9:31 pm: I'm curious to see what sort of dumb questions Peter asks Jack Capuano in the post game considering he asked Scott Allen if he was surprised the Islanders were still in the game after the 2nd.
From an offensive standpoint, even though you were shut out, how would you rate this game? (Nice one Peter.)
"We had some chances You have to shoot for the rebound, shoot for the assists. The amount of giveaways we had -- Guys tried to make fancy plays and gave it away." You turn over the puck, the opposition dictates the game.
The Isles ended with 28 shots on goal to 31. Considering the Rangers blocked so many, I expected the number to be far greater.
And with that -- my head is hitting the key board.
9:21: with more than 3 minutes left of the game, Jack Capuano pulls Nabokov and of course Marian Gaborik gets the empty netter giving the Rangers a 3 - 0 win.
I think the Isles should have check the puck for some sort of electronic field that kept it out of the net for a strong showing in front of Lundqvist right before Evgeni hit the bench.
9:12 pm: With 9 minutes left of the game, MacDonald takes a slashing penalty and the Isles go on the penalty kill.
9:02 pm: Okay, the brat girl got disgusted with the game and the Big Angry man is napping. I can now watch the balance of the third in peace. Butch just announced that Lundqvist has shut out the islanders three times in his career and is close to another. I'm going to hope he doesn't. While they will probably lose this game as Hagelin makes it 2 - 0, I'd like to see the Isles get at least one puck passed Lundvist. It's Hagelin's second of the game.
8:38 pm: The Islanders caught up in shots on goal and would have had more than their 19 to the Rangers 22 had the Rangers not blocked so many shots just to save Lundqvist. Both Boyle and Stralman blocked at least two shots each in the final minutes of the second period keeping the Isles off the score sheet. Both had a hard time getting off the ice.
I'm hoping Nino Niederreiter gets a goal. It would be nice. Tim Wallace spoke with Peter after teh second and he seemed pleased with their effort. "Keep it simple. We're reading off each other pretty well. Hopefully we'll score this period. I'm having a lot of fun. I'll have a lot more if I score."
8:17 pm: Oh for Pete's Sake! Michael Haley now has a hand injury and will be re-evaluated tomorrow. Let's see how many man games we're up to. 154 man games lost so far.
Parenteau took a cross checking penalty abbut Callahan negates the penalty midway while the power play wasn't doing very well for the Rangers. Four on Four hockey before an islanders power play.
Again Nabokov playing as if he is a 25 year old goalie.
8:09 pm: Hagelin scores for the Rangers at 14:41 of the second on an odd occurance where Nabokov made the first save, thought he had the puck and then it slipped out from under his glove across the crease and Hagelin banked it off Nabby and in. No time to be deflated.
7:45 pm: Nabokov was called on to make some brilliant saves late in the first to keep the score even at zero. He's on his game tonight so far as the Rangers have thrown 11 shots at him while Lundqvist has had only 7 thrown at him. He must be getting bored back there.
Hopefully the Isles will be able to get some more at King Henrik in the 2nd.
7:25: Girardi and Tavares collide and they wait for the call to see how it shakes out. Callahan and Parenteau get roughing penalties and Girardi gets a kneeing penalty. Luckily JT stays on the bench. The Isles are on the power play but the turnovers are rediculous. My daughter wanted me to type that. The Big Angry Man also said, "I sense a Ranger short handed goal."
In all honesty, I have a hard time watching games with the family. I don't know about you, but I try to listen to the game while I have two people yelling obscenities at the TV. This is why I should be at the games.
Two power plays and no shots on goal for the Isles.
Haley ends up with a misconduct penalty that we don't understand. Oh right. He's an Islander at MSG. That's why.
Nabokov tumbles behind the net and I had to hold my breath for a second. Not that I don't believe in Anders Nilsson. Um, okay, maybe I don't.
7:17 pm: Micahel Haley tangles with Bickel, the AHLer trying to get John Tortorella to notice him. Nino Niederreiter has to serve the instigator penalty and then Haley heads to the locker room after serving his penalty.
