RANGERS 2, ISLANDERS 1
Okposo, Bailey, Comeau were alright
The Islanders gave at the office tonight and their young players – 9 of 18 skaters age 24 or younger – played well. Most – kudos to Tim Jackman – played physically. The Rangers bounced in one more.
It was not an exceptional display of hockey by any stretch of the imagination, but for one night the Islanders could leave the rink with their heads held high about their battle level.
With 1:20 left on the clock until there were 23 seconds left, this was the Islanders’ lineup with the goaltender pulled:
Comeau – Comrie – Okposo – Hunter
Campoli – Streit
In the final 23 seconds, Scott Gordon sent out the following:
Okposo – Bailey – Guerin – Hunter
Campoli – Streit
Gordon was very complimentary of Josh Bailey, saying that his improving faceoffs were a big reason he could play him at the end of the game.
Kyle Okposo had stretches where he was the best player on the ice for either team. Blake Comeau looks like he can stay a while.
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The Final Sore: The man-games lost to injury for the Islanders and Rangers before tonight’s game:
Islanders: 263
Rangers: 10
The Islanders are leading in something.
At 5:01 of the first period, Joey MacDonald left the game and was diagnosed with a groin strain. He will be re-evaluated tomorrow. In a tough spot, Yann Danis did well.
Word backstage was that goaltending coach Mike Dunham was prepared to enter the game as the Islanders’ emergency goalie if needed.
Could the next goalie to drive down 95 be Wade Dubielewicz?
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Putting It Together: MSG Network’s Joe Micheletti to PB during the second intermission on Kyle Okposo: “He has the size and the ability, and what I like about him is, he really looks like he’s learning how to use it. I know earlier in the season he wasn’t skating, wasn’t putting everything together. But he’s been so much better the last few weeks and he looks outstanding tonight.”
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Perception Really is Everything: My neighbor, the infamous Joe from RVC, comes up to me while our kids are at Wrestling practice and says, “Geez, Bill Guerin hasn’t done much, huh”? (Like I want to be thinking of that crap while shaking out the cobwebs at 8:30 on a Saturday morning).
Fast-forward to tonight, and I’m sitting in the press box, checking out tonight’s game notes. I look to see how Guerin’s doing. Then I look at Rangers big tickets Scott Gomez and Chris Drury, along with Guerin-contract-comparable Markus Naslund, and view their stats:
Guerin: 13 goals, 18 assists, 31 points
Gomez: 8 goals, 21 assists, 29 points
Drury: 13 goals, 16 assists, 29 points
Naslund: 14 goals, 14 assists, 28 points
Guerin, on the worst team in the National Hockey League, has totals that would rank him tied with Drury for second in goals on the Rangers to Naslund and second in points to Nikolai Zherdev. Guerin’s -9 is on par with Naslund’s -11, Gomez’s -10 and Drury’s -5. The Rangers’ lineup has earned twice as many victories as the Islanders.
Of course, stats aren’t everything, but it seems Guerin’s not doing so bad. Would seem wise for the Boston Bruins – starting to get hit with the injury bug – to see if they can bring the hometown boy back to Beantown for a Cup run.
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The Phone Call
Don Waddell: Hey Snowy. So here’s what I’m thinking. We send you Kovalchuk, Colby Armstrong and our 2009 third round pick for your first rounder in ’09, Kyle Okposo and Chris Campoli. What do you think?
Garth Snow: Hmm…How about we give you Brett Skinner for Junior Lessard?
Waddell: Deal.
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Game Rating (out of 5): 2.5: The close score resulted in drama, but this game was not going to bring back memories of 1984, 1993 or 2007 for that matter. The reality is that the Islanders are in last and the Rangers are an okay team with salary cap problems that may prevent them from getting any better this year. The effort from both teams was never in question.
Event Rating: 3.0. We’re as into this Lighthouse thing as much as anybody, but the Islanders should occasonally adjust the pre-game strategy they’ve employed all season.
It’s 6:58 pm, the crowd is juiced, the scoreboard host has just announced the starting lineups for the Islanders and Rangers. The lights go down, the crowd goes bananas and…wait for it…the scoreboard shows the “Meet Me at the Lighthouse” video. Talk about a buzzkill. It’s like putting in the Reservoir Dogs blu-ray and getting Must Love Dogs.
There’s plenty of time for that. Not five minutes before faceoff.
“The Chicken Dance” has its second of three airings this season. Seems like the Rangers always score after it’s played.
Courtesy of Kinger: The Islanders’ power play is now 0-for-22 in their last 8 games against the Rangers.
C o K 2: The Islanders are 8-2-1 in their last 11 games against the Rangers at Madison Square Garden. But at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum against the Rangers, the Islanders have only 7 wins out of the last 29 games against their archrivals.
Scouts in Attendance: Minnesota, Phoenix
Back to Tavheduch
The latest in the race for consensus No. 1-A pick John Tavares and No. 1-B Victor Hedman (at left, via Expressen). Second place gets you either Hedman or cut-above consolation prize Matt Duchene.
1. Islanders 12-27-4 28 pts (43 games)
2. Atlanta 14-24-5 33 pts (43 games)
3. Ottawa 14-21-6 34 pts (41 games)
4. St. Louis 16-22-3 35 pts (41 games)
5. Tampa Bay 13-19-10 36 pts (39 games)
TW Notes: Thank heavens for Mike Smith and the Lightning getting all those points for losing in overtime and shootouts. But if Tampa Bay trades Vinny to Montreal for Chris Higgins and futures, watch out…The Islanders still have two games in hand in Ottawa. Incredible to think that at this time a year ago everyone had the Senators going to the Stanley Cup Final.
