Monthly Archives: October 2010
FH Blogger Survey: Know Your Nashville Predators
CB at FanHouse: Wisniewski Shafted
Scott Gordon on Josh Bailey, Blake Comeau, Mike Mottau, his team’s good start and facing the Capitals on Wednesday.
Mike Mottau speaks with SNY Point Blank about his first weeks as an Islander and the challenges of facing Alexander Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby this week.
As expected and as per lone Islanders road reporter Katie Strang of Newsday, Dwayne Roloson makes his first start in goal. Jack Hillen is in for the suspended James Wisniewski. Thank you to Jeff Goldman and Jason Potere of SNY for their work on the videos.
I’m hosting an interactive live chat thread in Comments during the game tonight. I’ll start the thread at 6:30 pm and hope you’ll join in all night for the Islanders’ first road game of the season. Your comments on this post are encouraged. Details on Point Blank Night at SOCIAL next Thursday are below.
CB at FanHouse: Wisniewski Shafted
We had a great crowd last season, hoping for even a bigger one next Thursday. Please join me and your fellow hockey fans for a fun night out.
Islanders at Tampa Bay on 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 confirm your attendance – YESSES ONLY, please – in the Comments space. Contact me via email at cb@islanderspointblank if you have questions or other ideas. Looking forward to it.
FanHouse: Wiz-Avery video, reaction
5:40 pm: A league source has confirmed that James Wisniewski has been suspended by the NHL for two games. I look forward to seeing how they describe the defenseman’s gesture in the press release. In an Islanders statement, Wisniewski said he will accept the NHL’s decision and move on.
One game too many, in my viewpoint. One game for throat slash (Boynton), one game for stick threat near the face and delivered to the back of the leg (Cammalleri), two games for…you know. This was certainly historic and unprecedented. Can never figure this stuff out and not about to try now. It’s up to the Islanders if they want to say anything. Hillen and Gervais are the lefty and righty warming up in the bullpen. Comments?
FanHouse: Wiz-Avery video, reaction
Instant NYI updates on Twitter
12:45 pm, Iceworks: Scott Gordon says John Tavares is not travelling with the team today. With games Wednesday in DC and Friday in Pittsburgh, Saturday’s home game against the Avalanche appears to be the earliest return date.
Gordon and Doug Weight said they spoke with James Wisniewski about yesterday’s event but preferred to keep those conversations private. Weight did not condone the action, but did say it gets ugly out there. “They say ‘all is fair in love and war’ and all that stuff, but I don’t know,” said the captain. “Some of the stuff that starts up in the warmup is just disgraceful.”
Gordon was not ready to commit to a goalkeeper for the team’s third game of the season, saying he wanted to speak with Rick DiPietro and the trainers before making a decision. Smart money is probably on DiPietro (presuming 100% health) getting the Caps and Rick and Dwayne Roloson splitting the back-to-backs this weekend.
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11:30 am, Iceworks: Tavares is not practicing with the team today, but did skate beforehand. He also worked out off the ice. The Islanders say his baseline tests came out well. They will proceed cautiously by first having him sit out their game Wednesday at Washington. Then it’s day-to-day. Practice lineup remains the same:
Comeau – Bailey – Parenteau
Moulson – Nielsen – Hunter
Niederreiter – (Weight) – Grabner
Gillies – Konopka – Sim
Mottau – Wisniewski
Eaton – Martinek
Jurcina - MacDonald
Hillen – Gervais
Roloson
Lawson
Notes: Rick DiPietro did not practice with the team, but worked out on his own. Dwayne Roloson and Nathan Lawson are the goaltenders…Doug Weight skated before practice, but is not taking part in the main session. Fair assumption is that it’s just a day off for the captain before leaving this afternoon for Washington…No word yet on any potential NHL discipline for James Wisniewski. The rest of hockey usually learns about these things from Darren Dreger, so check his Twitter.
More later, plus the SNY crew is at practice today filming segments for the week.
