Dunham Flounders In Isles Loss

Once again Ted Nolan and the Islanders put their trust in Mike Dunham, once again he proved he is not trustworthy. Sure he was hung out to dry on a few of the goals but, it is crunch time. You need to make those stops, 5 goals in one period is ridiculous.
Ryan Smyth is out of here as soon as this season ends. I will tell you why. Smyth sat out tonight with a leg injury after being listed as a gametime decision today. If this was last year and he was in Edmonton he would have suited up. He has been good for the Islanders but I don't think he wants to be here.
We MUST win tomorrow. Dubie should get the start against the red hot Sens. If we can somehow pull out 2 points tomorrow we will gain momentum heading into Tuesday's showdown with the Idiots.
Other Notable Games:
Penguins @ Toronto
Sabres @ Habs
Rangers @ Flyers
Lightning @ Caps

Unlucky.......again.

I don't get it, when Smyth was acquired things finally seemed to be looking up for the Islanders. Now we are two points out of the playoffs with the least amount of wins of those figthing for the final three spots. We need to go at least 4-1-1 to have a hope of playing in April, and you know what I Believe. Ted Nolan will have this team working hard every game from here on out. Nobody will quit and hopefully Dipietro will be back in the cage this weekend. I also believe, like last year, the Idiots will collapse.
BELIEVE

Dipietro Out.

This is not good. Rick DiPietro is out indefinately with post-concussion syndrome. He was playing well since his return. After his collision with Steve Begin against Montreal a few weeks back, the Islanders went into a tailspin. Mike Dunham played horribly for the Isles while filling in for Rick.
Look for Wade Dubliewicz to get the nod tonight against the offensively challenged Devils.
Go Islanders
Go Dubie

We Gotta Believe

I am not gonna write about the Flyers or Rangers games. You all saw what happened hopefully. Good win, tough loss.
Why should we believe?
1) Ted Nolan- You just know Ted is going to have the team playing hard for the remaining 7 games. He has been everything I could have dreamed him to be when he signed.
2) Ricky- He is an elite goaltender. He has proven to us time and time again with him in the net we have a chance.
3) Leadership- Witt, Smyth, and Sillinger can provide the veteran presence we need for this HUGE stretch.
Sorry for not writing much this weekend.
I had a lot to deal with.
Go Islanders.

Team Building Win.

Phew! I am glad that streak is over. A solid solid effort by the Isles against the Pens Thursday. I loved the intensity on every shift, it is really good to see Islander hockey back. Ricky played outstanding once again proving this is a different team without him in the cage. How about Tom Poti? The guy was labeled as soft his whole career and when he was with the Rangers it showed. Last night however he showed the NHL he is not soft at all. He stuck up for his teammates on several occasions during the game. Brendan Witt was back to his old self and Mike Sillinger was really solid and showed a lot of grit as well. Ryan Smyth had a SUPERB game, maybe his best as an Islander. Blake, Kozlov, and Hunter all broke out of slumps with their goals. Certainly a win to build on BUT we can not overlook the Flyers on Saturday. They got walloped by the Rangers and will be playing hard. Were gonna need another good effort. Then after the Flyers, we play the Idiots. Should be fun.
thanks,
Lets Go Islanders.

As Is the Life of an Islander Fan.

What can you say. One goal off a skate and then the tying goal off of Randy. Tough Luck. Dipietro played well in his return. Nothing he could do on any of those goals in my opinion. Once again the officiating was awful. I am pretty sure Gary Bettman hates Ted Nolan.
I must rant now. Alexei Yashin must step up. Has this statement been said before? Oh yea....it has EVERY DAMN SEASON SINCE HE HAS BEEN HERE. He had such a promising start and then the knee injury killed his momentum. Well we are 1-4-1 since his return to the lineup. He was the guilty party on that Lecavlier goal. He completely gave up on the play. Ugh.
Onto the game against Crosby, Staal, Malkin, and Recchi. The Isles need this one so badly. If they can put together 60 solid minutes they can build on that for a nice stretch run.
1 Point out.
Thanks,
Go Isles.

