Isles Get Wind Knocked Out of Them at MSG

Regardless of whether the Islanders were affected emotionally by seeing one of their warrior-leaders unable to gasp for breath after being checked through a loose door and into a rink support, they certainly played as though they all had the wind knocked out of them by the incident.

It certainly didn't look like Trent Hunter was going to stand up and skate off under his own power following the crushing collision with part of the MSG rink infrastructure that shouldn't have been exposed. Eleven seconds of play later, the flat-footed Islanders surrendered an early-third-period 2-1 lead. They found themselves trailing by one soon thereafter, on their way to a 5-4 loss.

Getting the wind knocked out of you was a theme for the night. It appeared to happen to Kyle Okposo earlier in the game thanks to an aggressive check from Nigel Dawes. That play resulted in a fight between Dawes and Mike Comrie, which highlighted an issue that the NHL really needs to address.

Comrie fought with no helmet on. Dawes engaged while wearing not just a helmet, but a visor as well. How can the league permit this? Better yet, how can Dawes be taken seriously if he's willing to fight a guy with no protection while his entire head and half his face are protected by hard plastic with sharp edges?

Comrie took care of himself just fine, but his only option was to throw uppercuts. Even those carried the risk of slamming into the bottom of Dawes's visor.

You want to drop the gloves? Drop the helmet, too. Otherwise, the whole concept of fighting as part of the game becomes tarnished.

Anyway, as the Islanders have demonstrated too many times this season, you won't gain many points by giving up four goals in the third period. At least they kept coming and got their wind back soon after coughing up the lead. And pinning your scoring hopes on the Comeau-Comrie-Okposo line is a lot more palatable than hoping third and fourth liners can grind out a few. All three of those guys tallied for the Isles last night. And on the first goal of the night, Hunter and Sillinger made the Rangers pay for a defensive-zone turnover.

Sure, there was plenty not to like—without even addressing the latest chapter in the goaltending melodrama. (Do headline writers in Denver make 'Melo Drama puns?) For example, with the Islanders already down a forward due to Fritz being in the lineup, losing Hunter in the third made it much tougher to compete with the speedy, hard-charging Rangers.

But, as we head toward the new year, I'm trying to focus more on the positive. So let's hope for good news about Hunter and worry about penalties, defensive lapses, and poor passing another day.

Two-Minute Minors for 9/2/08

A few things kicking around the old bag of pucks...

Corey Witt revealed the uniform numbers for a number of Islanders prospects on his blog today. He also noted that Jeremy Colliton is switching back to 27 from 72. That low, but poignant, noise you hear is the collective rumble of John Tonelli fans spinning in their blogs. Sorry, Mike. Bailey did lose that number (now wearing 12), but you'll still have to see it out there on someone else's back.

Kyle Okposo got a nice mention last week, albeit packaged in a harsh assessment of the Maple Leafs' roster and system from a fantasy perspective. From Darryl Dobbs of Dobber Hockey, hat tip to Puck Daddy:

Now the negatives. Luke Schenn will be a great defenseman…but from a fantasy standpoint he’ll be lucky to ever hit 40 points. On the current roster, other than Grabovski (who is a bit of a long shot) and perhaps Jiri Tlusty, no player has 80-point ability. In the system, no player has 80-point potential. There are no Bryan Littles and no Kyle Okposos.

Also from Puck Daddy, Wyshynski tempts us to attach ourselves for rooting purposes to a KHL team. He points us to Jeff Z. Klein's KHL preview in Slap Shot and correctly predicts that many fans will align themselves with familiar North American names now toiling abroad. Indeed, I shall throw my support behind Wade Dubielewicz and Ak Bars Kazan. What I find odd is that Klein doesn't list Dubielewicz as one of the club's top players, while just above, Andy Chiodo makes the cut for Dinamo Minsk. Perhaps the shadow of Robert Esche, the other half of the Ak Bars Kazan tandem, simply looms too large for Dubie.

In an interview with the St. Petersburg Times, Barry Melrose had this to say about the NHL's attempts to curb fighting (hat tip to Kukla's Korner):

I think toughness is leaving our game, and I hope that people realize it’s wrong. I hate to mention this, but the fastest growing sport in the world is ultimate fighting. We’ve got that as part of our game. To act ashamed of that has been wrong of the NHL for a lot of years. You can say you don’t like fighting or you love fighting, but it creates conversation. It creates energy and excitement.

I don't know if Melrose is the first to make the ultimate fighting/MMA comparison, but from a pure marketing perspective, it actually makes a lot of sense. The quick rise of MMA as a legitimate form of entertainment and competition should make the possibility of marketing fighting in the NHL more palatable, and maybe even advantageous. I don't sense the current regime wants any part of that, but Melrose's comments certainly gave me a new perspective to think about. I wonder what current and future NHL TV rights holders would think because that's what ultimately matters.

Rick DiPietro is making an appearance at the NHL Store in Manhattan tomorrow. This would be the perfect opportunity for me to cover an off-season Islanders event without having to fight my way to Long Island in rush hour traffic. Unfortunately, the appearance is scheduled from 4:00-5:00 and I won't be able to follow the Islanders' suggestion to "call it a day a little early, or take a late lunch break." Maybe I can stop by after 5:00 and pick up some table scraps.