The crowd braved the Black Friday traffic on the Meadowbrook to come watch a hockey game at the Coliseum. Hempstead Turnpike and Old Country Road turn into parking lots on the biggest shopping day before Christmas. But the almost 15,000 fans bucked the traffic and settled in for a game against the Red Wings, a team the Isles had beaten before.

Josh Bailey was given a seat in the press box and a talking to by his coaching staff. This seems to be a yearly ritual. Calvin deHaan made the trip from Bridgeport, but was given a little extra time before having to jump into a slumping Isles line-up.

They practiced on Thanksgiving morning. They knew what they had to do. They let up the first goal anyway. As Newsday's Mark Herrmann reported, Matt Martin summed it up quite nicely. "When we let in one, we let in tow, we let in three and it's an uphill battle from there. We've been down this road before, it's like quicksand."

And it is swallowing the Isles whole.

A Red Wings team that was supposedly beatable shut the Isles out 5 - 0. Kevin Poulin did make some excellent saves but Jimmy Howard was the one with the shut-out.

Poulin, in what looked like a desperate move and a reprisal of a Rick DiPietro gaffe, skated out of his crease to take on an attacker but ended up colliding with Andrew MacDonald who was in pursuit. MacDonald tumbled over Poulin and hit the ice hard. I envisioned a shoulder injury for AMac and a head injury for Poulin, however both remained in the game.

This was the first time I can ever remember an Isles broadcast being cut short before their time slot ran out. There was still at least 14 minutes left of broadcast time, but they shut it down. No post game recap from Jack Capuano or locker room sullen faces. The press was allowed in, but the general public was saved.

"Players win 'em, coaches lose 'em" Capuano told the media. He is only partially right. This losing streak is a group effort and has many factors. In my mind, the most notable factor is the absence of key defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky since 10/19. They have been 5-12-1 since his injury and 4-11-0 since the Vanek trade.

There is no sign of Visnovsky's return, which concerns me. He's riding a bike to see how his concussion symptoms react. They can't get him back in the line-up soon enough for me.

With a fragile defense, I can't imagine that often injured Calvin deHaan will make a difference in the line-up as they face the Washington Capitals tonight. Alexander Ovechkin will dance around the Isles and score for sure. I'm guessing it will be on Anders instead of Kevin.

"We're an easy team to play against right now," said John Tavares. That's all Washington needs to hear.

Join the Discussion: » 6 Comments » Post New Comment

» Boychuk for Seven

» Good Ain't Good Enough NYR 2 - NYI 1

» The Return of Isles' Capt. America

» The JT Show in TO in OT

» Kennedy's Debut