For New York The Problem Begins On Defense

If your team defense cannot score, is not very fast or physical, that’s a disadvantage at both ends of the ice and in transition.

It throws off your entire club. The Isles are not a big team up front that are going to dominate the corners to buy the defense more time to join the play.

It’s all a big part of the 2011-12 New York Islander story.

Dylan Reese went from the stands to playing with Mark Streit, that says a great deal about the depth or lack thereof.

Best part of the game on Thursday was watching Andrew MacDonald attempt to play some physical hockey, but that’s not enough. Travis Hamonic cannot be that player at this point in his career much less wearing a cage.

Mark Streit’s beautiful effort to find Tavares for the 3-2 goal was also not enough on one of the lowest scoring defenses in the NHL.

Streit’s looked like he’s played two seasons with all the pressure on him every game, which is why signing Steve Staios was such a mistake because teams key on Streit.

Bottom line this team needs some major changes to it’s defense which obviously begins with Jurcina, Eaton and Staios because they solve none of those flaws on this backline.

No, it’s not their fault, they have played exactly as their career trends would suggest (beyond injuries) as did Mike Mottau.

Obviously the UFA market will only have inconsistent players with a lot of downside available which is why they are on the market. The one or two top defenders available will be front-loaded contract defenders where again even a James Wisniewski will be offered more than Tavares and likely are not going to be available to this team.

In short, the prospects will provide some answers, not all.

That’s where Garth Snow comes in.

29 other clubs want the same upgrades on defense so the price in the trade market will be extremely high.
********************************
Flyer game:
Jack Capuano for as flawed as his team can play at times should feel some pressure watching John Tavares diagramming a play after him.

His team played a ten minute game.

Capuano was correct in his twenty second post-game, the Isles did dominate the early minutes and skate well, but for all that they generated virtually no scoring chances. As soon as Nabokov gave up the opening goal the club did little until Grabner’s goal.

Streit, Capuano and many were correct in the post-game, there is no excuse to play a ten minute game, this also goes on the coach.

The Flyers came in red-hot off three shutouts in a row, having written that they did not have to play very hard after they got the lead and it showed.
************************
Jay Pandolfo was nominated for the Masterson.

New York Islander Fan Central

New York Signs Shane Sims To ATO

Tweet

Islanders website: Announced Saturday that defenseman Shane Sims has signed an NHL regular season amateur tryout agreement. The club is under emergency conditions, with injuries to Jack Hillen and Milan Jurcina.

Sims, 22, led all Ohio State University defenseman in scoring this season with 19 points and ranked second overall on the team with 16 assists. The East Amherst, NY, native also led the Buckeyes with a plus-9 rating during his senior campaign.

NYIFC Comments:
This is a little different than the previous players on ATO. Sims is an Islander prospect from 2006 draft who the club has signing rights to until he graduates which will be this summer if he is a senior.

Same as any prospect in organization drafted from college ranks from Ness to Donovan to Okposo.

DiPietro starting for New York. Flyers are tied with Pens so this game huge for Flyers, who are struggling badly and usually find a way to break out of a slump against the Islanders. Pens next game in Sunday.

Ottawa lost against Boston Saturday. New York loss (of any kind) relegates them to 27th overall (fourth from bottom) in terms of next week’s lottery.

A New York win relegates them to 26th overall or fifth from bottom in terms of NHL lottery.

New York Islander Fan Central

Philadelphia 4, New York 1: New York Eliminated

Tweet

New York was eliminated from playoff contention Saturday night with Buffalo win combined with Islanders loss.

I can repeat some of the blog entry from Atlanta game, even though effort was better, with shot disparity, this team keeps fading for big portions of games.

A few different players had good individual games (Comeau beyond his goal) but you can see New York is a team that simply is out of sync.

The chemistry the pp had going is just gone, the opposition usually waits for mistakes and gets quality chances, and you can see them pressing with five forwards or Jurcina-Hillen.

The Flyers did not even play very well. A bounce off end-boards, the redirection on fourth goal, and mostly on cruise control in third. DiPietro cannot be faulted on second goal with rebound chances, he was a little out of control, but for time he has been off, was solid enough.

It’s not happening for Okposo with Nielsen as his center, Moulson did everything but finish, still overall the level of skating, passing has dropped.

