On the Islanders Beat

The highlight of the Islanders’ first game without injured Alexei Yashin came late in the first period Tuesday night in Pittsburgh. Jason Blake passed out of the right corner to Viktor Kozlov in the high slot, and Kozlov one-timed it for the tying goal. It was exactly the kind of play Yashin and Blake have been making all season, and it was the best possible sign that the top line might maintain its scoring punch even while Yashin is out.

The similarity between Yashin and Kozlov, who once played together with Moscow Dynamo and who have been roommates on the Russian national team, is so striking that coach Ted Nolan joked they look like twins. At 6-5, 235 pounds, Kozlov has an even more commanding physical presence than Yashin, and both have the same long reach, puckhandling skills, skating ability and playing style.

Yashin and Kozlov both entered the NHL in the 1993-94 season, and that’s where their careers took different paths. Although many expected Kozlov to be the next big thing from Russia, he got into only 16 games with San Jose as a rookie and scored two goals, while Yashin debuted with a 30-goal season for Ottawa. Over his previous 11 seasons, Kozlov has only three 50-point seasons, has reached the 20-goal mark once (22 in 2002-03 with Florida) and has played as many as 69 games just four times.

When you see him on the ice, it’s impossible to ignore Kozlov’s physical gifts and wonder why he hasn’t had more success. Everyone in the NHL will tell you he has a great shot. But as one writer who covered him with the Devils last year said during a preseason game, he doesn’t use it enough. He holds the puck and looks to make the perfect play.

The Devils used Kozlov on their top line to start last season and then demoted him after a couple of months when he didn’t produce. They put him back on the top line following the All-Star break, and when he again failed to put up numbers, he was demoted and his ice time all but disappeared before he was benched for all but one playoff game and allowed to leave as a free agent.

But with the Islanders, Kozlov has shown an ability to rise to the occasion. He had a dominant training camp to make a good first impression on Nolan; he scored twice in the opener even though the game was out of reach; he scored against the Devils in a big win at the Meadowlands, and he scored in his first game as Yashin’s replacement.

When Kozlov’s production fell off earlier this season and he was moved off Yashin’s line during one of Nolan’s shakeups, I asked if he was “floating.” The coach wouldn’t go there. Nolan has been happy with Kozlov’s effort, and there have been many games where he made an impact with his ability to get the puck in the corners and to break up opposition plays in the neutral zone.

Since the loss in Toronto, where he had no shots on goal, Kozlov seems to have made more of an effort to look for his shot. He put four shots on goal in Pittsburgh, a total he exceeded only once this season with five in the second game at San Jose. But when asked if he was trying to shoot sooner, Kozlov shrugged and said, “I try to score, to be honest. Maybe it looks like I try to do a quick shot. The purpose is just to score the goal.”

Although Kozlov brushes off all comparisons between himself and Yashin, Nolan certainly wouldn’t mind if he uses this chance to produce in combination with Blake the way Yashin has this season.

“We talk to him on a regular basis,” Nolan said of Kozlov. “He has one of the best shots in the league. He’s got to pull the trigger a little bit more and get in the open to shoot the puck a little bit more. Sometimes, strange things happen for strange reasons. Maybe this is an opportunity for Viktor to really step up and start shooting the puck and give us some goals.”

That’s the hope, anyway.

Win now.

That’s Ted Nolan’s philosophy, and after nine seasons out of the NHL, it’s easy to understand why. The most important thing for Nolan to do as part of his coaching comeback with the Islanders was to reestablish his credibility as a coach and the team’s credibility as an organization where players can be successful.

If he was going to gain control of the locker room and implement the gritty style that has been successful wherever he’s been, Nolan and general manager Garth Snow, as well as former GM Neil Smith, knew it would be necessary to create a strong veteran presence to support captain Alexei Yashin and take as much pressure as possible off goaltender Rick DiPietro.

Now is not the time for Nolan to also try to develop the organization’s top young prospects at the NHL level.

Jeff Tambellini had such a terrific training camp that it forced Nolan to reward him with a start in the Islanders’ first game. But his plan all along has been to let the best prospects develop together and get all the playing time they need in the minors the way the old Montreal dynasty did.

Not that the Islanders are another dynasty in the making. In fact, that’s part of the point. They don’t have young players the caliber of Pittsburgh stars Sydney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, who can step in and take command no questions asked. In Nolan’s view, players like Tambellini, Robert Nilsson and Chris Campoli, all of whom spent significant time with the Islanders last season, are better off spending the time together in Bridgeport along with such prospects as Blake Comeau, Jeremy Colliton and, eventually, Ryan O’Marra. Sean Bergenheim, of course, will get the competition he needs in the Swedish Elite League.

