Fantasy Update—Game 25: Capitals 5, Islanders 2

Fantasy Stars of the Game
1st Star: Mark Streit (1 G, 1 PPG, 5 SOG, 2 BkS, 2 hits)
2nd Star: Andy Sutton (1 A, +1, 1 SOG, 1 BkS, 4 PIMs, 2 hits)
3rd Star: Trent Hunter (1 G, 3 SOG, 1 hit)
4th Star: Doug Weight (1 A, 1 PPA, 1 SOG, 2 BkS, 1 hit)
5th Star: Bill Guerin (1 A, 1 PPA, 1 SOG, 1 BkS)

Fantasy notes: Hunter gets the edge over Weight and Guerin thanks to an even rating. The best buds were each -2...Yes, it does seem like Streit, Hunter, Weight, and Guerin are in there every night. That's both good and bad...Andy Sutton is on a tear right now, storming up the Fantasy Star Point rankings...The line of Sim-Hilbert-Park is still seeing significant time on the second power play unit, but without much result...Freddy Meyer is picking up the spare PP minutes alongside Campoli when Streit and Weight aren't manning the points...Faceoffs (W-L): Sillinger 11-8, Weight 10-5, Park 8-12, Bailey 4-7.

Other notes: icethetics recently ranked the Islanders third jersey 3rd overall of the 18 third jerseys currently in use. By the way, icethetics has moved from blogspot to a new home at www.icethetics.info. Always a fun site to check out. Meanwhile, Sports Illustrated ranked the royal blues 15th. That's a travesty. The Flyers do look great in orange though.

Coming tonight: Live blog from the Coliseum. I think I'm going to take a different approach tonight. We'll see how it goes.

Looking Around After the Islanders Sweep the Senators

Sometimes things just come to you in pieces...

...Mark Herrman suggests in Newsday that the back-to-back victories by the Islanders over Ottawa may represent the apex of the Islanders' season. And here I was having so much fun watching them the last two nights. Oh, well, I guess I could use those 3 hours several nights a week for more pressing pursuits. Seriously, though, I'm looking forward to seeing performances like those against the Sens more frequently as the season progresses.

...Ross McKeon at Puck Daddy asks, "Why exactly would the New York Islanders have Darryl Strawberry drop the ceremonial first puck, especially when the ex-bad boy had never even attended one hockey game in person beforehand?"

Because it was Autism Speaks Night at the Coliseum, part of the Islanders' "Hockey With a Heart" campaign, and Darryl Strawberry is the founder of The Darryl Strawberry Foundation for Autism. And he's a local baseball hero. And he met Bill Guerin and Doug Weight this summer when the two Islanders took in batting practice at Shea. And maybe, just maybe, his appearance attracted a few extra fans. You know, and awareness for autism.

...Also in Newsday, Jim Baumbach urges Charles Wang to play hardball with the local government in regard to the Lighthouse Project: "Fans, take off your Islanders-colored glasses and look around the Coliseum. This place stinks. And no one is coming."

There is no doubt this needs to get done and is essential for the future security of the Islanders on Long Island. But so is the on-ice product. The honeymoon period for a new arena/stadium is probably around three years. After that, you'd better have something to show or all the amenities in the world are unlikely to sustain high attendance—especially if you assume that said new arena will result in higher ticket prices.

I'm one of those who doesn't really care about the arena from a fan experience point of view. To me, it's a hockey rink. I just want them to have a place to play, and if I'm there, food and bathrooms are necessary. After that, it's all gravy. Of course, the Islanders need the gravy to thrive. I just want to be careful about assuming that the gravy will perpetually bring the gravy train. Can you tell Thanksgiving is coming up?

...Pre-game show? What pre-game show? Time Warner Cable in NYC was a little slow with the switch last night. The newly launched pre-game show did not appear on channel 51 until around 6:50. I should have anticipated a bumpy transition. Who knows if it was MSG failing to notify Time Warner, or Time Warner failing to throw the switch? Whatever it was, I'd like to see it from the beginning next time.

