GAME DAY: Islanders at Wild, 8:00pm
Nino Niederreiter and Andy MacDonald are both in the lineup tonight. Nino will be paired with Reasoner and Martin on the fourth line. Montoya is in net.
Your defensive pairings are as follows:
Streit – Jurcina
MacDonald – Hamonic
Mottau – Reese
Oh man and I almost forgot to mention the latest Milbury debacle.
About Kevin Schultz
Kevin was formerly an NHL blogger for the now defunct AOL Fanhouse and was the creator of the hockey comedy blog Barry Melrose Rocks. He now covers the Isles for Islanders Point Blank. You can follow him for instant updates on the team and talk hockey with him on Twitter @schultz88. View all posts by Kevin Schultz →96 Responses to GAME DAY: Islanders at Wild, 8:00pm
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fmcisles says:
I said this 2 months ago. The Isles will put Nino on the 4th line with 2 scrubs and then say he didn’t produce enough. A #5 overall pick on the 4th line? Only on the island. Thank God Snow/Wang weren’t around in the early 80′s. Bossy would a 4th liner with these clowns!!
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MadChef says:
lighten up even Joe Thornton played on the 4th line his first year and he was older then Nino
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jisles says:
It’s pretty disappointing to hear that Nino will be on the fourth line. C’mon Cappy, stop with the ridiculous decisions, like Mottau on the powerplay last game, and pulling the goalie with two minutes left when we don’t even have the puck, and now this! Poor Nino.
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hollywood says:
Agreed, same with Martin, how can you have one of the few guys that give 100% every game, with some offensive talent to boot patrolling the 4th line. I’d like to see Martin get some 1st line look and see how he does. What’s the worst that could happen, we loose the game, haha!
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PAsucks says:
islanders have to be the only team in the nhl that puts a 5th overall pick on the 4th line. this team isn’t going anywhere very hard to watch as a die hard. get an NHL caliber coach already!!
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Good thing Reasoner is still in the line-up. He should have been made the example, not Comeau. I’d take Comeau any day of the week over Rolston, Pandolfo, or Reasoner. Then again, I’m at the point where I too would take Mad Mike over No Show Snow. Talk about desperation. It’s a shame Wang is a terrible owner. There have been solid GMs and coaches available to hire and the Islanders don’t even try. Once again: Epic FAIL.
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Tom D in NJ says:
I guess the leadership is content on making decisions that will keep us in the basement.
The Club hasn’t made a positive move or done anything to excite the remaining fan base for so long its pathetic. Actually, worse than pathetic. Must be the whole committment thing.IMO,worse run franchise in sports. -
Grandma's Boy says:
The line combinations are not the reason why they are last in the East.
Glad to see Nino back, and I hope he stays healthy.
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justin says:
Time for some changes, the top 9 are soft by
nature, no way competative, get those young bucks Martin/Nino- tho he may not be ready for the nhl, where these guys can do some damage. You will never beat any good team without the mussel and hitting ability Martin brings. Ulstrom also may ready but hey give these guys the minutes, not pretend shifts. They need a regular shift. -
Joe says:
Wow Capuano needs to go. Why the hell would you put Nino on the fourth line again. Your not going to make him a better player playing with reasoner and Martin. When are they going to give Bailey a chance to play on the second line???
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danfromouteast says: Cappy is wang and his wife snows child and most retardation is genetic and wang and snow are both retarded so there you have it.
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isles71 says:
how the hell is Reasoner still getting ice time. He has been bay far THE worst forward for the Isles this year…imagine Sim, Hilbert & Jonensuu combined…a whole lotta nothing!!!! Martin should be with Bailey & Nino on third…1 step forward & 2 steps back ….oy!
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Blizz says: Nino on fourth line. Like him with Martin tho. Reasoner..not so much
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EJ1SINCE40 says:
Why not DeHann and Wishart in place of Eaton and Reese??
Reese is vastly improved from lsat year, but still lacks size..
Haley back in the Port and Martin and Nino on the 4th line, ahahahahahahahahaha
I really believe that Reasnor has naked pics of Snowball and the emperor..sickly negative numbers, is MIA every night, and still continues to play… oh yeah
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The New Isles GM says:
Ohhh you guys didn’t hear? WOW, well consider this BREAKING NEWS: Reasoner is still playing because he’s a “nice guy”.
