Monthly Archives: October 2010
Point Blank Night is TOMORROW at SOCIAL: Islanders at Lightning on more than a dozen screens. Free buffet, free shots, raffle and more! RSVP here.
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Here’s Part 1 of our discussion with former Islanders center Ray Ferraro of TSN, focusing on the team’s last playoff victories in 1993. Up next: I ask Ferraro to respond to the fans’ concerns about his recent criticism of the franchise.
FH 2-on-1: Are the Leafs, Lightning and NYI for Real?
CB at FanHouse: Rypien deserves 20-game suspension
Point Blank Night is TOMORROW at SOCIAL: Islanders at Lightning on more than a dozen screens. Free buffet, free shots, raffle and more! RSVP here.
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11:35 am, NVMC: The summary from Scott Gordon:
On the availability of Josh Bailey for Thursday in Tampa Bay: “I haven’t ruled him out.”
On his goaltending rotation: ”They’re both going to play. There’s a rhyme and reason to it.”
On Bruno Gervais practicing at forward: “If we decide to go with seven D, it gives Bruno a comfort level playing up front. It’s also good from a conditioning standpoint.”
Gordon wasn’t sure if Trent Hunter was good to go for the Lightning. “I don’t have word yet,” said the coach. “This was his first practice.”
On Lightning star Steven Stamkos: “It’s like Crosby and Ovechkin – they’re going to get their chances.” Gordon said it’s important his team does the right things offensively, so Stamkos’ time is limited with the puck.
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10:20 am, NVMC: The Islanders have not recalled anyone from Bridgeport (AHL) yet today. Trent Hunter (foot injury) is skating on the fourth line. Bruno Gervais is practicing as a forward, wearing the same light blue jersey as Nino Niederreiter, Doug Weight and Michael Grabner. Since the Islanders are carrying eight defensemen – all on one-way contracts – and one extra forward, they have no room on the 23-man roster if they don’t place a player on the Injured list.
Josh Bailey is not practicing with the team.
Moulson – Tavares – Comeau
Sim – Nielsen – Parenteau
Niederreiter – Weight – Grabner (Gervais)
Gillies – Konopka – Hunter
Defense: Eaton, Hillen, Jurcina, MacDonald, Martinek, Mottau, Wisniewski
Roloson
DiPietro
Notes: Today begins the Islanders’ annual Fathers Trip. Most of the players and coaches will have their dads or a mentor staying with them on the two-game trek in Florida. It also might be a partial explanation why some injured players are going to Florida. They can get their treatment on the road, and it’s only right they get to be part of the special trip.
Reality for Gervais: At one point in practice, Scott Gordon had a quick huddle with seven defensemen, while Gervais took a knee with his three forward linemates for the day.
Much more to come.
RSVP: Point Blank Night is Thursday!
Thank you to HNIC’s and the NHL Network’s Kevin Weekes for his insight on Roloson, DiPietro, Mikko Koskinen and Islanders goaltending consultant (and Kevin’s personal goalie coach) Sudarshan “Sudsie” Maharaj.
Not much news out of the Country so far today. Josh Bailey (hip flexor injury) is day-to-day and unlikely for Thursday. I’ll be at practice tomorrow, as will possibly a recall from Bridgeport. I hope you enjoy the video. Just remember, I’m a blogger…not Brian Duff. Comments.
FanHouse: Tavares OT goal caps early-season classic
Point Blank Night is Thursday at SOCIAL: Islanders at Lightning on more than a dozen screens. Free buffet, free shots, raffle and more! RSVP here.
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An overtime, power play goal by John Tavares earns the Islanders the win and the second point after a late power play goal by Phil Kessel ends regulation tied at 1-1. Dwayne Roloson was magnificent, making 29 saves – at least four major rob-jobs. Tavares and Frans Nielsen assisted on Matt Moulson’s goal in the second period to open the scoring. Josh Bailey suffered a hip flexor injury in the first period and will likely be called day-to-day.
