The Islanders slipped up in Edmonton last night falling to the Oilers by a score of 5-2. The Isles generated chances but lost too many battles along the boards and the brutally sloppy mistakes the team made directly resulted in Oiler goals. Last night was the type of game that you burn the tape of and move on to Vancouver tomorrow night.
Jaroslav Halak made a brutal mistake leading to the Oilers first goal and defensive breakdowns were directly responsible to the second and third goals as well. Halak rebounded and gave the Isles a chance to win but last night the team simply looked like it was skating in mud. I don’t think the team played down to the Oilers, I simply think the team just played awful and Edmonton buried every mistake.
As we look ahead to tomorrow’s game in Vancouver, Islander Head Coach Jack Capuano hinted as to lineup changes for tomorrow night but a healthy Michael Grabner still sits and waits. When noon eastern passed today the Isles did not make a roster move to activate Grabner. I honestly would love to know the rule on this. Under the current CBA, how long can a team keep a healthy player listed on Injured Reserves? I will look more into this situation, but I think we can all agree that this is starting to get bizarre. The Isles need to make some tough decisions and just be done with it.
I wanted to take a few minutes today to talk about someone that I can honestly say I was honored to work with. As many of you know I worked at ESPN for 13 years and during that time I had the chance to work on everything and work with almost everyone there. One person who crossed my path over that time was Stu Scott and I can honestly tell you that everything you have seen and read about him is true, he was simply an amazing man who was taken from us way too soon.
Stu was always full of energy and enthusiasm that was simply infectious to the entire production. He was always inclusive too as it didn’t matter if you were working there for 20 years or 20 minutes, if you has an idea about how we could make better television Stu would want to know.
Stu always knew how you were doing even if you hadn’t crossed paths with him in months. I remember running into him in the halls one day after not seeing or working with him for a few months. Stu instantly lit up with a big smile and pulled me in for a hug. He then went on to ask me how my trip to the X Games were and tell me that the work that we all did out there was simply incredible. I thought to myself at the time, how does Stu even know I was working on the X Games?
This is who Stuart Scott was and this is how he lived his life. He was always looking out for other people and was the definition of a team player. He didn’t let cancer stop him from living his life on his terms, as an amazing journalist and even better person and father. The world lost someone way too soon but the legacy he left will last a lifetime.