Mon 8 am: Tonight from 6 - 7 pm the second episode of NHLWeekly on Sportstalknetwork.com will air/record with three guests. One from the NHL, one from Canada and one from Finland. Tune in and find out who they are.
With the emergence of John Tavares as the capable player everyone knew he would be from the time he was 14, there is now an underlying question of “Are the Islanders a one line team?”
While the Isles top line of Tavares, Moulson and Parenteau has surprised the hockey world with a combined nine points in the Isles 4 -2 win over the NY Rangers, the shouldn’t mean there are no other aces in the Islanders deck.
Frans Nielsen, Kyle Okposo and Michael Grabner will all find their way into the headlines during this season along with Streit and the rest of the team. After all, they have only played four of an 82 game season. So much can happen.
But October is a month to rack up points that will come in handy down the stretch. Matt Moulson knows that fact. “These points in October are just as important as points down the road.”
When you’re staring at playoff contention -- or not -- you look back at those first few games and know those points could have made a difference. This season, the Islanders don’t have any desire to be looking backward. To a man the focus is playoffs. For the fans, the focus has always been playoffs. Maybe this season they will finally get their wish. But beating the Rangers in the first match-up of the season is enough to make a Sunday morning pleasant.
The two page spread in Newsday by Art Staple and (OMG!!) Mark Herrmann discussing the Ranger’s pitfalls and the Islanders triumph incites text messages to disgruntled Ranger fans from giddy Isles fans. We know how this works. We’ve got to get them in while we can. For the players it’s a little different.
“ It’s good to go on the road after a win that that. Our fans have been great so far. It’s pretty electric out there in the stands.” It was a sell out crowd -- again. And in Moulson’s words “Pretty rowdy out there.” Hey, it’s a Rivalry game!
Other teams should take notice. This is not the same Islanders team that could be pushed around easily. John Tavares is NOT going to be pushed off the puck any longer. He is skating extremely well and his strength on his skates is noticeable. “Guys have to respect his skill out there.”
Capuano had quietly complimentary words for his 1st line star as well. “John has played solid in his own end and when he got his opportunities, he made the best of them. He’s been our best player. There’s no question. You leave him alone. He’s a student of the game; he works extremely hard and he’ll get his chances.”
Because everyone knows “If you get to the net, good things happen.”
Mark Streit played a team high 24:50 and had two assists. Every game, it becomes more obvious how sorely he was missed last season. However, that doesn’t mean that Travis Hamonic isn’t going to show what he learned last season. Hamonic had five shots on net and four that were blocked.
Matt Martin, who replaced Blake Comeau on the third line so Trevor Gillies could be inserted into the fourth line, had four hits two shots on net and one that was blocked. This move by Capuano caused a little bit of a stir with reporters as Comeau is a productive player. But Jack did what he felt he needed to do, just as he did with putting Nabokov in net.
And look what that decision got him…. Two points.
The Isles are off for four days before playing in Tampa on Thursday. They can ride this high for 24 hours, and then it’s back to work. October points -- never take them lightly.
New York Islanders Blogger • 
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