Isles Install Revolving Door on Penalty Box

Montreal 5 : Islanders 1

Some rewind…saw some of the worst Isles hockey against the Wild, saw what was probably the best Isles hockey against the Wings. And then came the Flyers…what the??? Angie I don’t know whether or not there is anyone who dislikes the Flyers as much as I do, but one thing is for sure – there is no other team that I detest the Isles losing to than the Flyers. My sister Donna was able to come to the game so…ah never mind…it was great to have her there but it didn’t make our team losing to Silladelphia any less suckier, especially after texts from Flyer fan friends started rolling in during the game. And just for the record - no S. Jersey and Philly people I will not say ‘park the car in the garage’ for your amusement. Eat your cheese steaks while watching your hockey team again and again choke in the end…and have a nice day. Oh and Angie – Witt in the shoot out - thought that was possibly a symbolic gesture that Coach Gordon and Witt have kissed and made up. Missed the Isles vs. Caps game…bleh the Isles lost.

I flaked out on who the Isles were playing last night until entering the Coliseum and hearing the shrieking noise Habs fans make which goes right through my spine. Although Freud might say I have fan envy because it would be great to hear Isles fans cheer as loud as Habs fans cheer, no matter if their team is winning or losing. This time around Habs fans cheered for their team as they scored, scored, scored, then scored, then scored again.

I arrived to the game at the beginning of the 2nd period, greeted by a scoreboard that read 2-0 Habs, Saku Koivu (13:03) and Mathieu Schneider (18:31) both scoring on the power play, and an Isles bench missing Kyle Okposo and Mark Streit due to injury and Dean McAmmond due to illness. Filling in the gaps were Bridgeport’s Trevor Smith and Sean Bentivoglio, playing in his first NHL game. Andy Hilbert left the game due to a rib injury.

Shortly into the 2nd, Alex Tanguary sent a wrist shot past Yann Danis (1:11) and a few minutes later while Tim Jackman was in the sin bin for slashing (2:44), Andrei Markov brought the score to 4-0 by building on a nice pass from Saku Koivu, a snap shot goal (3:12). Seconds later Joel Rechlicz and Georges Laraque dropped the gloves, both served 5 minutes for fighting. Psst…Joel…don’t let your opponent take the stance of ‘so are you going to fight or what?’ especially on home ice. At 9:05 in the period Jeff Tambellini scored his 7th goal of the season – a slap shot that sailed past Jaroslav Halak. Psst…Jeff…just keep on shedding that underachieving skin and all will be a-ok.

44 seconds into the 3rd period Mike Komisarek scored the Habs final goal with a slap shot that flew past Yann Danis. Although Danis appeared tired during this game, he rose to the occasion when stopping Tom Kostopoulos’s penalty shot, the shot was a result of Joe Callahan hooking Kostopoulos on a breakaway. A funny moment came with about 6:30 to go in the game when Habs fans attempted the wave – across the ice a young Isles fan stood up to continue the wave but was tugged down by another young Isles fan sitting next to him – who appeared to then explain to him that doing the wave with Habs fans was not cool. It was also at this time when Habs fans began singing ‘nah nah nah nah hey hey goodbye’ and Isles fans obliged with a mass exodus from the Coliseum.

The downside to this game beyond losing was the Isles racking up 10 penalties. The upsides to this game were watching what the Isles defense has been able to do well lately – clear the puck out of their zone. This is the kind of defensive momentum the Isles are in need of and if this effort stays alive and bridges over into next session, no doubt fewer goals will be scored against the Isles. Also, the Isles offense made some decent rushes on net and despite the score, didn’t play it safe. No risk no reward is the way to go next season for the offense and the team overall.

Next up is Isles vs. Tampa Bay on Saturday night.

LET’S GO ISLANDERS!!