If there’s one thing Nolan understands, it’s that turnover is a constant in professional sports, and the opportunity to win is fleeting. There’s plenty of time to give the prospects some NHL experience later this season if it all falls apart for the Islanders. But right now, it appears this veteran group can compete for the Atlantic Division title. So, you do that and hope the prospects make the most of their time in Bridgeport.

If it turns out that some of them can’t handle the situation, then maybe Nolan and Snow will have learned something about who has the mental toughness and desire to give the Islanders what they are looking for in the future.

Remember how the Islanders were booed out of the Coliseum in consecutive losses to Atlanta and Tampa Bay that ended their previous homestand more than two weeks ago? Contrast that with the reception they received in the past two home wins over defending Stanley Cup champion Carolina and Pittsburgh, which drew the top crowd of the season on Friday afternoon.

If you recall, coach Ted Nolan responded to the booing by saying he would have been booing louder than anyone if he had been in the stands for those terrible losses to the Thrashers and Lightning. He held his team accountable for its errors while, at the same time, maintaining faith in the ability of his players to fix it. The result is a 7-1-1 streak since then that began with a tough five-game stretch of road games.

Something else Nolan said recently stands out now: “Build it, and they will come.”

See, Nolan understands where Islanders fans are coming from, and he knows you can’t cheat them in terms of effort and entertainment and expect them to show up. From the very beginning of training camp, he promised to build a work ethic that would be his team’s No. 1 priority from captain Alexei Yashin on down, and that is what he has done.

Production might ebb and flow throughout the season from various players, but what you see is a team that is showing strong signs of developing the discipline to stick to a system, play hard every night and trust one another. If that formula takes hold, the Islanders just might prove capable of contending for first place in the Atlantic Division all season.

Earlier this week, several Islanders told the overflow media contingent in Toronto that Nolan sees things in simple, black-and-white terms in the sense that he is very direct with his criticism behind closed doors. But he also is very supportive publicly in the way that he recognizes the little things different players are doing well even when the numbers say they aren’t producing.

For instance, Trent Hunter has only three goals and five points, but Nolan praised Hunter for the leadership he has shown in dishing out hits and setting a physical tone every game. He praised Miro Satan’s decision-making even when the puck wasn’t going in the net. Lately, Nolan has made a point of saying how pleased he is with the play of scoreless Andy Hilbert. And it’s pretty hard to miss the hustle, smarts, toughness, speed and two-way ability embodied by fourth-liners Shawn Bates, Richard Park and Arron Asham, who seem to make an impact in their roles every game.

Nolan even has learned from his own mistake. He understandably was excited when the Isles overcame their 0-3 start to reach first place in the division with a win Nov. 2 at New Jersey and let it show. That game was followed by the losses to Atlanta and Tampa Bay. When the Isles regained a share of first with Friday’s win over Pittsburgh, Nolan said he wasn’t paying attention to the standings.

“We’ll be where we deserve to be,” Nolan said.

But Nolan did acknowledge the season-high crowd of 15,625 as a testament to the kind of effort his team has put forth lately. Filling the Coliseum is Nolan’s barometer for success. He’s building the foundation, and the Islanders are beginning to give their fans a reason to cheer again.

As the Islanders continued to pick up road points during the 3-1-1 stretch they just completed, coach Ted Nolan repeatedly spoke of the need to get ahead in the race for playoff position to avoid having to make a desperate push to come from behind at the end of the season.

“Playoff [berths] sometimes are won in November and December and not in the final games when you have to win five of seven,” Nolan said after backup goalie Mike Dunham basically stole two points in Saturday’s win at Florida.

Monday’s loss in Toronto prevented it from turning into a great trip, but with three home games in the next four days, it’s vital for the Isles to keep the momentum going at Nassau Coliseum. Having survived what might have been a disastrous 0-3 start to the season out west and having begun to establish a new identity under Nolan, the Islanders find themselves in a position to make or break their playoff chances between now and the end of the year.

There are three ways to break down this part of their schedule. First, they are in the middle of a stretch of 14 games in 25 days that began with their game in Dallas a week ago today and carries through the Dec. 9 game with Florida before they get a five-day break from game action. How Nolan uses goaltenders Rick DiPietro and Dunham to keep them fresh will be crucial because the skaters are bound to go through periods of fatigue where they must rely heavily on the backstops. DiPietro goes tonight against Stanley Cup champion Carolina, and then, Nolan said he will play it by ear in the back-to-back against Pittsburgh and Washington on Friday and Saturday.