...Last night was my first opportunity to view the alternate uniforms on TV. Beautiful. And the shots of the current home sweaters in the stands made them look that much sillier in comparison.

...Here's a recent article on the Blog Box in Sports Media Journal.



Fantasy Report Game 17: Islanders 3, Senators 2

Fantasy Stars of the Game
1st Star: Jon Sim (1 G, 1 PPG, 1 A, +1, 2 SOG, 2 BkS, 2 PIMs)
2nd Star: Joey MacDonald (W, 2 GA, .950 SV%)
3rd Star: Mark Streit (1 A, 1 PPA, +1, 1 SOG, 3 hits)
4th Star: Tim Jackman (1 A, 1 SOG, 7 PIMs, 2 hits)
5th Star: Sean Bergenheim (1 G, +1, 2 SOG, 1 BkS, 3 hits)

Notes: Roles continue to change on the power play units. At the beginning of the game, Kyle Okposo and Josh Bailey once again found themselves on the first unit with Mark Streit, Bill Guerin, and Doug Weight. The second unit forwards were Trenty Hunter, Frans Nielsen, and Jon Sim. Later in the game, Hunter and Nielsen swapped places with Okposo and Bailey. And there was one strange configuration when the Islanders started the third period in the middle of a power play. In that case, Chris Campoli took the ice with Streit and Weight. I'm not sure who was supposed to be at the points in that scenario, but Weight was at one of them leaving Streit or Campoli to push forward. Perhaps Scott Gordon was just preparing for the combos he wanted when Dany Heatley came out of the box.

In the rare instances that Weight and Streit don't play the full two minutes at the points, Campoli is always the second unit option and Gordon has been favoring Brett Skinner as his partner (Skinner's minutes, seconds really, are very limited there...Richard Park was 12-8 on faceoffs.

Live Blog: Penguins 4, Islanders 3, SO

Postgame update: The word after the game on Hunter's shootout attempt was that the refs knew the puck was in but they couldn't see it. They have to see the puck go across the line to call it a goal. And, obviously, the replays gave no cause for overturning the call on the ice. Given the opportunity to criticize the officiating on the play, Scott Gordon paused in thought before taking the high road. He offered only that it's pretty hard to win a shootout when you don't score a goal.

Gordon also said that he felt bad for Gervais for falling victim to the bad bounce that allowed the Penguins to score their second goal.

As I mentioned in the live blog, the Islanders need to find a way to approach a third-period lead as an opportunity to win another period instead of protecting the lead. The strange thing is, for a large portion of the third, they did continue to push forward. But, as Gordon mentioned after the game, they suffered from a lack of attempts to shoot the puck.

**********
Penguins win.

Hunter's shot is under review. If the call stands, the Pens win.

NYI Hunter Save

PIT Satan Save

NYI Guerin Save

PIT Sykora: Goal

NYI Weight: Save

SHOOTOUT

End of Overtime: Things really opened up in the last minute and got sloppy. Guerin had a great opportunity streaking in from the right side but couldn't flip it by Sabourin. We're headed for a shootout.

1:05 Pens don't get a shot on net on a 3-on-1.

1:55 Lots of back and forth but no great chances for either team. It's somewhat of a tentative overtime.

5:00 Isles start with Hunter, Nielsen, Campoli, and Gervais.

OVERTIME

End of Regulation: Great chances for both teams in the final minute with Crosby and Nielsen both shooting wide.

2:16 Tambellini with a blocked shot at the blue line and a partial breakaway. His shot is turned aside.

2:24 For about 15 minutes, the Isles were playing up tempo enough to give the Penguins something to think about other than constant pressure in the offensive zone. That changed and the Isles were once again back on their heels, not getting clears, and not getting clears far enough down the ice when they did get them. But keep in mind they are being outshot 17-0 in the third.

3:15 After a several-minute-long stretch of pressure, the Isles finally broke. MacDonald beaten by a long shot. Tied 3-3.

5:34 The Islanders have not registered a shot on goal in the third. That's not to say they're sitting back in a shell.