I’m a nice guy too, can I play ?
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Strummer's Army says:
You know, Nino and Martin on the 4th line is a disgrace! Martin has been the Isles most consistently good forward this season. No wonder guys don’t want to come here, they see that playing well or being the 5th overall pick in the draft you will play on the 4th line.
Reasoner is a disgrace. He stinks. he hasn’t scored a goal in like 41 games going back to last season. Konopka has three, will fight, is noticeable on the ice. Reasoner was no upgrade.
Reasoner should have been waived. Thank God Pandalfo and Roloston are both out injured right now.
Wallace is OK but are you telling me he deserves to play ahead of Nino and Martin? NO WAY!
DeHaan played well and was rewarded with a ticket back to Bridge, same for Poulin. DeHaan is a ton better then Mottau, Jurcnina, Eaton, Reese, and Mac D this year.
Is Nabakov really healthy? Now we have to wonder.
Very hard to follow this team because they always make odd moves.
I can see Milbury doing what he is accussed of. We’ve seen him to it to fans, we’ve seen him as a player try to grab the non-fighter on the ice when there were plenty of tough guys and start a fight and still get his ass kicked. Can’t understand why Wang is still friends with him and Yashin. Those two idiots are why Isles are so often disrespected. My God we could have rolled with Bertuzzi, McCabe, Chara, Brewer, Speeza, who else did that moron trade away for a bag of magic beans?
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buzzard115 says:
dude awesome!! … wang sucks snow sucks and milbury still sucks!!!what happen to the bag of magic beans??? oh there being planted for wangs new building…
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Dk says:
Nino is on the 4th line to keep him from hitting any incentives. Not paying for anything is the only concern of ownership. It is the reason why our GM is a backup goalie, the reason why our coach should be in Bridgeport any why our next coach is Doug Weight.
Cappy isn’t great by any means but Weight, Mr. PP guru, certainly will be worse. And there is no doubt he is on deck. They would have hired Hitchcock if they had any desire to win, but the only desire is to not spend money and offer up disgusting black jerseys.
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CM says:
I check this site daily, LHH and Newsday too.
I could care less for line ups, whose in or out.
I check to see if the there are any news or rumors on Wang planing to sell.
Organization going nowhere till this happens. The rest is just vanilla.
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Turris traded to the Sens. Not sure for what, most likely not much. Well done Garth, way to try and shake up the team a bit. The 1.5 mil a year must have scared Wang off. A fair deal would have been Frans for Turris.
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BKB says:
That would be a terrible trade for us. One of our best players for a young underachieving player?
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Mike says:
NO wonder we SUCK if Frans is one of our better players!!!!!!
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Phoenix fleeced Ottawa. Turris will never pay back a high 2nd rounder and Runblad that was traded for him and would rather have Bailey than Turris.
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nyi 16 says:
Once winning and running a first class organization become the priority watch how quickly things change. We saw it briefly in 01-02. Botta mentioned the possibility of new owners who would do the right thing… we can only hope Wang is fed up and looking to sell..please let this happen!
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Numbering the lines, 1st, 2nd, etc,. is way over rated. It is just a matter of putting those players who have some chemistry together on the same line, not rating them according to ability. That said, reasoner has proven he does not have chemistry with anyone except the members of the opposing team, to put Nino with him is just wrong!
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jimmy ragusa says:
well i started checking out the draft already.another lost year. told my ticket rep im done.untill they show me there trying i cannot suport this team anymore i work to hardand to be honest my kids wont even go anymore they would rather do homework.this has become very sad situation.this organization have screwd us and i cannot be part of this on a monitary note.i will watch and thats it.
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wow another person replying on here that “they are done” thats new
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Jim Clark says:
I can just see in 2018 with the first pick of the draft, Islanders GM Garth Snow selects Milbury junior. Wang promises to find a way to get a new arena built.
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goislesgo105 says:
This team is a joke. Garth needs to sign two top six forwards(Versteeg and Flieschmann would have been nice), two top 4 dmen, a real goalie and get rid of Ricky Red Light. Instead he wastes money on useless trash like Rolston,Reasoner,Pandolfo,Staios,Eaton…….what a joke!
