October 31 2009 by Rob.

Tonight at the Coliseum we had a couple milestones:

1) Net-minder Martin Biron got his 200th NHL win in shutout form over former team the Buffalo Sabres.

2) Jeff Tambellini got his first NHL hatrick! 

Congrats to them for the great achievements and keep it up!

Now to the game:

-As mentioned above both Tamby and Marty had great games!
-Small crowd
-Still don’t like Craig Rivet and his horse collar on Sutton didn’t endear him to me at all!  He should’ve just taken the hit like Witt did with Mairs instead of crying about it.
-Nice to give JT KO and Moulson a night off from the goal column but JT and KO both had assists.
-Nice goal by Bailey
-Bergy finally getting on the scoresheet again
-Sutton played pretty good!

If you have anything to add post it in comments!

Next Game: Monday 10/2 vs Edm @ home at 7 o’clock

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October 31 2009 by Rob.

Tonight the Buffalo Sabres will be visiting the Nassau Coliseum to take on your New York Islanders.  I expect the same lineup to be out there tonight as the last few night except Martin Biron in net going once again for his 200th win.  Otherwise why tinker with something that is working.  Tonight will be a tough test for us as the Sabres have only one loss thus-far in the regular season.  On the other hand we did beat the Caps last night who all things considered I think are better then the Sabres so hopefully we are able to give Buffalo a run for their money on this Halloween night game.

 Lets see if I can come as close tonight as I did last night:

Isles 3
Buf 2

And since it seems like every game we play goes into OT I think this will be an OT final.

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October 30 2009 by Rob.

Today at the Verizon center in Washington the New York Islanders defeated that Capitals by the score of 4-3 in overtime.  Below are some notes from the game:

-Rolo played well
-What happened to Jackman?
-What happened to Okposo?  (Why does he have a black eye?)
-Refs weren’t that good especially toward the end
-Could Streit finally be waking up?
-JT needs to make decisions faster but I am sure that will come

If you have anything to add post it in comments

Next Game: Saturday 10-31 @ home versus Buffalo       Starts at 7 pm on MSG +

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October 30 2009 by Rob.

Tonight the Islanders will take on the Washington Capitals at the Verizon Center in Washington.  The game will be on MSG + at 7 pm.  Sorry for the little mess up in the post game ranger thread, I didn’t know at the time that we had a game tonight.

Anyway according to Katie Strang from newsday coach Scott Gordon is giving Dwayne Roloson the nod again tonight saying he likes his play of late.  Also bad news for Robbie Schremp fans, he said that he will only be used as a center and not a wing so until someone gets hurt he will be watching from the press box.  This is unfortunate because in the few games he played I like Schremp and I would like to see him be given more of a chance.  I mean we have given Tamby 3 years and we gave this guy what 3 or 4 games?  That doesn’t seem fair to me but what ever that is why I am not the GM.

Last week when we played each other I predicted a lopsided Capital win now I think my prediction will be more on target:

Caps 4
Isles 3

F/OT

Ovy, Green, Knuble, and Backstrom
JT, KO and Moulson  

Every-time we play the Caps we always go into OT so why should tonight be any different?

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October 28 2009 by Rob.

Great game tonight!!!!

See pointblank to get notes from the game!  Great effort probably the best islander ranger i think ive ever been to. 

Next game is Friday 10/30 vs Washington

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October 28 2009 by Rob.

Tonight in the old barn in Hempstead the Islanders will be facing off against the Rangers.  Ranger sniper and overpaid forward Marian Gaborik will not be playing tonight because he has a lower body injury.  However Islander captain Doug Weight is back.  Katie Strang reports that Doug had been battling swine flu.

