Some might say that the Isles were weary even before they left for their western conference road swing. But that wouldn't be the truth. They had far more pep in their step and confidence when they left thanks to their breaking of the streak and some close games win and loss before they left. Their final coliseum game was a handily played game versus the Panthers.
On the road, despite not the same misshapen and mistake-riddled team from early in December, they have had loss after loss, the final 5-2 drubbing by the rough and tumble boys from Alberta, the Calgary Flames. In each of these 4 straight road losses, the games were more a case of being outgunned, outmaneuvered or outplayed.
As Jaffe made clear on the telecast, Joey MacDonald is 2nd in the NHL with starts (35), only behind the opposing goalie Miikka Kiprusoff (36). On this swing, except for a couple extra rebounds, Joey Mac has been a steady force in goal with. high save pct that is over .901. This on a basement dweller is laudble number. It made some wonder (Jim Kelley) if Joey Mac should have been considered for the all star game.
Meanwhile, as I reported the night before last, Mark Streit was officially announced as the Isles lone representative to the the All Star game. Despite Doug Weight's resurgence, Streit's work as not just a devastating power play quarterback, but the Isles number one dman with the most minutes makes him far and away the top candidate. He leads the entire NHL defensemen in points. Think about this for a minute as we hear the constant machine of hype for those more successful team dmen (Dan Boyle, Dion Phaneuf). Streit does this without much supporting cast.
Funny thing: out of the top three candidates on defense who were free agents last summer, both Streit and Ron Hainsey have been godsends to their prospective teams. Wade Redden yet was signed for the most money and years, with the least return out of all three.
Meanwhile, the Isles have only won 2 games in their last 18. They have a few days to regroup from the latest slide until they face the Rangers at the Coliseum. Good aspects to last night's game was Trevor Smith's first NHL goal, the by-product of some speed and probably less butterflies this game. Jeff Tambellini had a nasty wrister goal, as well.
Botta in the Dog House
Chris Botta launched a blog questioning the Isles internal process over the mixed messages over Rick DiPietro that ran in Newsday during the trip where Joey Mac said one thing, and DP with seemingly saying another. The results is that Botta has been "punished" with a cold high hat and not furnished his usual info on the day to day of the Isles. So thus, fans are punished based on criticism of an organization or internal department?
I texted Chris to welcome him to the dog house.
In the end: How professional is it to withhold information that is furnished to others in response to a blog content? Was Logan also punished when he was all over the Isles over the DP backup fiasco back in October? Or when both Botta and Logan hammered the Isles for their injury policy? In the end, Media Relations role is not to worry about what a blog or article says about them, but to "relate" to the media, web and print, that is formulating Isles fans main route for information. Hey, wait, I was "punished" also back in September. For what? I still don't know. How is that for Media Relating???
"MEDICALLY CLEARED TO PLAY"
Meanwhile the Rick DiPietro watch is still a giant question mark. A man who was rushed to break a streak, only played once this road trip. So now that is two starts total. Now comes out that his surgically repaired knee is swollen. Yet, when asked about it, Scott Gordon was quick to site that DiPietro had been "medically cleared". So is this same medically clear that let Rick think he could play earlier this year, yet had to have more surgery? Is this the same medically cleared that has Yann Danis rushing to far away games as emergency recalls.
If anything, Rick's and the Isles medical advice seems more and more from Doctor Doom™ than any sound and careful medical practice.
Join the Discussion:
»