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Isles over Canes: 7th Heaven |
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I was praying for the heavenly 7th win for the 6-6-6 Isles. I got more than I bargained for. What a roller coaster of a game! The first goal was scored at 3:38 of the first by none other than the NHL’s leading rookie, John Tavares. At 5:35 of the first, Mark Streit made it two. I’ll admit, I felt bad for Paul Maurice. At 13:41, JT decided to add another notch on his hockey stick for his… SEVENTH goal so far of the season. (I admit I greedily called for a hat trick that didnt' come.)
The third goal really put a frown on Maurice’s face and a bug in his bottom because the Canes came out in the second looking for blood. While on a power play at 8:52 of the second, Ruutu made it 3 – 1 and that gave the Canes the jump that Scott Gordon always talks about. At 11:17 of the second, Whitney made it 3 – 2 with an even strength goal. I went into panic mode.
It was only a matter of time before the Canes would tie it up and the Isles would lose. The Canes couldn’t possibly lose ANOTHER game. Could they? No. It was the law of averages at work.
Scott Allen was on the intermission reporter before the third. He didn’t seem as concerned as those of us watching the game while chatting on Twitter. Maybe we were more worried because there was a late penalty called on Blake Comeau for high sticking that drew blood, so with the penalty starting at 19:25 of the second the Canes had a fresh sheet of ice and more than three minutes of power play. Somehow, the Islanders managed to prevail and the teams skated at even strength until 13:48 of the third when Jokinen was called for holding and Paul Maurice should have been called for profanity on TV. He looked like he was going to burst a blood vessel.
In the NHL’s infinite wisdom, they gave one back and Mark Streit was called for holding as well at 14:01. All things being equal, as the clock ticketed down, we all knew that the Canes would find a way to tie it up and force overtime.
We’ve seen that movie before, over and over again. At 17:29 it was Ground Hog day. Gleason managed a to get a shot passed Biron that he really should have saved. He knew it, everyone knew it. The Canes tying goal caused the following profanity laced tweet from @AlBeezle “F**KF**KINGF##KF**KF$$KF**K THE F@@KING THREE GOAL BLOWUP BULLS##T. COME THE F##K ON FOR ONE F**KING TIME. F&&KING MFDEGWEARGFVF F++K” Oh yeah. We saw it coming. How the Islanders could once again blow a three goal lead is jut astounding. It’s getting old.
At 19:52 of the third, Mighty Matt Moulson let me down. He got a shot off, was knocked down in Legace’s crease and just couldn’t get it into the net. Not only didn’t he add to his point total for me, but that blown opportunity mean back to Overtime for the Islanders.
Surprisingly, with seconds left in OT, the man who supposedly had swine flu, 21:23 of ice time and only three shots on goal muscled his way to the net and shot one past Manny Legace and that unadorned white mask of his. Streit was the first one to congratulate his team mate against the boards. The love fest, which hopefully won’t turn into a flu-bug fest, then ensued.
Kyle had a good natured chat with Biron. I wish I knew what he said. While Josh Bailey sat in the press box, Robbie Schremp had another kick at the can. He ended up a -1, with one shot and one takeaway, and more than likely another ticket to the press box in Florida tomorrow.
With the win a much happier @AlBeezle then tweeted “with three teams idle tonight. #Isles are 7th in the east, all alone, with 20 pts.”
Lucky 7’s all the way around.
New York Islanders Blogger • 
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