Scene:  Casual Long Island house.  Family watching television in the living room.  Cablevision channel 14 is on.  The time is about 8:00 PM.

Father:  Damn that DP - 3 goals in 5 shots!  Why did Wang sign this idiot.  He is a waste!

Mother: Now come on - they have had a week off, they are not up to speed yet.

Daughter:  DP is cool - he will be fine

Father:  I can not watch this garbage anymore!  Where is the channel guide?  Isn’t Desperate Housewives, or Queer Eye on?

** Father switches the channel and the game no longer is on the screen.

In many Islander fan households, that may have been the case.  I am sorry that I make this statement, but I know that people may be mad at this.  However, it must be said.

Most Islander fans have NO LOYALTY!

There, I feel good that I said this.  But I am sure that many TV sets were turned off at that point.  The Islanders looked flat and lethargic.  So Ted Nolan made a change in net.  It just was not Ricky’s day.  So Mike Dunham ended up in net against his old team.

That is when the TV sets should have remained on.

For whatever reason, the team started to spark.  Shots were bouncing all around Kari Lehtonen.  And for whatever reason, he was leaving very juicy rebounds.  The offense started to gel and guys that have been quite stagnant, are now looking a great deal better.

Trent Hunter, Miro Satan and Jason Blake scored on Atlanta to tie up the game.  If the team is going to succeed, the guys that have been lax and behind are now going to take a more distinctive role.

And what is the story with the freaking posts?

Five clanks on the night.  Atlanta even had two for themselves.  Two inches on either side, and we could have had about 8 or 9 goals.  If it wasn’t for bad luck, we would have no luck at all.  The most important part about the game, is that the team came back, and somehow secured a point from this game.  Atlanta is a very strong team, and will be a dominant force in the Eastern Conference playoffs.

Offensively, the team responded well.  Tonight, that will be put to the test.  Buffalo is a team that can score at will, and can defend better than anyone.  As it has been for this whole season, the key to the Islanders victory is the beginning of the game.  I believe that the stat shown on the game last night, said that the Islanders were -17 in the first period this season.  They are strong 5 on 5, around the tops in the league.  But the boys need more than ever, to stay out of the box.

Key to the game.  DP.

You know that he will be in the game tonight.  When you fall off the horse, you have to get back on and ride more.  As the all important key of the game, we have to survive the first period.  As Buffalo always does, they will swarm the net, and use their speed and creativity to throw massive amounts of scoring chances on DP.  Weather the storm.

Keep the fingers crossed, and hope we get the 2 points.

Posted under Islanders 06-07