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IslesInfo Comments: The Islanders played a valiant game last night against the Senators. At times they dominated and had the Senators right where they wanted them. But after some continuous bad bounces and some crucial missed chances that they have only themselves to blame, the Islanders found themselves on the short end of what would be the second longest game ever at the Nassau Coliseum. In the first 8 minutes of the game both teams traded power play opportunities. Janne Niinimaa took a highsticking penalty at 1:17 of the first period. At 8:14 the Islanders would strike first which is normally the best thing that could happen in a playoff game. With the Islanders going strong to the net, Alexei Yashin fed Oleg Kvasha down low in the left corner. Kvasha turned to the net and fired a shot in on Patrick Lalime who was hugging the near post. As the puck was stopped Kvasha continued to pound at it which seemingly made it look as though the puck had bounced into the net behind Lalime's pad. But with so many players around the net not many realized that the puck had bounced back behind the net off of Eric Godard, who was back after his one game suspension. No one on the ice knew where the puck was and that was when Yashin picked it up behind the net, carried it in front and backhanded it into the wide open net. There was some confusion as to whether it was a good goal because one of the officials blew his whistle as the puck was going in. It seems likely that it was Kerry Fraser as he was by the boards in front of Lalime and may have lost site of the puck. Yet as he skated towards the net he signaled that the puck was in the net. After going to further video replay it was confirmed that a goal had been scored and the Isles took a 1-0 lead. At first Kvasha was credited with the goal, but it was later given to Yashin, his second of the playoffs. Godard was credited with an assist, his first NHL point. Directly following the goal, Radek Bonk took an elbowing penalty for Ottawa and Magnus Arvedson took another 6 minutes later. But the Islanders were unable to capitalize. At 16:55 the Islanders were the recipients of some bad calls made by the officials. Yashin was assessed a highsticking call, but the questionable call was given to Steve Webb for boarding. Webb was just finishing a check, his feet did not leave the ice and the Senator player bent over getting his head crushed by Webb's hip. Yet the calls put the Isles down 5 on 3 to the Senators. The Isles were able to kill 1:38 of the two man disadvantage until Ottawa's Mike Fisher took an interference penalty at 18:33. On the ensuing faceoff, with the Senators still on a 4 on 3 advantage, Todd White 9 seconds later got wide open after receiving a pass in the left circle and carefully blasted a shot over the catcher of Islanders goaltender Garth Snow. That tied the game up 1-1 at 18:42 and was White's first goal of the playoffs. Zdeno Chara recorded the lone assist. Once again though the play was made possible thanks to an official being in the way of another Jonsson clearing play. You may remember the same thing happened in Game 2 up in Ottawa. With Yashin now out of the box, the teams skated 4 on 4 for the next 13 seconds. Just after Webb was released from the box putting the Isles up on the power play, Yashin made a beautiful pin point pass up to Randy Robitaille who was flying into the Senators zone. As he entered on a 2 on 1 a Senator defenseman slid down to stop the pass. That was when Robitaille threaded a perfect shot on the short side between Lalime's pad and the post to bury his first goal of the playoffs to give the Isles their one goal lead back at 2-1. Kenny Jonsson was also credited with an assist at 19:06. The period ended with the Islanders having out shot the Senators 9-6. - In the second period there were a total of 6 penalties called, 5 against the Ottawa Senators. With a chance to take a 3-1 lead, the way this game and series was going a two goal lead would have almost been a lock to win it. First there was the tripping call to Chris Neil followed by another penalty to Arvedson. The Islanders couldn't find the net. After the Isles killed another penalty to Niinimaa, this time for holding the stick(another bad call - he never touched the guys stick) the Islanders would get handed three more power plays. One opportunity lasted over 3 minutes with some sparse time on a 5 on 3. The Islanders were unable to capitalize on some Senator mistakes. Chara passed the puck right up the middle once where Yashin stepped in for a point blank blast. One in which he missed the net. Mark Parrish had his lone chance of the game when he just couldn't finish when in front he tried to pull the puck out and backhand it into the net. But the biggest turning moment came