Joensuu, Fritz, Rechlicz, Fraser and Iggulden are up. I know that Bridgeport is playing here for the first 2 games of their Calder Cup Playoff run, but did we need a preview?
I do not mean that to be negative, but you have to wonder about the injuries on this club. The last two seasons, we have been so decimated, it is so tough to swallow.
Witter’s hair is getting so long, it is almost starting to cover some of his last name on the jersey.
And speaking of jersey’s…. Isn’t the 3rd jersey so awesome? 10-11 season, it will be permanent – thank God!
Danis starting tonigh – hoping for a little better effort tonight… But for the life of me – why is Fritz here? The box has been wondering about that, maybe Smith, or someone else could have been here. The team has Jackman and Rechlicz here – did we need the enforcing Trio Grande?
1st Period
Starters – Danis – Gervais, Hillen, Comeau, Bailey, Jackman
Bob Nystrom award was announced… The winner was Tim Jackman – and it was a excellent choice!
Key to this game – win faceoffs. And we won the opening one. Good job Josh.
23 seconds in – Park pushes it past McKenna – he (goale) had no clue where the puck was… Good setup by Joensuu1-0 ISLES!
First two minutes show a definite WANT to play this game.
Jamie Fraser – first NHL game – congrats! But pairing him up with Fritz and Rechlicz…. Interesting.
4:55 in – Fritz and David Koci – get into it – and a lot of scrumming after the officials get in there. Nice job by the 6’8″ monster. Fritz wes spinning Koci around like a rag doll.
Why do I have the strange feeling that this game will be much longer than most games. The over/under on majors should be about 5.
Martinek pulls down Malone (allegedly) and takes a penalty at 5:38.
Thompson gets a gift, and just misses getting a shorty.
Tampa PP has some good guys, but you can see that they are missing number 4 in front…
Good kill boys!
Oyster Bay Supervisor John Venditto was talking and mentioned that Long Island needs a new state of the art Nassau Coliseum. Which is political speak for “Get your ass in Gear, Kate Murray and get this project approved!”
11 minutes in – not a real flow to the game – couple of nice opportunities – one by Tambellini. Tampa – good effort in front of Danis – but he made the good stop.
Well – it is definitely apparent that these two teams are 28th and 30th in the NHL respectively.
Joensuu – point blank shot – stopped by McKenna.
I think 
Tampa gets a penalty at the 17:37 mark - see if the Isles take advantage on the PP. Gervais and Weight at the points. Tamby Bailey and Comeau up front. Weight is so cool as a cucumber out there, but inexperience of the rest of the unit shows. As Rod Gilbert says - JUST SHOOT THAT PUCK! You can not get a goal, unless you tee it up (Unless you are O'Byrne of the Canadiens)!
Period ends with the shots at 7-6. Be back for the third. I am going to enjoy the view from Section 317
3rd Period
Back from my seats. The last five minutes were pretty good, with a good power play goal by Martinek – a blast! Tampa answered back with a power play goal of their own, courtesy of Matt Pettinger.
A great fight with the “RECKER” taking on Zenon Konopka (is he the lead guitarist of the Sex Pistols?) which ended up with the Tampa player having a little medical issues that needed to be attended to.
Another scrum to the right of the Tampa netminder at the end of the period, proved the point that the players are not liking each other too much tonight.
Expect the third period to be extra chippy, and a lot of scores wanting to be settled.
HERE WE GO…
I said faceoffs were important – after 2 periods – Isles 24 for 41 or 59%. Bailey – 6 for 11 – Park 3 for 3
2:00 – Tambellini hit the post, that rang my ears off.
Another thing I noticed from the scoresheets. Isles outhit Tampa 33-22 after 2, with th “RECKER” leading the way with 5.
I see a great deal of maturation from Bruno. He looks a lot more comfortable in his own zone, and when a mistake is made – he will not usually panic, and fix the problem. I really think that he has made strides to correct some of the problems that he has had in the past.
I really like Jesse Joensuu. He is a big man that I think has a great upside to him. Fraser has looked OK. Probably got a lot of the “Just keep it simple speech.”
Game has gone back ad forth up the ice with some odd man rushes. Iggy had a great shot on McKenna, that he got the left pad on. Speaking of goalies – Danis has played a better game tonight. Simplifying his movements.
Great opportunity by Joensuu to get his second NHL goal, but Matt Smaby hooked him to give the Isles another power play opportunity. Which Josh Bailey made a great move and slid the puck under McKenna’s pads to give the Isles a 3-1 lead!
Gervais with 2 points on the night.
But to most fans wanting the number 1 pick.. the question is:
Should we be tanking?
I say shut up to that.
By the way – did you see the stunt that Avery the DIRTBAG did to Tim Thomas? And they say that he is REHABILITATED? Send him to Hungary – and make him play in the Transylvanian league.
Witt got involved in another nice scrum at the end of a play. Still only 2 fights for the game, well under the over/under of 5 that I predicted tonight. However – we got another power play.
Four minutes to go – the Isles look like they should pull this one off. If anything major happens – I will amend this post. Again – look for the quotes and other stuff in another post tomorrow.
THREE STARS OF THE GAME
3. Martinek – smooth play and his first power play goal.
2. Gervais – 2 helpers and ever increasing maturity on the D line
1. Park – Goal and assist – and showing the kids what a vet SHOULD do.
Posted under Blog Box, Islanders 08-09
This post was written by Gary Harding on April 4, 2009
