All I can say is WOW!
That is the same thing that Shawn Horcoff of the Oilers said after he found out that the leader of the Oilers, Ryan Smyth had been deal to Long Island.
With the circling rumors of Jason Blake being dealt, the Smyth deal was a shock to say the least. No one expected it. So in a few minutes time, the fans were told on TSN that Blake was not dealt, and then to hear that Captain Canada was leaving the Great White North to come of the Isle, I think the entire nation of Canada when into mourning (well, except Canadian Islander fans, of course).
I know that a lot of people do not like the trade; we gave too much away for a ‘rent-a-player’, yada yada, yada. I think not, and here is my reasoning.
- His presence gives this team instant offensive credibility with three strong lines (insert a healthy captain there too).
- Robert Nilsson was an enigma. He should have been called up with his ability, but I believe that he just did not want it enough here. This type of player should have worked extra hard to make the decision of calling us better for him. The fact that he was in the ‘Port all season makes me believe that he had no future here. No loss in my opinion
- Although I think Ryan O’Marra will be a good NHL player, you have to lose something to gain something. I wish him well. I hope that he has no more issues with his ankle. That type of injury can be lingering.
- Kyle Okposo was going NO WHERE, and NO ONE would take him away from us.
- Losing a first round is no big deal. This draft looks incredibly WEAK this season.
Yes, there will be mucho decisions in June/July; but you know what? Forget about it. Let’s worry about NOW. We have to make a playoff push. This move shows the league that Garth Snow is not only NO PUSHOVER, but believes we can do some damage, and will get the players necessary to assist that plan. Well done Garth. That’s an A in my book. And it is making the village idiots, oh sorry, I mean media eat their words about Garth.
Now - to the game.
If we were excited for the game to start, we were even more thrilled after the end of Period 1.
I guess Blakey was real happy to stay. He collected his fifth career hat trick (a natural one in one period too…), who now has 32 on the season. The look and expression as he talked to Deb K was noticeable from 200 feet away.
Zednik had a non-influencing start to his Islander career. No points, a couple of shots, plahying with fellow countryman Miro Satan and Viktor Kozlov.
Then - the high of the past few hours went crashing down. Philly climbed from a 5-2 hole early in the second stanza, getting two goals in about 80 seconds in the third to tie it at 5. RJ Umberger is an Islander killer, and notched another two against us.
With the game looking like a shootout was inevitable, Marc-Andre Bergeron made a great move, to get around the d - and get to Nittymaki - drawing a penalty. With another one coming to us, Trent Hunter scooped a rebound past the Philly netminder, to seal the deal. A lot of fans were ticked that we gave Philly a point, but unless every team is reduced to 20 versions of Larry the Cable Guy (get’er done!), Philly is not going to the post season, so no big deal. We got the two points, and leave the building happy.
THREE STARS
- Jason Blake - glad to see you still here
- Trent Hunter - GWG in OT - two goals
- Marc-Andre Bergeron - great move in OT to draw the penalty - good job on D
GOLD STAR
- Islanders Game Night staff - good to see them get the data/pictures, etc to give the fans a little more excitement of the upcoming Mr. Smyth
TIN TWIT
- Once again - Fans saying Flyers SUCK in the third period when the score is tied. Dont you dopes know that when it is a tie game, you should be supporting and getting the HOME team going. Will these ding-dong’s ever learn!
Tomorrow is the debut of Mr. Smyth. Looking forward to that one. BTW - we went 9-2-2 for the month of February. 20 out of 26 points. Nothing to sneeze over….
BTW - If you are reading this, please submit a comment and let me know. Thanks for the support. This site got over 10,000 hits this month, thanks to all of you!
THE ESOTERIC - compliments of Roger Farina
Congrats to Richard Zednick for becoming the 405th player to lace up the skates with the New York Islanders in regular season play. Which means that if Ryan Smyth makes it to the Island for the game on Thursday he will be the 406th player ever.
Jumping Ferraro - Ray got jumped in a few categories tonight.
Congtrats to Hunter for scoring his 60th goal with the Islanders.
The ball is in the Islanders court. There are only 4 teams with magic numbers higher than the Islanders. See the Magic Number Section. Tampa Bay is tied with us as a 5th team. We have Magic Numbers over 9 teams. I point this out because the playoffs are ours to lose with 19 games left.
ESOTERIC
San Jose Shark’s….I mean Anaheim Duck’s newest player….Jason BLAKE had a hat trick and a 4-point night on a day that every one expected to send our leading goal scorer packing. His first game back with the Islanders is his 407th GP and is #32 on the all-time GP list. He is 4 GP behind Wayne Merrick and is the current active leader in games played as an Islander. His 3 Goal game gives him 117, 118, and 119th Goals in his Islander Career. He breaks a tie with Ray Ferraro - Jumps over his pal Parrish as well as Steve Thomas and is alone at #17 on the all-time Goal scoring roster. He is 2 Goals behind Duane Sutter at #16 and 26 Goals behind Marius Czerkawski at #15. His Assist, his 126th overall places him 12 Assists behind Greg Gilbert in the #28th spot. He now has 245 Points and in 407 Games Played he is at #23 overall a mere 4 Points behind David Volek (396 GP).
