Farewell Fu Manchu

Islanders 1 : Sabres 2

Let’s see now…43 shots on goal, better positioning, great PK, not allowing as many turnovers, Witt’s Fu Manchu gone, and an overall consistent effort made by the Isles. What went wrong?

Bergenheim – 2 minutes for hooking
Jackman – 5 minutes for fighting
Guerin – 2 minutes for hi-sticking
Martinek – 2 minutes for holding
Witt – 2 minutes for cross checking
Guerin – 2 minutes for interference
Meyer – 2 minutes for hi-sticking

Shouldn’t there be a memo circulating around the locker room about this? Possibly stating that any player causing an unnecessary penalty has to wash dishes or run laps?

After the 1st period ended with the Sabres ahead 1-0 (goal by Roy) the Isles appeared to be in great shape for dominating the 2nd period if they could keep up the pace and pressure, avoid penalties, and get the puck past Miller. Shortly into the 2nd period the Isles appeared frustrated with their shots on goal labor not bearing fruit. Yet the Isles continued on in decent form despite an undertow of penalties for fighting, hi-sticking, holding, and cross checking. Luck was on their side though with a no goal due to Hecht’s toe-in. And so the 2nd period came to end with the hope that the Isles would utilize the break to shake the frustration off and get back on their game.

The 3rd period started out with Witt in the sin bin for cross checking – here’s where you either believe it or not – shortly after Witt exited from his ‘time out’ I sent a text to a friend of mine stating, “Witt seems disgusted, only thing left 2 do is score goal.” BAM! Witt scores. Why doesn’t this kind of thing work with the lottery? Anyway Miller didn’t stand a chance against Witt’s slap shot which flew by him so fast that he looked around trying to figure out where the puck went in. Although momentum seemed to build after Witt’s goal, the Isles could not convert on their next power play (Tallinder, hi-sticking) and at this late hour of typing the rest of the 3rd period went a little something like this – Guerin took his second penalty of the game for interference, no conversion on Stafford’s tripping penalty, Comeau made a nice wrap around goal attempt, Meyer’s hi-sticking penalty, Sillinger and Hunter’s awesome drive to the net that was denied by Miller, Witt loses his stick (Nolan later stated Witt’s stick was slashed), Sabres score with Afinogenov’s snap shot goal, DP pulled from the net, Vanek gets a hooking penalty with 33.4 seconds left in the game, and with a 2 man advantage the Isles were a no go with scoring before the buzzer sounded.

Currently the Isles are 15-15-2 and .500. Might be time to institute a dish washing, lap running policy.

LET’S GO ISLANDERS!!