10:19 pm: Well, there you have it. The Islanders WORST home record EVER as they lose 4 - 1 to the Boston Bruins. Once again Jack pulled his goalie trying to get a score on the board and giving up an empty netter instead.
8-11-1 overall and 2 -8 at home. How horrid is that?
"You can't make too many mistakes against them, if any." is what John Tavares told the media after the game. They made a few, and it cost them.
Josh Bailey, "We have to get ready for our next game. If we're even 500, we have a quality record. We have another home stand to turn it around. I think we gave up quite a bit of chances. Nabby made a lot of good saves. I don't know what it is right now. I know we have to change it and do something quickly."
Casey Cizikas on his goal "Amac did a great job getting it off the glass and out Bales he was first to the puck and he passed their dee and found me in the slot. I don't think the wins haven't come but with some of our home losses we've outshot the other team. We're letting up a bit. We have to play a full 60 minutes." When asked if they were overthinking things, " Personally no , some guys -- I'm not too sure. You just have to take it game by game."
Nabby in the post game. "I don't think we played that bad. I don't think they out played us. We have to come in the locker room and say we have to be even better than we were because they other team is going to push and we have to push back. They had all the momentum. They scored that goal where it went off the skate and then the stick and he put it in. We took the penalties and they were coming in bunches. They were playing defensive hockey, we played well, but they know how to pprotect the net. They know how to play, they've been there before." He made 30 saves tonight and still lost the game.
Jack Capuano post game report, "We competed hard, that was one of the best teams that we are going to play and I give our guys credit. A couple of breakdowns cost us goals. We were in the penalty box for a while. We're not gonna score a lot of goals with our line up, we've got to win those close games."
A reporter brought up the losing record. "It's an ugly number, no question. There isn't an easy night in the Eastern conference. We had some quality chances tonight and came away with only one goal. We competed at a high level tonight, we just have to do some things better defensively. We played good enough, we might have deserved better tonight. They're a big team a good faceoff team and a skilled team. We didn't get the win, but it was a better effort than we've showed recently."
I think at the beginning of the year it would have taken guys a litte bit longer to get where they need to be. you don't have the pracitce time that you need. there's still a lot of hockey to be played. It's not like anybody's running away with it yet. You can find yourself bacdk in the race.
We have to compete like we played tonight and clean up a few little things and they'll be rewardef for that. We've always talked about net presence. That's somethign that we stress. I thought the last few games we've done better at that. We have to continue to do that. that's how we're going to have to play. We got some shots through tonight.
There are some positives, but we have to find a way defensively it's a 3 on 3 rush coverage. You communicate and you have to get the job done."
9:03 pm: Isles on the power play and Streit almost nails it... that's almost....
And I have to leave the building so I'll catch up with this later.
8:57 pm: And.... back on the PK as Hamonic is called for hooking. Casey and Bailey try their move again but Rask makes the save.
Staple tweeted out a comment about MacDonald and Hamonic. Very unlike him. He's getting frustrated too.
8:48 pm: Streit takes a penalty and with just a few seconds of it left, Visnovsky is given that stupid delay of game penalty for the puck over the glass.
Back on the PK for the Isles.
Brad Kurtzberg from Insidehockey.com just noticed that all the ads on the boards are different tonight for the National game.
8:41 pm: Well, in the time it took for me to walk the entire length of the coliseum concourse, the Bruins scored twice. it is now 3 - 1 14:35 of the second period.
Also, I just got really annoyed with the catering staff in the press lounge. It's bad enough the pop corn now has tiny little cups instead of paper bags, but they keep putting coffee in the hot water carafes. Now there is also grinds in it. Unacceptable.
Sort of like those two goals Nabby just gave up.
In other news, the Tattoo Lou era is over as the stand is now gone but so the Tim Horton's coffee as well. Bummer.
8:11 pm: Radek Martinek to the box for Tripping and the PK goes to work. Matt Martin does a good job getting time off the clock in the Bruins zone.
Good effort by Michael Grabner to gt the puck away at the blue line and back towards Rask. 22 seconds left of the penalty and one minute left and Nielsen steals the puck and goes. A soft shot into the logo on Rask's jersey, but the penalty now has 5 seconds left.
8:06 pm Isles tie the score at one with a terrific pass from Josh Bailey in front of the net, and Cizikas bangs it in on the doorstep. Beautiful goal.
