game, even if I paid $169 for the right to watch every game this season. Thankfully, nothing really happened in the first period... or so we're told.

2) At the close of last night's studio show on Versus, Rick DiPietro said he hopes the Islanders miss the playoffs so he could come back and do more analysis. He was joking. I think. Anyway, he didn't do too badly. That said, I still maintain that if the Isles could have gotten into the playoffs, DP could have stolen them a round. And after that, nobody would have had a problem with an Islanders-Rangers Winter Classic. Still, nice to see DP marketed as a star - the NHL needs to do more things like this.

3) Speaking of the Islanders, kudos to their TV team. You can always tell who the good announcers and analysts are by their post-season assignments; that is, if you're sitting at home during the playoffs, you're probably nothing special. The Islanders have Deb Placey (aka Deb Kaufman) and Butch Goring in the MSG studio - not the biggest deal, but it's something. Howie Rose is doing his usual great job with the Mets on WFAN, and Billy Jaffe is working for Versus. We're spoiled by good announcers in the New York area; I, for one, certainly appreciate it. I still miss Gary Thorne on SportsChannel and ESPN, though.

4) The new trend this year in the playoffs is (home team color)-outs. It used to be something you'd see in Winnipeg/Phoenix, Calgary, and pretty much nowhere else. The Islanders did it in 2002, but never did it again. Then the Miami Heat did it when they won the NBA Finals two years ago, and now everyone's back on the bandwagon. I'll admit, it looks pretty cool. No, it looks really cool.

But it's sort of teetering on the point of ridiculousness now. The Flyers had an orange-out in their two home games, which was in direct response to the red-out of the Capitals. But let's not forget that both of these teams ditched their respective colors fairly recently, thanks in large part to the all-important "focus groups" and "key demographics". The Caps changed to a blue motif in 1995, while the Flyers went to black uniforms in 2000. Now, everyone is supposed to forget all about that and embrace these colors? Sounds gimmicky to me.

Now that the trend has started, though, don't look for it to stop anytime soon. Even the Dallas Stars have gotten in on the action, calling for a black-out. As if hockey doesn't have enough trouble drawing fans. Now everyone will think all hockey fans are angry emo kids. Ugh. Anyway, in the link, the excellent Greg Wyshynski asks the question that matters most to the fans - if you've put a ton of money into a white jersey of your favorite player, why should you now be forced to leave it at home?

And, finally...

5) It's crazy to think that after four relatively even-played games, the Rangers could win the series tonight. And the only loss on their record would be in overtime. Now that would be impressive. The Rock should be electric tonight, even if it's due mostly to rabid Ranger fans. And you know the Devils won't go down without a fight (or at least a good whine or two), so we're in for a treat tonight.

Season In Review: New York Islanders

At long last, it's finally over. The season has come to an end, and you know what that means. No more injuries. No more woefully unprepared call-ups from Bridgeport. No more losing. No more free chili. No more exasperated claims from Howie Rose that he can't figure this team out. Which is a good thing. Because as Mr. Rose heads off to WFAN and the Mets, I'm sure he's found more questions than answers. I think I speak for every Islander fan when I say that I have a few of my own.

For me, the question doesn't concern who's going to be back next year. Instead, I'd like to ask about who isn't returning. Personally, I'd sleep easier knowing that the following players will never again don an Islanders jersey - Miroslav Satan, Josef Vasicek, Ruslan Fedotenko, and Bryan Berard. Not that these are bad players, but they aren't going to get any better. Their production could easily be replicated by a young player with at least a decent upside. One of the biggest problems on Long Island this year was the glut of roster spots that were being wasted, and getting rid of these players would help. It would also be nice if Garth Snow would refrain from signing role players to one-year deals and relying on them to be first-line players.

So, then, who to sign? A scorer would be nice. However, this team has seen both Satan and Alexei Yashin come to the Island and almost immediately lose their scoring touch. The Islanders need a player they can build around - or, even better, a player they've already subconsciously prepared to acquire. Who that player is, I have no idea. But getting a superstar scorer would not only get the Islanders some goals, but they could clear up some room for another desperately-needed commodity - an enforcer. The Islanders, for all of their muckers and grinders, ranked 26th in the NHL in fighting majors. The good teams in the NHL have a balance between their scorers and their fighters; that is, they don't roll four lines that play the same exact style. This is something the Islanders need to work on this off-season.

