As this will be the only post of the day -- start at the bottom and work your way up to the top!
See you tomorrow!
3:30 pm: As the buzzer sounds, Andy MacDonald doesn't get his hat trick, but he didn't seem to care.
Now for some reason, Justin DiBenedetto was slashed by Shattenkirk (that really is a cool name to say) with only one minute left in the third. Haley wanted to come to his defense, but was held off as DiBo had to shake off the pain.
This put the Isles on the Power play for the balance of the game. Andy MacDonald was not put back on the ice, even though Butch Goring wanted him to be.
More than likely Haley said something to someone and at the final click, Jackman took a swipe at Michael Haley and Haley just took him down to the ice.
MacDonald was named the first star of the game with Tavares the second and Parenteau the third. He was just happy that Jack Capuano gave him the opportunity on the five on three to get that hat trick. That's all he could ask for.
An Islander win on a Saturday afternoon in front of a good crowd -- that's all we could ask for.
And we got it.
3:18 pm: Finally Michael Grabner's scoring drought has ended, and there was much rejoicing in Islanders Country. He put the Isles on the board for their 5th goal of the game.
Amazingly, the Isles were handed their first power play of the game and a few seconds later, the isles were actually handed a 5 on 3 opportunity. There was only one game plan. "Get the puck to A-Mac."
And they tried. A-mac even had a puck ring off the post before he finally had to head back to the bench.
The fans and Butch and Howie are looking for an Islander D-man hat trick. The last one was Denis Potvin -- way too many years ago.
3:03 pm: Jack Capuano's head may explode. The St. Louis Blues were just handed their third power play on a too many men penalty, but I think Jack is still reeling from the Frans Nielsen penalty which seemed exceptionally bogus.
Andy MacDonald scored his second goal of the game to give the Isles a 4 goal lead, but some other guy named MacDonald in a Blues sweater scored one power play goal to end Montoya's shut out and then Stewart cut the Isles lead in half by scoring another power play goal at 9:42 of the 3rd.
You tell me again that there is no bias.
And just before the TV Time out, Matt Moulson gets slapped in the face with a puck. Can this team catch a break please?
2:07 pm: And I'm so livid right now I could puke. There is an absolute bias against MAtt Martin and the Islanders as proved by that last "fight" where there was no instigating call against the blues player. More later (about 1500 freakin' words more.)
1:42 pm: Isles are up by 2 goals in this early afternoon tilt. John Tavares scored his 24th goal tying his point total of last season and looking for more. PA Parenteau scored the Isles second goal on a great display of patience by Michael Grabner. This is a good thing since it would have been 3 - 0 right now had PA managed to deposit the puck in an open net earlier in the 1st. Feeling a little red-faced PA? My grandmother could have hit that wide open net.
Awee... just kidding. You're playing greate. Keep it up.
1:05 pm and this just announced in a press release that came in my outlook mailbox:
The New York Islanders announced today the release of their official app for iOS devices (iPhone, iTouch, iPad). The Islanders app is free and currently available for download in iTunes as well as in the app store on iOS devices.
Fans can now listen to the Islanders live radio broadcast of every game directly from their iPhones. The app will also keep fans more in touch with their favorite hockey team with all the top news, statistics, videos and features from newyorkislanders.com.
The app was developed by Synergy in conjunction with the teams’ radio broadcast partner, WRHU, Radio Hofstra University.
12:43 pm: As expected, Garth Snow stood behind his player during this morning's media conference discussing the suspension of Trevor Gillies. I do agree with him on many points: Trevor Gillies is a "team" player who is very good with the fans and always willing to work with the community, and there was no intent to hit Clutterbuck's head. It was an unfortunate episode in Islander hockey.
As Gillies said himself, both Charles Wang and Garth Snow treat every player as if they were a son and he received texts from every team member before his hearing. He had no problem with there being no team rep with him in Toronto as they were behind him 100%.
Trevor Gillies will indeed learn his lesson. His wallet will teach it to him.
11:08 am: As usually, as soon as I hit the "Submit" button, I get word. Al Montoya the goalie of choice for the afternoon and Michael Haley back in the line up after sitting with his knee injury.
11 am: The St. Louis Blues come to town for their only match-up this season with the NY Islanders. While the Blues were hoping for a playoff spot, they have been in a bit of a skid lately winning only four of their last ten games, and lost six of their last seven. Can the Isles make it seven of their last eight?
We'll see today at the un-hockeylike hour of 1 pm puck drop.
With the early start there is no pre-game skate this morning, however there is a media conference with General Manager Garth Snow at 11:30 am. Guess who isn't there today? Right. ME. Ofcourse. This is where the power of Twitter comes in handy as the audio clips will be made available from the @NYIslanders twitter stream.
What could be so important as to have Garth address the media. ('Cause you KNOW he just LOVES to do that, right?) Whether this has something to do with Trevor Gillies meeting with the League yesterday or perhaps the announcement of some GOOD news (Like a Michael Grabner contract? How about it?) I don't know. I have ZERO information on this.
Much was made of the Islanders not sending a rep with Gillies yesterday for his hearing. I am not sure if that really was a statement or if it was just not necessary since they knew they would be on the conference call. So, again, we wait for clarification of the events that have transpired while we all debate their meaning.
No news as of yet as to who will get the net today. I would not be surprised if it was Nate Lawson.
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