There is definitely something wrong with this “dreaded three goal lead” curse. The Isles played a pretty good game and as soon as there was a three goal lead, they got scared. Anders Lee put the Isles on the score sheet by sheer luck at 8:15 of the first period. Lubo would score at 10:06 of the second and Calvin deHaan scored his first goal of the season at 1:41 of the third and it was a shorty no less. Then the first goal against came at 4:40 by Eric Fehr. Less than two minutes later, Backstrom made it 3-2 and panic would set in. Then as if it was already pre-determined, Alexander Ovechkin would tie the score at 17:19 of the third. I threw up my hands.

So, it doesn’t matter who is in net for the Isles. If they get a three to nothing lead, they’re going to lose it. That really has to stop. They need to win in regulation and not give away points.

During the overtime stanza, which was also a power play for them due to a four minute double minor Evgeny Kuznetsov for high sticking, the Isles seemed to be looking for the perfect play and spent too much time passing and not shooting.

Doug Weight was not happy. He almost jumped over the boards and when there was finally a whistle, he couldn’t draw up a plan fast enough for them. At 2:52 of OT, Boychuk fired a rocket with eyes past Holtby for the win.

While I was throwing up my hands, Jack Capuano said he wasn’t worried.

“I feel like I played in that one.” He told the media room. "I had a good feeling even though. We were doing a lot of good things. I was confident. We gave two face off goals. That was a big part of the comeback there. We had a bad pinch on the two on one. It’s not like we broke down on the defensive zone like we have in the past. If we were playing poorly, it would be one thing. Face offs are a huge part of the game. From a structural standpoint we lost two draws. They have a good face off team.”

They do. But ultimately, the Isles beat them in that category 33 to 28. The Isles also beat them in the Hit and shot categories 45 to 41 and 39 to 26.

Anders Lee “worked some magic” tonight and Butch thought he was the best player on the Isles tonight. He was the second star of the night. He led the team in shots with seven while Clutterbuck and Hamonic beat the NHL’s leading HIT man tonight as they both had 7 each to Matty Marts 5. What? Is he slacking? Or did he get hurt? He had the least amount of ice time at 9:52. I would hate to think he was injured.

Brooks Orpik* (It has come to may attention that my damn new MS Surface Pro3 has a mind of it's own and does not like words and names I use! Thanks Su!) was injured, but it was his own fault. He injured his knee against the boards as he was trying to lay a hit on Clutterbuck. That’ll teach ya.

Isles won’t be back at the Coliseum until January 16th. This road trip will be telling. Can they maintain their position at the top? Only time will tell. But remember, Jack said – he’s confident

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» 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