Bryan Berard, Sean Bergenheim and Shawn Bates all practiced today--and it was a good practice overall, coach Ted Nolan said after having had one that wasn't as sharp yesterday--but none of the three is expected to face the Devils tomorrow night. Nolan said all of the three injured players need a bit more time to get in game shape.
Coming off three wins and five wins in six games, why mess with something that's working?
The Devils game will be Military Night, with members of the 106th Rescue wing of the Air National Guard swooping in from the rafters to drop the first puck. Sgt. Jennifer Castle, a Long Island teacher and member of the New York National Guard will sing the national anthem.
A good crowd is expected, which is not something, surprisingly, the Devils always can say about their home games. Despite being in only their first month at the eye-catching Prudential Center in Newark, the team has had about 3,000 short of capacity in recent games. Maybe that is a function of the rise in ticket prices, maybe it's going to take a while for people to get used to going to Newark, maybe it's never going to be packed. In any case, it's interesting.
Newsday's Elizabeth Moore reported today that plans for the refurbished Nassau Coliseum as well as the commercial, entertainment and residential hub around it are expected to be filed with the Town of Hempstead next week.
Anyway, back to practice, Nolan said that the schedule has the team playing more games in shorter time frames and that the players are getting geared up for that. "They want to play" he said (as opposed to practicing so much). An added treat today: chocolate cake in the dressing room in honor of Bill Guerin's 37th birthday. Somehow, Guerin wound up wearing a chunk of it.
Comments (46)
Not surprised about the Devils attendance. New arenas can take away a lot of the hockey atmosphere. They are great if you want to hear crystal clear canned music blearing at you. God forbid you allow a moment of silence in the game.
Personally I want a live game where I can hear a good old fashion organ and the rest of the crowd screaming and yelling.
Hopefully they retain some that when they get around to rebuilding.
Kevin T.
http://www.nassaucountyny.gov/agencies/Coliseum/docs/STV_NewSuburbiaPresentation_Nov%202005.pdf
At the "Rock", the sound does not travel down..which is a major deal.
NVMC is like a perfectly constructed container of sound
good article today by mark about wang. first time in a a long time i can feel good about the isles organization. keep up the good work
Ditto Islefan222,
Except that I started feeling good about 'em right after they blew that 3 goal lead against Detroit last Jan at home.
They bounced back from that misfortune with a great attitude that propelled 'em into the playoffs.
Nolan is the real deal.
Isles 505:
i was at that game with my friend who was Wings fan...It was a great until the beginning of the 3rd..
Isles 505:
i was at that game with my friend who was Wings fan...It was a great until the beginning of the 3rd..the ride home with on the other hand was horrible
GO ISLANDERS !!!
Please, when you talk to Isles administrations about the new arena, let them know that the average fans are not looking forward to it.
I don't care what the benefits are - the higher ticket prices and farther away seating (due to the bigger size of the arena & the down-low corporate boxes) are not worth it! I go to games every chance I get now (I'm a student and love the deal we can get for actually decent seats), but I don't imagine I'll go much once they build the new arena.
"An added treat today: chocolate cake in the dressing room in honor of Bill Guerin's 37th birthday. Somehow, Guerin wound up wearing a chunk of it."
Hmm.....Guerin is wearing chocolate cake today while Avery is wearing black fingernail polish.
Somewhere, there is a story line connecting these two events today, or at least, one helluva punch line.
Thinking has become to torturous for me today...so....someone connect those dots.
Til tomorrow night...
GO ISLES!!!
P.S.
All of you going to the game tomorrow.....
If you see a military person on line in front or behind you (or anywhwere near you) at the concession stand....Buy 'em a beer and give 'em a thanks.
They deserve it and more.
"All of you going to the game tomorrow.....
If you see a military person on line in front or behind you (or anywhwere near you) at the concession stand....Buy 'em a beer and give 'em a thanks.
They deserve it and more."
And it doesn't matter if they are an Isles fan, a Devil's fan, a Ranger fan or Baumbach incognito. BUY 'EM A BEER!!!
What people in the military do makes it possible for us to hate the Rangers.
MJ,
"i was at that game with my friend who was Wings fan...It was a great until the beginning of the 3rd."
Yeah, MJ, that was the night I broke down and called my cable operator and ordered the half season NHL Center Ice package after all of these years of living in the dark out here in the hinterlands of hockey, in order to see how these Isles would measure up against the mighty Red Wings.
