The guy everyone loves to hate told me time and time again when I first started doing this that "Winning fixes everything."

The bad press, the attendence issue, the respect problem: WINNING. Winning FIXES Everything.

If you read the fan reaction today, and even the press reaction, it seems that no statement rings more true. With another win over one of the League power teams, the Islanders are once again being showered with praise and fan love.

Forgotten are the back-to-back losses that could have started another one of those extended losing streaks that effect the fan base almost as much as the players. As Matt Martin told Peter Rut-whatever from MSG, they don't want to revisit that dark place.

So the question remains -- How? Is it really work ethic? Is it really Battle Level? Is it really coming to the rink ready to play that makes the diference between losing pitifully or winning spectacularly. (I don't remember what Stan Fischler said "spectacular" is in Russian.)

Hockey is not really a complicated game. Stay with the puck, get it behind the defender, find an opening, shoot. Over simplification? Perhaps. But the difference between winning and losing seems to be a thin line. For the Islanders, that line is John Tavares, Matt Moulson and Kyle Okposo. Add to that any line Matt Martin is on and perhaps this team has a way of ending the season in a respectable manner.

However, all this love we feel today may be soured once again after Thursday's game with the Flyers. The Islanders have been doing well on home ice, so they'll have that going for them, but -- and I'm throwing this out there -- it's a Full Moon Thursday at the barn and they statistically can't win under those conditions. (They also can't statistically win against the Flyers, but let's go with my cosmic prediction instead.)

So what is Jack to do? Ride the hot hand of Evgeni Nabokov (who did actually lose the two games on the road) or go with Kevin Poulin who gave the Bridgeport Sound Tigers an extended shut out streak?

Personally - I would go with Poulin. What would you do? And will another loss to the Flyers bring back all that venom we saw only a few days ago?

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