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"Hockey.... From a New York State of Mind"
New York City, NY • United States • 24 Years Old • Male
It's frustrating. Two periods into a matchup with the Bruins and I can't take it anymore. Just put the puck in the net already!!

This offensive struggle has the Isles on the verge of losing 3 out of their last 4 and continue to slip in the standings.

This day last season the Isles were 14-9-3 (31 Points in 26 games). Viktor Kozlov netted 4 as the Isles beat the Rangers 7-4 on 12/3/2006.

Unless the Isles put in at least two this period, they will be 13-11-1 (27 Points in 25 games).

Where is the offense?

In the first two games of the season the Isles beat Buffalo at a home and home by a combined score of 9-6. Nine Goals!! Mike Comrie had four of them.

Not counting tonight's game against Boston (in which the Isles are currently scoreless) they have 9 combined goals in their last 5 games (will be 6 if Thomas holds his shutout).

Excluding the current game in progress and the first two games of the season, the Isles are averaging a little over two goals a game.

Excluding the current game in progress and the first two games of the season, Mike Comrie is averaging a goal every 5.5 games. That pace of a hair under 15 goals a season does not bode well for the Islanders current scoring drought. Factor in his -10, and Hilary Duff is pretty much the only positive thing Comrie brings to the team's games these days.

Bill Guerin is pointless since a goal against Tampa Bay on November 1st. Ruslan Fedotenko had 5 points in the first two games. You can count his point total in the last month on one hand. We all remember when Miroslav Satan capped a memorable back to back to back game performance in which he had the game winning goal in all three contests (four total). Today marks the one month anniversary of Al Arbour Night which started that chain. Since Satan's streak ended, he's had two goals.

These are all key parts of the Islanders' offense that need to produce in order for the Islanders to win games consistently.

It's a slump, sure. Not necessary to push the panic button and pull the trigger on a massive trade just yet. The parts are obviously there, as it showed early on the season. Jonathan Sim and Daryl Bootland were not the reason we picked up those early points. In fact, Jeff Tambellini and Chris Simon are upgrades in my opinion.

It comes down to Ted Nolan. Once again, we need that Nolan magic working.Over the past few games, I don't think I've seen a more "disappointment" in Ted Nolan than his facial expression has displayed the last couple games.

The team needs to get back to fundamentals. A two-way game will better their current one-way game. I would argue that the one-way is defensively, and even that has been lame since they just gave up the third goal to the Bruins, and gave up four to Atlanta. They're working hard... it's just not working right... What it comes down to is that they need to just put the puck in the net already!!

Coincidentally, as I write that, Chris Campoli puts one past Tim Thomas.

Quick hits as tonight's game winds down:

-Jeff Tambellini showed a strong presence early on, out muscling Dennis Wideman to a puck on a dump and chase. However, since then, he has become seemingly transparent.

-The line consisting of Ruslan Fedotenko, Josef Vasicek, and Bill Guerin gelled well, and generating a few scoring chances. Albeit, none went in, but opportunities are better than nothing.

-One player who really stood out again for the second game in a row, despite not getting on the score sheet is Sean Bergenheim. He works hard like Hilbert (even harder in the past couple games) and actually gets his shots on net. Unfortunately Tim Thomas stopped them.

-A healthy scratch tonight was Bruno Gervais. Either this is a case of continuing to showcase Bergeron for a future trade, or Teddy is trying to send a message. Last time he benched a healthy player for a game, Bergie came back flying. Hopefully the same effect carries over.


For all questions, comments e-mail me at [email][email protected][/email]

Jon, B.D., I plan on continuing to write more frequently and join you guys as Isles bloggers on myHockeyBuzz.
Filed Under:   Islanders   Bruins   Bergenheim   Comrie   Nolan   nhl  
December 3, 2007 10:22 PM ET | Delete
What do you expect from Comrie? He's a 50-60 point player and until we surround him with some serious talent he always will be. Comrie isn't a first line centre and he's handling his minutes the best he can. Bill Guerin has always been a streaky player over his career and his numbers show it. Look back to that year in Dallas when he scored just 13 goals over the course of the whole season, wow. Guerin will snap out of his slump, probably break 30 this season. Coming into this campaign I was looking to Satan to provide some numbers since it's his contract season but I guess miracles can't happen. Guys like Hunter, Hilbert, Sillinger, Bergenheim, and Simon really have to find their games to take the pressure off the top guys. If we don't have secondary scoring we're screwed. I really do think a massive change is needed and a huge trade wouldn't be such a bad idea. This team is a very deep team on paper but they just can't seem to convert it onto the ice.You have to feel sorry for DiPietro in all of this. This team better start helping him out and winning games for him or ya never know, he could just say the worst two words this organization needs to hear - TRADE ME. All in all our defense is very good and what more can you ask of a defense who allows a pretty consistant GAA of 2 per night.
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