on the 9th power play when Robitaille, who was one of the best players on the ice, hit TWO posts in succession seconds after each other. The first shot he grabbed a rebound to the right of Lalime who was down. Robitaille backhanded the puck flush off the right post. Soon after he received a pass over from Yashin and his low ice shot hit the bottom of the right post again. Bryan Smolinski, Shaun Van Allen and Curtis Leschyshyn. Only 42 seconds after the Isles 9th power play opportunity ended, the Senators were the recipient of yet ANOTHER lineman aided goal. This time the Senators tried to dump the puck in but it was too far ahead of the nearest skater along the right boards. But the lineman Brian Murphy got his skate in the way and allowed Smolinski to pick it up. As he relayed in up towards the net defenseman Chris Phillips kept going and chipped the rebound up over Snow for his first of the playoffs at 19:16 to tie the game up 2-2. The Isles gave a bit of a protest but there was nothing to be done. Coach Peter Laviolette was clearly upset on the Islanders bench. As he should have been. The Isles out shot the Senators this time 12-6 and led overall in the game 21-12. - The Isles continued to dominate throughout the first half of the third period, despite a third penalty by Niinimaa for holding the stick yet again. It wasn't until the midway point that the Senators started to edge the momentum to their favor. At 11:47 Niinimaa got hit with his FOURTH penalty of the game this time for interference. The Islanders killed off the final penalty to Niinimaa and during the course of the period could not get many opportunities to get the winning goal. The period ended and the Islanders were headed to their first OT game since Game 7 of the 1993 Patrick Division Semifinal in Pittsburgh. The Senators out shot the Isles in the third only 6-5 and the Isles led overall 26-18. The Isles all-time playoff OT record was 29-9 entering the extra session, the best win percentage in NHL history. - In OT, the Islanders would get another lucky break and final chance to end the game on the power play when they were given their 10th opportunity following a boarding call to Senator's rookie defenseman Anton Volchenkov. But the chance was eventually squandered as the Isles could not seem to shoot the puck in on Lalime or get anyone in front of the net. Ottawa was all over the Islanders in the OT. It was like night and day as compared to most of regulation. The Senators were generating most of the offense and skating freely into the Islanders zone. Smolinski had a number of chances to score on Snow. One time he clearly missed the net on a wide open shot and another time Snow made a beautiful stop. Snow was pretty much the star of the OT session as he made some unbelievable stunning stops including one late on a point blank rebound shot in front with his glove hand. Ottawa bounced back in the shots department in the period 12-5 and by the end of the first OT session the Islanders lead was only by a slim 31-30. This would be only the third double OT game in Nassau Coliseum history. - Both teams traded a shot on goal in the second OT before the deciding goal would come at 2:25 of the period. Karel Rachunek relayed the puck up to Arvedson who pulled up at the high right circle in the Islanders zone. After losing the puck in the neutral zone, Kvasha backchecked into the Islanders end along with the play but seemingly lost his man. Instead of staying up and guarding Arvedson, Kvasha went to the net leaving the defenseman to take the man with the puck. Arvedson then sent the puck in on Snow and as he went down to make the save, White got his blade on the puck and changed it's direction. It redirected through Snow's legs and slid into the net behind him for the game winning goal. White threw his hands up and celebrated after scoring his second goal of the game. With the win Ottawa takes two in a row from the Islanders and takes a 2-1 series lead in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinal best of seven series. It was the second longest game in Nassau Coliseum history and the first of 3 all-time double OT games at the Coliseum that the Isles lost.