Sometimes it’s hard to explain, the Devils are now going through the same thing once the bubble broke for them, but they have more veterans. I saw Jacques Lemaire’s press conference and he was all over his team for their play.

Jack Capuano should feel the same about his team.

Bottom line this is what the gm is going to remember last when deciding to bring back the interim coach/players.
***************************
Aaron Ness has his first professional goal in Bridgeport’s 5-1 win Saturday with Nate Lawson in goal.

NYIFC Comments:
Bridgeport is finishing up as you would want the Islanders to do. Ullstrom, Colliton, Rakhshani and others have been very good with many ATO players.

New York Islander Fan Central RSS/not Twitter.

var addthis_pub=”nyifancentral”;

Share |

CONTACT:NYIFANCENTRAL@YAHOO.COM

New York Islander Fan Central

Two Games In One Day? Likely All Time First For New York

Tweet

Updated 12:30pm Wednesday:
Twitter box will be reposted at 7pm, for articles/game recaps/ect.

Nielsen and Doug Weight will not be making the trip to Philadelphia, Jon Sim will replace Nielsen on the top line, centering Matt Moulson and Krys Kolanos.
**************************************************

I know the New York Islanders have played regular season games in neutral sites long ago, obviously they have played pre-season all over North America. In the past there have been early rookie games followed by NHL teams going head to head afterward.

Cannot recall any instance of this team ever playing two games on the same day as we will not see (Cablevsion partners spamming every preseason game of house team only) Wednesday against Calgary/Philadelphia, or Saturday’s double-header vs New Jersey/Montreal.

Not sure what (if any) game we can follow from Philadelphia/Saskatoon across the web. The Islanders website is reporting, the NHL Network will carry the game vs. the Flyers live at 7 p.m. and will also broadcast the game from Saskatoon vs. the Flames at 4 a.m here.

In the past some preseason games have been live on ITV, other instances, Cablevision has only permitted the games be shown days later. If you think Cablevision is lifting any blackouts to show out of town games on NHL Network, don’t count on it.

Some of these players on tryouts (Manny Legace) could be making a pre-cameo for signing with Philadelphia tomorrow, while playing for the Islanders. Given eight veterans that must dress as a minimum hard to read much into lines but it seems Niederreiter, Parenteau have their chance with regulars.

It will be interesting. I’m not sure what I’m going to do besides follow the scoreboard and hope for no more injuries. It is preseason, but you can bet with New Jersey losing games (they finally beat Flyers Tuesday) with a new coach they will be pressing hard for some wins, and are ahead of the Islanders in games played as is every NHL team.

At this point getting through games healthy is becoming a factor. Hunter, Schremp, DiPietro, Martinek and other players are all coming off injuries from a year ago.

This is the group that will likely traveled to Philadelphia:
26 Moulson – 51 Nielsen – 29 Kolanos
58 Joensuu – 18 Ortmeyer – 37 McAmmond
81 DiBenedetto – 50 Marcinko – 59 Haley
54 Romano – 33 Yablonski

38 Hillen – 6 Eriksson
42 Reese – 36 Hamonic
71 Katic – 48 Klementyev

30 Roloson
34 Legace
53 Martin

Defensemen Dustin Kohn and Bruno Gervais are both expected to make the trip to Philadelphia per teams website.

Saskatoon Group:
57 Blake Comeau, 91 John Tavares, 15 PA Parenteau
12 Josh Bailey, 44 Rob Schremp, 25 Nino Niederreiter
17 Matt Martin, 45 David Ullstrom, 7 Trent Hunter
14 Trevor Gillies, 28 Zenon Konopka, 49 Rhett Rakhshani

4 Mark Eaton, 20 James Wisniewski
47 Andrew MacDonald, 24 Radek Martinek
3 Calvid de Haan, 27 Milan Jurcina

39 Rick DiPietro
1 Mikko Koskinen

New York Islander Fan Central Twitter Page

var addthis_pub=”nyifancentral”;

Share |

New York Islander Fan Central

Islander News Articles 4/12

Will fill in a few things later or Sunday on the Isles in this entry, will give the Sound Tigers their own blog entries with a link to Frozen Four.