To answer a frequent question in Comments, this is how I predict the Islanders prefer their Tavheduch:
1. Tav
2. Hed
3. Duch
Good night! Comments.
94 Responses to RANGERS 2, ISLANDERS 1
Okposo, Bailey, Comeau were alright
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MiKe says:
TAVERAS ALL THE WAY. GET THAT #1 PICK.
And PB, who would/could the Isles get for GUERIN from Boston??? Who is possibly available on the Bruins?
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Love the Guerin – Rangers’ Millions stats breakdown. It will be fun to watch their multi-millionaires get old.
If this weren’t a Rangers game, I’d say “good evaluation game.” So then: good evaluation game. Go Kyle. Blake Comeau: don’t ever miss the net from the wide wing on a PK again; bad things happen when you start your opponents breakout for them.
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Wade would be a nice addition for the second half of the season for sure. I would have loved to see Bailey score tonight. It would have made even a blowout worthwhile. Next time Josh. Next time.
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Strummer's Army says:
The Isles started the game horribly but turned it around and you’d never know the difference in ages, rankings, lack of injuries or salary favored the Rangers.
Good for Dannis. My guess is Dubie probably agreed to a contract during the game or will tonight.
It seems God wants us to have Tavares.
Drury and Gomez are so overpaid. Both good players but neither deserving the money they are getting.
At least we know Snow is talking to GM’s by the minor deal that was made. I wouldn’t trade Okposo and the first pick for ANYONE.
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Isles1972 says:
Great to see the kids start to play well. This is a good sign, if they can continue to play with consistency. win or lose, this is the effort you want to see.
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Nice illustration….it looks more like Benecio Del Toro than Victor Hedman!
Here’s to another step closer to Johnny T!
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Sab says:
As much as I have been a Blake supporter I found he hesitated too much…and he will definitely learn that if you’re on a shorthanded rush with a winger and trailing defenceman YOU MUST HIT THE NET! His wide shot led to the game winning goal….
Ah…the growing pains eh? hehe
SAB
P.S. I’m a former minor hockey and shinny goalie, I’ll sign with the club for beer and wings
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CB, I love your post-ending Ice Girl shots, but how come clicking on them nearly always results in a page-load-error screen and not a bigger version?
Sorry, just looking for a little something to smile about after tonight
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Aim says:
Just got back from the game at least we didnt get blown out. It is going to be a very long 2nd half. Just thought of this tidbit. I am hopeful of Tavaras coming in next year but remember the last time we had the number 1 pick? I do it was the darkest day in Islander history. Yup trade the best goalie prospect (Roberto Luongo) in 10 years along with Ollie for Oleg Kavasha who our GM at the time called a Bure type with size and Parrish. Then we draft DP and leave Heatley on the table. All of this with the blessings of our wonderful ownership who “wanted to make a splash” yea Tavaras is coming. It really scares me what the next move is going to be with our lovely management. I can hear it now “Tavaras didnt fit go go’s system so we drafted Player X who was rated 25th but we had him #1 on our chart!
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blitz says:
re: “Drury and Gomez are so overpaid. Both good players but neither deserving the money they are getting.”
As an NYI fan, you realize both of those players received similar to MORE money from NYI than NYR, right? NYI fans screamed, now it’s ‘they are not worth that much…” Nice one. Isn’t that what UFA is all about, ie. overpaying for players that usually underperform for offseason on-paper braggin rights?
CB, nice comical take on the ATL trade.
Okposo looking much better as the season goes along. Waaaaaaay ahead of Pyatt/Conolly “rookie” seasons. Gee…must be that veteran presence on the team.
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walter says:
do you hear that, thats the tavaras express pulling out of the station
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dmen77 says:
I did not want to lose to the Rangers but another loss means another step closer to Tavares.
Sorry Chris I’m not looking for consolation prizes after this painful season so far. It’s Tavares or bust for me. Hedman just won’t be the ticket Tavares will be for us.
It’s making me feel better that these short-sighted Ranger fans think they are a serious Cup contender. They beat our 3rd string (for 54 min) goaltender 2-1. Nothing of them resembles a Cup contender after a showing like tonight, and as you said cap restraints will prohibit them from getting any better.
They wouldn’t get past Boston, Montreal or the Caps in the playoffs. They would struggle with the Flyers and Pens and probably get beat up enough to lose to whoever they faced in the following round if they were to get past either one.
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Okposo Bailey Comeau
Nielsen Tavares Petrov(not in any position order)
My “dream” top six young forwards on our 2009-10 New York Islanders roster
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Message to NYI fans. Petrov is not ready for the NHL in next season. Looked average at the WJC and so far this season in the Russian League not much better.
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Actually the Isles made an offer on one of those players (Drury and Gomez). I don’t remember which but they said one’s agent wouldn’t even return the phone call. Yes, I am aware they were prepared to match any offer my point is much like Ryan Smyth they got pretty lucky no one took them up on it. Drury and Gomez’s names both keep popping up in rumors.
Guys let’s let the Milbury era die. Say what you like about Garth Snow but he thankfully is not Mike Milbury and I don’t think anyone would ever make those horrible kinda moves.