Here are what the lines looked like at practice this morning according to newsdays Katie Strang:

Moulson-Tavares-Okposo
Tambellini-Bailey-Weight
Bergy-Nielsen-Sim
Thompson-Park-Jackman   (I have a felling this line might have its hands full with Avery,Dubinsky, and Voros)

On D:

Streit-Gervais
Sutton-Martinek
Witt-Hillen

With Gaborik out I think we may act. win this game.  I am going to go out on a limb and say we win:

Isles 3
Rags 2

in OT

Game is on MSG + at 7 o’clock and if your an Islander fan going to the game tonight be vocal in support of your team and your house!

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October 26 2009 by Rob.

Today the Isles took on the Canadians at the Bell Center in Montreal.  I want to cover one thing before I get to game notes.  Prior to the game Billy Jaffe said that he though the root of the Isles 3rd period difficulties was the fact that they don’t have that big of leads.  With all due respect to Billy who I think is a brilliant hockey mind, I think he is dead wrong here.  In my opinion Coach Gordon should make tweaks to his system to help us with our third period problems.  He shouldn’t even have to think twice after hearing that Capital players could tell they were tired on Saturday in the third.  What more do you need?  Now onto game notes:

-Where is Robbie Schremp?  I thought he played well and I think it would be a shame if they canned him without giving him a fair shot.  After how patient they are being with some people on the current roster. (Nate Thompson, Jon Sim, and at times Jeff Tambellini)
-The officials were better then normal but they were still weak.
-Powerplay lines with Jon Sim on them are destined to fail.  I am sorry but Jon Sim has no place on the powerplay.  They need to do something about that.
-Who the heck is this Tambellini?  Lately he has been very hot!!  Lets see if he can sustain this over a long stretch.
-Thought Sutton had a weak game, with a couple turnovers. 

If you have anything to add post it in comments

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October 26 2009 by Rob.

According to an online report an RFQ process has been opened up with regard to the development of the Willets point land across the street from the home of the Mets Citifield.  If you remember an RFP process is what Wang went through in the early days of the Lighthouse well and RFQ takes place before an RFP.  The deadline to file an RFQ is December 7th, to learn more see the link below:

http://curbed.com/archives/2009/10/26/return_of_the_megaprojects_willets_point_seeks_developers.php

In my opinion I think Wang needs to get all over this.  If the Lighthouse fails in Nassau which I
hope it doesn’t this should def. be option number two.  Queens provides us with better city access, mass transit that is currently unavailable, better corporate support, and most important a new state of the art building and more.  I think this would be a great location for us to land again if things don’t work out in Murrayland.  What do you think?  Tell us your opinion in comments

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October 26 2009 by Rob.

According to Chris Botta Doug Weight will not be playing again tonight because he is still under the weather.

Tonight the Islanders will take on the Montreal Canadians at the Belle Center in Canada.  The game is set to start at 7:30 on MSG +.  All that I ask is that we come out with a better effort then we had on thursday when we played them.  If it is the same effort as thursday we may as well not come out for the second or third period.  Maybe if we have a third period lead tonight we can act. hold it.  I know what a concept that would be right?

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October 24 2009 by Rob.

According to Chris Botta Doug Weight wasn’t on the ice for the morning skate this morning.  Additionally he goes on to mention that after a game and a half apart John Tavares and Kyle Okposo will be reuniting on the first line along with Matt Moulson.  I am very happy about this now at least we will have 1 line generate offensive pressure.  He also says that Jon Sim is likely to be on the third line tonight leaving Robbie Schremp out.  If that happens that will be very disappointing because I like Schremp a heck of alot more then Sim.  He also says that Freddy Meyer is likely going to sit tonight and Streit and Gervais maybe back together.  If Meyer is hurt that is one thing but if he is scratched I want to know why him before Radek.  Radek has been dreadful early on this year.

The Caps will be without one of their superstar Alexs’ tonight.  Alexander Semin will not be suiting up tonight as he is injured, and Mike Knuble will be taking his spot on the first line.  Also an interesting note all the games the Caps coach has coached at the Coli with the Caps have gone into overtime.  Last year Ovy had both winners!  If we are able to get this game to overtime I will be very happy to take the point and run because after our performance on thursday I don’t think we have any business getting this game to OT. 