CB and Adam Gretz at AOL FanHouse:
The NHL’s Best of the Week (includes NYI)
FanHouse: Wisniewski clears the air on Avery incident
Point Blank Night is Thursday at SOCIAL: Islanders at Lightning on more than a dozen screens. Free buffet, free shots, raffle and more! RSVP here.
12:15 pm: Josh Bailey has played so well through five games in Year 3 of his young career, it’s reasonable to wonder if his steady development will impact a decision the Islanders will need to make in about a week.
Bailey was a very mature 18-year-old when the Islanders pondered keeping him away from the eventual Memorial Cup champion Windsor Spitfires and eventual gold-winning Team Canada for the World Junior Championships. After the first ten days of the 2010-11 season, Bailey (4-3-7 in five games) is tied for fifth in the NHL in scoring.
Nino Niederreiter is a very mature 18-year-old. After playing in (what should be) his ninth game of the season in Montreal on Oct. 27, the Islanders have to decide whether the top prospect is better off spending the entire season here or continuing his development with Portland of the WHL. His teammate, linemate and close friend Ryan Johansen, drafted one slot before him in June at fourth overall, was returned by the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Prior to the Islanders’ game against Colorado on Saturday, I asked Scott Gordon if Bailey’s impressive showing in his third season will have any effect on the team’s decision on Niederreiter. Not surprisingly, Gordon pointed out that Bailey and Niederreiter are “two different players.” But then he went on to compliment the evolution of the Swiss forward as compared to Bailey’s play at this time in 2008.
“Nino was more prepared,” said Gordon. The head coach talked about how young Joshua spent a lot of time in the first half of his rookie season “watching the play.” He also recalled, “Josh was, a lot of times, a bystander. He’d put himself out on the perimeter after a play and never recovered inside the dots. As a result, sometimes in his shifts he was playing shorthanded. That’s the biggest progress he made from year one to year two. That was something that was probably just a habit in junior.”
Make no mistake, Gordon showed a light touch in his criticism of Bailey as a raw rookie. Especially since the 20-year-old looks so darn good now, it’s easy to look back and laugh a bit.
After Bailey turned in another front-line performance on Saturday with a goal and assist against Colorado, the head coach expounded on the Bailey Experiment.
“We knew that if he stayed here, we could get a lot of the bad things out of his game and make the process quicker for him,” said Gordon. “If we had sent him back to junior, he would have gotten a bunch of points, probably would’ve won the Memorial Cup with the team that won it. He would’ve gone to World Juniors. But at the end of the day, he could be the player we saw last year instead of being the player he is now.
“That’s two summers of quality off-ice training. He’s just so much stronger on the puck now. Had he played another year against kids, it wouldn’t have helped him as far as speeding up the process of being NHL-ready.”
On the other hand, Gordon said Niederreiter – right here, right now – “initiates contact, initiates the play. Nino is more involved all over.”
Now the big question, which will be answered in the next ten days, is whether El Nino sticks. Rob Schremp’s back should be better in a week or two. Kyle Okposo, still wearing a sling, will return in another month or so. These Islanders may not be the Flying Frenchmen, but filling spots on the top three lines is no longer a chore. As they say, it’s a good problem to have.
Is Niederreiter “initiating,” being “more involved all over,” and being bigger, stronger and a better skater than Bailey and John Tavares were in their first months enough? The Islanders are over the moon about the third-year result of the Bailey experiment. It would seem to reason, especially since they consider Niederreiter a more polished player at 18, the Islanders would learn toward keeping the big forward along for the ride.
However, the Islanders are better and deeper than they were in 2008 and 2009, thanks in large part to Bailey and Tavares. If the Islanders send Niederreiter back to the Western League, they could honestly boast about this not being 2008 anymore.
Will they keep another teenager? Should they? For the record, my answers are a) I don’t know and b) No, they should not keep him. The bottom line is that we’re going to know by the conclusion of this four-game road swing, which begins tonight in Toronto.