Milbury was pursuing Kvasha for years before the trade and the price kept going up. I think he became obsessed even though Kvasha wasn’t producing in FL either.
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beatlebailey says:
i would say the crowd was 50/50 but the rangers fans were louder. 1 or 2 fights in the stands. I was not impressed with the rangers at all. They look like a team that will get BOUNCED in the first round!
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Strummer (up to post 3 here so I’m almost done) I hear ya I really do want the MM era to go away BUT with the owner we have, who by the way has his fingerprints all over the last 10 years without knowing a thing about hockey really scares me. We had 10 years of this so far and I just cant take it anymore. My honest opinion is that this is being called a rebuild BUT Charles has pulled the string here and got the payroll down to bare bones to cut his losses. What happened to the team we can be proud of and “we will spend whatever it takes to build a winner” Charles had 10 years and 2 rebuilds to get us that winner and look where we are now! We dont even have an antham singer anymore…budget cut…LOL. After 20 plus years of this I am really at the end of my rope. There is no clue coming from the top here Winning is not in the vocabulary. It just never ends. HOW MANY HERE ON THIS FORUM ACTUALLY HAVE FAITH THE WANG DEY AND SNOW CAN BUILD US A CUP WINNING TEAM??? yup were doomed
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NYIsles5 says:
Two things about the draft are a concern.
1-With the luck of the NY Islanders we lose the lottery.
2-John Taveras becomes Alexander Daigle or Dave Chyzowski
Ouch! -
HilbertSnipe says:
Got to hang out with Bossy and Nystrom between periods. Made my night perfect although we lost.
Me- “Mike, it’s a pleasure to meet you, I wish I could say that I grew up in the dynasty era, but you are one of my hockey idols…”
Mike Bossy – “Ohhhhh come on AJ! All I did was play hockey!”He also pointed to my buddies Bailey jersey and said… “He is going to be great, just hold in tight.”
AND THANK YOU STRUMMER! People need to let it go. The what-ifs, the what-could-have-beens, and the “We traded him for him and all we got was a bag of pucks.”
Those days are over and if you think that Snow’s tenure is anything close to that then you are absolutely crazy. Give it up guys. Let’s work for the future and if were going to live in any past, please let it be the good era.
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4th and last post here 2 years ago the Flyers were awful. Ed Snider who owns the team and actually wants to win rebuilt that team in 1 summer yup that was the rebuild. and look at who the Flyers stocked up with. Well for 1 our own Garth Snow traded Alexei Zhitnik to Philly for Freddy Meyer…Philly then trades Zhitnik to Atlanta for friggin Braydon Coburn who was the 8th overall pick in 2003 and an awesome defenseman now yea Snowey I would have loved to see him on our blue line. Who does the homework on these trades. The Flyers want to win plain and simple Our management well the last 20 years speak for themselves
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CB, I apologize. When saving the pic to my desktop, it opened full size. You are, as always, amazing. I shall resign myself from this post so as to avoid your wrath. Goodnight.
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Madchef says:
Much more isles fsns cheering than last game, thank god. Team played hard tonight. Nielsen looked great skating ahead of rags all night. thought it would be over after Yanni came in. I loved Witt but he looked like he did not even want to be out there tonight. He needs to move on. Sad cause when he plays with his edge it reminds you of why he was signed.
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guerin13 says:
we played hard and smart hockey tonight, it just wasn’t to be which is ok since we’re now one step closer to tavares/hedman. danis looked good too. the rangers are not a cup threat. they can’t score, are capped out b/c of the ridiculous drury and gomez deals, and are only winning b/c of lundqvist. okposo might have been the best islander tonight. good to see gordo keeping his word about the kids playing a lot.
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Pat says:
Ottawa won tonight !!!
Game was listed as a sellout tonight on NHL.com
Good fights up in Loudville (Sect 329)
Did it look like the team played the trap for a good chunk of the game tonight ? Looked like a Nolan team in the third period.
The Rag fans in attendance slithered out of the building KNOWING they were lucky to have beaten an AHL team tonight.
Pat
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Madchef on Jan 13th, 2009 23:14:11 said:
“I loved Witt but he looked like he did not even want to be out there tonight. He needs to move on. Sad cause when he plays with his edge it reminds you of why he was signed.”
I am really surprised you say that, I think Witter looked better tonight than he has in ages. He had a solid game, lots of hits, took shots, pinched well, even Jaffe and Howie said he looked good tonight.Nothing to be ashamed of tonight, they played a good game and the Rags were only lucky to have won it.
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SIR WILLIAM says:
Bonehead rookie play by Comeau cost us the second goal. Three on one and he shoots instead of passing. We used to call guys like him “Puck Hogs”. This guy needs to learn to share the puck and to stop holding onto it for so long.
From some of the camera angles I saw it looked like Okposo was barking at him a couple of times once the play was over.
Anybody else notice this?…..SW -
Brian from Massapequa says:
As me and my Rangers fan father discussed after the game over a pint at Champions, this was a close game, not a good game. Neither team played their A-game (do the Islanders have an A-game, I’m not really sure). Danis did his job thankfully or it could have been a lot worse for us. I was surprised to read JMac only has a groin strain. Considering our luck this season, I figured he had a tibia fracture. Do we want to start the Dubie bets now as to when he will make his season debut?