HUNTER had a 2-Goal evening. In his 225th Game as an Islander he is 2 Games behind Bryan Smolinski at #77 all-time in Games Played. His 59th and 60th Goals with the Islanders makes him the 43rd player to ever score 60 Goals or more tying him with Oleg (332 GP) and 4 Goals behind Jude Drouin. His Points, garner him the #57 spot all-time with 119 Points 1 Pont behind Brad Dalgarno (321 GP).
SIMON has played in 63 games with the Islanders and is #186th on the big list tied with 4 others in Hill, Sillinger, Park and Kozlov. His Goal, his 8th with the Islanders, is #134th overall tying him with 9 others including Bob Loriner. His point tonight gives him 25 with our team and the #137th spot tied with German DEL player Dave McLLwain (http://dave-mcllwain.com/).
POTI had an 22nd assist tonight for #124th overall tied with Jason Weimer (94 GP). Tom did it in 59 Games and is at the #196th spot on the all-time Games Played roster a single game behind Wade Flaherty and Ari Haanpaa. He is 1 Point behind Brent Sopel with 26 Points at the #134 spot.
ROBATAILLE gets 3 Points with his 3 Assists tonight. His 3-Point showing gives him 17 Points as an islander and the #163rd spot tied with 9 others including Park. The 3-Assists gives him 11 in his career with the Orange and Blue and #168th overall in this category. He now has seen action in 41 games in his two stints with the Isles leaving him 1 GP behind the likes of Brian Lavender, Wyatt Smith, Evegny Korolev.
SILLINGER who is tied with 4 other active players in Games Played with 63 GP t the #186th spot. He had 2 Assists tonight for a total of 28 Assists and is #112 overall. He is tied with Bill Berg who scored 28 Assists in 154 GP. His Points tonight his 47th and 48th tie him with erstwhile player and erstwhile Islander GM, Don Maloney at #104 overall.
CAMPOLI is racing up the Islander charts by playing in his 112th Game and getting the #128th spot, 6 GP behind Dave Chyzowski. His Assist tonight, his 34th with the Islanders is good enough for the #101st (AIR ASSAULT!) spot and a single Assist behind Bill MacMillan (231GP). His 44th Point is #111 on the all-time Point roster tying him with Joe Reekie and Janne Niinimaa.
ASHAM - the current active leader in Islander Penalties had 7 PIMs for 198PIMs with the Isles and is now #42 overall jumping over Ray Ferraro and Randy Wood.
SIMON’s 7PIMs tonight gives him 59PIMs and the #144th spot all-time in PIMs.
MEYER’s 2 PIMs gives him a whopping 10 PIMs with the Islanders and #259th overall tied with 4 others including Raffi Torres and Jamie McLennan.
Single Season Victory Leaders. 33 Wins will set the new record. Ricky is 5 Wins away. That would be a minimum of 37 Wins for the Islanders.
2) 1981-1982 SMITH 32-9-4
3) 1977-1978 RESCH 28-9-7
4) 2006-2007 DIPIETRO 28-18
5) 1993-1994 HEXTALL 27-26-6
6) 1978-1979 RESCH 26-7-10
7) 1976-1977 RESCH 26-13-6
8) 1978-1979 SMITH 25-8-4
MAGIC NUMBERS
Teams with Magic Numbers over us. A combination of their gaining or our losing the amount noted will mean they finish ahead of us. The number is magic number in points. The numbers in parenthesis is the win-lose-tie scenario and the number in brackets is the amount of points a team has available if they were to win every game.
Buffalo 22 (11-0) [127]
NJ 25 (14-0-1) [122]
Ottawa 33 (16-0-1) [116]
Pitts 36 (18-0) [115]
TB Tied [110]
Teams we have magic numbers over
Atlanta 37 (18-0-1) [108]
Carolina 34 (17-0) [105]
Toronto 34 (17-0) [105]
Montreal 33 (16-0-1) [104]
Rags 33 (16-0-1) [104]
Boston 33 (16-0-1) [104]
Florida 28 (14-0) [99]
Wash 24 (12-0) [95]
Phil 9 (4-0-1) [80]
Posted under Islanders 06-07
This post was written by Gary Harding on February 28, 2007
I am, first of all, relieved and happy that Jason Blake is still here. At this point in the season, and considering the fact that I like the guy, it would not have sat well to have lost him. Yes, he hogs the puck at times, and yes, he tries to do it all himself at times, but the guy flies out there, scores goals and never stops working.
Secondly, I think Snow has pretty much blasted away the doubts and snickers. The three deals to improve this club were impressive and unbelievably positive. Yes, we lost picks and younger players, but I fall into your camp in how you broke down the Ryan Smyth deal. Smyth does give us instant credibility and both experience and depth that is valuable beyond a mere surface glance. We now are a serious force, and I am much more confident of making the playoffs. It’s now really up to the boys to deliver.
Lastly, the only troubling aspect of the game was blowing the lead. Indeed, giving a point to Philidelphia was not a big deal, but I dislike third period collapses when you have a team out. Al Arbour called it, “killer instinct”, and I really want to see this team show it on the occasions we do have a big lead.
Nevertheless, 2 points is 2 points, and Hunter’s game winner was Important. Of course, Blakey demonstrated why not trading him was the intelligent option, so let’s make sure we go into Thursday with a lesson learned.