One Step Forward... Another Step Back?

Islanders 3 : Sabres 5

I sat home all day with a stomach virus, and last night didn't make my gag reflex subside, unfortunately, as the Islanders end their road trip 1-3, having lost six of their last seven games, the latest loss at the HSBC Arena in Downtown Buffalo to a talented yet inconsistent Sabres squad. Nolan Pratt (first goal as a Sabre), Toni Lydman, Ales Kotalik, Derek Roy and Jochen Hecht all scored for the Sabres, and Jason Pominville had three assists. On the Isles' side, their offensive woes continue as they fail to score more than three goals (Miro Satan, Richard Park, Mike Sillinger), and penalties galore made this a special teams game, which is not the Isles' forte at the moment, the PK having given up PP goals in each of their last few games.

Buffalo is by no means an extremely confident team right now, especially as far as their defense goes, but the Islanders failed to do anything to capitalize on the chances that they gave up. And the same goaltender that they lit up for six goals in the season opener October 5 was stronger and luckier this time around, as he saw practically every shot that we threw at him. It also helped matters that once again the Isles were outshot, 41-31, and took way too many penalties, particularly in the second period, that cost them.

After the game, Ted Nolan talked about Bryan Berard, who he benched after the player took an unnecessary hooking call late in the first period. Berard stayed on the bench the entire night, and the postgame interview that Nolan gave brought to light that he is no doubt agitated with this squad for taking penalty after penalty and not being smart with their play. He has a right to, but then again it is up to him to do something, anything, to get the point across.

The bright spots of this game were young Sean Bergenheim and Richard Park, who sparked the team with their hustle and hard work. Park scored a great goal off of a Bergenheim feed, which pulled the team to within two. The Isles continued to work to come back, but this kind of play is not what will win us games- on the contrary, it tires us out more, as Billy Jaffe pointed out during last night's broadcast. It's taking a toll not only on our energy, but on our confidence. We need to play hard from the start and take leads early, which is what will hopefully happen tonight against Phoenix, at home. The last time the Isles and Coyotes played- in Phoenix, to start off the 06-07 season- the Isles were lit up for six goals; it seems less likely that that will happen again tonight, but anything is possible. At any rate, we can't go on another skid, and something needs to be done to- at risk of sounding like a broken record- end the penalties and crash the net. Let's get it done tonight.