Ricky Gets His 100th as Isles Roll at MSG

Islanders 2 : Rangers 1

In the Battle of New York, the Isles have come out on top three times now this season- the latest one an ugly but entertaining, low-scoring event at Madison Square Garden, in which the physical edge arrived at its peak in the second period (also the period in which I became at my most volatile- for some reason games like these just make my moods worse then they are already, I now have to apologize to my family members for lashing out when they asked what was wrong with my attitude last night).

Ruslan Fedotenko got things going for the Islanders eight seconds into the second, right off of the faceoff, beating Marcel Hossa and Dan Girardi and completely taking Henrik Lundqvist by surprise. Then Josef Vasicek put the Isles up 2-0 (on essentially the same angle, no less), and looked to be in control until Michal Roszival scored on a perfect shot, shorthandedto cut the lead in half. After that, however, the Rangers were unable to convert at least two Isles penalties or establish an effective enough forecheck.
The defense in this game certainly stepped up the physicality, with Witt completely dumping one Ranger on open ice, and great hits by Bryan Berard and Radek Martinek (who is definitely on his game this season- when he's healthy, the guy is incredible).
One guy who (at least in my opinion) looked stupid after this game was Sean Avery. Not only was he kept off of the scoresheet, but he collected 8 PIM total last night (including a 4:00 major for clipping Andy Sutton in the eye with his stick blade), got dumped by both Berard and Witt, and to top it all off, got a goalie punch from DiPietro. Now if that's not a tough night... not that I feel sorry for him at all. Hardly, after the way he deliberately tries to hurt opposing players (first Rick DiPietro, then Andy Sutton, which could have been much worse than it was).

Next, it's up against the Montreal Canadiens, a team that skates well and has just suffered a loss at the hands of the Ottawa Senators last night. Still, this team still has talent, and a good goaltender in Cristobal Huet. If the Isles are going to win, the simplest thing would be just to stick to the game plan.