I didn’t make it to the rink tonight. I just didn’t think it was a good idea.

I didn’t actually get to sit down until the second period. By that time it was only 1 -0. It was seemingly winnable for the Isles. However, by 2:53 of the second period, Nathan Horton had made it 2 – 0. Still not out of the question. Especially since Jesse Joensuu cut the lead by scoring his first goal of the second at 4:17. Then the flood gates opened. By 12:4 of the second, Streit had to look for his wallet, because Nathan Horton picked his pocket and took off with it along with the puck as he scored a short handed goal to put the panthers up 3 – 1. The second SHG the Isles have given up and the 4th the Panthers have scored. It was Horton’s second of the game.

Any good moves Bruno Gervais and the defense had made in the first period were immediately outweighed by very bad turnovers that resulted in a Panther’s goals.
Sadly, the Islanders headed to the locker room after the second down 3 – 1. Schremp tried to cut the lead, but Vokoun made a glove save to keep Robbie from continuing a point streak.

13 seconds into the third, the Panthers scored their fourth of the game and I swear I saw Gordon twitch behind the bench. It was a turnover by JT no less. No wonder Gordon twitched. It was Weiss’ 15th of the year. (Isn’t that the same number of goals that Moulson has? Um, yes.)

Well, Anthony and I had said that this was anyone’s game. It’s obvious that it was the panther’s game. It looked like they would end their road trip on a high note.

With in a few seconds of the Panther’s 4th goal, Roloson left a puck right outside his crease for far longer than I’ve ever seen and then it was 5 – 1. Big Angry Man screamed that if he didn’t see a goaltender change, he was driving to the coliseum himself to beat Scott Gordon. I would have been embarrassed. Luckily, Biron was already jumping over the boards to take the net. This was a very uncharacteristic showing for Dwayne, but his defense was virtually invisible.

It happens sometimes. But two goals in the first minute of the third made the game totally out of reach.

Comeau threw a big hit on Allen and took a boarding penalty and for some reason Sim went to the box for a 10 minute misconduct penalty. According to Jaffe, it was for yapping. All you could hear on the ice was the Panthers cursing at “Simmer.”

Biron faced a breakaway by Dvorak and lost to make it a 6 – 1 Panthers game. I didn’t even want to go to SB Nation’s LitterBoxCat’s live chat. I normally have an enjoyable time there. But with such a lopsided score, I thought better of it.

Puck decisions: Even my 15 year-old noticed the number of times that JT turned over the puck during this game.

At 10:53, McCabe was in the box for hooking as the Islanders went on the powerplay. JT couldn’t tee up Robbie Schremp’s pass at the side of the net. Then Streit missed the net. Okposo couldn’t get a clean shot off, and the power play remained powerless.

The stats are screaming from @KatieStrangNYI on Twitter. Okposo hasn’t scored in 12 games and Bailey hasn’t had a shot on goal in 21 straight periods.

The isles took another penalty. And Sutton looked uncomfortable again and Hillen has some new hardware on his skates to protect his bad foot.

While I was mulling all this over, Nathan Horton got the Hat trick that I was hoping Moulson would get. You could hear the puck hit Biron and just bounce off him and into the net. This will be one game we will all want to forget. Basically, it was just a bad dream. The good thing is there were so few people in the building, that maybe they can get away with pretending it really didn’t happen.

In a lot of ways, I’m very glad I decided to sit this one out. I probably wouldn’t have been very good in post game. When the losses are this bad, I have nothing to ask or say. Sometimes I’ll just sit quietly on the wooden bench in Press Room 6 and wait for Scott Gordon to address the media.

Every once in a while, it just doesn’t work. Good things will happen, eventually. Florida was looking for something to capitalize on and they found it. Yes, bad puck decisions. As a group the weakest defensive game they’ve played.

According to Butch Goring “Jon Sim is the biggest pest in the National Hockey League.”
Hmmm… I always thought that title belonged to Jason Blake. “He comes to the rink prepared to play every single night.” Deb and Butch had to continue their post game as Gordon was seemingly postponing his segment of the post game. Even after the commercial break, there was no Scott Gordon. “He’s busy having an anorism in the locker room.” My husband said as he looked up from his laptop.

SOG were 31 – 26 in favor of the Isles and they out hit the Panthers 35 – 14, but the only stat that mattered was the amount of turn overs they were guilty of.

“There wasn’t anything that went our way. We didn’t do anything to help matters. Every battle we lost, every time they made a non-skilled play at the wall, we couldn’t establish a fore check.” Gordon stood at the podium finally addressing the media.

“These are all important games.” And considering how close the standings are, no one can afford to lose any of them. It will be very important to bounce back from this loss and put it behind them. “Without a question, we didn’t have anyone going tonight. It was a collective effort. We can walk away knowing we played our worst.” Please, let that be the truth. If they have another home showing with a lopsided score such as this, I dread to think what would happen.

Scott Gordon was asked why he pulled Roloson as he is generally reluctant to pull a goalie from the net, but it was just too much. “Dwayne saw enough breakaways.”
“That tells you the team really wasn’t mentally prepared to play.” Butch Goring said toward the end of the broadcast. In a game of speed and split second decisions, if you’re not mentally prepared, you will fail every time. Tonight was HUGE – Huge Islanders Fail that is.

**Note: In continuing with Ricky-gate. "Garth Snow has issued this statment: "Ricky has been seen by the team doctors and most recently a specialist." "To make sure we are taking the proper steps in his rehabilitation, we will seek an additional opinion and should have a timeline by the end of the week."

Discuss.

Join the Discussion: » Comments » Post New Comment

» Boychuk for Seven

» Good Ain't Good Enough NYR 2 - NYI 1

» The Return of Isles' Capt. America

» The JT Show in TO in OT

» Kennedy's Debut