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My nine year old son asked me,if we can root for another team.I have been telling him,that they will get better for the last three years.Now i dont even know what to think!How sad is that! when I was growing up,they were the model franchise.Now they are a mess!I was all set to take my kids to a bunch of games this year,but you can forget that!They keep losing,and they do nothing,why would anyone go.Every time a team comes in that play close to us,it is like a home game for them!All these draft picks mean nothing,you have to also be able to trade some of your assets for NHL players!Snow has no clue how to do that!You cant build a team with third and fourth round picks.How many teams would want Streit right now,we are going no where,trade him for a good NHL young player,waive reasoner,trade PA for a bag of pucks,he must give the puck away ten times a game. shoot DP,put him and us out of our misery,and bring up Haley.
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100% Correct!!!!!! My 3 year old son said to me yesterday “Me no like Islanders me like Rangers” How can argue with him he is right!!!!Other then Torarella & avery don’t really hate any of there players!!!!
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Let’s go easy on Snow he did a great in getting Parise under contract for the Devils this year! Without us taking on Rolston’s contract they’d have no room to do so. At least he got the Devils to include a draft pick …. Oh wait he didn’t, well there was that prospect included, oh not so much it was a straight up deal. What an inept clown.
I guess he was just thrilled that Lamoriello accepted his call.
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mottau back & deHann & Poulin sent to AHL! WTF!!!! Means Me NO watch!!! ZERO intrest to watch OLD washed up players!!!!!
SELL THE TEAM CHUCKELS THE CLOWN!!!!!!-
Mottau sucks, that is why he plays….just like Reasoner. This team likes to suck. That is the only explanation.
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Steven says:
The Isles are doing so well Martin and Nino are stuck on the 4th line. Turris gets traded and another trade not involving the Isles. Keep up the great work Wang and Snow. You guys are really working hard to improve things.
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islesrock73 says:
I guess Mike Milbury is the “gutless puke” now.
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Bubba says:
This all reminds me of the days under Gluckstern, the only difference between him and Charles is that Charles has to deal with that pesky salary cap floor. I wonder how low the payroll would be if the floor wasnt in place.
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Bubba is right. If there was no cap and floor JT would be going to the Rangers for Barry Beck and $35MM.
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Very good point! They would probably be offering tryouts to people at public skating sessions. If you can crossover skating backwards, you would get a 15 year contract.
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Bubba, your post above is one of the best post, questions that I have ever seen on this board. A real scary thought.
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danfromouteast says:
Just curious why my post aren’t up. I didn’t say anything offensive. Oh well later
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And Wang traded in the Team Schwinn for a team razor scooter to save a few bucks.
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so sad says:
U know a team is sad when Martin is on the PK.
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Whaaaaaaaaaaaat says:
Martin is a good pker
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So Kyle Turis who has good upside was finally traded for a 2nd round pick. Let me guess, Snow rather keep the 2nd pick who will most likely turn out to be a 3rd line player and NHL ready in 5 year. I don’t know how much i can take from these clowns.
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Al's Beef says:
Phoenix also got D man David Rundblad.
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Dan C. says:
The Sens got hosed on that deal. Rundblad has tremendous upside.
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Well snow drafts guys 9th overall that can’t even play second line minutes.
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Pete Laz says:
Why is everyone hating on Cappy ? Its not his call on who plays or sits…He’s only a puppet for Wanger and Snow-Job and plays the studs he’s told to play: Reasoner, Rolston,Pandolfo,Staios, and of course Wangers son Red Light Rickey…I’ve been a fan since day 1 in ’72, but they are slowly turning me into a Panthers fan..
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I have saying for weeks now. And when Cappy is canned the latest pet Doug Weight takes over.
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I don’t even bother hoping for Yakupov. We will end up with the 4th, 5th pick again and daft another project.
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Who are the top 10 available in this year’s draft?
I’m serious. Even if they win tonight, we will hover around this bottom of the league area the rest of the season. The rest of the teams plan to win.The Isles make sure Reasoner stays in the lineup for the hopes one day that he will prove more valuable than Konopka.
