3:59 pm: From my buddy Christian Arnold:
After the game, Jt genuinely seemed surprised that his second goal of the night was his 100th of his career
Jack: I thought both teams started out sloppy in the first period." So did Doug Weight.
"I think it was a close hockey game, our special teams were real good tonight. You know they're coming, they have some big guy, some skilled guys. You have to give them credit, they went down to 5 "D" there."
Finally Jack said something about his goalie, "I was real happy with Nabokov's game. We sacrified our bodies we did a lot of things as a team." He'll talk to Mike Dunam about who will play tomorrow.
Successful home stand? "You want to be better, but the last few games have been better. It's not where we want to be but it's been better."
"Our guys have battled. it's all about the players their work ethic. We got our power plays and we took advantage. We got a good bounce on the Nielsen goal."
Even Nabokov said the game startef without the same rhythm as a night game. I knew it!
The New York Islanders are now at the .500 mark. Thankfully.
3:48 pm: It's so much better hearing Butch and Howie smiling and laughing after a game rather than making excuses.
3:31 pm: McDonald takes a bad penalty in the offensive zone and the Isles are shorthanded against an angry Capitals team. But Frans Nielsen managed to grab puck and score a shorty giving the Isles another goal where the score says 5 - 2, but it's really 6 - 2.
But you know.... that three minutes that Matt Moulson scored in never happened.
With 1:30 left of the third Matt Martin takes a puck off the helmet and isn't happy, so he bangs the first white sweater he sees and takes a penalty for charging. is there a penalty for being pissed for getting with a puck?
But even on a power play and with their goalie pulled for the extra skater, the Isles manage to keep the Caps from adding to their tally.
Nabokov with another excellent game.
"Giving Capital(s) Punishment today" is the sign my buddy Pat and his daughter have against the glass today. For Ovie and Robiero, I'm sure it was!
3:15 pm: John Tavares earns his 99th career goal to the give the Isles their third lead of the game.
I had waled away for a moment and found that Backstrom ties the game at two. I had visions of Thursday and became annoyed. But not as annoyed as Ribiero who took a four minute penalty for mouthing off and slaming the penalty box door.
With power play over after the goal, Andy MacDonald is hit with a high stick at the face off and and the Isles are back on the power play for another four minutes.
John Tavares may have just earned his 100th goal, but they may have to review it while play continues during the power play. As my husband is complaing vehemently that someone should have been reviewing the tape for the Isles and telling Nabokov to fall on the puck to stop play.
So does this mean that Moulson's goal is wiped out, but they have two more minutes of power play time.
2:19 pm: A turnover by #8 gives Matt Martin a chance to bring the puck into the Caps zone. Looking over he finds Casey Cizikas who doesn't pass it, but shoots and scores earning Zeeker his third goal of the season and the Islanders a 2 - 1 lead.
2:06 pm: With Radek Martinek in the box for holding the stick, Ward finds a loose puck in front of Nabokov which bounces off Travis Hamonic and behind Nabokov. As Butch said, the black cloud continues to follow Hamonic.
1:49 pm: End of first and the Isles still lead 1 - 0 on a very inexperienced Caps goalie. And if anyone is wondering, the officials today are not the same as the last two games that the Isles received no power plays from. I had to check.
1:35 pm: Isles actually get a power play as Oleksy is called for tripping.
Can they do something with it? Visnovsky out on the PP for the second minute.
Matt Martin back on the Power Play gets hit with a Mark Streit shot had the wind knocked out of him and had a hard time making it back to the bench. Three shots on the power play and it would have been four if not for Matt Martin taking it in the chest.
1:28 pm: One goal for Josh Bailey from a beautiful pass from Frans Nielsen. Frans was looking all the way and Josh made the right move and right through the five hole.
John Tavares ends up in the Capitals' net and once again there is no penalty call against the Capitals for taking down JT. Jack Capuano is beyond angry as he kicks things behind the bench.
update 1:13 pm: OH NO! NOT THE BLACK JERSEYS!!!
Martinek in, Finely out with Visnovsky back on D.
7 am: Those dreaded 1 pm games on the weekend always give me cause for alarm. The Islanders chances on day games are not aweful, but they're not great either. Plus I find it puts my viewing schedule out of whack.
But what can we do. This is the time it will start and the Isles have to be ready for it. The Washington Capitals may not be the team they were last season but they are stringing together some wins and gaining confidence. Their game on Thursday night earned them a 7 - 1 win over the Panthers, which they are trying to keep from inflating their egos.
Ovie, the Great 8, may not be as great as he once was (as Mike Milbury will tell you vehemently), but he still needs to be kept in check on the ice because he can be lethal. There can be no 'passengers' today (REASONER!).
Lubomir Visnovsky returned from home yesterday and will more than likely play today. The question will be if the Isles will get any power play opportunities. The lack of calls going the Isles way on Thursday was enough to cause rage on the Isles bench from John Tavares on down to Brent Thompson.
I am not sure what Thompson said or did that was more heinous than what Doug Weight was yelling, but I guess Thompson is the tallest, so he was easiest to spot. He got the two game suspension from the league and will miss this afternoon and tomorrow's games.
The officials who decided the Rangers played a perfect game were Mike Hasenfratz, Brian Pochmara, Brad Kovaclak and Derek Nansen. The officials who decided the LEAFS played a perfect game were Marc Joannette, Ian Walsh, Mike Cvik and Derek Amell.
My personal opinion is NO team in the NHL can play a perfectly CLEAN 60 minutes. That's not the nature of the game and the speed of it makes it impossible. What it tells me is that infractions go uncalled based on the official's opinion.
It is MY 'opinion' that John Tavares gets ZERO respect in this league. Just as Travis Hamonic doesn't and in most cases, Matt Martin. I do not know why. John Tavares was the first overall pick, he was a superstar in juniors and he's one hell of a good, respectful man.
HE DESERVES THE SAME RESPECT AS ANY OTHER SUPER STAR IN THE NHL! And that means if he's getting dragged down to the ice, how about you call it for the hooking it is!
New York Islanders Blogger • 
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