Second, Friday afternoon’s game against the Penguins is the start of a stretch in which those teams meet four times in 10 games with the last three coming in Pittsburgh. Not only are the Pens one of the teams the Isles are competing with for a playoff spot, but the scoring power of Sydney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin combined with their speed and skating ability makes them a difficult opponent unless the Isles begin generating more offense. What an opportune time this would be for Miroslav Satan to break out of his slump so all the pressure doesn’t continue to fall on Alexei Yashin and Jason Blake.

Finally, looking at the big picture, the Islanders have 11 of their 18 games before the end of the year at home. With their defensive system in place now, they absolutely have to start limiting the number of chances they are giving up to opponents to relieve the pressure on the goaltenders and give themselves the best chance to make a big-time push upward in the standings. Where they are on New Year’s Day should be a pretty good indication of how well they will compete for a playoff berth in the spring.

For all the Isles’ recent success, DiPietro pointed out how they have to keep winning to keep pace in the Eastern Conference, where only two teams have fewer points than games played. So, the pack is bunched rounding the first-quarter pole, and now is the time for the Islanders to show they’re ready to hang with the frontrunners.

THE SAME 20: Since Andy Hilbert replaced Jeff Tambellini for the second game of the season, Nolan has gone with the same 20-man lineup for the past 18 games, and defenseman Chris Campoli’s reassignment to Bridgeport yesterday after being the healthy scratch for the four-game trip that just ended reinforced Nolan’s commitment to this group.

Although Campoli played well last season for the previous regime, he’s going to have to accomplish more at Bridgeport to regain his place with the big team. “The one thing we want to make sure with our young guys is that they get called up because they’re playing so well down in Bridgeport, not because anybody down there thinks you owe them because you were dropped from this position,” Nolan said yesterday. “That’s where you turn around effort and the attitude and character of a team.”

Nolan trusts the experience of veteran defensemen Tom Poti, Sean Hill, Brendan Witt, Alexei Zhitnik and Radek Martinek, and he appreciates the enthusiasm of young Bruno Gervais. Even after Gervais made the wrong move in going down against a two-on-one rush to create a passing lane for Tampa Bay’s Vincent Lecavalier to set up a goal by Nikita Alexeev, Nolan expressed confidence in him.

“Gervais is just one of those kids that seems to be getting better and better all the time,” Nolan said. “He soaks up the information. He’s alert. He pays attention. He really enjoys the game. Even that two-on-one, when he went down, he’s going to make strides in learning what not to do next time.”

Among the young forwards at Bridgeport, Tambellini and, lately, Robert Nilsson have been productive for the Sound Tigers, but apparently, it’s going to take more to displace someone like Hilbert, who has no points and would not rate as a major loss right now if he were claimed on waivers while trying to move to the AHL.

To some, it might appear the Islanders are being cheap because they save on Nilsson’s $1.1 million NHL salary each day he remains at Bridgeport. While general manager Garth Snow previously admitted he’s trying to save as much money as possible against the cap so the Islanders are in position to make a move before the trade deadline, he insisted there are no budgetary limits on the roster moves he and Nolan can make if they desire. If they decide Nilsson is the answer to win games, he’ll come up. But for now, they’re taking the patient approach with the current roster.

FALLING DOWN ON THE BLOG: Sorry for going so long between blogs. That wasn’t my intention, but computer problems surfaced in Tampa and I had to transition to a second computer shipped to me in Fort Lauderdale. I’m still going between both computers because the one that needs fixing has all my files and has wireless capability while the replacement is an older, slower model. I’ll try to keep it shorter and more frequent in the future, while continuing to expand coverage of the Isles.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone, and my thanks for the strong response and thoughtful discussion of all Islanders issues.

Over the course of a season, no matter what the sport, there always are a few games packed with so many key elements and so much interesting detail that, as a beat writer, you invariably are disappointed with the game story because there isn’t enough space to convey everything that went on. Maybe that’s why God (or was it Al Gore?) invented cyberspace.

The Islanders’ 3-0 shutout victory Wednesday in Dallas was one of those games. Ordinarily, I would have come back strong on it in Friday's paper, but the story of the players bringing their fathers and mentors with them on this road trip was too unusual to pass up. So, with games tonight at Tampa Bay and tomorrow night at Florida crowding the schedule and chewing up space in the paper, let’s take a minute to reflect on all the things that went right for the Islanders against the Stars.

Say what you want about the Stars being in a scoring slump with three goals in four games, they had a ton of chances to score with seven power plays, including a five-on-three and a four-on-three and 35 shots on goaltender Rick DiPietro. Add in the 18 Dallas shots that missed, and you can see the Isles really were under siege.

The big thing, obviously, is the improved play of DiPietro, who has stopped 67 of the past 68 shots he’s faced. When he stays within himself and doesn’t try to do more than necessary with the puck, the sense of confidence that flows through the locker room is palpable. Everyone relaxes and plays to win instead of tensing up and playing not to lose.