Give me a break. And Wallace. Yes, someone above said it, he’s OK…but Martin has earned time on the 3rd. And Nino deserves a shot.
I feel they try so hard to prove they obtained value by starting these no namers that produce slightly more than they used to…its not enough. Get rid of Reasoner, Pandolofo, and send Wallace back. This season is over – we need to at least prep for next year.
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nino has not really shown much to be on the first line guys, in all fairness he has been fighting injuries. Now Martin should be on the first line. He would be a good match with JT and Moulson. I do see Cappy being fired if we finish last in the conference this year. Some good coaches out there right now. This team must have solid goaltending every game or else they will lose. they cannot afford soft goals..
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We will NEVER hire a good (expensive) coach.
You don’t like Cappy get ready for Doug Weight.
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The toughness this team really needs is Clark Gillies walking into the office of Charles Snow ……
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Jon says:
not sure if anyone noticed but last sat. nite while killing the Hamonic major, we didn’t put a player in the box to come out when the 5 mins was up and lo and behold, the penalty ended before a stop in play to get a player in the box therefore, until montoya stopped play a few seconds later, pens had an extended powerplay. then last game vs stars, we pulled the goalie and about 20 seconds later, there was a line change and the 6th player never went out – thereby making it about a 10 second 5 on 5 without a goalie until they realized it for a faceoff in the stars zone. not sure who to blame, cappy or Weight for those bench calls but to me, there is a problem not only with our choice of personnel to dress in the first place, but whether the coaches are paying attention to what is going on during the game
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Amerks44 says:
All the comments lets face it this team is not that good. We will be cellar dwellers for a long time…It doesn’t matter where NINO plays or anyone else it just doesn’t matter..Glad we have Junior Hockey on Long Island!!!
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Is there anyway we can organize a walkout during an upcoming game.we need to make a stance asap.I call on everyone to start this up lets pick a game and organize this right now.we need to put our foot down or this will continue forever
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cjcb says:
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz not even sure ill put this one on. Almost anything will probably be better TV than this one.
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Islanders are B and B-Bad and Boring.
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Nick M says:
Why not let nino go back to juniors PLAY if he’s going to get 4th line duties in NHL?
My line would be-
Moulson-JT-nino
Grabner-nielsen-Okposo
Martin-bailey-PA
Rolston-reasoner- Wallace -
Even better switch nino and Okposo.
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Notice Bobby NY visited the NVMC only because his son was playing the Isles. I’m surprised Wang let Bobby NY in the building after being absent for a long time. haha
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cheepnis says:
I am usually a supporter of mad Mike, but a man getting into it physically with a child is waaaay over the line. You’re done dude.
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KasierVanIslander says:
This has been one of the Islanders biggest problems and CB and Kevin really never addressed it. We never reward guys for good play and we never sit guys for bad plays. We never see Martin or Nino on the first line. Why is Mottou out with 2 minutes left in the game? Why is he on the power play? Why is reasoner on the team? We never change things up. Same old thing that doesn’t work we keep doing.
Lets take Matt Martin other than JT he has been our best player (I think most would agree to that)yet Martin gets less ice time than any other player on the team. Not counting the call ups Ullstrom, Haley, Gilies etc.. He has 3g 4a while playing 11:03 a game. That’s 7th amongst Isles forwards. This is a guy who leads the NHL in hits and is the only forward on the team who sticks up for others. Why does he not get more ice time?
Our power play stinks why not put de Hann out there? Nino has played 6 games and gets an average of 8:00 min? He was on the first line at Camp and now his playing with Reasoner. This is a talented Kid with size something we need yet we see him so little. Whats going on?-
danfromouteast says:
Sickening
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chris says:
dont care, not watching anymore…their in the cellar for good now..f wang f snow.
tired of watching an AHL team with an AHL coach
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Ben says:
those D-lines make me wanna cry.
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eric says:
WANG AND SNOW ARE TRYING TO PISS OFF THE FANS SO THEY WON’T CARE AS MUCH WHEN THEY MOVE!!!! Anyone who knows anything about hockey wouldn’t have Nino on 4th line Poulin and DeHaan sent down and PA on the first line!?? Plus Mattou, Reasoner, Pandolfo & Rolston on this team !!! WTF!!!!????