FanHouse: Video, reaction on Wisniewski to Avery
4:30 pm: The seriously undermanned Islanders once again played their tails off and the Gordon forecheck drove even a familiar team batty. Down 4-3 with five minutes left in the third period, P.A. Parenteau tied the game on a 5-on-3 power play and Blake Comeau scored the game-winner on the 5-on-4. Frans Nielsen added the empty-netter.
Said Scott Gordon:”If we play our game correctly, good things will happen.” They did today.
TODAY’S FIVE BEST
1. Blake Comeau - Always plays well against the Rangers. Starting to play well against every team.
2. Josh Bailey - Injuries or not, Bailey has been the Islanders’ best player through two games. A very welcomed development.
3. Matt Moulson - Another goal, plus an assist.
4. Artem Anisimov -Young center blossoming in Manhattan.
5. Mike Mottau - Two assists, another 20 minutes of steadiness on D.
THE SIDESHOW
James Wisniewski made a lewd gesture at Sean Avery during the first period. He will likely be suspended, probably for just one game. Knowing James should become a folk hero in the Country as a result, it may be worth it for him in the long run.
(FRANS) NIELSEN RATINGS (1-10)
NYI Performance - 9: When you’re this shorthanded and still beat your archrival, there should be little to complain about.
Power Play - 8: Two more goals on the power play, again when they really needed them.
Penalty Killing - 4: Allowed two more on four opportunities. The PK has to be better.
Goaltending - 5: DiPietro was extremely sharp early, making a few sprawling saves and stopping Marian Gaborik on a first period penalty shot. He got his teammates and the crowd into the game. He was average the rest of the way, but good enough to get the win while still shaking off the rust. Said Gordon about what DiPietro needs more work at, what he can’t get in practice: “Fighting through screens, getting bumped. You have to get used to it.”
Opponent - 5: Only missing Chris Drury, the Rangers were more than a little peeved in the locker room postgame for not closing out their feisty opponent.
Game - 9: Not an artistic masterpiece, but fans don’t pay for that. This was entertaining as heck.
Event - 6: The new goal song, as ordered by Zenon Konopka, is “Live is Life” by Opus. Please allow me to quote the medicore Phil Collins: I don’t care anymore.
Crowd - Attendance was announced at 11,748. Islanders have responded well to crowds at MSG last few years, so large turnout of Rangers fans only had a positive effect. Today’s game could have been played at night, but Jets-Vikings would have affected attendance, too. I’m sure the Islanders wished the NHL gave them the Rangers on a Tuesday night with nothing going on. Unfortunate.
NOTES
Michael Grabner made his NYI debut, playing left wing on Doug Weight’s line. Josh Bailey took John Tavares’ center spot on the line with Blake Comeau and PA Parenteau…Zenon Konopka hosted Brandon Prust in the best and longest fight the Coliseum crowd has seen in a while…Blake Comeau has scored eight of his 34 career NHL goals against the Rangers.
The Islanders have been called for too-many-men penalities in each of their first two games. The Rangers scored off today’s TMM in the second period.
CLIPS
Blake Comeau
P. A. Parenteau
Comments on today’s game are welcomed.
FH: The NHL’s Best for Week 1 (includes NYI)
CB at FanHouse: Video and reaction to Tavares injury
11:20 am: Clear-cut No. 1 goalie Rick DiPietro gets the start against the Rangers, after having yesterday off. The Islanders say they won’t have a timetable on John Tavares until he undergoes further evaluation later today. Garth Snow tells Katie Strang that the team will be cautious. Kirill Kabanov has returned to Russia for personal reasons. No controversy this time. He is said to be there for a family issue and will return to Moncton soon.
The team announced on Twitter that they are changing the goal song again, in a decision spurred by a player movement led by Zenon Konopka. Over the last few weeks, I’ve heard many stories about Konopka getting involved “in the room,” as they say. Interesting guy.
Islanders to watch today: Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan’s Blake Comeau, who always plays big against the Rangers.
Talk about today’s game here. See you later.