Speaking of DiPietro’s play, forward Mike York said, “It makes all the difference in the world. He made some incredible saves, especially on our penalty-kill. And I think this is the best I’ve seen him handle the puck all year. They did a great job of communicating back there. It’s something we worked on in practice, and it paid off.”

After DiPietro and backup goaltender Mike Dunham each got shelled in consecutive home losses to Atlanta and Tampa Bay, coach Ted Nolan and his staff sat down with the goaltenders and the defensemen to work out a better system of communication. To make a long story short, the goaltenders devised a series of code words for the defensemen to use and a plan for where they prefer everyone to be in certain situations. Because the goaltenders have their heads down while handling the puck and can’t see the opposition coming, the defense signals where and how to play the puck by shouting the code words for the proper play.

As a result of better communication and less wasted movement, Nolan noticed how solid DiPietro has looked in the past two games in terms of squaring up. “Ricky has looked big in the net,” Nolan said. “When the puck got through, Ricky was right square to the puck, and it looked like the pucks hit him right in the crest every time. That’s great positioning.”

The defense in front of DiPietro also has continued to improve. Everyone noticed the way Brendan Witt went down without his stick to block a couple of shots with his hands on one power play. But on the five-on-three, defenseman Tom Poti stayed out the whole time covering a lot of space and forward Richard Park, who was point man on the triangle most of the time, did a great job of bothering towering Eric Lindros as he teed up three straight shots from the top of the slot. Lindros only was credited with two shots on goal and four misses, but it seemed like he launched more than that.

“Shots were whizzing by me,” Park said. “Lindros is so big. We were talking on the plane after the game about what he was like in Philadelphia when he first came into the league. If he didn’t have the injuries and if his noggin was OK, you wonder what he would be like playing with these rules when he was a rookie. He still hits, but not the way he used to. He’s ‘gentler’ compared to what he was, but he still has a great shot.”

DiPietro stopped nine shots from the Stars’ Antti Miettinen, including one that doubled him over when it hit him below the belt. But two plays against Lindros, who still packs a wallop, as Poti found out in an early collision, were the most spectacular by DiPietro. On the first, Lindros came across just in front of the crease. It wasn’t clear if his shot got through the defense, but DiPietro did the splits to cover the ice from post to post. In the final period, Lindros steamed in from the right wing toward the goal like the locomotive he is, and DiPietro met him at the left post, forcing Lindros to shoot wide.

It was a great performance by everyone in an Islanders uniform. They have three tough games left on this trip that could render the Dallas win a distant memory in no time. But winning a game like that on the Stars’ ice while trying to latch onto a new defensive system and get DiPietro into a comfort zone where he can play his best, it just doesn’t get much better.

As winger Jason Blake said, “It comes from Ricky on up, but sometimes, it’s got to come from us down to him. We’ve got to buckle down defensively. He has played great the last two games. He is an exceptional athlete, and he wants to win more than anybody else. He’s not going to have great nights 80 games a year, and that’s when we’ve got to step up. The last two games, he’s really felt in a zone, and it’s good to see.”

DALLAS – The temptation for most coaches would be to stick defenseman Chris Campoli into the lineup the moment he returned from his conditioning stint in Bridgeport. After all, Campoli lost his spot in the defensive rotation because of injury and not poor play, and his speed might be especially valuable against a hot team like Dallas tonight.

But Nolan chose to stay with the status quo for at least one more game, meaning a youngster like Bruno Gervais will be rewarded for working as hard to fill the vacancy that was created when Campoli went down with a groin pull. Nolan said Campoli would have to “earn” his way back into the lineup rather than having a spot handed to him.

You have to like the way Nolan establishes standards and a work ethic for his team and then sticks to it. Campoli was the last one off the ice in the skate this morning at American Airlines Center, and you know he’ll be raring to go when he gets the opportunity, most likely, at either Tampa Bay or Florida this weekend.

Although Campoli was sent to Bridgeport to rehab an injury rather than as punishment for poor play, he said it’s impossible not to appreciate what it means to play in the NHL when you have to endure the tough travel conditions in the minors. “You see how tough it is down there and how tough it is to stay up here,” Campoli said. “It makes you realize the work is never done because there’s always somebody there to take your job. It’s a bit of an eye-opener.”

So, he wasn’t about to argue with Nolan’s lineup decision. “He’s the coach, and you respect the decision,” Campoli said. “I’ll just keep working hard and we’ll see what happens.”

When Nolan was hired to coach the Islanders in June, one of the people many players called was Dallas enforcer Matthew Barnaby, who thrived under Nolan when he last coached in the NHL in Buffalo from 1995-97. Had Campoli asked yesterday what to expect from Nolan, Barnaby would have told him: “First and foremost, he’s a very honest person. He wears his heart on his sleeve and gives everything towards hockey. He loves coaching, he loves helping people and he’s a very competitive person by nature, but I think his main attribute is that he’s so honest.