I got a sick feeling in my stomach as soon as Detroit scored their 1st goal in the 3rd. (or was it at the end of the 2nd?).
Was afraid that I had possibly made a poor investment.
Thankfully, I was wrong.
But then the Isles grabbed me again.
its just purely dispicable how some no life turns a wonderful comment into a comical one, i mean what kind of put down is icelanders? this one person posting under multiple names needs help fast. anyways, lets keep the pursuit and get another win against the devils. Clearly the devils are no longer the scary team they were in past years, we have to take advantage of this.......we need to do a better job of shutting down zach paraise, he always seems to burn us. rick dipietro will surely be up for the game as hees gunna face brodeur. i have a question.........why do reporters, media, outdide hockey fans think lundqvist is a lot better than dipieto.....i mean if you go espn.com or foxsports.com and look in the hockey sectins, they list henrik as a top 5 goalie and never mention dipietro. It's a shame outsiders fail to realize just how talented dipetro is. He makes incredible saves every night that other goalies would onlydream of. I admit lundqvist is a great goalie but dipetro is right up there and the media needs to realize this. Dipetro is the islanders, he keeps them in every single game. He is the reason why they are where they are. I just hope others realzie this. Lets go Islanders tommarow and lets get the 2 points.
Quick question ...can anyone tell me why (other than his contract that MM stuck the Isles with before his departure) is Sean "I'm still living off a penalty shots many years later" Bates is even being considered to return to the lineup?
It seems that there will be quite a log jam in the lineup ...this is the one thing I don't like about Nolan - and I do love Nolan as the coach - but why even talk about putting him back in?
The line-up should be ...
Tank-Comrie-Guerin
Satan-Vasicek-Bergie
Walter-Sillinger-Hunter
Simon-Park-Jackman
Ofcourse Nolan/Snow will take Walter out and put in Hillbert eventhough Walter has shown a lot in his limited time and Hillbert has not one single point and is a minus 7 or something ...and ofcourse Jackman will be sent down and Bates will be put in eventhough Jackman was throwing his body all over the place the other night ...
Islesfan99 - Give him a break. He's just a kid. He doesn't understand how these brave people put their lives on the line to protect our freedom when he still has mommy and daddy doing his laundry and cooking his meals.
whenver the rangers play the islanders, dipetro always steps up and most of the times outpreforms lundquvist. while lundqvist's numbers might be better, there really isn't that much of a difference between dipetro's talent and his. and oh by the way, i completely agree with AZS, bates has done absolutely nothing since his great penalty shot, he is stealing money from the islanders by not doing anything, and i hope ted nolan does keep walter around, hes had nice numbers in ther AHL providence bruins last year and nolan puts hilbert solely for killing penalties and 4th line duty.....thats all hes good for and that is perfectly fine but he couldn't put a puck in the net if his life depended on it.
Maybe I don't know everything what's going on around Shawn Bates but I always liked him.
He was in that 7-line with Peca and Parrish and I can't say anything negative about that line.
And if I recall correct he was +13 that season when he's got injured so there is definitely defensive qualitives,plus he obviously can score.So my suggestion when he's ready for action replace him for Hilbert.That guy is in a slump(no kidding).
"Nu tar vi de där djävlarna"!
That's swedish for"Let's get those Devils"!
sjua en gäng och for två gånger inne om sist tio spel
How's that? :D
DING DONG: AVERY AVON CALLING - LOL - bwahahahah
steady you are a genius. It is driving the rag fans crazy.
The Islanders can thank the schedule makers for their good start. The Isles haven't played a road game in a month. They have had on avaerage a 3 days rest between games, while playing tird teams. 4 out of their last 5 games (all at home) were against teams playing their third game in four nights. The other was against a team coming off a Western Road trip (the Pens). When the Isles played their third game in four nights this year (twice), they lost both times. Against the Leafs, they were mauled.
Any self respecting team would be 8-4 with the soft schedule the Isles have played. Plus, they haven't played Ottawa yet.
These are just the facts. There is no disputing this. The Isles have played a God easy schedule. It only gets tougher from here.
Now I have seen it all..................Islander fans taking shots at Devil fans for their attendance. Is it Law Enforcement Night at the Coliseum tonight? Oh, no that was last week. Think it is Firefighters Night, wait that was a few weeks back. Ah, it is Military Night. All in the military get in basically for free. Last week it was Al Arbour Night. They already had Kid's Day on Columbus Day where thousands were let in for free. And of course, the Rangers brought thousands of fans with them for two games this year.