6:55 Same for the second unit. Power Play over.

8:08 The first unit fails to generate much of anything.

8:56 Nielsen's patience with the puck causes him to lose an opportunity to shoot or make a play, but gains the Isles a power play. Sykora goes off for hooking.

10:28 MacDonald had a little trouble with a sharp-angled shot and the rebound fell in front. No harm done.

12:40 Cooke's wrister rings the post. Might have been deflected on the way in.

14:45 Penguins have surpassed the Isles in shots on goal, 19-17.

16:01 Sabourin misplays the puck behind the net. Okposo takes a feed for another one-timer but doesn't get all of it.

17:15 MacDonald being tested early. He's been there each time.

18:25 Nielsen had a shot at a mostly empty net but his back was to the goal and the shot went just wide. Back at even strength.

19:00 Crosby to Letang for a one-timer, kicked away nicely by MacDonald. Then Mac shuts the door on Fedotenko in close.

20:00 So the goal here is not to protect the lead. It's to win the period.

THIRD PERIOD

2nd Intermission: The Isles have 1:23 left to kill off at the beginning of the third period. I would have much preferred seeing them go to the third with the two-goal lead, mostly because I wanted to see them tested with a multi-goal lead again. They might as well be put right back in that fire. At the same time, I'd like to think that the one-goal lead will have them playing with more urgency in the third. They know what their coach wants them to do. It's time to execute. And stay out of the box, even if the PK has been effective so far. By the way, those ice times provided by the NHL for the first period may have been a little off now that I look at them and the current stats again. These stat sheets are published so quickly that they occasionally include errors that are corrected later.

0:37 Now Gervais with a slashing penalty, the Islanders' fourth minor of the period.

1:38 Bergenheim created a shorthanded breakaway for himself but couldn't put it home with a defenseman bothering him the last 15 feet. He and Nielsen hammered at the loose puck in the crease several times before Sabourin finally covered.

3:21 Guerin goes off for slashing. The test is starting early.

3:59 Puck hops over Gervais' stick at his own blue line. Staal beats him to it and puts the moves on MacDonald to cut the lead. Isles lead 3-2.

5:30 Sutton sends it from the blue line down low to Okposo in the corner. Okposo slides it to the top of the crease where Hilbert receives, turns, and puts a backhand by Sabourin. Isles lead 3-1.

6:31 Giveaway to Nielsen in front but Scuderi slides across to block the shot and make up for the error.

7:04 The scoreboard shows the Pens with only six shots on goal. The Isles survived a couple of penalties early in the period, now they need to survive a few icings.

11:09 Weight out of the box takes a pass just inside the blue line from Jackman, holds on Sabourin, fires, and Jackman slams home the rebound into the open side. Sutton with the other assist. Isles lead 2-1.

13:23 Malkin does his best to dance by Weight and causes him to take a slashing penalty. Weight doesn't see it that way.

15:26 Talbot knocked down a Streit backhanded clearing attempt resulting in a goal-mouth scramble. MacDonald covers up. Isles are flirting with disaster by not clearing the puck multiple times when they had a chance.

15:58 Talbot undressed the Islander defense forcing Skinner to take a hooking penalty.

17:44 4-on-3 rush for the Pens results in an easy backhander for Tyler Kennedy. Tied 1-1.

19:35 Okposo has had two cracks tonight at that one-timer he likes from near the slot, but nothing to show for it so far.

SECOND PERIOD

1st Intermission: The Islanders have suffered from two main plagues this season: giving up the early goal and collapsing in the third. They seem to have overcome the first issue and have once again played a solid first period. Nielsen and Tambellini led the Islanders in ice time with over nine minutes each. Andy Sutton was the only other skater who surpassed nine minutes.

0:47 Weight almost creates another problem in front of the Pens' net on the forecheck. Poked the puck away but couldn't gather it in.

3:37 Weight gathers in a blocked shot just inside the left circle and feathers a softie over Sabourin's glove. Assists to Guerin and Hilbert. Isles lead 1-0.