“He’ll do anything to win, and that’s why guys will go through the wall for him. He’s a players’ coach that demands you work hard, but if you work hard, you’re going to be in his good graces. I think he cares about every single player that’s in that room. He gives everyone the same shot. You’re going to fall in and out of graces with him in an 82-game season, but the way he cares about everyone as a person gets them to play that much harder for him.”

It’s a process that takes time, but step by step, you can see the Nolan style starting to take effect with the Islanders. His handling of Campoli’s return is an example of the little things Nolan does that start to add up to create a real team.

BONUS BLOG: I meant to resume the blog yesterday after returning from a few days off, but a long travel day got in the way. It’s just as well because there were some interesting leftovers from this morning’s skate that won’t make it into tomorrow’s game story and notes and are worth sharing.

For instance, Dallas coach Dave Tippett had a great answer when I asked if it’s any more difficult to play great defense like the Stars are doing under the new rules in the NHL. “No, because we do it well within the rules,” Tippett said. “The rules weren’t changed just to allow everybody to skate free. The rules were changed to add honesty to the game, honest hard work.

“We probably have the best player in the game that typifies that in Jere Lehtinen, a three-time Selke winner. His game hasn’t changed because of the rules. He would never hook anybody or hold anybody. He uses work ethic to get the puck back and to check people. In the old days when I played, I was a good checking guy because I could latch on and go for a ride. But now you have to have honest hard work, and if a guy gets a step on you, you have to work to get that advantage back. Not hook him to get that advantage back.”

STORY PREVIEW: For Friday’s Newsday, I’ll be writing about the Islanders’ decision to allow every player the opportunity to bring their father or a mentor along on this four-city trip to Dallas, Tampa, Fort Lauderdale and Toronto. In all, 15 players invited their father or a mentor, such as Arron Asham’s youth hockey coach, to join them for an inside look at NHL life.

It’s a great idea, so, maybe it was a good omen when I happened to find myself sitting next to one half of one of the greatest father-son sports duos in America yesterday while attempting to send a story to Newsday from the Dallas airport. When I was ready to pack up my equipment and leave, I took a minute to introduce myself to Calvin Hill, the former Yale running back who played for the Cowboys and Redskins. In the past, I covered his son Grant when he was at Duke and in the NBA. Grant Hill is one of the real class acts you could ever meet in sports. I simply congratulated Calvin Hill for being such a good parent. It’s not an easy job, but it’s one worth doing well. Can’t wait to talk to some of the Isles’ fathers and mentors tomorrow.

Had my first “State of the Islanders” discussion with general manager Garth Snow for a feature piece that will appear in Sunday’s Newsday. Although trade talks in the NHL are at a virtual standstill right now, the Islanders’ desire for a mobile, puck-moving defenseman is right at their fingertips.

Chris Campoli is scheduled to play one more game with Bridgeport on Sunday and then is expected to join the Islanders before they leave on Tuesday for their tough four-game road trip to play Dallas, Tampa Bay, Florida and Toronto. Through six games of his rehab assignment for a groin strain, Campoli has just one assist and a minus-five plus/minus figure, but he can add an element of speed generally lacking in the defense corps right now.

Most likely, the Isles will carry one extra defenseman on the trip, and that number could grow to two if they activate Joel Bouchard from injured reserve. That would give coach Ted Nolan a variety of options from which to choose from game to game, and it might mean he would lean more toward youth and speed on some nights rather than rely so heavily on veteran experience.

It’s impossible to ignore the problems the Islanders have experienced this season coping with the league’s fastest teams, such as Buffalo, Atlanta, Tampa Bay and Anaheim to name the ones that caused the most trouble. At one point, I mentioned Sean Hill’s obvious lack of speed as a concern. It was right around that time when Nolan increased Hill’s ice time and put him on the first power-play unit.

Nolan explained his belief that speed is overrated at times. The coach likes to say the puck moves faster than any player, and it’s positioning that is most important. The closer I look, the more I understand about Nolan’s thinking.

Veterans like Hill, Brendan Witt and Tom Poti, who joined the Isles this season, plus holdover Alexei Zhitnik don’t just add leadership in the locker room. They provide needed maturity in the defensive zone. It was Hill who stepped forward and said the Islanders defensemen needed to be “more vocal” in communicating with goaltender Rick DiPietro after his puckhandling issues in a loss to Atlanta.

