What a weekend!
It always is nice when you wait for something for a long time, and when it happens, it a good and happy moment. Opening night, is no exception.
This is my 18th Opener at the Nassau Coliseum. And for the past 14 years, it has started with a tailgate outside. And what would a tailgate be without a WIND gusty afternoon. It was so bad, that there was trouble starting grills.
However, we had a nice crowd at the tailgate, and everyone was happy and optimistic about the opener. The one thing about this team, that no matter how they do - opening night is always a good record. Saturday was no exception.
The Isles, after giving up the opening goal, cruised to a 4-1 win, thanks in part to Jason Blake, the Mighty mouse! He was pushed up to the top like with Kozlov and Yashin, and played a great game. To be brutally honest, he was not in his “…here I come to HOG the puckkkkkk!” mode. He was calm, looked for options instead of just being the Jason Blake show. He looked great.
Also - Mike Dunham looked well. He made some great stops in the first period, to take the momentum away from Boston. Basically, we played 5-5 most of the game, and what I said during the long road trip was true. We are a good 5-5 team, and if we stay out of the box, we can play with ANYONE and win ANY GAME. We did just that. Boston is NOT a good team. They have a good number of players (Chara, Murray, Savard), but that is it. Their goalies are questionable to say the least.
Three Stars of the Game according to Sec 317.
- Jason Blake - 3 points (2G 1A) - inspired play on the first line
- Mike Dunham - great game in net - key saves in 1st period penalty kill were crucial
- Mike Sillinger - 1st goal in an Islander uniform - key faceoff wins
Honorable mention to Poti (1st goal), Hill (2 assists).
Gold Star Award - Isles organization - Opening night festivites - good job - also having Boss and Trotts start the season - great move!
Tin Twit Award - massive confusion with the new parking situation. Coliseum people had NO CLUE on where things were, and I know that many people did not get in on time as a result of it. Hopefully, it will improve as the season does.
As far as the Isles are concerned, we had a good game. I am glad we did, and hope that this continues into tonight, as the Predators make an appearance on LI for the first time in three years. This group can be scary, if their star players are on target, but so far, their defense (a staple to this team’s previous successes) has been suspect. But they do have a world-class stopper in Tomas Voukon, and a strong offensive team, led by Paul Kariya, JP Dumont and Steve Sullivan among others.
Former Preds Mike Sillinger and Brendan Witt should be extra up for this game. Keep an eye on them.
Prediction 6-4 Isles Victory tonight. Let’s hope we get to .500 tonight and overtake the Rangers in the standings.
Gary
Posted under Islanders 06-07
This post was written by Gary Harding on October 16, 2006