Newsday: Greg Logan’s game recap of the Islanders 3-2 loss to Philadelphia begins with defenseman Mark Streit’s comments he feels his team needs a goal scorer as he felt the defense and the return of Rick DiPietro would be good enough on the backline. Sean Bergenheim discussed what a player like John Tavares or Victor Hedman would do for this team and felt his line could have had a few more goals today.

Head coach Scott Gordon felt his special teams have struggled the last ten games.

Newsday: Mr Logan had features on Josh Bailey and Kyle Okposo on how he felt in his return as he was asked about playing at the World Championships here.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
ITV Has the full Scott Gordon press conference so you have the exchange with Mr Logan and the media on hand.

Newsday: Mr Logan in the Islanders Newsday blog around gametime bloged on an early season issue with Doug Weight-Bill Guerin and the beatwriter in an article where Weight was awarded the good-guy award from the local chapter of the Writers before Saturday’s game for his cooperation with the media on a team Mr Logan felt has a lot of what he wrote were ” good guys ” in terms of being accessible.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
I find it interesting Mr Logan feels hockey is a sport which the athletes understand their responsibility to promote the game, their franchise and the importance of the media as a connection to the interests of the fans, but the writer himself only did the bare minimum vs his Newsday counterpart in the only paper that covered the Islanders full-time.

That alone mandates far more coverage for all these ” good guys ” who need to connect to our fans to get people to come to games and promote New York Islander Hockey.

We did not read nearly enough from our beatwriter unless it was about un-named sources complaining about the coach or the Newsday staff that went after the Islanders like no other club in this league that decided to go by the NHL injury policy. When it came time to question Rick DiPietro’s health, Mr Logan was all over it but when he started the ASG, he was nowhere to be found.

I don’t want to play the role of ” bad guy ” here and it would be very easy for me to ignore these things but someone has to write this because it has caused damage beyond the on-ice results and hurts the teams exposure and ability to promote itself.

In a few days, I no longer will be writing about it so I hope a few fans see it and ask the same tough but very fair questions moving forward. Mr Logan does not control the print space the editor provides but where Steve Zipay had extra blog entries after games with players quotes and additional information, as Mr Fornabaio does the same for Bridgeport I rarely saw this for the Islanders all season aside from the recent game in Carolina where he did a late night blog with more quotes.

NY Post: Dan Martin’s game coverage.

Cherry Hill Courier Post: Chuck Gormley’s coverage of the Flyers win Saturday.

Philadelphia Inq/Daily News: Combined Flyer coverage.

Delaware County Times: Also has Flyer coverage.

Associated Press: Reported Boston lost 6-1 to Buffalo on Saturday so they will not win the President’s Trophy, finishing second to San Jose but after such a loss will likely want to finish strong heading into the playoffs.

Associated Press: Report the Detroit Red Wings have resigned forward Johan Franzen to an 11-year, $43.5 million deal Saturday, which averages $3.95 million per season for the twenty nine year old.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Funny how the Wings keeps copying Charles Wang with longer term signings but virtually no criticism to keep their core together.

var addthis_pub=”nyifancentral”;

New York Islander Fan Central

Philadelphia 3, New York 2

Associated Press: Recaps Philadelphia’s 3-2 win over New York on Saturday.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
A tale of two teams, one with a lot of young players surrounded by veterans who can all score, the other with a lot of young players developing with a few veterans who are not skilled finishers.

Game is on the line, final minute, timeout goalie pulled, here comes Park, Weight.

That’s not why the Islanders lost today but call it what it is, one team has all those skilled twenty-thirty goal finishers and eventually they are going to make a few plays that will give them some momentum. The Islanders despite the very strong start where if they had the skilled finishers Philadelphia had it may have been 4-0 at the end of the first but at this time they don’t.

Islanders put up a good effort today, they did look like a better team with Okposo in the lineup, they looked less skilled offensively without Joensuu and Igglden.

Isles early transition was excellent and they outskated the Flyers which led to Weight’s pass to Bergenheim, without a few good saves by Biron Isles could have had a few more.

Second period Flyers drew a few powerplays, their skilled players finally got their shot where they need them which led to two powerplay goals even if the Knuble goal was more a play where Danis should have gotten a whistle.