The result was a smart game for everyone involved in Philadelphia. The defensemen spoke up, DiPietro responded well and the Isles had only six giveaways, including just two by the defense (Hill and Poti) and none by the goaltender. The desperate Flyers managed to pepper DiPietro with 16 shots in the final period, which he handled well, but that kind of late-game barrage has been the aberration rather than the norm lately. More often, the defense has limited third-period shots by opponents.

So, while Campoli’s addition certainly is welcome, it would be a mistake to underestimate the value of the maturity and professionalism the Isles’ veteran defensemen bring to their jobs. Witt has done a good job cutting back on unnecessary penalties of late, and yet, he and Hill still provide a degree of toughness in front of the net that only will become more important the longer the Islanders remain in contention for a playoff berth.

Will Nolan replace young Bruno Gervais with Campoli? Not necessarily. The coach might rest one of the veterans, depending on the opponent. It will be interesting to watch, and the important thing now is that Nolan has another option at his disposal.


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A WORD OF EXPLANATION TO THE READERS: Serious Islanders fans (Is there any other kind?) undoubtedly noticed there was no story in the print edition of Newsday this morning. This is the second time it’s happened in a couple of weeks, and the reason in both cases has to do strictly with the space available in the paper to handle major breaking news stories.

It is not a reflection of Newsday’s commitment to Islanders coverage. Today, the Gary Sheffield trade by the Yankees was major news, and previously the settlement between former Knicks coach Larry Brown and Madison Square Garden forced a decision at 11 p.m. when most of the section had been “put to bed” and couldn’t be changed.

In both cases, Newsday had backup writers at practice while I was off or was working on another Islanders assignment, and both stories moved over to our Web site, which is where Isles fans should go if no story appears in print. Also, because their schedule has five straight days without a game and no practice was scheduled Saturday and Sunday, no Islanders story is planned for Monday’s paper. When practice resumes Monday, we will have a writer there, and of course, we are the only newspaper traveling to every road game.

As I have stated previously in this blog, I will do all I can to expand Islanders coverage, which is why the news of Campoli’s return appeared here first today. Naturally, if the Islanders win this season, their news value goes up, and it becomes much easier to find space. Hope that answers most of your questions.

In the TV business, they call a promotion for a coming attraction a “tease,” and today’s blog is along those lines. There was a minor altercation at Islanders practice today that reflected the edgy atmosphere around a team coming off two straight losses that led to lineup changes by coach Ted Nolan.

It wouldn’t be fair to all of Newsday’s subscribers to get into all the details tonight, but I can guarantee you an interesting read in Thursday’s paper about a scuffle involving Arron Asham. You know, the same Arron Asham who won a fierce bout last week with Devils enforcer Cam Janssen. There were no injuries, but you can believe the Isles will be heading into their game with the Flyers in Philadelphia with a serious chip on their shoulders.

Asham won Nolan’s praise last week for his selfless, hard-working play, and yesterday, Nolan said Asham might split time with fellow tough guy Chris Simon on the top line with Alexei Yashin and Jason Blake. Both Simon and Asham will add a physical aspect to that line that could create room for the big guns, but the coach said it might be a good idea to platoon them so they can keep up with the swift-skating Blake and Yashin.

Although he brushed off today’s brief bout with a teammate as a case of “boys will be boys” and declined to discuss it, Asham had no problem talking about his fight with Janssen. If you somehow missed it, I can tell you as a longtime boxing writer that Asham controlled the match from start to finish, landing several flurries of right-hand bombs while gripping Janssen’s jersey with his left hand and managing to avoid most of what was coming back from one of the better fighters left in the NHL.

It happened less than three minutes into the game, but Asham said it wasn’t because of anything between them in the past. “I knew something was going to happen eventually in the game,” Asham said. “He’s the type of player that goes out there and tries to give his team a spark and myself as well. He asked me to go, and I thought it was a good time to do it.

“It was the first one of the year. It was a long one, but I can take care of myself when it comes to fighting. I didn’t get beat up too bad. It was a good fight, a good time. Thank God our team came out on top.”

The enforcer role might be fading from the NHL scene a bit under the new rules, but there’s still a right time and place, and Asham’s battle with Janssen was a good example. It was a case of two guys who had a job to do and did it without hesitation.

And never forget that these guys are bare-knuckled. I can recall talking to Joey Kocur toward the end of his career with the Rangers about the problems he was having with his hands and how painful it was whenever he had to drop the gloves. Believe me, these guys earn their respect, not to mention their paychecks.

“I’ve been doing it for a lot of years now, trying to give teams a boost,” Asham said. “It brings a lot to the team. It gets guys up on the bench, especially that early in the game. If it’s not a fight, I try to go get a big hit or get a good forecheck going. But it’s a role I’ve been playing for a few years now, and I don’t mind doing it.”