Lets hope this game isn’t as big a disaster as it has the pot. to be.  Also lets hope we see a better effort tonight then we did on thursday, it can’t be much worse can it?

Caps 5
Isles 2

Ovechkin (2) Backstrom (1) Green (1) Knuble (1)

Tavares (1) Streit (1)

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October 22 2009 by Rob.

According to Katie Strang from newsday Captain Doug Weight didn’t make the trip to Montreal with the team.  For some reason Jon Sim did over Rob Schremp.  If you want to see how I feel about that go a few entries down where I go into it.

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October 21 2009 by Rob.

Well it was ugly but we finally got a win!!!  It shouldve been in regulation but hey i’ll take it!  Here are my thoughts:

-It was pretty sweet watching JT ice the cake in the shootout
-Who was wearing #25 for us tonight because that certainly wasn’t the normal Andy Sutton
-The refs weren’t that good (is it me or is this becoming a common thing?)
-That hit on JT by Andrew Alberts was total crap to!!  How it wasn’t called for a penalty is beyond me!

If you have anything else to say post it in comments

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October 21 2009 by Rob.

After our win-less start coach Scott Gordon has decided to do some line shifting.  That includes moving Kyle Okposo from the first line with Tavares and Moulson to the second line with Frans Nielsen.  Going to the first line is captain Doug Weight, but Weight may not play tonight because according to Chris Botta he is feeling under the weather.  So here is tonight’s pot. starting line-up.

Moulson-Tavares-Weight/Sim (Depending on weather or not Weight can go, also don’t ask me why Sim over Schremp)
Bergy-Nielsen-Okposo
Tamby-Bailey-Comeau
Thompson-Park-Jackman

If it comes down to it I would have Schremp out there over Tamby/Thompson/and Sim.  But evidently the coach doesn’t think hes getting enough from him so he is benching him for the time being.  Well see if it pays off.  Also expect to see Roloson in net tonight.

Talk about the game here in comments

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October 19 2009 by Rob.

According to newsday Charles Wang and Kate Murray will be meeting in the near future to discuss scaling back the Lighthouse Project.  While I support the Lighthouse as currently constructed I realized a while ago that what we see now probably wouldn’t be the final topic so all I am hoping for is that Kate offers something reasonable so Wang will take it and not something like the Coli and a couple restaurants then when Wang rejects it try to turn him into the bad guy because she tried to compromise and he didn’t want it.  Hopefully cooler heads prevail and this gets done for the betterment of this area.

If your a TOH resident and are in favor of the Lighthouse then vote for McElroy on November 3rd. 

I don’t mean to turn the blog into a political blog but I feel doing stuff like this is necessary for the team as if there is no Lighthouse then it is likely we will move.  With one candidate you get the Lighthouse and the other one you get excuses why it hasn’t happened yet.  The choice is obvious to me!

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October 19 2009 by Rob.

According to islanderspointblank.com at practice today Islander coach Scott Gordon told waiver pick-up Rob Schremp that they need more from him.  While he isn’t completely out of line in saying that he is rather close.  Schremp in my opinion has been good since arriving on the Island.  He has good speed and is more then able to carry the puck in the offensive zone and score a shoot-out goal.  I am sure the coach would like to see him put a few more stats on the score sheet but hey look at his line mates.  With all due respect to them they aren’t exactly finishers.  I think the coach needs to take a step back and go up to guys like Bailey and tell him we need more because if they expect more from Schremp not that there fooling themselves but they are putting very high expectations on him which I feel is unneccessary to do. 

Also according to pointblank it is likely that forward Frans Nielsen will make his return from a knee injury and be in the lineup on wed.  Which early on looks like it maybe driving our friend Robbie Schremp to the bench in favor of Nate Thompson, & Jeff Tambellini which all due respect to them is just wrong especially Thompson who I am not the biggest fan of.

 Talk about it in comments

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