Truthfully, it isn't all that bad. Should they get a scorer, they already have a quality set-up man in Mike Comrie. They have tons of grinders and penalty killers - Richard Park, Sean Bergenheim, Mike Sillinger, and even Andy Hilbert are guys that are going to be back and should continue to succeed on the Island. Kyle Okposo should be a candidate for Rookie Of The Year, and Jeff Tambellini should have a good season in his first real chance at a 82-game NHL season. The Islanders have a solid defensive core, with an above-average offensive D-man in Chris Campoli and some good stay-at-home guys in Brendan Witt and Andy Sutton. And, in net, Rick DiPietro is obviously the go-to guy. If DP can replicate the first half of his 2007-08 campaign over a full season, he could be a Vezina nominee. As bad as it seems, there are some pieces in place. It's up to Garth Snow to make the necessary changes, but not change too much.

In my opinion, the most two most important facets of the off-season have absolutely nothing to do with the on-ice product of the New York Islanders. The first is the Isles' potential participation in the Winter Classic. I know the Islanders aren't exactly the most popular choice with the NHL or NBC, but an appearance on the league's second-biggest stage would be a major (and much-needed) coup for this team. I'm not even suggesting that the Islanders deserve to be there, just that it'd do a world of good for the team and the Islanders-Rangers rivalry.

More important than the Winter Classic, though, is Charles Wang's proposed Lighthouse Project. It was suggested the other day on NHL Live that if the Lighthouse Project falls through, the Islanders would have a hard time staying on Long Island. Time will tell how true that is, but facts are facts. The Islanders have the third-oldest arena in the league, and once the Penguins move into their new arena and the Garden is renovated, the Islanders will be left in the dust. The Coliseum has the smallest capacity of any arena in the NHL, not to mention it draws the lowest number of fans per night in the league. Sure, attendance has increased, but anybody who followed the Islanders this year saw the significant increase in ticket promotions and giveaways. The Lighthouse Project is critical for the Islanders, not just for the fans, but for purposes of attracting marquee free agents and increasing the visibility of the franchise. Charles Wang claims ground is to break in July 2009, but there's a lot of paperwork and political maneuvering to be done before then.

On Monday night, the New York Islanders officially end their season with the NHL Draft Lottery. The Isles will have a top-six pick in this year's draft, but exactly where they'll draft will be determined tomorrow night. In what's said to be the deepest draft in years, the Islanders should end up with a quality pick. Time will tell whether that pick will be turned into an elite prospect or a trading chip. Either way, it's a good problem to have. In an off-season where Garth Snow undoubtedly has his work cut out for him, he certainly has a good problem on his hands to start it off.

With that, we effectively close out our coverage of the Islanders for the next little while. Our focus turns to the Rangers and the NHL Playoffs as a whole. This is the best time of year for any true hockey fan; just because the Islanders aren't in the playoffs doesn't mean they shouldn't be enjoyed. We've got plenty of Islanders-related stuff in the hopper, but we have a whole summer for that. In the meantime, there are four rounds of playoffs to watch and savor. We'll have some sort of playoff preview up before the real season begins Wednesday night. Maybe next year, the Isles will be part of the dance... and if there's a God, they won't appear as an 8 seed yet again.

Going Out With A Whimper

Congratulations to the New York Rangers on clinching a playoff berth. You've certainly earned it.

Now that we've gotten that out of the way... tonight's game might have been one of the worst hockey games I've ever seen. The Islanders fielded their AHL affiliate against a Rangers team that was on the verge of clinching a playoff berth, and it showed. If you saw the game, you saw the obvious - this is just not a team that can compete with the Rangers. The Rangers skated circles around the Islanders tonight, and I don't think you can blame it all on injuries, either.