As Christian Arnold just read from Twitter, Cizikas' last goal was on a Nationally televised game as well.
8:02 pm: Isles first power play opportunity with 6:24 left of the first. Chara towers over Boyes and gets the puck away from him.
John Tavares makes every move he can including a pass between his legs to Moulson, but with onl 8 second left of the PP, the Isles didn't even manage a shot on goal.
7:59 pm: Once again, John Tavares gets pushed around while he's down on the ice and there is no penalty called.
7:50 pm: McQuaid scores a bad goal on Nabokov while AMac has Marchand tied up right behind Nabby's skates. Terrible goal.
Grabner gets a chance for the breakway and almost gets the puck over Tuuka but it hit a defender on his way towards Rask.
7:43 pm: it seems the crowd is going to cheer for every hit, from either team. And on a positive note, we've gone a few minutes into the first with no goal against. Yet.
7:39 pm: So the NBC guys are on the bench with the Isles doing their broadcasts. It's crowded.
Puck drop. And you hear Let's Go Bruins in the stands.
7:36 pm: For some reason, Josh Bailey, Kyle Okposo and Josh Bailey are the starting line-up. Huh?
7:22 pm: And here we are in the Coliseum with a large contingent of Black & Yellow jerseys... including my daughter and her friend in the second row. She'll be yelling "TUUUUKA!"
1:56 pm: I decided to listen to Jack Capuano's post morking skate media scrum, just to see which words he may be eating later tonight. He talked about taking ownership and looking across the ice and seeing a team that knows how to win. That doesn't mean he doesn't believe in his own squad, he said he believes they have the character guys to lead.
When he was asked how he can get a winning mentality in the room, he said "For us, there's a template of how we have to play. You look at our roster, we need all 20 guys going. We emphasize that on a daily basis of who we are and how we have to get the job done."
"It's the consistency throughout the 60 minutes of the game. We know there will be surgest both ways to our game, but how we maintain that is key."
He said he wasn't totally disappointed with the team in their loss to Carolina, but "It's still a process. We still have some guys that are still learning. It's communication, it's teaching, it's video. It's making sure they're in the right mindset."
If the right mindset is his and his coaching staff's job, let's hope they are there tonight or someone may be shown the door.
11:02 am: David Ullstrom will replace Keith Aucoin tonight and yes, Rick DiPietro has reported for duty at Bridgeport.
Not only did he report, but Rick is on the ice for Sound Tiger's practice with Reiter. Maybe now Niederreiter won't be so cranky.
8am: Art Staples' Newsday article headline says it all this morning: "Which Isles team will show up?" He calls them "maddeningly inconsistent" in his first paragraph. Yeah, that sums up it pretty much.
After the loss to Carolina, I put my fan hat back on and just became disgruntled. How could they blow another lead like that? How could they disappoint the home crowd yet AGAIN? I shook my head and then hung it just as Rick DiPietro had hung his on the bench after his third loss. Shameful.
My team -- the one I have invested so much time and energy in -- failing me yet again. I didn't have the heart to write last night. I hardly have it now.
On the other hand, the Bruins have been on a winning streak, and we know how streaks go. They're made to be broken. We also know that the Islanders somehow manage to show up for big games - occassionally.
THIS SHOULD BE ONE OF THOSE OCCASSIONS!!
My suggestion to Jack is to sit Kyle Okposo's non-productive butt in the press room and let the media grill him for an hour or so.
If many fans feel that it's Doug Weight that lights a fire under their butts, then let him give the locker room pep talk prior to the first period. Because I warn them, if they try to mail this game in, the sparse crowd they saw on Sunday will become less and less, no matter how many promotions they run.
Nabokov in net for certain, and Art says Rick is supposed to report to Bridgeport today. Even if he doesn't, they'll make an excuse for him and their goalie coach will remain the backup. Let's hope Rick can put his pride in his back pocket and just report.
Brendan Witt did, Jon Sim did. Of course those guys weren't 'the face of the franchise' for ten years, but Brendan was a $3 million player when he was sent down. Not that the extra $1.5 mil that Rick gets accounts for inflation, but he should go and make the most of it.
Or....strain his groin and go back on IR. But do it with dignity.
David Ullstrom should be back in the line-up and I'm calling for a goal from him. Just because.
New York Islanders Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»