Wang is gracious enough to give thousands upon thousands of tickets away for free. Good for him. If you can't sell em, give em.
Anon,
The Rags have played 10 of 16 at home, that's a gift from the NHL as well, don't you think? Since they are winless on the road, I think the NHL did them a favor front-loading their home games. They would be dead-last in the NHL if it were 10 road games instead.
The Isles do have it easier playing so many early games at home but you are an idiot if you are telling us having 3+ days between games early on is a gift.......it is the total opposite.
You want to play alot early on.......it builds chemistry and it's at the time where guys are less likely to get injured because they are still fresh. You ask any NHL player, they would take 3 games in 4 nights in October and November 100% of the time than those games in February and March.
1 game in 7 days, 7 games in 1 day - it still does not justify your pathetic overpriced team is dead last in scoring, and if it wasn't for Lundqvist standing on his head most nights, you'd probably have only 2 or 3 wins.
Worry about your own team, not ours. We're perfectly happy how things are going. Bring on the Ottawa's and Detroit's.....the only way to measure the team is to play and beat the best. 2 wins against the no-scoring Rags isn't good enough. LOL
LETS GO ISLANDERS - another win tonight adds more fuel to our fire that we are the BEST team in the metro area.
Hey anon.
Those numbers are skewed b/c two times they had a week off which if you knew anything about sports is a bad thing. They also started the season with 6 games in 8 nights. We have payed your rags twice. You are a good team correct? Hurricanes? Pitt? Philly? Buffalo at home opener?
stay on the ice and let the cold heal your wounds. You just lost!
****Hockey Talk****
Cincy ~ What a great game to see your first hockey game. I remember mine like it was yesterday! Enjoy the memory!
Bates ~ I think a healthy Bates is a good thing. I think he adds energy and speed when at full strrength, which we have not seen for a long time. If he cannot go full tilt like he use to, forget it!
Big game tonight before a killer road trip. Lets get two tonight and then play a minimum of .500 on the road which is what good teams do. Enjoy the game to all going.
The 2 games we gave up 8 goals - one was the night after beating your Rags. It's the Ranger hangover curse, the team needs to learn to play with the same emotion and energy the night before.
The 2nd proves my point in the last post. Carolina played the night before and got beat like 7-4 to Montreal. The Isles hadn't played in a week.......who do you think it's going to come in with more energy?
The best way to forget about a bad loss is to play the next night and take your anger out on your opponent.
Having multiple days off between games early on makes it harder to succeed. Timing is off, practicing only does so much. Gameplay is the best medicine to fixing problems.
If you are already whining about teams being tired, it's over for you. It doesn't get easier, it gets harder. The way you whine, a fork is already between the the A and N of RANGERS on those blueskirt jerseys.
LETS GO ISLANDERS!!!!!
Anony-dunce: What is wrong with honoring the people who put their lives on the line each and every day so you can be afforded the opportunity of sitting on your computer trying to put down an organization that is leaving you in the dust. Maybe you know your opportunity to do this is short lived. Heck the Devils got their new arena, the Isles are close to getting theirs approved and in a few years the Garden will be third fiddle.
Look out...Here come the Islanders!!!!
Keep it rolling tonight.
By the way for those who think the Islanders schedule was so easy thus far. Check out this stat:
The win also makes the Islanders 7-0 this season against teams that made the 2006-07 postseason.
Not too shabby!
There is nothing wrong with honoring the military, or the police, or the firefighters, or the childen or Al Arbour (for the 5th time). There is nothing at all wrong with that. BUT do not take shots at Devil attendance then. Islanders attendance has been helped by the fact that they are giving away thousands of tickets for free, half price etc. Good for Wang.
The Rangers an overpriced team? There is a thing called a salary cap. The Isles have a payroll of 44 million. If they didn't buyout Yashin it would be in the 49 million range. They are paying Yashin only 2 million against the cap this, when it would be 7 million without the buyout. In 2 years the Isles will paying Yashin close to 5 million against the cap (LOL) for playing is Russia.
Guys, the days of the Rangers having overpriced teams are over. Hate to break this to you.
Hey!!! The Isles are playing the Devils tonight. And its a miracle. The Isles are playing a team not playing their third game in 4 nights.
Give me a break. ANY team in the NHL would be 8-4 with the Isles cupcake schedule. The Isles have been playing dead tired teams (FACT). There is no disputing this.