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Questions for Kevin Weekes?: Next week, we are recording mini-shows for “SNY/Point Blank TV” in the studio. One of our guests (via phone) will be former Islanders goalie Kevin Weekes of Hockey Night in Canada and the NHL Network. If you have a question you’d like me to ask Kevin, please submit it in Comments.
Besides some of the obvious questions I already have planned, I will try to include some from the readers. To get involved, please list your name and hometown and submit just one question per reader. Thank you.
NOTES
According to Katie Strang, Dwayne Roloson gets the start tonight for the Islanders against the 4-0 Maple Leafs, who will have J.S. Giguere in goal. Roloson had a 58-save win in Toronto last season. As reported by Pierre LeBrun, Rick DiPietro wore pink goalie pads today at the morning skate in honor of Breast Cancer awareness. He hope to break in the pads and a pink glove enough to wear them in an upcoming game.
Trent Hunter did not make the trip to Toronto. It appears Blake Comeau is fine after getting a bit beat up Friday and Saturday, so the only lineup change for the Islanders is in goal.
Kevin Poulin made 31 saves to earn his first professional win and Justin DiBenedetto scored a pair of power play goals as the Sound Tigers beat Portland yesterday in Bridgeport, 4-1. The loss was Portland’s first of the season (4-1). The Sound TIgers ended a three-game losing streak and are now 2-3.
Goalie Nathan Lawson is on waivers so he can be sent to Bridgeport. Lawson, with a .924 save percentage the last two years (thank you: Scott Cullen of The Hockey News), may be the best minor league goalie few have heard of. Unless one of the other 29 teams really needs a goalie for the NHL and has done their homework, Lawson should clear.
Team USA assistant coaches Scott Gordon and John Tortorella are officially speaking the same language. When the Rangers head coach was asked about his team’s defensive deficiences in the home opener loss to the Maple Leafs on Friday, here’s what Tortorella said: “It wasn’t about forechecking and the high man wasn’t a problem. It was running around the end zone and spinning instead of stopping.” Gordon said a variation of that at least once a week during his first two seasons with the Islanders.
The NHL has rescinded the major penalty given to Penguins defenseman Kris Letang on Friday after the league saw on videotape that his hit on Comeau was shoulder-to-shoulder.
Live Chat Begins at 7 pm: Join the Point Blank live chat tonight from the opening faceoff to the final horn of the Islanders’ tilt in Toronto. All hockey fans welcome. The ground rules are simple: we talk about the Islanders and the game. We don’t discuss the broadcast or what’s going on in other games (or even the Yankees). See you tonight.
Comments on this subject and tonight’s game.
Noon: The Islanders are not practicing today. They leave this afternoon for Toronto, where they will face the undefeated Maple Leafs on Monday. Next up news-wise for the Islanders could be an injury update on Blake Comeau, who absorbed a slap shot with his foot in last night’s win over Colorado. On a positive note, Josh Bailey (3-4-7 in five games) is tied for fourth in the NHL in scoring.
We hope to see you on Thursday when fellow hockey fans enjoy a fun night out. The SNY cameras will be there to shoot all the activity.
Islanders at Tampa Bay this Thursday, Oct. 21 from 7:30 – 10:30 pm at SOCIAL on more than a dozen screens.
Free buffet from Danny Gagnon of “Top Chef” and beer and drink specials from 7:30-8:30 pm.
Complimentary shots – “SOCIAL Slap Shots” – after each Islanders goal.
Raffle, including Islanders tickets and more.
And you never know what (or who) else.
All ages welcome. 21 and over to drink. SOCIAL is at 1002 Hempstead Turnpike across the street from the Coliseum and is a first-class establishment that even has a giant Mike Bossy mural. Before and after every home game, SOCIAL gives 10% off the bill to Islanders fans.