Jackman got a goal off a broken play but that’s not a goal a team builds off of, the Flyers came busting through the middle, made a skilled play and a shot the Islander collective lineup lacks made it 3-2 which was the story of this day and a tale of two teams.

Gervais surprisingly got beat inside twice for two goals.

Danis made a huge save in the third, he did not get the call on Knuble’s goal, could he have saved the goals the Flyers scored, tough to say but if you wonder it’s a fair question to ask.

Okposo did not look bad, being in the lineup does raise the teams skill level and coincidence or not they had a little more jump when he was on the ice and his backcheck was visible.

One more game tomorrow, by the time the game starts we will see if Boston could still have a chance to play for the President’s Trophy.

var addthis_pub=”nyifancentral”;

New York Islander Fan Central

Philadelphia at New York 2pm Msg+

Flyers website: Has the latest on their team in preparation for their game against New York on Saturday which includes the return of Ryan Parent.

Philadelphia Inq/Daily News“: Has the latest on the Philadelphia Flyers.

04/07/09 Riley Cote LW Finger Out for the season
04/09/09 Ryan Parent D Lower body Questionable for April 11
*********************************************************************
On the Islander side we’ll see who gets back in the lineup or who is called between Okposo, Hilbert vs whoever has the flu or is banged up.

One thing for sure is the goaltending has to be at a higher level over sixty minutes regardless who starts than it’s been since Saturday and being outscored 15-1 is not going to get it done.

Isles would have lost against Pittsburgh anyway and some of those goals were about defensive breakdowns but I did not like how MacDonald reacted on three goals (mostly late when the game was 4-1) and the floating shot that beat him.

Islanders lost 4-3 a week ago to Philadelphia, the idea the Isles cannot compete with the Flyers given the season series and how close the games have been leaves them no excuses as a team not to go out and put up their best game here whether it’s good enough to win or not.

For Scott Gordon it’s time to let Tambellini or Bergenheim see some time on whatever first powerplay unit he has and if Okposo does dress Doug Weight should not be his man on left point with Mark Streit now.

At least all the fans can root for a win now. I want to see this group give the fans something to take into the summer with the effort we saw most of the second half.

var addthis_pub=”nyifancentral”;

New York Islander Fan Central

Islander News Articles 4/11: Bridgeport wins Friday

The pregame will post at 10am Saturday with no additional blog entries scheduled at this time before the post game.

NYIFC will be in Third-Jersey mode for the entire weekend with the rarely used Dynasty Header on display.

Newsday: John Jeansonne covered Friday’s practice where head coach Scott Gordon talked about the differences between the first and second half along with all the injuries and what he’s looking for from the Islanders first round pick in this summers draft.

Point Blank/Mr Botta: Friday afternoon among several items reported Kyle Okposo did participate in a full practice and that head coach Scott Gordon said he would meet with the team’s medical staff before deciding whether Okposo would play in either or both home games this weekend to finish the season. Andy Hilbert will likely return to the lineup against Philadelphia.

Associated Press: Has a preview of Saturday’s game against Philadelphia where the Flyers have a lot at stake entering this game.

USCHO.com/Several Oulets: Reports BU defenseman Matt Gilroy is the Hobey Baker Award winner with his comments heading into Saturday’s NCAA Frozen Final against Miami.

Newsday: Mark Macyk has comments from Matt Gilroy’s family on him winning the Hobey Baker and what’s ahead for him after a great college career.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Islander prospect Corey Trivino also plays for Boston University as their third line center here.

AHL.com: Has the Recap of Bridgeport’s 4-3 win against Springfield Friday night at Harbor Yard.

Nate Lawson started in net and missed an empty net goal at the end in the final minute.

Ryan Stone sure loves playing against Bridgeport or the Isles, no matter what organization he plays for as he did his 2006 playoff imitation.

Anyone notice Jon Sim with thirteen goals has one less goal for Bridgeport than all the players tied for second on the Isles with fourteen goals?

Scoring
1. BRI Haley, (5) (Hennigar), 3:22
1. SPR Potulny, (36) (Stone, Eberle), 17:08
2. BRI Sim, (13) (Lee, Iggulden), 0:56 (PP)
2. BRI Lessard, (13) (Joensuu, Walter), 1:35
2. SPR Willis, (5) (Linglet, Stone), 5:15 (PP)
2. BRI Joensuu, (20) (Callahan), 14:56
2. SPR Potulny, (37) (Stone), 18:33 (SH)

Ryan Duncan made his debut for Bridgeport. Jesse Joensuu, Mike Iggulden played for Bridgeport.