If Bates is 100% then I would have no problem with him in the lineup at all ...but then Hillbert better sit ...the one thing the Isles have done over the past few years that I've never understood is that they fill a large part of their roster with 4th liners and macarade them as 1st, 2nd, 3rd liners ...now this year I happen to like out top line (Tank-Comrie-Guerin) and I like the 2nd line but the 3rd line could be so much more if Hillbert wasn't on there - and I apologize because I know I've beaten this thing to death, but it's just sooo frustrating ...I was looking at Islesinfo and saw that in like 97 games Hillbert has 27 points with the Isles (that may be off cause I don't recall the exact numbers) but it's pathetic anyway you look at it ...
The Isles have played the dreadted "3 games in 4 nights" twice this season. The results. 3-8, 1-3. Combined, they were outscored 11-3. Or in other words, they were non competitive!
This kid Mueller scored a hat trick for the Yotes the other night. Has 5 points in last 2 games. The Yotes took him right after the Isles selected Oksopo. Meanwhile, Oksopo has been a BUST for the Golden Gophers at the college level. 3 points in 9 games. The Gophers were ranked #1 in the country to start the season. Yet, they picked up their first conference win last night (Oksopo scoreless of course). What a bust he has been this season, LOL!
Anon. Are you sure you are not Avery and sniffed too much nail polish?? 6 games in 8 nights. Beat you twice. They just played a tired Pitt team that played the night before. Tonight they play a tired Toronto team that just played Buffalo. The Rangers have not won on the road. That is beyond poor for a team that is supposed to be cup worthy. More importantly who cares. You play the schedule you are dealt. We have and been successful. What you should be more worried about is the fact that your goalie is going to be dead tired by December, let alone April. STOP COMPARING YOURSELVES to us....You just spent a fortune on offense to win the cup. Compare yourself to Ottawa. We are the dark horse picked 30th, remember????
Again, stay on the ice. Seriously the cold ice will heal your wounds.
AZS: I 100% agree that Hilbert should sit if Bates is healthy. He can do the same job as him with the addition of scoring prowess.
above was me.
Anon,
Your whining did not make much sense. I assume you are crying because the Rags don't have the "schedule" the Isles do and you believe it would have helped.
Courteousy of the Toronto Star - look at the Rags record with multiple days off: I know you aren't very witty so I'll give it to you. It's 1-3-0.
Toronto NY Rangers
After a victory 1-5-0 3-4-0
After a loss 4-1-2 4-2-1
After a loss in overtime 2-1-0 0-1-0
1st day back at home 2-1-0 3-0-0
1st game on the road 1-2-1 0-3-0
On weekends 3-2-0 1-3-1
On weekdays 4-5-3 7-4-0
With 0 day off 1-1-0 0-2-0
With 1 day off 4-3-1 6-2-1
With 2 days off 2-2-1 1-1-0
With 3+ days off 0-1-0 0-2-0
read your above post about 3 games in 4 nights........
how do you say the 8-3 loss was this situation? the 8-3 loss was their first game in an entire week. SEE BELOW
the 3-1 loss to Philly was 2-1 until an EN goal with 6 sec left. no they didn't play very well but they were in the game until the end. the other 3rd game in 4 nights was the 2-1 loss to Washington in which we outshot them 31-12. i hardly say that either was non-competitive.
please go back to the Rags board and continue to make pointless, non-factual posts over there.
LETS GO ISLANDERS!!!!!!!
