DiPietro Steals Another
Mark this game down as another that the Isles had no business winning without their all-star netminder. A game that the Isles controlled for a majority of the night saw the Isles treading helplessly for the final 10 minutes as Rick DiPietro turned in a stellar performance. While many will look towards that flash of leather on Elias, the glove save on Zubrus went mostly unheralded. With DP down and out after making two saves in front, Zubrus had the entire net to shoot at, picked his spot, but DP picked it right out of midair.
This marked another OK game by Mike Silinger. He did manage to score the game winning goal, although his play was quite suspect at times. While short handed and with the Isles holding onto a 1 goal lead, Silinger led a two on one with Hunter. Instead of getting off a quick shot and returning to his defensive responsibilities, Silinger dilly dallied down the wing, lost the puck, and set the Devils up for an odd man rush. If not for another tremendous DP save, this game might have had a whole different feel to it. Silinger needs to simplify his game if he wants to consistently be effective.
The Isles have pretty much been employing 4 offensive defenseman on the blue line, which would seem to leave the Isles in constant panic around the crease. Each of Campoli, Bergeron, Berard, and Meyer are well known for their puck moving skills, but neither has been the consistent steady defenseman...until now. Freddy Meyer IV has been the most impressive in his attentiveness to his defensive responsibilities, while MAB has kept his turnovers to a minimum. This unit is getting the job done.
The Isles still need to find a consistent offensive game. Too many forwards go quiet for too many stretches during individual games and beyond. I like seeing Comeau on the first line, but I would really like to see Tambellini be given a fair shot. The guy practically leads the AHL in goals, so I'm not sure why Nolan can't seem to squeeze production out of him at the NHL level. If Nolan could get 25 goals out of Kozlov last season (only 4 goals this season), then Nolan could surely find a way to maximize Tamb's talent. Did I mention Tambellini leads the AHL in shorthanded tallies with 5? The Isles have the worst differential in terms of SHG for/against in the NHL.
The deadline is approaching fast, and more guys are beginning to reserve their place in the expendable market. Satan is the biggest bust this season in my opinion. As someone wrote on Newsday, if people are still referring to Miro Satan as a sniper, then Andy Hilbert is an assassin!
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My final letter to TSN:
Scott,
Some final thoughts on the Isles for your consideration. As of tonight, the Isles are still in the 7th spot, where all 5 teams from the Atlantic Division are currently sitting in playoff spots. I think that would make the Atlantic the toughest division in the NHL, and the Isles are holding their own.
Moreover, against the 2 best teams in the East (Ottawa and New Jersey), the Isles have a combined 8-1 record. Wow.
-Justin
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10 comments:
How much better would this team be if they replaced Bergy with Tambellini. I know Bergy has his fans here, but the results speak for themselves. For a first round pick, he is a bust.
In my opinion, he is just another Hilbert. He works hard and hustles, but he lacks that small ingredient called tallent. He has 8 points for the season. Hilbert dwarfs him with 9.
People on ths blog complain about Hunter, but he has 24 points which is more than Bergy and Hilbert combined. And Bergy is playing on the second line?
Unless Snow trades away some of the dead weight on this team, I don't think we will see Tambellini, Neilsen or Walter in the forseable future.
That is the real shame of hovering around the eigth spot all season.
Instead of building for the future by playing these kids, Nolan continues to stick with the Jackmans, the Hilbert and even Bergy.
Comeau has come up and aquitted himself well. I can only hope that by next year, when all the one year contract players have moved on, Snow will really have to take control of the team and order the younger players into the line up.
Another year of mediocrity....Bill
Justin, Stop stressing over this "power rankings" nonsense.
Who are you going to believe... Scott Whathisname or your own lying eyes?.......Bill
I just jumped back over here after reading Logans blog. Does anyone else think that the people over there read what we write here and then rephrase it and post it over on Logans blog?
So the question is....why not just come straight here?............Bill
I think its a little unfair to look at Bergy's points totals when you consider how much his linemates are under-performing. He'll set up Satan/Vas beautifully but they're unable to finish. Bergy skates hard every shift and throws his body around which puts him above at least half of his teammates in my mind.
I thought they played pretty well until there was 10 minutes left, they seemed to run out of gas. It was a very good win though. Berard was awful again, it's a good thing Meyer has really elevated his game. I suspect when Johnson gets back into shape, Berard will be a spectator again.
Hossa has informed Atlanta he will not be signing an extension before July 1st, so he will almost definitely be traded. Also, Campbell broke off talks with Buffalo until the end of the season, so there is a good chance he'll get traded too.
Logan loves our blog. He's been stealing our material all year.
If we could sign Hossa for say 5 years, then I would pull the trigger there. There are very few players available in the NHL who are already capable of putting up the kind of numbers Hossa can.