Of course, mixing it up with teammates is another story, and it’s good that Asham’s practice sparring didn’t turn too serious. But it’s nice to see a little feistiness from a team that needs to snap out of its two-game losing streak and continue to develop the spirit to fight back even when things go wrong.

There’s no mistaking the concern of Islanders fans about the 15-year contract signed by goaltender Rick DiPietro this season, and it came through loud and clear Saturday night when the Nassau Coliseum crowd called for backup Mike Dunham after DiPietro gave up three first-period goals in a 4-1 loss to Atlanta.

Every goaltender has off nights, but it’s as though signing that landmark deal has raised the bar of expectations for DiPietro. As he said after the game, the contract didn’t gift him with “superpowers,” and if the fans are looking for nightly perfection, “It isn’t going to happen.”

Excuse DiPietro if he was agitated after a rough outing. He simply was saying that he’s human and mistakes are inevitable.

And that’s at the root of the problems a 15-year deal creates. Anyone would have signed for the security represented by such a $67.5 million deal. But athletes are human, and their performance is subject to fluctuations on a daily basis, never mind over a 15-year term.

Take DiPietro out of the equation. It would have been a huge risk to sign Hank Aaron or Babe Ruth to a 15-year deal (Okay, maybe not Wayne Gretzky, whose 21-year deal with former Edmonton owner Peter Pocklington was a personal services contract that obviously didn’t make it impossible for the Oilers to trade him).

Too much is subject to chance. Isles owner Charles Wang might have fixed the price of his top goaltender at $4.5 million per year, but a goalie is not an inanimate commodity like porkbellies whose value can be fixed forever at point of purchase.

Hot streaks alternate with rough spells and bouts of confidence on a regular basis. You need look no further for proof than the early travails this season of the Rangers’ Henrik Lundqvist, who has given way lately to Kevin Weekes as the starter. No doubt, Lundqvist will regain his touch and his job at some point.

But that speaks to the other major problem posed by a 15-year deal. How does it handcuff a coach in the decision-making process?

If his top goaltender had just signed, say, a five-year deal, would Nolan have hesitated to pull him after a bad first period? Hard to say. Maybe, as Nolan said after the game, it was best to allow the goaltender to fight through a tough situation. There’s plenty of merit to that argument, and Nolan’s decision turned out well.

But did it cross the coach’s mind that he might be viewed as showing up the owner if he pulled the goaltender in that spot? It’s a fair question.

Before the Atlanta game, I asked Thrashers goaltender coach Steve Weeks about his team’s decision earlier this season to pull Johan Hedberg at the end of a tie game and put regular starter Kari Lehtonen in net for the shootout. Weeks said it was a move planned in advance because Lehtonen ranked No. 1 among goalies last season in shootouts.

If the goaltender being pulled had a 15-year deal, however, Weeks admitted it might have had some bearing on the situation. “Would [the contract] come into play?” Weeks said with a smile. “Yeah, probably somewhat, but I don’t know.”

He added that most coaches focus on the game or the season in front of them since that’s where they have the most control. That’s what Nolan said the day the deal was signed.

But you wonder if a coach’s control is undermined by a deal of that length in the sense that he has little leverage with a player destined to be around much longer than he is. The same goes for a general manager. If a top goaltending prospect is available in the draft, does Garth Snow take a pass because the franchise only has room for backup types?

The list of “what ifs” goes on and on. Even DiPietro is affected in the sense that he’s keenly aware of the reaction to his contract and, as a competitor, is likely to feel more internal pressure to perform and justify the deal.

There’s simply no escaping the fact that every move the Islanders’ goaltender makes this season -- and maybe for many to come – will be judged in the context of his 15-year contract. It’s going to take some getting used for everyone, fans included.

There were highlights up and down the Islanders’ lineup in their 5-2 win at New Jersey that put them in a first-place tie in the Atlantic Division and made tonight’s match with Southeast-leading Atlanta such a big game. But two that stuck out came from opposite ends of the pecking order – captain Alexei Yashin and fourth-line hustler Arron Asham.

Yashin is uncomfortable with the focus on his past shortcomings as a leader, but he knows Ted Nolan’s main job is to support and motivate him and he has responded in a big way with 16 points in 12 games, including 11 assists, and a team-high 59 shots on goal. He’s been making seeing-eye passes all season but none better or more unselfish than the two that led to goals by Viktor Kozlov and Jason Blake.

After the game, Yashin shrugged off those two plays as the only sensible reaction to Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur, whose focus was on the Isles’ center. “On Kozlov’s goal, Brodeur was ready for me to shoot, and that’s the only way to beat a great goaltender like Marty,” Yashin said.