5:09 Jackman finished an open-ice check nicely on Eaton in the neutral zone.

6:35 Consecutive blocked shots by Sutton and Hunter.

8:05 Park, Hilbert, and Jackman now on the ice as a unit.

8:13 Some decent looks on that power play, only a couple of shots made it on net.

9:10 Okposo, Nielsen, and Tambellini out with Campoli and Skinner.

10:40 Comrie, Guerin, and Hunter form the first forward unit with Weight and Streit on the points. Sabourin makes a nice save on a hard, low shot from Weight.

10:40 Talbot to the box for slashing. First PP chance for the Islanders.

11:58 The play has been fairly even so far. A few decent chances for each team, but nothing too scary for either goalie. The Isles are skating well.

13:19 Jackman playing with Comrie and Sim.

15:13 Malkin back, lost the draw.

16:40 MacDonald with a solid save on Crosby from the right circle.

17:26 Malkin skated off wincing. Looked like a lower arm issue.

18:48 Bergenheim is back with Weight and Guerin.

19:56 Satan heard some boos right from the start.

20:00 Your starting lineup: MacDonald, Streit, Sutton, Hilbert, Park, Okposo.

FIRST PERIOD

********
If it's Saturday and I'm live blogging, it must be hockey night at the Coliseum. The Islanders will look to get back to their winning ways from earlier in the week against the 7-4-2 Penguins, who are currently tied for second in the Atlantic Division with the New Jersey Devils, seven points back of the first-place Rangers. I'm told they've scheduled three periods of action tonight. We'll see how it goes.

Here are some personnel updates posted by Tom Liodice at The Tiger Track: Sidney Crosby will be in the lineup tonight despite unspecified soreness over the last few days and Nate Thompson is on the shelf for 2-4 weeks with a groin strain.

Other notes of interest: The Islanders finished 2007-08 with a 3-5-0 record against Pittsburgh. Josef Vasicek led the team in points for the series with Trent Hunter, Mike Comrie, and current Penguin Miro Satan each scoring three goals...Kyle Okposo leads this year's NHL rookie class with 30 shots on goal...The Islanders are averaging 16.5 blocked shots per game, good for fifth in the league. They finished fourth overall last season...This is the Islanders' fifth of 15 games in November. They've split the first four...Tim Jackman is making his season debut tonight.

As the Islanders take the ice for warmups in their fantastic alternate Saturday-special uniforms, I just have to make one comment on them. As much as I like this look, my preference would be for it to remain the alternate uniform while the home and away uniforms return to the style most often associated with the Dynasty era. That being said, if this uniform does go full-time in the future, I'll be far from unhappy about it.

In a poll earlier this week, 80% of respondents indicated they do not want Garth Snow to pursue a deal with Brendan Shanahan now that Mark Parrish is no longer an option.

Almost gametime...once again, timestamps in this live blog refer to time remaining in the period.

Islanders Unveil New Third Jersey—Now THAT's a Uniform!

They got this one right...




Photos courtesy of newyorkislanders.com

Five-Minute Major and a Double-Minor for 8/19/08

All-Time Athletes Named Michael Update

It seems this was not the only New York sports blog to catch yesterday's SportsCenter list of All-Time Athletes Named Michael. While searching for the complete list, I came across a post on the subject in the forums over at Big Blue Interactive. The writer of the post was dismayed that ESPN did not include Michael Strahan on the list. Fair enough.

The funny thing, though, is that I still don't have the complete rundown. A respondent to the post on Big Blue Interactive tried to reproduce the top ten to the best of his recollection, and it went like this:

Jordan
Phelps
Tyson
Schmidt
Johnson
Some fisher
An Islander
Coach K
Dikta
A [sic] forgot the other one

At least the fact that there was an Islander was memorable.

A second respondent noted that F-1 driver Michael Schumacher has to be included. The thing is, now that I think about it, Schumacher may in fact have been on the list, ranked one rung higher than Mike Bossy. So maybe this particular Giants fan equated racing with fishing and replaced Schumacher with "Some fisher?"

