Even With the Effort, Isles Blanked Again

Islanders 0 : Canadiens 3

After the final siren at Montreal's Bell Centre sounded, Jaroslav Halak found himself mobbed by his happy and proud teammates. With his 30-save performance and support from his fast-skating offense, he had plenty of reason to be happy; last night's game resulted in his first shutout of the season. Roman Hamrlik, Alexei Kovalev and Guillaume Latendresse scored the goals for the Habs, who now trail New Jersey by one point for first in the Eastern Conference.

The team on the other end of the ice, the Islanders, only skated off the ice quietly and retired to their visiting team dressing room. They hadn't scored a goal, had made the effort, but only met red jerseys and the flashy pads of Halak. Rick DiPietro, having now lost four straight starts, made 26 saves, but let in three goals too many, and the Islanders can only look ahead to their next game, at home against Toronto on Tuesday.

The most exciting thing that the Isles have to look up to is the NHL debut of the proclaimed future of the New York Islanders, winger Kyle Okposo. In Bridgeport, Okposo had 24 points (8 goals, 16 assists) for the Sound Tigers, and recorded an assist in their win over the Philadelphia Phantoms last night. This will be the first time many Isles fan will get a look at the touted forward.