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Is this a bad joke?
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danfromouteast says:
Yeah and nino and ullstrom logging the least amount of time.
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i bet wang dont even go out in the public..if he did im sure some crazed fan would spit on his face..
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I feel bad for some of the players who do actually care and play well. I wouldn’t blame them for bolting if they get the chance. Comeau wasn’t punished, he was rewarded.
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Guy says:
The Reasoner thing is the biggest joke of all-last time I checked he was a minus 16 on the year-the worst on the team by far-how is it possible he is still getting any playing time.
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danfromouteast says:
Couldnt we hire Tonya harding to take out reasoner she is probably hard up now
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chestypuller says:
I can see and read all the negative comments and feelings toward the Isles, hell I’m one right all along with most of the bittersweet Isle nation nowadays. But I have to admit after watching the top ten rivalries and seeing our beloved Isles vs Rags at #3 of all time gave me some goosepumps..Knowing how we grew into a DYNASTY while demolishing the Rags and creating the hatred the Rag-ettes have for Isle Nation along the way..And seeing little girl graves with his mock chant “1940″ fueled the fire in me once again after telling myself this week I must let go of the thought that we would return to the promise land..So to little girl graves and his edmonton oil east team that won the cup in 94- FU…Now lets get a win Isles…and to add this 24/7 crap….I wanna puke and smash anything rags in the freaking kneecaps…common captain jack let me give the pre-game speech…GO ISLES
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anthony c says:
I hope that gutless puke milbury rots in jail.
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I hate how the games are on channel 81 for fios. The only HD channel for MSG are 78 and 80. Pretty embarrassing that the devils get channel 80 in NY.
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Blizz says:
man I almost considered switching. I finally have all Islander games in HD on Optimum and I was wondering if this would be an issue with fios. Until they are ALL HD Im not switching.
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Juniorjunior says:
I have optimum and all my games on MSG +2 are not in HD. Very annoyed, snyone else have this?
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ITSUKSBEINGAISLESFAN says:
http://www.islanderspointblank.com/2008/12/comment-guidelinesthese-are-effective-immediately
Rule # 6 – No ALL CAPS
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brian says:
anyone have a link for the game stream?
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I echo the Reasoner sentiments. My god, 0 Goals and minus 15. What a joke. People in real jobs who dont do anything usually get fired.
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Jon in Chicago says: I forget Reasoner is even on the team. He never touches the puck, never really does anything. Luckily, he’s locked up for next year too.
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go isles says:
way to go streit!
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Jon in Chicago says:
Another lousy third period in the making. Never seen that. Dominant through 2 and the game should’ve been over. We all know how this one ends.
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KEVIN says:
KEEP THE FAITH BROS
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Jon in Chicago says:
Happy to be wrong. They deserved the win. Still need to get some goals, somehow, some way.
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danfromouteast says:
When Torrey and arbour left so did the heart and winning ways. Years of cheap ignorant owners.
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didnt see game, but it reads like we played a solid 40 minutes, including a dominant second period. nino got 9 minutes, which is fine for a guy coming off a CONCUSSION. montoya makes 20 saves, while Backstrom makes 35. wow. was he brilliant, or did we hit him square in the crest all nite?
nino isnt ready to play top line minutes, neither is Martin, they’d just get exposed as being unready, much like playing Reese 25 minutes a nite( like streit does). we arent 4 games under 500 because of reasoner being -16. we gave away 8 games to a goalie with a 3.75 gaa and .876 save percentage. its not about courage to come back from injury, its about results, and they arent there with RDP in net. we are 4 games under 500 because we score but 2.2 goals a game, not enough. we are credited with 20 goals in 8 games in dec, so its improving.
we are 4 games under 500 because we have 3 solid defenders, and a pack of 5/6′s. we are one guy short on the blue line and one foward like clutterbuck or some other power foward who will add nasty to our team while adding 20 goals and 20 assists. but those last two things dont grow on trees. its the GM’s job to get them here, thats on you Garth!
we won tonite, and that is good. we won on the road and that is better. we have 6 more games in 2012, lets get some wins and more points. we won, be happy.
Nino still on 4th line what a joke! Isles are not makin playoffs put him on a top 3 line already.