Finger Inching Closer to the Panic Button.

Steve Begin may have ruined the Islanders season. It is not right to place the blame on Begin but still that collision has led the Islanders into a tailspin. I am not even going to write about last night's game because I will throw up. Instead I am going to focus on the future. First Tampa, The Isles have had a tough time beating Tampa Bay. They need to end this trend and begin to piece together a nice run to finish out the season. If Dipietro does not come back Dubliewicz better get the start. Mike Dunham has been awful for us. Also, Jeff Tambellini or Franz Nielsen need to be recalled to replace Zednik. Since joining the Islanders he has become Mike York reincarnated. He does not seem interested at all. The Isles have to play Tampa, Pittsburgh, the Rangers twice, the Devils twice, the Leafs, the Sens, the Sabres, and the Flyers twice to close out this year. We need to get to at least 90 points to have a shot at the Playoffs. It should be interesting. But I will close this out by saying, I trust Ted Nolan.
Believe,
Thanks.

Isles Get Burnt

Yikes.
Honestly how can a team that looked so good from January until the Rangers game fall apart like this. Ted Nolan was the first to say they have not played a good 60 minutes in a while, even in the win vs Washington he said they didn't give it all.
Mike Dunham was not on tonight. The Corvo goal was pathetic. Nobody was on tonight actually.
Here is an interesting thought. The Islanders played arguably their best hockey without Alexei Yashin and in the four games he has been back they are 1-3. He has a goal but he has not been anything special. I think that Nolan may want to bench him again to light a fire under this team. Also, Zednik must show up one of these days, we gave up a 2nd rounder in June for him and he has been a no show thus far. They need to step up. NOW
Thanks for Reading,
We're All Islanders.

****Dunham To Start Vs Sens****

Mike Dunham will appear in his second game since February 1st. He will get the start tonight with Rick Dipietro still feeling "General Body Soreness." C'mon Dunny!

Senators Play Host to the Isles...

Hello, tonight the Islanders face off vs the Ottawa Senators at 7:30 PM EST. We haven't won in Ottawa since game 1 of the play-off series in 02-03. In that game Eric Godard recorded a point. The Sens have one weakness really, that is goaltending. Even though Emery has been good this year a lot of people in the NHL don't think he's an upper echelon goalie yet. The Islanders can not take penalties and they must play 60 minutes of hockey. I think that if they contain Alfie, Heats, and Spezza they will succeed...easier said then done.
Thanks for reading,
Go Islanders.

Scary.

Tough loss. We took a period off and it hurt us. There was no spark in the third period and the Habs had a lot of spunk. They beat us to just about every puck in the third period. We can't take penalties that late in the game. The refs though, I mean come on. I am beginning to think the NHL wants to get back at us for the Simon incident and for what Ted Nolan said about the suspension. I think we can bounce back however.
Bottom Line: You play 2/3 of the game, you get 0 points.

Now on to Ricky....
He made a terrific play on the Begin break, but I was so scared when I did not see him get up. Nolan said he is groggy and day-to-day with get this, "General Body Soreness"-gotta love Ted. I think he should be alright to go in Tampa and Florida, Ottawa might be a stretch. It is on to Kanata for tomorrows game against the Sens.
Thanks for reading,
Go Isles.

Brendan Witt and The Leaders

After hearing about Brendan Witt calling the NHL's "Lord of Discipline", Colin Campbell I must say that he has impressed me so much this year. Last year nobody held anybody else accountable and nobody stuck up for eachother, this year however Ted Nolan and Brendan Witt have stuck up for Chris Simon in the past two days. Witt has always been a great leader and was the captain in Washington for a good amount of time. He has also been a standout defensemen for the Isles this year.
Our Captain may be Alexei Yashin but, the real leaders are Witt, Sillinger, Hill, and Park. Without these types of players the Islanders would be in dead last.
Thanks for Reading,
Lets Go Isles! BEAT THOSE HABS!