More stats: The Islanders series record when the first two games are split is 7-4 all-time....The Isles first goal of the game by Alexei Yashin ended a shutout string of close to 100 minutes....The Isles 3 game home playoff winning streak comes to an end with the loss. They swept all three games at the Coliseum in 2002 against the Leafs....The Senators are now 1-11 all-time in the playoffs in games when they enter the second period trailing....The Islanders are now 29-10 all-time in OT playoff history....The Islanders are now 5-4 all-time in double OT games. Next Up: Game 4 is scheduled for Wednesday night at the Nassau Coliseum. Game 5 is scheduled for the next night, Thursday at the Corel Centre in Ottawa. The Islanders will be looking to bounce back and tie the series 2-2. They still go up against the Senators hex at the Coliseum where Ottawa, including the playoffs now have not lost in the last 16 games at 12-0-4-0. They have not lost at the Coliseum since 1996. With Game 5 scheduled for the next night because of some odd scheduling, possibly because of events taking place in Ottawa, the Islanders know how important this game is. Forget all the times during the regular season it was said that a game was the biggest game of the year. THIS IS the most important game of the year. It's a MUST win. The Islanders cannot afford to go back into Ottawa the next night down 3-1. Fight Card: There were no fights. Of course the play was chippy at times, but nothing you wouldn't expect by a Game 3. Plus, Eric Godard and Eric Cairns combined for a little over 3 minutes of ice time the entire night. Commentary: Well, obviously I like many Isles fans am very disappointed. 1 for 10?!?!?! 1 for friggin 10?!?! You got to be kidding me! All we needed was one goal. The way this series has been going, that would have been game over. This power play really needs to improve. I don't know if it's the players, or the coaches like power play specialist Kelly Miller. I don't know. But the defense has got to STOP being so hesitant on the power play to shoot the puck. Someone has to get in front of the net. Just take shots on Lalime. We proved in Game 1 he may not be able to handle it. When we got it into the double OT, considering our history, I thought no way we were losing this game. But the way things were going with how Ottawa was dominating the play ever since the first OT started, it almost seemed a matter of time before Ottawa would get one. The Senators plan coming in was to roll 4 lines and 6 d-men and figured that would eventually tire and wear the Islanders out, who per Laviolette's decision were rolling basically 4 d-men the entire game. The Islanders dressed Eric Godard, Mattias Timander and Eric Cairns, three players who hardly played in the game therefore taxing the Isles attrition as time went by. My argument with this is if the Islanders are not going to play 6 d-men like the game was meant to be played and already tax their defense by dropping to 4 during the game, then why even have these guys that they are not confident in. That may be something to figure over the summer where the defense will be tweaked again. If you are not confident in Cairns because he is too slow but the only reason you are keeping him is because he can pound someone late in the game, then get someone in there you can be confident in. Same for Timander. Martienk is a little better and I was wishing by the first OT that they had played him instead. But he took some bad penalties up in Ottawa during Game 2 and Laviolette decided to dress Timander instead. The Islanders did not let their toughness come through as Godard, despite notching his first NHL point, and Cairns hardly played. Steve Webb saw over 10 minutes, which is great when he delivers those big hits. But he's not going to score. On another note, where is out captain Michael Peca?? Is he hurt? He has been missing for the last two months. The same can be said for many others. But Peca makes the team go. He NEEDS to lead this team. On a good note, the Islanders fell down 2-1 to the Leafs last year and tied the series in Game 4. So lets have hope and confidence that we will come away with a win. It's a MUST win. Down 3-1 is unacceptable. To keep this series going the Isles have to win. We lost the home ice we gained by winning one in Ottawa, but hey this Ottawa team is no slouch. But I think we can take solace in the fact that we dominated them through regulation last night and the Senators even admitted it after the game.
Report Card: Alexei Yashin: Where would the Islanders be right now without Yashin? He is averaging a point per game in the series after coming away with 2 last night, a goal and an assist. Yashin scored his 2nd of the series in the first period off a weird play where nobody knew where the puck was until he carried it from behind the net and into the open side. There was a question as to whether the whistle blew on the play, but after video replay it was ruled to be a goal. Yashin then made a great pass ahead to Randy Robitaille directly following a game tying goal by the Senators, and Robitaille scored a great goal to put the Isles up 2-1. Alexei led both teams with 8 shots on goal. He also played very well as he has all series defensively. Randy Robitaille: Scored his first goal of the playoffs in the final minute of the first period to put the Isles up 2-1 on the power play. The goal came directly after the Senators scored on a 4 on 3 to tie the