Tonight's game was just awkward from the start. The telecast opened with an interview Howie Rose did with Charles Wang, where Wang stated Ted Nolan wouldn't be extended before the season. He sounded very adamant about it, too, like he almost doesn't want Nolan back past next season. Then, the game started, and from the first Jaromir Jagr goal, it was clear that these are two teams at two different levels. The Rangers are peaking at the right time as they make their Cup run, while the Islanders are pitiful and are fighting an uphill battle against any team.

I'm sick of hearing about how many injuries have befallen the Islanders. The truth is, we're not seeing the future of the New York Islanders right now. Do you really think Kip Brennan is going to be a key player someday? Drew Fata? Steve Regier? Every year, they bring up the same guys, and every year, the same guys begin the next season in Bridgeport. If the Islanders actually had a farm system worth its salt, they wouldn't be getting killed every night. Since the win against the Rangers on March 4th, the Islanders have the worst record in the league. Every team gets hit with injuries. It's no excuse.

If the Islanders want to see exactly what they should be doing, they should look at the team that mopped the floor with them tonight. The Rangers are the model for what the Islanders aspire to be. It wasn't so long ago that the Rangers were full of aging players and no real future in sight. Now, the Rangers have it all. They have scorers. They have checkers. They have enforcers. They have great goaltending. They can do it all, and they are definitely a threat to make a deep playoff run. The Islanders? They have a decent core of young players - Rick DiPietro, Kyle Okposo, Sean Bergenheim, Blake Comeau, Chris Campoli, Jeff Tambellini, Bruno Gervais, and Frans Nielsen - but that's only eight players. Add in their reliable veterans - Richard Park, Mike Comrie, Bill Guerin, and Brendan Witt - and there's four more. That's twelve. A hockey team consists of twenty players. Who will the other eight be? Garth Snow has a lot of work to do this off-season.

But there's more to a team than the players. The Islanders need an overhaul in terms of philosophy and style. Talent will go a long way in changing that. However, look at the Rangers' power play tonight. As Howie pointed out, the Rangers scored very quickly on their first two power plays - Jagr's goals came twenty seconds and eight seconds after Islander penalties. See what happens when you actually, you know, shoot the puck? Maybe if the Islanders didn't waste two minutes passing the puck around every time they get a man advantage, they wouldn't be 28th in the league on the power play.

There's still one more game against the Rangers, but I'm not expecting too much. Hopefully, the Islanders will get a big win when it really matters - on Monday, at the draft lottery.

The New York Islanders Drinking Game, Version 1.0

Note: In no way is this an advocation of drinking, especially drinking and driving. This is just a great way to document the nuances of our Islanders, both in person and on TV. You don't have to drink to enjoy this one. However, if you're so inclined (and you're not driving), take a piece or two of this, grab some beers, and have fun!

PRE-GAME ON FSN NY
- If Billy Jaffe is staring somewhere besides the camera... 1 drink
- If Butch Goring looks like a leprechaun... 1 drink
- If Deb Kaufman talks out of one side of her mouth... 1 drink
- If there's a cheesy promotion going on that night... 2 drinks
- If the cheesy promotion played a factor in your decision to not attend the game... 5 drinks. Hey, you're not driving - enjoy yourself!
- HIP Injury Report... 1 drink
- GMC Goalie Matchup... 1 drink
- Any other sponsored items... 1 drink
- If Hockey Night NY Live! actually mentions the Islanders... 3 drinks
- If that mention is a tacked-on blurb during "Short Shifts"... 2 extra drinks