The Isles don't manage to convert on their power play and Nabokov made an excellent sliding save prior to the comercial break.
5:25 pm: If you were looking for something different, you won't get it. Same line-up for the Isles as faced the Leafs.
Considering the standings, and the way these two teams have been playing each other maybe “Boxing Day” will have a different meaning. I’m guessing that it will be “many happy returns” for the Rangers.
The Isles came out slowly against the Leafs on Friday. They complained of being “tired.” Maybe Jack Capuano would have seen that BEFORE puck drop had he had a morning skate and then been able to compensate for it. (Like maybe have a vat of Starbucks Double Shots in the locker room.)
The facts from Art Staple of Newsday as he discussed where the Islanders were LAST year at this time:
The 2010-11 Islanders had played 33 games and were 9-18-6. This season's Isles have played 33 games and are 11-16-6, a difference of only four points. The goal differential was minus-31 last season (76 for, 107 against); the goal differential is minus-31 right now (78 for, 109 against). The Isles are 18 points behind the Rangers, exactly the same margin as last season.
Thanks Art. That’s a lot of numbers to deal with. Then he offered them some advice:
The Islanders currently sit 11 points out. They know the difficulty facing them after last season's solid second half never brought them within shouting distance of a playoff berth.
That Dec. 27 game last season was a 7-2 rout for the Rangers. If the Islanders have any hope of changing their fortunes from last season, they have to start Monday night.
Can you say Christmas miracle?
The Islanders, along with every other team this season, are wracking up the Man Games Lost. Here is the Injury report from NHL.com for tonight’s match-up:
Injury Report - Concussions have sidelined four Islanders: goaltender Al Montoya, defenseman Steve Staios and forwards Brian Rolston and David Ullstrom. Also sidelined are goaltender Rick DiPietro (groin) and forward Jay Pandolfo (broken foot). … The Rangers are without defensemen Marc Staal and Michael Sauer due to concussions. They are also without blueliner Steve Eminger for several weeks with a shoulder injury and have been without defenseman Jeff Woywitka due to a foot injury. Forward Wojtek Wolski (groin) is nearly ready to return.
John Kreiser - NHL.com Columnist
With Al Montoya still sidelined with a concussion, Bridgeport will be losing a goalie tonight. The question will be which one and will he see any action or just back-up Nabokov. The problem is -- the SoundTigers have their own game tonight. For the team who started out with a plethora of goalies, they are now falling short. (And you people laughed at the three-headed-goalie monster. Right.) Updated: Nilsson gets the call again. I'm guessing it's Nabokov in net then.
On a positive note, Kyle Okposo has been gaining points and looking sharp. See what happens when a coach sits a star player for a few games? And you thought it wouldn't work.
On Friday night, John Tavares was called for diving in one of the worst cases of NHL referee bad calls of the year. During his locker room interviews Dyan LeBourdais quoted JT as saying:
"We just have to understand games like these, after tough travel weeks, days we don’t feel very good, we have to find ways to win. Especially a team like this that we are chasing in the standings. Our work ethic and our attitude is there, it’s just our execution, so we got some good things to build on, but we could definitely use these couple days of rest."
John, you’ve had some rest now. There have been family dinners and presents. How about giving Islanders fans one tonight? How about working harder than ever to pull out a win?
How about a Christmas Miracle?
Sidenotes: The Rangers are within one point of the Bruins to be top of the food chain here. If the Islanders can pull out a win, not only will it make for great theater on HBO's 24/7 (which I haven't had the time to watch yet!), but it will also make a new Bruins fan very happy. That fan is my brat girl, who like so many other Isles-fans-from-birth have become so disgruntled that they've swaped the Blue & Orange for other colors.
I understand this and I've heard it from so many fans that I'm starting to feel like the Dear Abby of Islanders Country.
I CAN'T HELP YOU! I don't know what to say to make this better. I know that we were all excited in September and I swore up and down that the Isles would make it into the playoffs. That's what I expected. That's what we all expected. But the Hockey Gods had other plans and we're in a re-run of last year.
I'm at a loss....just like the Islanders
New York Islanders Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»