FH: The NHL’s Best for Week 1 (includes NYI)
CB at FanHouse: Video and reaction to Tavares injury
3:30 pm: When John Tavares was helped off the ice by trainer Garrett Timms late in the first period and the Islanders did not provide an injury update by the end of the first intermission, you knew this was not merely a bruise or a sprain. It was far worse.
Nothing – not even a major shoulder separation – compares to the danger of a head injury. It makes you wonder, after all these years, why teams like the Islanders still use the term “mild” concussion. Of course, there are varying grades of severity. But why not wait until complete recuperation and, should the player return to the lineup within a week, then detail to your fans why in this case he was back on his feet quicker than Kenny Jonsson or Marc Savard or Justin Morneau?
Tavares cannot come back a moment, a day, a week too late. Never mind that he symbolizes hope for the franchise, and second place in the Q ratings currently isn’t very close. He is 20 years old. Until Saturday, the first overall pick in the 2009 draft did not have a history of concussions. Now he does.
If the Islanders’ medical team decides on Monday that Tavares’ symptons are mild enough for him to return to the lineup next Saturday at home against the Avalanche, they should tack on at least another week. There isn’t anything that could happen in upcoming road games in Toronto, Tampa Bay and Florida that Tavares can alter by himself.
In the league where everyone gets points, and a team has to have either miserable goaltending (see NYI, 2008-09) or defense (Oilers, 2009-10) to be out of the playoff hunt by Christmas, the Islanders may lose some of these games, but not enough to wreck their season. There’s a reason I picked the Islanders to finish over .500 this season – to the laughter of many. Last night proved it. (Note to Frans: change it up, buddy).
I remember the last game of Brett Lindros. The team was in Buffalo and big Brett barely got bumped by one of the Sabres. After the game, I was told he had just suffered the last concussion he’ll ever get in a hockey game. I remember Kenny Jonsson, as warm a gentleman and as intelligent a player as this franchise has ever had, going weeks not even looking like himself.
Ten months ago, Rick DiPietro began a rehabilitation assignment in Bridgeport for a knee injury that prematurely ended his 2007-08 season and limited him to just five games in ’08-09. DiPietro played a grand total of 199 minutes as a Sound Tiger with an .883 save percentage before he was brought back to the Islanders. He played eight games in the NHL before his knee forced him to shut it down again.
This is what can happen when an organization can’t wait to see one of its favorite sons playing another hockey game. And that’s only a knee, not a head with so many vital parts.
Katie Strang of Newsday reported from practice today that Scott Gordon said Tavares is feeling fine, other than a sore neck. That’s the best news the Islanders could get from this weekend, even more than two points over the rival Rangers on Columbus Day. But what Mike Johnson said on “NHL on the Fly” last night should stick. “When you’re not expecting to get hit,” said Johnson, “that’s when you’re the most vulnerable.” You better believe Tavares is not playing Monday; he shouldn’t play the rest of the week, either.
Tavares’ concussion may indeed be mild, relatively speaking. Still, an optimistic diagnosis should not be enough to give the young man his uniform back in a week. If all goes well – everything at every level of the game and the operation and the business and the real estate – John Tavares is going to play more than 1,000 games as a New York Islander. I would not expect the franchise to care about a few in October.
Notes: Do not expect Adam Burish, who hit Tavares, to be suspended by the NHL…With Tavares out for the Rangers, Michael Grabner could join the lineup one game ahead of schedule. Katie reported that Josh Bailey centered the first line at practice today, while Grabner took Bailey’s spot at left wing.
Jim Cerny, the former Islanders radio play-by-play announcer who know writes for the Rangers, believes the visitors will field the same lineup for Columbus Day as they did in their impressive win in Buffalo on Saturday. Chris Drury will miss at least one more game.
If the 3,000 empty seats at the Islanders’ home opener Saturday were any indication, plenty of seats are still available for Monday’s rivalry revival. Not every adult has off from work on Columbus Day. This will also be the Rangers’ first game this season in the metropolitan area.
Justin Bourne and I are the guests on The Hockey Writers Show tonight at 6:00 pm ET. Details are here.
Comments related to this post and Monday’s game are welcomed.
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