Tambellini should have taken Hilbert's spot a long time ago. I also agree that Bergenheim is quite a dissapointment. 3rd/4th line checking forwards should be available in the 3rd or 4th rounds of the draft. So in that sense, Bergenheim is indeed a bust as a 1st round selection.
Bill,
I also agree that once AJ comes back, Berard will be back in the press box.
And I'm not stressing over TSN's power rankings, I just can't stop arguing with a stubborn Canadian once I start. It's a bad habbit.
Any word on Camps? That would be a big loss if he's out with a shoulder injury.
Great game last night, though I had to watch it this morning on tape delay. I thought that was one of the more entertaining games of hockey I've seen in a while! No fights, few big hits, but relatively evenly matched teams playing each other with monster goalies backing each end. Great stuff.
Every time I see Asham out there I regret letting him go. For the first 2 periods his line was the only one putting up chances against the Isles, and to think we could have kept him for a few more bucks kind of sucks. Then again, its not like he alone was going to solve our offensive problems...
If the Isles get all their D-men back & healthy in the next few weeks, I think they're in great position for the rest of the season. We played with 5 D-men for most of last night, all of whom were running on fumes. Our "star" defensman on the ice is Sutton. Everyone else is a cast-away or no-namer. Yet for 2 of the last 3 games, they've held their own against teams ranked 1st & 2nd in the East.
Think about our D lines when everyone is healthy:
Witt-Martinek
Meyer-Gervais
Sutton-Camps
MAB-
We still have Johnson & Berard to fill in a pinch.
I'd be willing to throw any of those line combos out against any teams' first lines. What other team can say that?
Ok, enough of that...lets just get there first. Only 4 points from 1st in the Atlantic right now- the hardest division in the NHL.
For what its worth, and its worth very little, I have a strong feeling we're going to be seeing Tamby up in the NHL very soon. There is no rationale behind that- I'm just feeling it. And he's going to have a Trent Hunter-like rookie performance down the stretch.
Justin, The Canadian press has always attempted to denigrate the great Islander teams. They will always have a chip on their collective shoulders over the Dynasty. Upstart American franchises are not supposed to dominate a Canadian sport. That is why you will always see the 80's Oilers rated over the Dynasty teams.
In my mind, winning 19 straight playoff series is a record that will never be broken. With free agancy, no team will be able to stay together long enough to accomplish that. The Oilers could not.
So, don't bother even reading about these "power rankings."
It's just a waste of time.
Jack, Miro Satan has scored 20 goals or more 10 straight years. To say the Bergy doesn't have points because he plays with him is really a bit much. Bergy has 2 goals because he can't finish.
Who knows, he may develop a scorers touch later on, but as of right now, he is not getting the job done. I would rather see him dropped to the fourth line and Tanbellini inserted into his spot...Bill
I can't find any word on Camps, but I hear Witt should be back this weekend perhaps. That would be a huge addition to the Isles blueline and a tremendous break if Witt can return so quickly.
I too felt that Asham would have been worth keeping around. He does all the defensive things as per Bergenheim, Hilbert, etc. but manages to score more often. I'm not sure why the Isles let him go and decided to keep Hilbert.
Nyisles, you're right in analyzing the Isles defenseive crew. The fact that the Isles can be suffering from 2-3 injuries and still have capable NHL defenseman to plug in is a tribute to Snow. Now if he could only get us some offensive depth.
I continue to worry that the Isles will be hanging around the 7/8 spot and Snow will thus become a buyer at the deadline. Given some of the players we got down in the Bridge, there is no excuse not to trade at least Satan and Tank, and perhaps Hilbert and Berard if anyone wants them.
FMIV continues to impress.
just posted:
After suffering a knee injury nearly two months ago, Aaron Johnson will return to the Islanders roster after playing in one contest with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, the Islanders' AHL affiliate, earlier this week.
The 24-year old defenseman played in five games with the Islanders before going down with his injury. Johnson has 121 games of NHL experience, having played in parts of four NHL seasons.
"We're happy to have Aaron fully mended," said head coach Ted Nolan. "With all of our injuries to our defense corps, it's going to be nice to have another reliable player to count on."
Goaltender Wade Dubielewicz has been sent to Bridgeport on a conditioning stint. In eight games with the Islanders this season, Dubielewicz is 4-3-0 with a 3.43 goals against average and .890 save percentage. Dubielewicz went 3-1-0 during a four-game stretch in December when starter Rick DiPietro was out with an injury.
Filling in for Dubielewicz will be Sound Tigers netminder Mike Morrison. With Bridgeport this season, Morrison is 13-9-0 with a 2.70 goals against average, .908 save percentage and three shutouts.
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