CB – Great picture of Britney. My girlfriend very loudly informed Brit that she was my fav Ice Girl in lobby of the Marriot tonight. Hey…at least she is cool with it…LOL.
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Willis says:
Turned out to be fun to watch since the Rangers weren’t able to go in for the kill. We have some speed this year people!
Nielsen looked like he missed a game or two tops which was amazing to me. I expected him to take it a little easier. Props to him.
There were some real comical plays on the Islanders part tonight. Some 3 stooges stuff with the bumping into each other and losing/getting back/fumbling/getting back the puck, but they managed to get the puck in and/or over to Lundqvist most times so I can’t really complain. They’ll learn. And they’ll learn the power play too. Pretty good effort by all.
I can’t wait to find out what comes next in the DP-JMac-Danis-(Dubie?) saga. Poor Gordon, if he only knew what he was signing up for!
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michael says:
how can we ensure that bruno gervais doesn’t come back next year? his shot is softer than 3ply toilet paper..
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Guerin looked “Old and In the Way” tonight.
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JPinVA says:
I’m with the metal one on this game. They seemed to play a lot better. When they started playing physical they were able to take the game to the Rangers.
They were acting responsible on the blue line, and it looked like they all knew their assignments in their own zone.
I’d be curious to find out if over the past four days Gordon went to a traditional scheme, or they are starting to better under stand his defensive zone plan.
Witt looked fine. He looks like he’s got a bum wheel… I bet they are getting a corporate discount from 3M on athletic tape.
Barring injury, I can’t see Sim working his way back into this lineup. they rolled four lines and got good minutes from everybody.
If htey played like that every night and lost every game I’d be okay with this rebuild BS.
Comrie-Nielsen-Bailey-thompson up the middle isn’t that bad. Maybe comrie gets a third chance?
How come nobody mentions the Dubie-Snow-Nolan incident anymore… It seems like none of that happened, and Snow can’t get his checkbook out fast enought to sign the pillsbury yoda-boy. I’d love to see dubie back, but can that really happen?
“To play goal I would like, but in shape I am not… in april I will see you.” -
In Section 313 (my home), there was alot of taunting between a Rangers fan and an Islanders fan from rows away from each other. Finally with about 3:00 left, they were ejected. I’ll be honest, I did not get it. How could this go on from five or six rows away? Of course maybe it started in the lobby or outside. I admit to get frustrating and yelling a thing or two at games, but the relentless taunting and tough guy attitude is getting tiring at what should be games that are a lot of fun (or frustrating if your Islanders fan like me).
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SW,
I guess everybody has their opinion. My take on that play is that Bruno needed to recognize that they were ont eh PK, not he PP, and peel off.
Considering how many times they made “the extra pass” tonight, I’m glad he got one off… but as noted earlier, in that situation you’d rather put one in the crest than on the boards.
I didn’t get the Okpsos barking thing.. if he was, then he might want to check that… or in a few years he’ll be shooting himself inthe leg in a manhattan night club… the teeam will disown him… and even less people will care about him.
So… I’m gonna avoid that theory. Comeau, and that whole line has been playing strong hockey… -
JPinVA on Jan 13th, 2009 23:50:21 said:
“I’m with the metal one on this game. They seemed to play a lot better. When they started playing physical they were able to take the game to the Rangers.
They were acting responsible on the blue line, and it looked like they all knew their assignments in their own zone… If they played like that every night and lost every game I’d be okay with this rebuild BS. Comrie-Nielsen-Bailey-thompson up the middle isn’t that bad. Maybe comrie gets a third chance?”Well the metal is with you on that lol
I am fine watching games like this, because if they play like this they are going to learn to win more of em.JPinVA on Jan 13th, 2009 23:50:21 said:
“How come nobody mentions the Dubie-Snow-Nolan incident anymore… It seems like none of that happened, and Snow can’t get his checkbook out fast enought to sign the pillsbury yoda-boy. I’d love to see dubie back, but can that really happen?
“To play goal I would like, but in shape I am not… in april I will see you.””
LOL!!! Know, we do not… but I personally would be FINE with Dubie coming back and finishing the season with us if Ricky cant play.I thought back then that the “Dubie-Snow-Nolan incident” was blown up by the media into even more than it actually was- namely by WFAN, who we all know are the ultimate experts on anything Islanders. I remember them talking about how the Isles decided to play “Dubahwits” instead of “Dipietto”.
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JP IN VA…I didn’t get the Okpsos barking thing.. if he was, then he might want to check that… or in a few years he’ll be shooting himself inthe leg in a manhattan night club… the teeam will disown him… and even less people will care about him.”
OK JP, can you translate that for me?……SW
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James says:
Sir William,
While i agree it was a bonehead play Comeau for not hitting the net i think my first reaction was just wait til CB posts his new blog entry and Sir William rallies into him. Did he run over your dog?
Rough game, outplayed them most of the night, but caught some unlucky breaks. Danis looked pretty solid in net and Bailey looked good too, i just wish he would shoot more.
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James, I don’t own a dog. A bonehead play is a bonehead play. It’s nice that you were thinking of me………SW
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b-ri says:
Now i didnt see the play, but from what i read the isles had a 3-1 while on the PK. cut Blake some slack, at least he shot the puck. Do you know how many times I get frustrated watching them make crap passes that get broken up. Who’s to say that wouldnt have happened and resulted in a rangers odd man break leading to a goal anyway. Kudos to Blake for taking the shot and hoping for a goal / rebound chance.