So I think we are left with just one name in our noble pursuit of those who join Michael Dean Bossy at the Round Table of Mikeness.

Other nominees from the Giants faithful included Piazza, Spinks, Modano, Richter, Singletary, and Webster.


Have You Been Looking for Dominik?

I've been meaning to give a quick plug to a great Islanders blogger who recently changed hosts. If you're wondering what happened to Islander Frontier, both the preceding link and the link in the sidebar are updated. Dominik tells us that this new home for his blog may only be a temporary bridge to his eventual destination, but I thought it worth a mention in case any of his readers haven't found the current location. If you haven't read Islander Frontier previously, Dominik has a very engaging writing style and consistently interesting perspectives on all things Islanders.


Third Jersey in November?

Over at Icethetics, a reader has provided a schedule for the rollout of third jerseys, including dates for their on-ice debuts and availability to retailers. If the information is correct (and there's no way to corroborate it at this point), the Islanders will wear their new third jerseys for the first time on Saturday, November 1, against Montreal.

Surprisingly, retailers would not get the new sweaters until Thursday, November 6. This is not consistent with what I was told at the NHL Store. We'll have to see, but those of you who were looking forward to a late August/early September purchase may have to wait a couple of months. I'll be sure to pass along any new information as soon as I can.

A few quick notes...

It's great to be able to watch the Isles on TV again, even if it is a preseason game and the Rangers' broadcast. I won't be able to catch the whole thing, but here are just a few notes from the first half of the game:

• Nice job by Joey McDonald surviving early pressure and keeping a clean sheet through 20 minutes in front of a lineup heavily populated with Sound Tigers.
• Berard is not one of the "regulars" in the lineup tonight. At first, I interpreted that to mean that the tryout phase of his preseason was over and he's made the roster. But when I realized that so many vets were sitting this one out, that interpretation seemed less reliable. Saturday and Sunday may still be make-or-break time for Bryan. I know a lot of you are hoping that Berard has nothing to do with this team come next Friday. I'd really like to see him make the team and carry the power play. If he proves unable to do so, let's just hope that the contract ends up signing is easily digestible.
• Any signs of life from Bergie are welcome. If he can contribute consistently on offense, this team will be at least a notch ahead of expectations. How great would it be to see him make an impact on the league and give the other teams fits? Who was the last young player to do that for the Islanders? Anyway, great to see Bergie find Lundqvist's five-hole with that backhander. Even if it hadn't found its way in, it was a good, low, hard shot that likely would have produced a rebound.
• I'm surprised that the white sweaters don't look as bad as I thought they would. Seeing the entire uniform helps them look stronger, mostly because the blue pants create a nice contrast. The numbers on the front continue to seem mostly pointless. They are too small to be visible during normal gameplay. You can see them when the camera zooms in, but then you can also see the players' faces so you know who they are anyway. The one thing the organization really got right was putting the (too narrow) horizontal stripes at the very bottom of the shirt hem. The teams that have the white shirttail hanging below their stripes look odd, at best.
• Halfway through the 3rd, it's still 4-1. Once Morrison replaced McDonald, it looked like the floodgates might open. The result of this game has negligible value, but it's never fun to get embarrassed. Let's hope the kids finish it out strong.
  

Finally, Islanders Outsider would like to extend its sincere condolences to Ted Nolan on the loss of his brother, Richard. According to this notice, Richard Nolan was a founder of the Ontario Native Firefighter Society and served as Garden River fire chief. May the Nolan family find comfort in its time of sorrow.

Isles Presence at Shea

Not much to say about the 6-1 loss to the Devils in Lowell tonight. From the looks of it, the Devils had a much better lineup out there. I guess you could say that the kids who received an opportunity to show the coaches something came up a little short. Of course, I say that only based on the brief recaps I have read. I'm not sure if this game was shown on Islanders TV, but I was unable to catch it if it was. So, the one thing I'd really like to know is how Berard looked tonight. If you can contribute anything in this area, please do so in the comments or shoot me an e-mail. After the 3-assist performance against the Rangers, I figured Berard just needed one more solid showing to solidify his spot on the roster. I have my doubts as to whether he was able to give that tonight.