GAME
- If Wade Dubielewicz is starting... 2 drinks
- If Ted Nolan is wearing a hideous tie... 1 drink
- If Rick DiPietro unnecessarily touches the puck... 1 drink
- If you yell at Ricky to stay in the net... 3 drinks
- If the TV/scoreboard shows a close-up of Mike Sillinger, a.k.a. "The Pigeon"... 2 drinks
- If Mike Comrie passes up an open shot in favor of making a pass... 3 drinks
- If you find yourself saying out loud that the Islanders need a scorer... 2 drinks
- If you find yourself asking out loud when was the last time Satan/Fedotenko/Vasicek/just about anybody did anything of note... 1 drink for each player you consider
- If you find yourself wondering if Alexei Yashin is available, whether it be out loud or in private... chug the entire bottle
- If the Islanders have a ridiculously high number of shots but only one or two goals... 4 drinks
- If the Islanders let up a shorthanded goal... 3 drinks
- If the Islanders make yet another defensive blunder... 2 drinks
- If Brendan Witt leaves the ice in pain... 1 drink
- If the young guys are the only players who are actually doing anything... 2 drinks
- If a power play comes and goes without as much as a shot on goal... 4 drinks

BROADCAST STUFF
- Do you see in HD? If so, take 2 drinks to level the playing field.
- If Howie Rose makes you legitimately laugh... 2 drinks
- If Billy Jaffe sounds like a homer... 3 drinks
- If either Billy or Howie makes a bad segue... 3 drinks
- If either Billy or Howie breaks off a segue you still can't believe five minutes later... 5 drinks
- If they show that stupid Warren Wallace Geico commercial... 2 drinks each time
- If they show an ad you've already seen 500 times on the NHL Network... chug until you're satisfied. If you don't get the NHL Network, just be thankful you don't understand this one.
- Bring back family time with... a Panasonic Digital Replay! 2 drinks each time. Be careful with this one!
- Any other sponsored items... 1 drink for each
- If Billy and Howie talk about the Hummer Metro Ice Challenge like it actually means something... 2 drinks
- If the trivia question is something ridiculous... 2 drinks
- If Howie calls out producer Larry Roth for making up such a ridiculous question... 1 extra drink
- If you secretly wish they kept trivia statistics like the Rangers do... zero drinks. They really should.
- If Jiggs McDonald is filling in for Howie... 3 drinks
- If you find yourself marvelling over Jiggs' preparedness... 2 drinks
- If you find yourself praying for an Islanders goal just so you can hear him say "He scooooores!" one more time... 1 drink
- When that goal never comes... 10 drinks

INTERMISSION
(all applicable rules from the pre-game remain intact)
- If Deb Kaufman creepily smiles at the interviewee... 1 drink per second of creepy smiles
- If Deb Kaufman asks a stupid question... 2 drinks
- If the player doesn't address the question at all... 2 drinks
- If the player says "Um"... 1 drink per "Um"
- If the player makes eye contact with Deb... 1 drink per instance
- If the player uses cliches... 2 drinks per cliche
- If the previous period's highlights consist of a number of mediocre plays... 3 drinks

AT THE GAME
(all other rules apply)
- Everybody Clap Your Hands! 1 drink per each instance of this chant.
- If you secretly get excited for Billy Jaffe's Keys To The Game... 2 drinks
- If Jaffe asks for crowd participation in his Keys To The Game... 1 drink each time
- If C.J. Papa's intermission report makes you wish for a replay of Billy Jaffe's Keys To The Game... 3 drinks
- If you hear the words grit, character, and heart and immediately want to gag... 3 drinks
- If you're dumbfounded by the intro that plays on the scoreboard... take one drink for each minute you spend trying to figure out why Ted Nolan becomes a cop.
- If Sparky The Dragon pays a visit to your section... 2 drinks
- If you complain about how the people in the cheap seats never win any of the giveaways... 2 drinks
- If you're out of breath after climbing to your top-row seats... take as many drinks as necessary to get your wind back. It should take quite a few.
- If you were smart enough to eschew the $7 Bud Light in favor of the twice-as-big Labatt Blue for $7.25... take one drink to your good fortune.
- If you find yourself wishing you could buy pretzel twists at the supermarket... 2 drinks
- If you express regret for NYMEX for having sponsored the power play... 3 drinks
- If you think the question posed in the NYI Text Poll is the dumbest question ever asked... 4 drinks
- If the response to the NYI Text Poll makes you lose your faith in humanity... 3 drinks
- If the main reason you want the Islanders to win is so you can honk your designated driver's horn all the way down the Meadowbrook... no drinks necessary. That truly is the best part!