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PS lets sign Dubie to a 10 year deal to assure he never goes back to Russia. Hell the whole point of DP’s deal was to make sure he doesn’t leave NY. So far he’s been injured so much he hasn’t left NY. (because hes on IR) BAH DOOM CHA!
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kingbet123 says:
Kudos for Danis for playing as well as he did. We all know it’s going to be a tough stretch, but when you factor all the man games lost to injury……YIKES!!!!!
Why does Dawes and Drury ALWAYS seem to score against us?
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The difference between the Flyers fast rebuild and the Islanders slower rebuild is simply they already had a ton of talent from their drafts stock piled up. Those guys starting contributing more, some were used in trades that enabled the new GM to get some of the assets he needed to take it to a new level and then he was able to sign a couple key FA. The Islanders haven’t until recently (and won’t have enough until the next draft) had enough home grown young talent to make it worth adding new pieces or even to obtain them via trade. After this summer it is a different story but the plan is correct.
Yes, Snow could should have gotten a better return for Zhitnik but lets not confuse him with Milbury. I have said, I like 2 of the 3 drafts that happened under Snow. Some of the FA signings were good but his record in trades to this point is not impressive. Hopefully he is learning and improving.
As far as Wang goes, I know he cares about the team and wants the best for it. If ya don’t you don’t lose millions of dollars every year because you like the popcorn in the owners box. I think he kept Milbury WAY TOO LONG. He listens to what his people tell him and lets them do what they feel is best. He certainly didn’t hang onto Nolan too long. Wayne Huizenga is generally considered one of the top handful of owners in sports. The other day I heard a story about when he first bought the franchise. He confused football and baseball terms, went into the radio booth to tell the announcers to stop being critical of the Dolphins etc.
I feel if the Lighthouse Project gets done, the team gets a player like Tavares or Hedman, gets maximum value for it’s assets this year they’ll come back pretty quick.
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Islander505 says:
Sir William….
It never ceases to amaze me how you continue to rag on Comeau…
A “bonehead” play?
He missed the net. That’s all. It was a solid shooting opportunity and he did the right thing, except put it on net.
Streit (THE ALL STAR) missed the net by a much wider margin at the end of the game.
If Comeau had tried to feather a drop pass to Gervais and missed, resulting in the same breakout by the Ranger’s, I have no doubt you’d still be on here blaming Comeau for not shooting.Overall I thought he (and KO and Bailey) played solid games. Comeau gets A LOT of scoring opportunities…the goals will come.
Nice to see Bailey winning faceoffs tonight.
Get him in the Trottier/Sillinger Summer Faceoff school. -
chickendirt says:
Comeau made a rookie blunder. Play like that you can’t afford to miss the net otherwise you get caught up ice. That’s exactly what happened.
I’m happy with the kids so far in this rebuild. Unlike the nineties these guys just keep batteling and never quit. No matter how bad things get or how many mistakes they make.
I’m really impressed with how it’s going. Wins will take time. For the most part they lost this game on some rookie mistake and that’s ok.
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505….3 on 1, fake the shot, freeze the goalie, and pass to the open man for a tap in. Blasting a slapshot leaves 3 players going one way and the puck going the other. You saw the end result.
Did you watch how the Rangers passed on the resulting 2 on 1 for an easy goal for Dawes?
Same play.Different result.Comeau made a bonehead play. No excuse
Streits missing the net didn’t result in an odd man rush or a Ranger goal, did it?….SW
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Matt says:
If we only had you out there in the last 5 minutes we could have had a chance. It was unfortunate he didn’t put it on net and it certainley led to the goal but the kid has been lectured by the coaching staff to shoot, shoot, shoot and he did. He missed bad shot. Funny you have moaned about him not shooting on here and newsday? I guess we all have players we don’t like but I like many have a hard time understanding what seems like your pure hatred for Comeau. I feel the same way about Gervais.
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Ryan says:
Hard work effort tonight…proved how overrated the rangers are
Comrie must stay!!!! Not only is he only 28, talented and wants to stay an Islander but he is a stand up, great person, a guy who we want wearing an Islander sweater!!!!
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Greg G says:
Still no emotion from Gordon. After the second strait icing call in the 3rd period he should have screaming at one of the refs.
I know our season is for draft picks at this point but we should still want to win. I don’t see how there could be any motivation when it really seems like Gordon could care less. I like Gordon and the Go-Go system looks great when its working but I don’t see how you can expect the islanders to go-go when Gordon looks like he’s go-going to sleep. -
frank nyc says:
Agreed Ryan.
We can’t ship off every vet. A few have to stay to show the kids the ropes and give them a bit a legitimacy.
The way i see it Trent Hunter will be here, Streit and hopefully Comrie (unless they get blown away by and offer)but if not then you should just keep him. He is still pretty young and can play a bit. -
the bomber says:
fake the shot and feather a pass over to the middle to the defenseman who will no doubt bury it….got it. i hope comeau reads this blog, it could really help him with all the experts on here. comparing that rush to the rangers 2-1 goal is apples to oranges but if it makes you feel better to spout off like your wayne gretzky, go for it.
kid just shot the puck wide in my mind. it seemed like he was trying his best, maybe he’s just not as good as you?? i cant fault him for that, not many are in your league talent-wise apparently….id rather our defenseman not join the rush when we are down a man in a tie game, but thats just me. and again, i too bow to your amazing hockey acumen, so i’m probably wrong….