So, I was at Shea tonight. I certainly don't have anything good to say about that result, so I'll leave the commentary to the Mets bloggers. However, early on in the game I noticed someone sitting a few sections away wearing the royal blue '72-'73 replica sweater. It looked really sharp. Kudos to you, Mets/Islanders fan for promoting the team in such refined hockey garb.

About midway though the game, the video board (is it still technically DiamondVision?) showed a couple of the Ice Girls and a joyful bunch of Isles fans. That's when I remembered that it was NYI365 Appreciation Night at Shea. (I was there with a friend and our wives, obviously not with the group.) Anyway, I hope that all of you full season subscribers were shown a good time by the Mets despite their daily pitching implosion. At least we had something to cheer about for 4 innings. And, if I heard the PA correctly, the t-shirts shot into the crowd by Mr. Met and the Pepsi Party Patrol during the 7th Inning Stretch were Islanders t-shirts. All in all, good night for Islanders publicity, bad night for Islanders hockey and Mets baseball.


Update: I just read on Corey Witt's blog that tonight's game was not shown live on Islanders TV due to bandwidth limitations at Tsongas Arena. That should severely limit the Berard contributions. Will we all be rushing to watch the archived broadcast tomorrow? I'll have to stick with my original plan of watching the season premiere of The Office.

The New Uniforms

When the NHL announced last season that the entire league would be adopting Reebok's new EDGE Uniform System, and every team would have the opportunity to design a new sweater, I figured the Islanders could go one of two ways: finish the restoration of the classic uniform that began in the 1998-'99 season (my hope), or go in an entirely new direction that would leave me scratching my head and muttering, "Why can't we get this right?"

I have never considered the restoration of the classic Islanders uniform to be complete. It's not so much that I dislike the navy blue. I just think that it's not quite right. I know that there is an entire generation of fans that doesn't feel any strong attachment to the royal blue uniforms that, to me, represent the true blue of the Islanders. In fact, I believe that a significant segment of the Coliseum faithful prefers the navy. But I don't think I'll ever be swayed.

I've also never been a fan of the current number style, which uses an offset outline to create the appearance of a double trim. The jersey color creates the first outline. On the blue sweater, the white numerals are trimmed in blue, and then in orange. On the white sweater, the blue numerals are trimmed in white, and then in blue. Somehow this double outline makes the numbers look weaker, if that makes any sense. I much prefer the old style of outlining the numbers with a single color. It's a bolder look.

One concern about the RBK system is that it is template-based, with seemingly many options for adding panels of color and extra piping. It was my sincere hope that the Islanders would resist the temptation to do something "new and exciting." I was looking for them to keep it simple, and, if it was not asking too much, bring back the royal blue. As some of you may know, the following picture has been circulating around the Web for a couple of months now:


This is not what I was hoping for

I have seen this photo posted in numerous places over the last couple of months, but I have never seen it credited to anyone. More and more evidence (i.e., Internet chatter) suggests that if it is not the exact sweater that the Isles will be wearing this year, it is close. I'm sure it will grow on me, but I am disappointed. I want the Islanders to be the type of franchise whose look is timeless. While the franchise has not been around as long as teams like the Habs, Bruins, Yankees, or Dodgers, it did make enough of an impact on the NHL records books to make it an historic franchise. I think a classic looks goes a long way to protecting that status. Winning consistently doesn't hurt either.

There has been some great discussion of this issue on the Hockey's Future Islanders Board. This thread and this thread in particular present some good opinions, nuggets of news (granted, we can't verify them), as well as mockups of new uniform possibilities.

And I can't say enough about how good the team looked paying tribute to the '72-'73 season last year. The orange letters were a little tough to read, and these aren't the exact uniforms I grew up with, but I'd sign on for this look in a second.


islanders.nhl.com