# Opp Date Result PP PK SF-SA Goalies GW/GT
12 NYR 11/6 W 3-2 1/3 1/3 27-30 Rick DiPietro Miroslav Satan
11 Pit 11/3 W 3-2 0/6 1/2 39-25 Rick DiPietro, Wade Dubielewicz Miroslav Satan
10 TB 11/1 W 4-0 0/4 0/3 32-28 Rick DiPietro Bill Guerin
9 Car 10/27 L 8-3 2/5 3/6 31-26 Rick DiPietro, Wade Dubielewicz -
8 NJ 10/20 W 4-3 2/6 0/4 36-28 Rick DiPietro Bill Guerin
7 @Wsh 10/18 W 5-2 3/5 0/6 21-29 Rick DiPietro Bryan Berard
6 @Phi 10/13 L 3-1 0/1 1/4 30-23 Rick DiPietro -
5 @Tor 10/11 L 8-1 1/8 2/8 31-42 Wade Dubielewicz -
4 NYR 10/10 W 2-1 1/7 0/6 30-37 Rick DiPietro Bryan Berard
3 Wsh 10/8 L 2-1 0/4 0/6 31-12 Rick DiPietro -
2 Buf 10/6 W 3-2 0/3 1/7 24-32 Rick DiPietro Mike Comrie
1 @Buf 10/5 W 6-4 3/3 0/4 34-26 Rick DiPietro Mike Comrie
How obsessed with the Isles is the anonymous poster? If I were a Ranger fan, I'd be happy with the fact that my team has bounced back from a slow start and has a lot of talent. There's all kinds of reasons to be optimistic about the remainder of what is a very long season if you're a Ranger fan. But that's not good enough for this guy, because the Islanders are doing better and have beaten the Rangers twice. This apparently is causing him to chew out his own guts, so he's sitting here on a Saturday morning, posting obsessively over and over as usual, and coming up with the most tortured Talmudic* rationalizations for why the Isles really aren't good. Why? Because all summer -- when no hockey was being played -- he worked himself into a state of gloating anticipation, convinced that the Rangers would sail to a cup while humbling an awful Isles team along the way (and silencing us). The simple and obvious fact that the Isles are good this year is causing his skull to implode. "No! It can't be! Noooooooooo!" (I am visualizing Hans (Alan Rickman) at the end of "Die Hard" as he loses his grip and realizes in a frozen moment he is about to plunge 90 stories and splatter on the asphalt below...) "Noooooooooooo!"
Lesson: The games aren't played on paper. Get over it.
*You may substitute Jesuitical for Talmudic if you prefer the Catholic metaphor to the Jewish one.
A win against the Devils is secondary tonight.....
I'm hoping the Isles do the right thing and honor Lt Patrick Murphy and his family in some way.
They are playing in Nassau VETERAN'S MEMORIAL Coliseum afterall.
Lt. Murphy is someone who deserves a banner or a plaque in a special place.
Remember, if you are at the game and see a vet (any guy in his late 70's or early 80's is a lock) or an active duty buy 'em a beer, give 'em a hug and say thanks.
It's really easy.
go away anonymous ranger troll! we beat you twice so far and there's nothing you can do to spin it in your favor. what are you going to say "the isles beat the rangers twice, but the rangers stink, so it doesn't count?" LOL
rangers only have 1 cup in 67 years!!!!
Okay, the Carolina game in which they were dusted was the second game in 3 in 4. And they lost.
I just do not understand why Isles fans are getting annoyed with me. The Isles have played an E A S Y schedule thus far. It's just a fact. They've been home for a month and most of the teams they have played lately have been playing 3 games in 4 nights.
I'd say 90% of the teams in the league would have the Isles record or better (most being better) had they played the Isles E A S Y schedule.
Ted Nolan said before the season it was crucial for the Isles to get off to a great start considering the favorable schedule. I mean, if the Isles went 7-5 with their schedule, they'd be considered flops. 8-4 is just okay in my opinion.
There is something I can say about the Rangers two losses to the Isles. The second game, the Rangers pretty much had their way aginst a rested Isles team, but made some unforced errors. Rangers should have won, despite playing their third game in four nights. The first game, the Rangers pretty much dominated but Dipietro had a strong game. I give him credit where credit is due. I wasn't concerned with either loss.
I was at the second game... except for a couple short stretches, the Isles dominated the ice throughout. If Lundqvist had not had a very strong game, the score would have been lopsided in our favor.
You weren't concerned with either loss... that's why you're spending your entire Saturday spewing nonsense all over our blog! LOLOLOLOLOL! Thank you, I will literally spend the rest of the day laughing every time I think of that...
I'm leaving to enjoy the day now, loser. Enjoy talking to your own echo!
good one kh, this is one ranger troll with a really bad inferiority complex!! mr troll, please don't blame the isles for your team's dismall history. alot of other teams have contributed to it as well. the isles have just contributed to it the most LOL, LOL, LOL
At least they listen to Boy George records and do not dress like him, as does your poster boy Avery!!!
BWAAAAAAHHAHAHAHAHHAAHA
Hahaha...now Anon is scouting our minor league system? Our friend really needs a hobby. Go buy some marbles or something, you really need to unplug from hockey for a little while. I doubt if anyone here could even name three players in the Rangers' system, let alone shoot off their stats at a moment's notice.