“It’s a great relief for all our players.” Scott Gordon told the reporters crowded around him in Press Room 6. It was a good win for the Islanders and a miserable defeat for Atlanta as they went down 6 – 3 in the Islanders last home game before heading out on an extended away game stretch.

The Islanders' success so far has been much of a roller-coaster ride. A loss on the 10/24 and 10/26, then four straight wins beginning with the 10/28 Ranger game. Two more losses followed to the Sabres and the Devils that put the Islanders in a “must win” frame of mind.

“Doing it (winning) at the end of a pretty tough stretch -- we pretty much had been playing every other night, back to backs. It just goes to show the guys that at times when they could very easily not have had any jump, I think this was probably the most “jump” we’ve had in any of the games…Its one game, but obviously we had some success tonight and it was encouraging.”

It must be very encouraging to the coaching staff to see that the final tally was thirteen different Islanders added to their stat sheet Saturday night. “It’s a feel good thing for everybody. Everybody wants to be able to contribute offensively and if you can get balanced scoring, it’s a lot harder to defend against.”

So while John Tavares was tagged as the Islanders best hope for his scoring ability, he is actually turning into a play maker while he’s learning how to play with the big boys. Gordon is not surprised at his abilities. “His vision and his hands are going to make him both a good scorer and a playmaker. I’ve actually seen more playmaking from him than in the games that I watched him play in Junior. I think when he gets more comfortable with the style of play and playing against bigger bodies, he’s going to find that he might not have the time to get the shots.” JT has five goals and eight assists so far.

Matt Moulson, JT’s buddy and room mate, has seven goals and six assists in the same number of games. I am thinking these two will be neck and neck on the score sheet for the entire season.

Speaking of score sheet, Sean Bergenheim FINALLY is “off the schneid” (Anyone know where the hell this term comes from? I do! I do! It’s a term from Gin Rummy. You learn something new every day.) as he tallied his first goal of the season at the 13:34 mark of the first. He worked for it, starting from the right, scooping up the puck after the face-off, skating behind the net and shooting at close range with a shot that went across the crease. The puck was almost lost at the blue line, but Meyer kept it in and Sean had a second chance to blow it by Pavelec with a crowded crease.

I’d say the only part of the game that was somewhat disappointing is the drop in face off win percentage trend. I know, you’re saying how can I be disappointed at a 6 – 3 win, but the Islanders impressive face off win percentage has changed. It dipped to a miniscule 17% on 11/5 for that Buffalo shut-out loss. I’d really like to know what happened. Hello Flash? What's the deal?

The Islanders face the Capitals on Wednesday the 11th followed by another back to back on Friday and Saturday against the Hurricanes and then the Panthers. Right now, they are at .500 with 17 points. That’s one point ahead of the Bruins, Canadiens and the Sens. They are two points ahead of the Thrashers, six ahead of the Panthers and their doppelgangers to the North (the Leafs) and a whopping ten points ahead of the Hurricanes who have just two wins in 16 games and their goalie, Cam Ward, recovering from a leg laceration. Ward is expected out for two to three weeks. The great Ovechkin is also listed as week to week, so who knows if he will be in the Caps line-up on Wednesday, but do they need him? The Caps have 24 points and are tied with the Penguins as the Eastern Division leader.

The week after, the Islanders face the Bruins, the Wild and the Blues before returning home on November 25th. They would be happy with a .500 record on the road. The fan base would be happy with them staying respectable and not easy to play against…And beating the Rangers every time they meet, but we have to wait until December 16th and 17th for that.

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