Isles Smacked, Dragged and Kicked Around in Pittsburgh

Islanders 2: Pittsburgh 9

If the title of this blog post took you aback... well, don't worry. This entire game did to me as well.

That said, with everything that people could say, write or analyze about last night's complete drubbing by the Penguins, 9-2, there are barely any original words to describe what transpired over 2 hours and 45 minutes in Mellon Arena.

This game was one in which all aspects of the team- offense, defense, and goaltending- were sub-par. As it was, only two defensemen- Mark Streit in the first (PP), and Andy Sutton in the third which made it 8-2 at that point- scored for the Islanders (10-17-2). Doug Weight also pulled to within four points of 1,000 with his 27th point of the season (an assist), but that was only a drop in the bucket when it came to the offense last night.

Meanwhile, Pittsburgh found much to cheer about, as Petr Sykora and Pascal Dupuis both tallied hat tricks, and Philippe Boucher, Evgeni Malkin, and former Isle Miro Satan (making it three former Islanders in a row who've scored against their former team) all put the puck past either Joey MacDonald (4 GA, 15 svs, pulled after 1st) or Yann Danis (5 GA, 14 svs). They scored three power play goals out of 11 chances, and outshot the Isles 38-26.

The lopsided loss was enough to make Scott Gordon say, "It was an off night for everybody... I think we can just leave it at that."

Notes: Jon Sim cleared waivers and was a healthy scratch for tonight's game... Mike Sillinger led the Isles with five shots on goal... Pittsburgh goaltender John Curry made 25 saves in his third NHL start.