Rather than a goaltender, there should have been a target board.  I am not sure as to what is happening to our boys. They have simply forgot how to find the back of the twine.  The Isles took a 3-1 loss from the Sabres in Buffalo on New Years Day, starting their 2007 portion of the season on a disappointing note.

Jason Blake got his 22nd goal on the season at the mid point of the 3rd period to get the deficit in half at 2-1.  However, it is as close as they got.

Paul Gaustaud got the opeining goal on a power play, eight minutes into the opening frame as Brendan Witt was in the box.

Maxim Afinigenov got the second Buffalo goal on a beautiful end-to-end drive from his own faceoff circle, snapping a shot from the left of Ricky.

DiPietro played quite well, along with his counterpart Ryan Miller.  The two best US born goaltenders showed lots of skill and fantastic efforts.  The game supplied a lot of end-to-end rushes and both netminders were up to the test.

The Islanders, in this goalless stretch, created a new record for the longest length of futility, with 186 minutes and 31 seconds, extending the previous mark, done in over the New Years 1998-1999 frame by over 7 minutes.  Jason Blake got a puck at the left face off circle and passed a shot by Ryan Miller to end his shutout bid.

The Islanders, with the loss of Martinek, have now lost three straight contest, but with the stellar play of DiPietro, the team has not looked horribly on the defensive zone.  However, many of the guys that were keys to the offense have seemed to lost their way.  Tomorrow night, the Isles come back home to play the Flyers.  This will be their last home game for 11 days, so it would be beneficial for them to come out strong, as their next few road games (Devils, Hurricanes, Rangers and Bruins) before coming back home on the 13th to face those Devils again. 

The time is now - you do not want to take a large step back being this close. 

Ted Nolan made his first return to the HSBC arena, since his departure from Buffalo nine years ago.  I am sure he had some butterflies, but once the game was on, his game face was present.  Too bad that the guys did not get the key goal to tie up the score in the 3rd period.

Well - I hope you had a great new year.  Mine was nice and quiet, thank goodness.  I went into NYC during the day, and what a jungle it was.  I was so glad that I was taking the LIRR back home to Long Island.

Bring on Philly tomorrow - we need the win!!!

Posted under Islanders 06-07