The chants of “Let’s Go Islanders” were so loud at Madison Square Garden that even the Rangers Radio broadcast team could not ignore them. Those #IslesRoadWarriors were rewarded for coming out and supporting their team in enemy territory. The Rangers came out strong in the first period, as we expected from a team that lost to the Leafs just a short time before. Lundqvist had been chased from the net in that game, but was ready to face his old foe, their cross-town rivals.
But this isn’t the same Islanders.
It seems to also not be the same Jack Capuano. In his post game interview, Jack was honest and open about the way the team played and how he felt. The usually guarded Capuano even called Griffin Reinhart’s performance “average” when asked about the young player. He let the press in on the fact that he went in to the locker room between periods and talked to the players. Much of his interview seemed like a coach who just lost a game and not won by a 6 - 3 split.
Jaroslav Halak was the first star of the night and deservedly so. He faced 43 shots and gave up only three goals. As usual, he remembers each that he gave up. “Not happy about the first goal, it squeezing through my legs, a bad angle, it has to be stooped.” Jaro gave his opponent credit for the first period. “They outplayed us, we got a big goal at the end of the period to tie it. It could have gone either way.”
The work the Isles coaching staff has done on the penalty kill paid off. “Our PK out there tonight did a really good job killing penalties. We knew we had to get better, they did it tonight.”
The young Islanders make Halak feel a bit old, but he is still having fun. He’s not the first Islander goalie to feel this way. He'll get over it.
Kyle Okposo scored his 100 NHL goal at the Garden. He didn‘t know it until he hit the bench. He said it was “pretty cool” and that his 500th will be more special. He was more concerned with the way they played the first 40 minutes. “We didn’t have a very good first two periods. We didn’t have an answer for them. We came in here and talked about playing the right way. In the third period, that’s how we want to play.”
That is how they always wanted to play, they just hadn’t been able to do it consistently. But now, they have a valid shot at it.
It was always said “Winning cures everything.” While it’s still early, it seems that is the case. It certainly has lots of people talking about the surprising Islanders. I listened to SiriusXMNHL Network radio today, and it seemed like an Islanders’ love fest. While the NJ Devils are also 3-0 to start the season, and tied with the Isles at the top of the Metro division, it’s the Islanders getting more press. Probably because the Devils are just expected to have success -- at least more success than the Isles.
Here are some of the articles I found just in a few minutes:
These Islanders are for real -- http://www.todaysslapshot.com/nhl-east/metropolitan/these-islanders-are-for-real/ By Patrick Hoffman
Excerpt: The New York Islanders Could be Headed for the Postseason Instead of the Draft Lotto By Patrick Hoffman. “There is still a lot of hockey left to be played, but at least for right now, the Islanders look like a club worth following this season as they have all the tools to have a last successful season on the Island.”
The HockeyWriters take on the success -- http://thehockeywriters.com/islanders-success-taste-of-things-to-come/ by Anthony Tartamella
Excerpt: The home opener was one of the loudest games I’ve been to in years. Outside of the Penguins Playoff Series, this might’ve been the most electric game I’ve seen. The Islanders are a deep team with playoff aspirations. If they keep getting scoring from depth players, they’ll surely be in it for the long haul.
This was the most surprising of all. It must have pained Adam to write this for The Hockey News.
The Hockey News article by Adam Proteau http://www.thehockeynews.com/blog/are-the-isles-for-real-also-for-real-rangers/ Are the Isles for real? Also: for real, Rangers?
Excerpt: Try getting this to make sense in your head: the defending Eastern Conference champion New York Rangers have lost three of their first four games and their superstar goalie has surrendered 12 goals in his two most recent games – and their cross-town counterparts, the New York Islanders, as hard-luck and bad-news of an operation as has existed in recent memory, are basically unstoppable.
So he threw this in on Twitter:
Adam Proteau@Proteautype Everything's coming up Islanders. The last time you could say this was in 1983 before this was a saying, so you couldn't say it then either.
Then there was even my special guest writer, Becky Wilcox, who sent along her own report on the Islanders and their successful start which I posted at my 7thwoman.blogspot.com site.
Islanders Already in the Headlines
So what can we say? Is this an Islanders bandwagon pulling up? Or did they finally just get it right?
Too soon to tell. Let’s see how they do against the Sharks tomorrow.
New York Islanders Blogger • 
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