None of the recent signings from Sarnia played nor did Max Gratchev or Robin Figren.

Former Islander draft pick Ryan O’Marra played for Springfield.

Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio’s game coverage and blog entries here on Bridgeport’s 4-3 win against Springfield Friday features head coach Jack Capuano and Jesse Joensuu on the game and what place the team finishes in means.

Ct Post: Mr Fornabaio’s game preview for Saturday against Lowell is already available.

Lowell Devils at Bridgeport Sound Tigers
WHEN — Tonight, 7
WHERE — Arena at Harbor Yard
ON THE AIR — Webcast and Internet pay-per-view at http://www.soundtigers.com
RECORDS THROUGH THURSDAY — Lowell 34-35-2-7; Bridgeport 47-23-3-5
SEASON SERIES — Bridgeport leads 4-1

LAST MEETING — The Devils won 5-3 at home March 29.

Springfield Union News & Sunday Republican: Fran Sypek’s game coverage noted a crowd that looked like only a thousand fans despite announced attendance.

Philadelphia defeated Hershey Friday in the old Spectrum’s final regular season game ever is in fourth place and would play the division winner in round one.

WBS Pens defeated Albany Friday.

Updated Standings:
East Division GP W L OT SO PTS
1 x Hershey 78 48 22 2 6 104
2 x Bridgeport 79 48 23 3 5 104
3 x WBS Pens 78 48 24 3 3 102
*********************************************
Saturday games:
Lowell at Bridgeport
Norfolk at WBS Pens (Norfolk won big Friday)
Philadelphia at Hershey
********************************
Sunday game:
WBS Pens at Hershey

This makes it very tough for Bridgeport because someone (maybe both teams) are going to gain points.

var addthis_pub=”nyifancentral”;

New York Islander Fan Central

Islander News Articles 3/29

Newsday: Greg Logan’s recap of New York’s 4-3 loss to Philadelphia in a shootout Saturday with comments from Doug Weight on why he dropped the gloves after Jackman was hit in the first, how the team is coming together and head coach Scott Gordon on Yann Danis among a few subjects.

Newsday: Mark Herrmann does a very classy job crediting the fans for their support of a last place team not only last night but at the meeting Thursday and credited the club for how they have played along with owner Charles Wang for his strategy on the Lighthouse, Josh Bailey comments.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
If I’m going to be heavily critical of Mark Herrmann here I have to give the man his due when he does praise the Islanders. As great as it was they sold out against Philadelphia, everyone knows it’s was a big partisan crowd last night with the Isles fan base comprised of kids, on the ice the plan seems to be working with the young players giving this team something every game that is translating not just to good shifts any longer but with goals/points/chemistry and the confidence to make plays at this level.

Newsday: Mr Herrmann also has some comments from Hall of Fame General Manager Bill Torrey about the Isles, and what still are very strong and active ties to the area and the NHL.

NY Post: Mike Puma’s coverage of the Isles shootout loss with comments from head coach Scott Gordon on his shootout choices and Doug Weight about the club sticking up for one another.

Note-For some reason Larry Brooks felt obligated to take a very unprofessional cheap shot at Mike Milbury.

Note-If Peter Botte was dispatched to cover the game his Sunday article for the Daily News will be added but at this time of year the Daily News usually bails on home coverage.

Cherry Hill Courier Post: Chuck Gormley’s coverage of the Flyers shootout win Saturday.

Philadelphia Inq/Daily News: Combined Flyer coverage.

Delaware County Times: Also has Flyer coverage.

Windsor Star: Bob Duff had comments from Josh Bailey about his year in the NHL with head coach Scott Gordon on his top draft picks development to this level after the game in Detroit on Friday.

AHL.com: Reports Bridgeport lost huge in Hershey in a first place battle on Saturday 7-2.