On the final goal of the game, Blake gave the puck up to Mike Sillinger on the power play never expecting to see it back. Sillinger moved it to Yashin, who looked to have an open shot left of the crease. He easily could have pulled the trigger, but Yashin slid it through the slot to Blake at the right post for the redirection.

“Marty committed 100 percent to me,” Yashin said. “You have to move the goalie side to side.”

Blake said he was “as surprised as anyone on that pass. I gave it to Sillinger, and after that, I looked at the goaltender. Then, I looked down, and the puck was a foot from my stick.”

Yashin is making the right plays and saying the right things, too, in the dressing room. He’s happy with the solid start but said the most important thing now that the Islanders are in position to become a playoff contender is to maintain focus and keep moving forward in the long season.

As for Asham, he’s been getting the least ice time of all the forwards despite an excellent training-camp performance when Nolan called upon him to improve his conditioning. But in the Islanders’ 3-0 loss to Buffalo, the only game in their past 10 where they failed to get a point, Asham packed three hits into his 5:51 and busted tail every second on the ice. After Asham had another good game against Florida, Nolan rewarded the fourth line, including Chris Simon and Andy Hilbert, with a start against Chicago and said anybody slacking on the other lines should watch out because “Arron is coming.”

So, it was no surprise when Asham set the tone 2:47 into the game against the Devils by grabbing a fistful of tough-guy Cam Janssen's jersey and ripping right hands to Janssen’s face, knocking his helmet off early in the bout. Asham looked as if he might have had some experience as a bouncer the way he kept his left arm straight and used his reach to hold Janssen off before delivering flurries of right hands.

There aren’t many real fights these days because of the damage it can do in terms of giving up power plays with plenty of good shots in the all-holds barred NHL. But this one was perfect because it got the blood boiling on the road and left both teams at even strength. In training camp, I asked Asham about the brief time he spent playing with Yashin last season, and he smiled and shook his head as if to say he wasn’t holding his breath for another chance on a top line.

“I know what my role is,” Asham said.

He performed it well against the Devils, just as Yashin played the part of captain the right way. If Nolan can get everyone on the roster to concentrate on playing their roles, big and small, maybe this good start keeps going.

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During training camp, Islanders coach Ted Nolan marveled on almost a daily basis about the “magic hands” of Miroslav Satan, and former New York Post reporter Evan Grossman (BTW, congratulations to Evan on his new NHL.com gig) queried Satan about the possibility of a 50-goal season. When Satan lit the lamp just 1:45 into the season opener in Phoenix, it seemed he was primed for an explosive start.

But 11 games into the season, Satan still has just that one lonely goal. Considering the lack of production from a player who led the Islanders last season with 35 goals, it’s amazing the Isles have a 5-4-2 record going into tonight’s match with the Devils in the Swamp.

Part of the problem is that Nolan has been using Satan at the point on the power play. Last season, Satan had 17 power-play goals, but he was positioned down low where he could use those magic hands to score rather than set up others. Nolan shifted Satan from the left point to the right, where he is more comfortable, and let him work lower on the right side, but it didn’t trigger any scoring. Against Chicago, Nolan went with Sean Hill and Tom Poti at the points at times on the power play, which scored three goals and improved to first in the NHL on home ice.

Now, Nolan says he might use Satan in a forward position with the second power-play unit to increase the scoring threat with the man advantage. Obviously, there’s no need to tinker with a successful combination of forwards Alexei Yashin, Mike Sillinger and Jason Blake on the top unit.

As for Satan’s play at even strength, his whole line has struggled to put the puck in the net. Center Mike York is off to a decent start with three goals, but Hunter has only one. Nolan has shown no hesitation about juggling his personnel, but for the moment, his strategy is patience.

“No, no shakeup,” Nolan said after Wednesday’s practice. “York’s playing a lot better. Trent Hunter hasn’t scored too much, either, but his play has been outstanding. He’s hitting the body and making the proper plays. Miro’s playing well. It’s a matter of time before it all clicks together.

“That’s one thing about great players. Look at Mats Sundin a couple years ago. I don’t think he scored in the first 15, and all of a sudden, he catches fire. There are certain times you’re going to go through periods like that. Miro has to keep shooting the puck, and one day, it’s going to go off someone’s skate and hit two shinpads and go in the net. Then, all of a sudden, it starts.”

Many years ago when I had Montreal’s Vincent Damphousse on my team in my hockey goal pool and was on the verge of trading him, I happened to be in Montreal and picked up a copy of the Gazette. Legendary columnist Red Fischer counseled the same patient remedy for Damphousse’s slump. “The goals will come,” Fischer wrote. “They always do.”

For the good ones, he meant, and he was right. Certainly, Satan is one of the good ones. Just think of how much better the Islanders will look when Satan does start finding the net.