Win Little, Lose Big... And There Are Some Bones to Pick

Islanders 1 : Montreal 4

After an ugly and emotional win over the Rangers, the Isles had an off night, one in which 47 shots were thrown at Cristobal Huet, but only one went in- late in the third period, when the Canadiens were already up 4-0; thus, the only thing that did for us was save us from a shutout. Otherwise, the Islanders' forecheck became steadily invisible over three periods, as did the power play (which has suffered as of late, particularly from lack of crisp passing and failing to get inside, instead shooting from the perimeter). As for the defense- well, let's just say that as of the first minute (and Andy Sutton's pitiful pass to an unprepared Bryan Berard that gave away the puck) I knew how that was going to go. While screens and spotty D left Rick DiPietro (already a bit shaky) out to dry, the Montreal D (and the entire team, as a matter of fact) , as well as the lack of an Isles presence in front of the net, made Huet's job very easy for him. There was no real challenge for him whatsoever, even as the Isles outshot the Habs- he could see everything, whereas DiPietro was just not that lucky. Overall, this game was a clunker, and I'm hoping a better focus will be found for the upcoming home-and-home against Boston, a team that will not prove very easy to beat.

As for calling this game a result of a Ranger "hangover," if you will... I refuse to call it that, simply because although it may be hard to prove it's a farce, I don't believe that calling it anything like that will change the fact that playing the Rangers beforehand has nothing to do with the fact that this is a new game. Lack of focus can happen to any team, at any given time, and the Islanders simply are not a team that can win every single game no matter how hard they work or how much they try. No team can win 82 games in a season- it's unthinkable. The Islanders lost last night because of that, not because of anything the Rangers may have done, and that is just my honest opinion. Let's not use the "hangover" excuse, please.

Also, I have a bit of a bone to pick with Al Trautwig as well, who saw fit to say yesterday during the second intermission report that the Witt-Komisarek fight in the second period was just a showing of testosterone, and suggesting that it was ridiculous for any coach to try and cajole his players to do so. While I don't think he meant Ted Nolan specifically, I highly doubt that a veteran and a natural leader like Brendan Witt needs his coach to tell him to make a statement, as much as he respects Teddy. That's not how it works. This was an effort to try and wake up his teammates- and while it didn't work, it shows at least some courage on Witt's behalf, which we all know he possesses already. Sure, Trautwig might be (in other people's words) not credible to say anything on the subject, but even he should know better than to suggest that coaches want players to do that kind of thing and take fighting majors, especially if they are key parts to their game.