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UIF says:
So Comeau, one of the best distributors of the puck on this team, is now a “puck hog” for shooting once? Sheesh…if we kill him for that, then let’s talk about all of the other kids’ mistakes last night too, like Bailey spazzing out all alone with the puck in front of the net. Kind of silly to take a once-in-a-lifetime play and kill a guy for it. If it becomes a pattern, I’ll worry.
I’m not willing to give the Isles an “‘atta boy!” for last night. Normally I would, but they’ve had too many of those “nice effort” games without posting a W. Just win one once in a while. This “nice try” stuff is like telling the kid who never swings in Little League “good eye!”
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Dominick from Wake Forest, NC says:
Thought the kids did pretty good. Anyone notice how good Tamby looked coming from the right side? He definitely looked more comfortable. I’d like to see him get more opportunities from the right.
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doc says:
Comeau was the 2nd best player on the ice for the islanders last night;
Okposo – 1
Comeau – 2
Bailey – 3
etc.Shots sometimes miss the net and create chances up the ice the other way. That’s hockey! The puck bounces in the other teams favor.
DOC
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brian says:
Again, when we start singing Kumbaya and praising the Isles “effort” and mention all the kids and how 9 were 24 and under….and use this as an excuse for teh futility. Let’s remember…. the Rangers had 7 players 24 and under, 11 26 and under and they are in first place. And they are being criticized while we are singing Kumbaya.
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Coach B says:
For those who have the NHL Network, you can see the Top Prospects game Wednesday Night at 7:00 PM.
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Healy says:
Not a bad game from the kids. Isles hit 2 posts. Couple of inches eitherway and we’d probably be saying the same exact things, just with the W
Danis looked a bit lost/shakey out there. I understand the jitters when the 3rd string goalie is thrust into a rivalry game but his lateral movement, rebounds, and recovery time were pretty bad. Definitely something that would improve with more playing time in the NHL though. Kudos to the Islanders for upping their game when the switch was made.
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isles72 says:
sens won , isles played an entertaining game with the kids showing improvement
good day in islander country
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Daryl C says:
Ok, so I’m glad that Billy G has more points than the Rags high-priced “talent” but when’s the last game he got a goal? Feels like double digits to me. That being said it kinda looks like he’s trying to set up the younger guys instead of scoring himself. He strikes me as that kind of guy…
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Healy:
Danis’s lateral movement has always been brutal. That’s why he’s only gotten 2 starts. Have never understood the Danis love around here… -
Dan from Westchester says:
Rangers did just enough to win tonight. Did not impress at all. Lundquist was their best player on the ice.
Great game for the kids. . Looked like Neilsen was getting stronger as the game went on.
Bailey needs to shoot more! On the breakout with Park – HE was the guy screaming down the middle and then passed off to Park for a tough angle shot – hope one of the vets or Gordon spoke to him after that.
And way too many Islander shots missed the net tonight – including Comeau’s blunder.
Overall – a loss is a win at this point. 5 point lead!
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I wouldn’t say there’s Danis love. From my perspective I didn’t understand the desire to burn out Joey Mac ever since it was clear DP wouldn’t be healthy this year. I was always saying that if they couldn’t trust Danis to take a semi-regular start then he should be sent back to the AHL and they should find someone they trusted.
Kids looked good last night, and I don’t think it has anything to do with singing “Kumbaya.” There were, of course, hiccups…There was no excuse for Bailey not to shoot on that breakout he had with Park, Okposo waited too long on his 2-1 with Comeau – allowing the Rag defender to poke-check him, and Gervais got caught pinching on the second Islander goal. However, there is improvement, and at this point that’s all we can ask for.
If Dubie comes back, great. If not, give John Grahame or Robert Esche a call. Either way, especially with Mac potentially on the shelf, we need another NHL-caliber goalie.
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Dan – I actually disagree on Lundqvist for the most part. He made some decent saves, but he didn’t have it for the first half of this game. Bad on the Isles for not putting more shots when he was clearly uncomfortable.
Otherwise I agree. Rags did just enough to win, and they didn’t look like world-beaters.
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Brian G says:
CB – is there anyway they sign the Goalie prospect they have in Sweden – Ridderwall and bring him over to play the Rest of the year?
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Moose says:
I thought tambellini was very effective last night, you can finally see his speed, even though they never really connected with the long passes up the middle it seemed to keep the rangers on their heels a bit…there was another 3 on 1 that they couldnt execute that no one has been talking about, Richard Park came in 3 on 1 and held the puck and shot it into Lundqvists chest, he has to at least give some kind of fake or something, i guess he did hit the net tho
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Jim Clark says: Another game.
Another Islander loss.
Another injury.Why all the injuries.Is it just random? Or are Gordon’s “start/stop” practices hurting the players.
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Moose – if that’s the play I’m remembering, Park made a nice pass to the slot, then drifted to the side of the net to look for a rebound. He probably should have never gotten that return pass from whoever the center was because he was no longer in a good shooting spot. I thought the Isles did that a few times last night – guys who were in perfect shooting lanes elected to pass to guys who were at bad angles.
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Yeah, they lost again due to a few mistakes, but, as a hockey fan and viewer from upstate, I really enjoyed the energy the Isles put out on the ice. It was a fun game to watch and the Isles played hard.