The Oct. 21 event is just a small way of saying thanks for the continued incredible support of readers and to SOCIAL, the official Nassau County establishment of Point Blank.
Please RSVP – YES only – here. Thank you.
FanHouse: Wisniewski clears the air on Avery incident
Point Blank Night is Thursday at SOCIAL: Islanders at Lightning on more than a dozen screens. Free buffet, free shots, raffle and more! RSVP here.
10:10 pm, Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum: Three goals – two by Milan Jurcina, one by Josh Bailey – in the second half of the second period wake up the building and carry the Islanders to a victory over Colorado. Of the two teams, only the Avalanche looked like they played last night. Dwayne Roloson made 28 saves, including a few key stops in the first 30 minutes. The Islanders improve to 2-1-2 before hitting the road again.
“We have more than potential,” said Scott Gordon after the game. “We have abilities.”
TONIGHT’S FIVE BEST
1. Milan Jurcina - Seen on the Colorado dry-erase board before the game: “No one player can stop Jurcina, but we must work as a team to try and contain him.”
2. Josh Bailey - Another goal and an assist. Another top-shelf performance. Yawn.
3. James Wisniewski - An assist, solid D over a team-high 23:12 and a first-class mea culpa before the game. On his first shift, a few sections roared, “James Wis-niew-ski”! Good stuff.
4. Dwayne Roloson - A typical Roloson performance. This, to be sure, is a compliment. “He was great,” said Gordon.
5. Michael Grabner – First goal as an Islander.
Honorable Mention: Zenon Konopka - Dropped the gloves with Chris Stewart right off the opening faceoff, continued to win key faceoffs and certainly has shown creativity, flair and courage by insisting that a No. 1 hit in Canada from the ’80s be the team’s goal song. Na-nah, Na-na-NA.
THE SUBPLOT
Before the game Wisniewski said regrets, he has a few. See the story at FanHouse. I thought Wisniewski did a great job of stepping up and turning the page.
(FRANS) NIELSEN RATINGS (1-10)
NYI Performance - 8: Even when not much was working for the first half of the game, Scott Gordon’s team played hard and smart. On the second of back-to-back games, when you win a game with top players out, there is little cause for criticism.
Power Play - 6: The Islanders were 1-for-6.
Penalty Killing - 10: Not your classic shorthanded goal – “Bailey wins the faceoff in the Colorado zone, back to Jurcina…GOAL”! Doesn’t matter. Islanders perfect on the penalty kill, plus a shortie.
Goaltending - 8: He’s been so solid for a year and a game, it was shocking to see Chris Stewart’s blast go over Roloson and into the net in the third period. Still, he was strong before and after.
Opponent - 4: Colorado skated, skated and skated, but ultimately all the hard work signified very little. Tough night for the oft-spectacular Craig Anderson, who in hindsight should have been given the night off by Joe Sacco. When Matt Moulson skated past the bench on yet another odd-man rush (shorthanded) in the third period, Sacco looked at one his assistants like he couldn’t watch the game anymore.
Game - 6: No one who paid 1,972 of them can say can say this tilt wasn’t worth every penny.
Event - 8: The salute to military personnel in attendance never gets old, does it? Always nice to see both teams acknowledge the officers. For one, Zenon Konopka seems to make a point of trying to make eye contact and banging his stick in salute. Al Arbour, at Hofstra today for an autograph signing, was also in the old barn on Hempstead Turnpike. Tim Horton’s coffee and donuts are coming to the Coliseum soon, so let’s award that a bonus point in advance.
Crowd - The $19.72 promotion helped fill in the sections behind the goals. Official attendance was 10,127.
NOTES
Tavares (concussion) and Wisniewski returned to the lineup. Trent Hunter sat out with the foot injury that so obviously bothered him Friday in Pittsburgh. The healthy scratches were Jack Hillen and Bruno Gervais.
CLIPS
Milan Jurcina
Josh Bailey
Comments on tonight’s game are welcomed.
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