Contract Issues at Season's End

Even though we are in the middle of a play-off race, I need to talk about the upcoming off-season. Here is the list of Unrestricted Free Agents currently on the Islanders roster:
Aaron Asham, Jason Blake, Mike Dunham, Sean Hill, Viktor Kozlov, Tom Poti, Randy Robitaille, Chris Simon, Ryan Smyth, Richard Zednik. Trent Hunter, Chris Campoli, and Andy Hilbert are Restricted Free Agents.
The Cap should go up to about 48 Million dollars this year. So the Islanders have about 26 Million dollars committed to next years pay roll. So expect the Islanders to spend around 19 Million dollars on re-signing their players and attracting free agents.
Player by Player Analysis:
Asham-Arron Asham is a perfect 4th line player. He has been a fan favorite ever since he was acquired for Maruisz "the Polish Prince" Czerkawski earlier this decade. I think he will re-up before all is said and done for about 1 million.
Blake-He wants Marco Sturm-esque money. Sturm signed for 4 years 14 Million back in February. Expect Blake to try to up that to 5 years 4.5 Million. I believe he will sign a 3 year deal for about 13 million.
Dunham- Has been a good back-up goalie for us thus far. He is not going to be too expensive either. If we don't re-sign him, I'd like to see Dubliewicz get a shot as a back up in the NHL. He will most likely be back next year, one year 800,000 seems right.
Hill- We really got a bargain when we signed Sean Hill this summer. He has been a good physical defensemen and a leader on this team. However he is an older guy. We have good young defensemen who could fill his void. I think he will retire or sign elsewhere.
Kozlov- Another bargain in Kozlov. He came into the season with the notorious lazy Russian tag. He has since shaken that off and has scored 22 goals this year. He will be looking in the 1.75 million dollar range for two years. We can do that.
Poti-Poti signed a one-year deal worth 2.75 Million in the summer. I think he's been an unsung hero on this team. He has kept his composure all year and hasn't turned his home team's crowd against him yet this year. If we can afford to keep him, we should. But once again Meyer,Campoli, and Gervais are young capable rearguards. Toss up. I say he signs elsewhere unfortunately.
Robitaille- Been real good as of late. I think he will be relatively cheap. We do have some good young forwards though who may take his spot. I think he too, will sign somewhere else.
Simon- Simon has been a really pleasant surprise for the Islanders until March 8th. Because of the suspension though he will be cheaper. I say he re-signs a one-year deal worth 650,000.
Smyth- Ryan Smyth has been an Oiler his whole career. He is a prototypical Canadian forward. He is rugged and works hard every night. Charles Wang has been a nutjob his whole career. He is a prototypical money-slinging, do now-regret later type of owner. I think he will throw the world at Smyth. Watch out for a crazy 5 year 6 million dollar deal.
Zednik- Nice knowing ya Rich!

If those price ranges are right the Islanders will have around 6 million to play with for Free Agents after resigning the RFA's. I think a big bodied defensemen and a 3rd line center will be added via free agency. But then again its only March....
Thanks for reading,
Go Islanders.

Truckin' To Canada...and then Florida.

Don't you just love how every year the Islanders seem to get the weirdest schedule. They take on Les Habitants tomorrow night at 7:30 PM at the Bell Centre then its onto Scotiabank to take on the Sens in Kanata, Ontario. After that they will travel from Kanata to Sunny Tampa Bay and head into the Forum and take on the Bolts. Then they cap off the trip against the suddenly strong Panthers.

Tuesday @ Montreal 7:30 PM

The Islanders have had trouble in Canada since forever, but since Ted Nolan has come along the Islanders have won twice up north so far this year. (Montreal,Toronto) Montreal is reeling right now. They have a divided locker room, contract issues with their franchise player, two frustrated European Divas, (Kovalev,Samsonov) and a goaltending problem. This team is really vulnerable. They had a great start to the 06-07 campaign but are looking worse and worse everyday. If you get physical with the Habs, you win. It is that simple. Look for the SHH line to match up against the Habs top line usually Koivu centering Higgins and Ryder. Another big game, another chance for this team to show everybody that they are for real.
Thanks for reading,
Go Islanders