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UIF…yea it was that play, the difference between that and Drury’s goal was that they took the shot from the slot
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Paul says:
Great effort last night! it pisses me off to see Orr standing in front of the Islander bench and telling Jackman to settle down! We need a true HeavyWeight so that stuff dont happen! We needed Sugden not Fritz.
Now Mcdonald out; doesn’t this happen to us every year in the 2nd half a goalie goes down! you can write a book on this team “How not to run An Organization” -
Bomber, good of you to admit when you are wrong. Apples and oranges? Odd man rushes going both ways. One scores, the other ends up giving the other team an easy goal.
Comeau HOLDS the puck too long. If this was any other team he would have found his rump glued to the bench for the rest of the period for making that mistake.
I fail to see why fans here are so enamored of him. He doesn’t score (3 goals in 17 games). He’s a defensive liability (-11 in 17 games). And he holds onto the puck too long effectivly negating the speed of Comrie and Okposo.
Yet, some fans here contiue to sing his praises as if he were the second coming of Bryan Tottier. At best he is a third or fourth line player like so many other forwards on this roster…..SW
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Bailey only has one goal…guess we should banish him to the fourth line too, SW? And the entire team is a minus this year, btw. No one said he was Trottier…he’s not even a center. But burning him under a magnifying glass for ONE PLAY is sort of…odd. Especially considering he played pretty good last night other than that play. If the shot is three inches to the right, he hits the net and we’re not even discussing this today. It was a mistake, and plenty of other Isles made them last night.
Heck, there were two other mistakes made on that same play…Gervais pinching when he shouldn’t, and the other d-man playing in no-man’s land rather than playing either the man with the puck or the pass. But somehow it’s 100% Comeau’s fault? I sense a grudge here for some reason.
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Great effort by our little itsy bitsy Islanders. Kumbaya!!! We should all be happy with the spunky effort from our last place Islanders.
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One last point…if the Isles’ offense as a whole was able to take advantage of a shaky Lundqvist, neither Rangers goal would have mattered. If anyone really expected them to win the game scoring only one goal, that just ain’t gonna happen. You could point a finger at all of the forwards for managing 0 goals between them all last night facing a goalie who was clearly off. That’s far more troubling, imo, than Comeau missing the net this one time in the middle of the game.
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ISLESFAN999 says:
Isles biggest need now is to trade all the vets and bring aboard some skill and size next year. We absolutley need a enforcer. I think we have a few in bport but we need nhl ready. We also need more defensive size our d is too small we miss sutton.
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Marc from Troy says:
To the perception that Snow’s trade history to-date has been less than impressive… Is it just because he hasn’t pulled off anything “splashy” yet? Is that it? How about considering this: maybe he hasn’t been able to pull off the kind of deals you want to see because he’s not willing to give away the farm. Don’t you think it’s possible – I would say even probable – that the other GMs around the league look at the “poor, downtrodden Isles” and their inexperienced GM and think they can simply take advantage of them when it comes to discussing trades? Maybe Snow isn’t willing to give in and just make trades just for the sake of making trades.
Who’s to say that Atlanta would have given the Isles Coburn straight-up for Zhitnik? Nobody here knows that. Same goes for everyone killing Snow for not getting rid of Vasicek/Satan/Tank at the deadline last year. What’s the point of making a deal if you don’t get back what you want?
I know I certainly don’t want some other team’s salary dump at the expense of the Isles’ young talent, either. For whatever reason, however, I guess it’s just easier to assume incompetence instead of patience in situations like this.
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Tom says:
I HATE the rags. BUT we can compare Gomez/Guerin stats all day long, Guerin’s season was over by Halloween, Gomez’ isn’t. I HATE the rags. But not everything can be measured in dollars & cents. Wins, losses & the playoffs…that’s how Pro players & Pro teams are rated.
It’s unfortunate but that’s how we all view the Isles…”Hey that a guy who doesn’t trip over the blue line, Snow signed him for the league minimum…nice pick-up!”
That’s not my version of winning attitude.
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cgs878 says:
We sure do have a bunch of opinionated hockey fans here… which always makes things fun! I watched the game last night from my bedroom and didn’t fall asleep, which means that it was interesting. I wish Jackman had crushed Dawes into the boards a few times, but other than that, I thought that the Islanders’ effort was acceptable. In Danis we trust!!
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I’m surprised nobody has mentioned the play of Nielson, he looked really good, especially his first game back. Comrie must go. I’m a lttile shocked at some of the comments about keeping him. The guy is slow and extremely weak on the puck. Also keeping Comrie would mean less ice time for Nielson, Bailey, and we may not see Smith for some time again after his good play. Take another second and dump him!!!!
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Sir William,
Maybe you should watch the replay again? If that is a 3 on 1 i think you might need new glasses. It is clearly a 3 on 2 with Gomez right behind Gervais backchecking. The only reason that materialized into anything is because Dawes hopped on the ice after a line change right after that shot was taken.
I still dont see anyone that says they are enamored with Comeau or think he is the next Bryan Trottier. It just seems that you have a personal vendetta against him. He can do no right in your eyes. Nearly all of your posts on here are giving Comeau grief after every game. Granted he is not a top line winger, but i dont see the need to criticize him every game. There are far worse players on the team that deserve that. Jackman is at -13, Okposo and Hunter are only a couple of +- away from him also. And lets not forget about fabulous defense. Time to give it a rest.