1. HER Aucoin, (24) (Sloan, Giroux), 7:24
1. HER Bourque, (20) (Giroux, Aucoin), 8:30 (PP)
1. HER Aucoin, (25) (Mink), 18:20
2. HER Mink, (32) (Lepisto, Varlamov), 3:58 (PP)
2. BRI Smith, (29) (MacDonald, Sim), 5:17 (PP)
2. HER Giroux, (53) (Aucoin, Helmer), 12:44 (SH)
2. BRI MacDonald, (8) (Lee, Iggulden), 16:07 (PP)
2. HER Giroux, (54) (Aucoin, Bourque), 17:16 (PP)
3. HER Gordon, (21) (Bourque, Kronwall), 0:43 (PP)

Nate Lawson was pulled after allowing six goals on seventeen shots. Bridgeport had forty shots.

Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio was at Harbor Yard for the NCAA but had a blog entry on the game.

Note-If the paper has a game article from the Ct Post beyond Sunday’s preview against Lowell on the road 4pm Sunday here I will add it in tomorrow.

Ct Post: Dan Sernoffsky had an article that was mostly Bears centric with no Sound Tiger quotes.

Patroit-News: Tim Leone has Bears coverage of their win which gives them a five point first place lead with a game in hand for a team the Sound Tigers led or were tied with only a week ago.

Lancaster Online: Harold Ziegler also has coverage on Hershey’s win.

1 x Hershey Bears 73 47 19 1 6 101
2 Bridgeport Sound Tigers 74 44 22 3 5 96
3 WBarre/Scranton Penguins 73 45 24 2 2 94

Hershey plays WBS Pens Sunday

AHL season is eighty games.

var addthis_pub=”nyifancentral”;

New York Islander Fan Central

Philadelphia 4, New York 3 Shootout

Associated Press: Recaps New York’s 4-3 shootout loss to Philadelphia Saturday.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Better team tonight lost the skills competition or decided to turn the shootout into an exhibition, if not for 0.02 at the end of the first the game is likely out of reach for Philadelphia earlier.

Someone is going to have to explain to me why we see calls like the one against McAmmond decide a game but tonight night when all we hear is you are responsible for your stick Jackman takes a high stick in his face right in front of the official, blood is drawn and no call is made nor do the officials even consult with one another?

That turns a tie game with three minutes left into one the Isles take into overtime with a powerplay.

It’s huge.

Overall I’m very happy with the Islanders effort.

For a team rested and waiting with all those twenty goal scorers the Flyers were very passive, sat back early and did not try and take it at the Islanders who not only generated good chances but took the early lead and simply were the better team that were standing up for one another beginning with Doug Weight who jumped right in and defended a teammate.

You would be hard pressed to know who was competing for a playoff spot tonight.

Goals? Nice shot by Martinek, good hand-eye by Tambellini but again for me the shifts these young players are having between Bailey-Okposo-Nielsen-Comeau-Tambellini are the story where they create quality chances and it’s not one thing but just the body or work as it’s obvious they are more and more comfortable at this level.

They are consistently the teams best players game in and out.

Defense for Islanders was solid across the board, Flyers did not get many quality chances until the third.

Veterans created their chances too with McAmmond and Weight getting breakaways, the officials made a terrible call against Philadelphia when a player dove and got the puck with his stick but gave the Isles a powerplay.

Also loved how they stood in and fought when it was needed combined with some big hits. Comeau buried a Flyer at the end of regulation. Rule of thumb is you don’t wake up Aaron Asham, Jackman found that out the hard way.

What can I write about Yann Danis? He seemed composed and in control for two periods but he cannot allow that first Flyer goal which changes the momentum. It’s obvious he’s fighting the puck but the third goal he had no chance on as Streit got beat before he almost immediately crashed the net to tie to score.

Down the stretch seemed both teams wanted to get the game to overtime as the Flyers went back into first period mode. In overtime seemed both teams were looking toward a shootout.

Why is Brendan Witt opening a shootout and Mark Streit closing it? No idea but whether they score or not what was the point of that when there are a lot of forwards with better hands who he has used previously?

That one I simply do not get.

Flyer skilled players got the best of a struggling goalie in the skills competition.

Islanders did not skate like a tired team, had more energy and worked to create better chances, after last night’s that’s about all that can be asked.

All in all, it should have been a regulation win, Islanders were better in most areas.

var addthis_pub=”nyifancentral”;

New York Islander Fan Central