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Comeau is one of the bright spots this year. He has potential to be a third or at best second line foward as far as I can see. I like his play, he could shore up a bit defensively but I think you could say that about the whole team. Comrie males glaring mistakes at both ends of the ice and always has but doesn’t feel the wrath of Sir William so you have to wonder his motives. To me it looks like he is stirring the pot because everyone reacts the way they do to his comments about Comeau. Just let it go.
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Sir William
I find you to not be the most intelligent person. You’re not going to shoot on target 100% of the time. It’s just not going to happen. If you do, you’re probably sticking it in the goalies chest, unless you shoot about 300 miles an hour and just put a hole through the goalies chest it’s not going to go in. So what is one to do??? PICK A CORNER. That’s what Blake was going for. We all appologize that he will never be a 50 goal scorer and doesn’t have the accuracy of Ovechkin (who will miss the net too, everyone does). Kudos to the kid for trying to make something happen while they were short handed, they just caught a bad break that he shot it hard, missed the net, and that Dawes came off the bench at a lucky time. Dont you get it? this is the Islanders. If they didn’t have bad luck they would have none at all, and that’s all that was. BAD LUCK
KEEP SHOOTING BLAKE!
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Also the whole team is going ot have a lousy +/-, that’s what happens when you give up a ton more goals than you score
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Just a thought but maybe;
Sir William = Scott Gordon
That would explain him not being called up earlier when he was a point a game player down at the Bridge! -
Tim says:
William, in that situation, you should shoot at the goalie’s pads and get the rebound for one of the other two attackers. You don’t try to pick a corner from a bad angle on a 3 on 2, ESPECIALLY on the PK. I like Comeau, but that was a terrible play.
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I had actually mentioned shooting for the rebound previously, but once again the kid’s trying to stick here, since for some reason he didn’t start here after playing last year with the Isles. Go figure. BAD LUCK
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sir william is wayne gretzky. he woulda put that thing off the post and in….with all these injuries i cant believe he still hasnt been called up from the mens league. i can see his frustration not getting the call, then having to watch the awful blake comeau being a minus 11 on a 20 games under .500 team with no defense and a backup goalie has to be a killer….
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Spin it anyway you want gents. It was not a 3 on 2, but a 3 on 1. All three attacker were almost parallel so even shooting for a rebound would have been risky at best.
Watch how the Rangers perfectly executed the 2 on 1 that Dawes taps in on the subsequent play.
Let’s keep our eyes closed and never critcize our players when they make stupid decisions that cost us the game.
No I am not Scott Gordon nor Wayne Gretsky. Just someone who understands the fundementals of the game from fifty years of playing, coaching and observing….SW
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inquiring minds want to know if CB is out of TO?
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Dally Mac says:
Just watching a discussion about the Islanders, on the Sportnet Ontario between Nick Kypreos. He said that as long as the Islanders have the building and training fascilities they have, they cannot attract free agents. He mentioned that Washington with Ovechkin are making a boat load of money right now and have the most beautiful training facility in the league and Toronto is apparently doing the same. He says that’s how you attract guys now, money isn’t enough, good buildings you can take your family to, and a place that has all the trimmings to keep you body fit (all our injures) is how you do it. That’s why Wang won’t compromise on the Lighthouse, not only is it a good business deal for him, it’s an attraction for potential UFA’s. A refurbished building is not enough. I say for him to stick to his guns. Kipper thought Snow was doing well, considering what he has to work with. Then they made fun of our goalies….soooo. They also touched on DiPi being the face of the team and definitely the possiblity of getting Tavares would greatly help their marketing. Less of a load on Ricky to be the face. But with Slick Rick, he might find that a threat….lol
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“Watch how the Rangers perfectly executed the 2 on 1 that Dawes taps in on the subsequent play.”
Again…three mistakes on the same play, but everyone except Comeau escapes blame from you. I don’t understand. After 50 years of studying the game, maybe you happened to notice that the Isles defender on the play committed to doing absolutely nothing…playing neither the man nor the pass. I guess Comeau must have distracted him from down the ice or cast some sort of voodoo spell on him too. It’s a shame that Comeau also injured Joey Mac during the game and personally invited all of the Rangers fans that flooded into the building last night.
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On the 3-on-1 goal, I put more blame on Witt. He went for the fake and took his stick out of the passing lane to try and block the shot allowing the pass to go through clean. I picked it up immediately on the replay and I continue to be amazed at Witt’s fall from grace.
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crazy joe davola says:
Dearest Sir William,
The 2 on 1 the Rangers had was botched by the defenseman. Goalie plays the shooter, Dman gets the passing lane. Simple hockey 101. Isles screwed it up.
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Please go back and look at that play again. Go to nhl.com to the video section and then highlights. its not that hard to look at a replay is it? Ill stand by my word if thats a 3 on 1 for Comeau i will gladly eat crow, if its not please show us a receipt for your new prescription lenses. Maybe you mean the rags had a 3 on 1 which i will gladly agree with, but not the Isles Thanks!
x x
o
o
oThats how it looks to me.
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oh well the x’s and o’s dont line up, but you get the point the rags had 2 d-men back.
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kevin says:
was that offer 4real or were you just joking.
The kids are playing better. Streit is a beast. Everything else about the game is irrelevant.