game. Robitaille received a great go ahead pass from Yashin and flew in on a 2 on 1. As the Senators lone d-man back slid down Robitaille threaded a hard shot short side between the left post and Patrick Lalime's pad. Robitaille had 3 shots on goal and was one of the best players on the ice. Unfortunately, the two shots he missed on changed the face of the game. On the Isles 9th power play in the second period, Robitaille backhanded the puck flush off the right post with Lalime down and then seconds later he slid the puck along the ice off the bottom of the same right post. Shawn Bates: Had 2 shots on goal. I guess you can say he hasn't been as invisible as Parrish and Peca because Bates actually has a goal in this series. But that entire former Lucky 7's line has all but lost whatever chemistry they ever had and all three players are struggling majorly. Mark Parrish: I said the Isles need him to turn his game around at home if the Isles are going to win this series. While it's not all on his shoulders, Parrish has just been absolutely horrible for two months. And he has played with Peca for most of the last two seasons. Now they are both struggling badly at the wrong time of the year. Parrish has 2 goals in the last 31 games. Last night he had only 1 shot on goal. He also missed a chance to score on the power play when while in front of the net he tried to pull it out of Lalime's skates and tuck it in backhand. Instead he was heavily checked down to the ice. Parrish was notably frustrated after the play when he banged his stick against the bench boards. Dave Scatchard: Was a -1 and is a -3 over the last 2 losses. Laviolette reunited the line of Scatchard with Wiemer and Blake for the game. For the first 3 periods it looked like a great move as the line dominated every time they took the ice. They cycled the puck very well, but never finished. Jason Wiemer: Was a -1 with 2 shots on goal. Wiemer laid a huge hit in the third period when he knocked a Senator defenseman on his butt in the offensive zone. But Wiemer has not been physical enough. Of course he has to be careful and not take any penalties. But the Isles could also use some offense from Wiemer. But he has never scored more than 12 goals in a season and only had 9 in the regular season for the Isles. But he compliments his line well. Wiemer got off without getting suspended after he took a love tap head butt against Chris Neil. Jason Blake: Only has 1 shot on goal in each of the last 2 games after notching 8 in Game 1. How does that happen? Blake has scored only 1 goal in his last 14 games. The Islanders cannot afford to have Blake disappear now. He has to continue to use his speed and score. Steve Webb: Played over 7 minutes playing on predominantly the first line with Yashin. He was a -1 with no shots on goal. Do the Islanders try to give Webb more ice time to increase the physical play? Doubtful. They need to use him at the right time. He's not going to score so you can't over use him. Arron Asham: Was a -1 with 2 shots on goal. Asham has not really been much of a factor. He's been less noticeable than Kvasha on that line. Asham has not really thrown his body around yet much either. I'm worried he may be having the playoff blues in his first year with a regular role. Hopefully for the Isles sake that will change. When he scored it usually pumps up the team and they win. Oleg Kvasha: Assisted on Yashin's goal that put the Isles up 1-0. Kvasha made a good play after receiving a pass down low in the left corner by turning and firing the puck in on net. Something more Islanders should do. But Kvasha doesn't do it enough himself. A couple times he had a chance to make his patented move to carry the puck to the net using his speed on the ouside and cutting in against the lone d-man. But each time the d-man managed to keep Kvasha's big body on the perimeter. Lastly, on the game winning goal in the double OT, Kvasha lost his check on Arvedson and instead went to the net, which led to a clean shot where White could redirect it. Michael Peca: There's not much you can say about the Isles captain about his play in Game 3. It was nonexistent. In fact, Peca reportedly only played 4 minutes total in the first OT session. The Islanders have struggled big time in the faceoff department which has contributed to these last two losses. The Isles dominated in the faceoffs in Game 1. Peca has now gone 23 games without a goal. His last good game I can recall was when he notched 2 goals in San Jose for a 3-0 win in February. There are some rumors he may have a wrist injury. So I've heard. Not sure about that though. But will we hear either after this series or the playoffs that Michael Peca has an injury? Something about him just doesn't seem right of late. He looks sickly. He has some deep bruises around his eyes that I'm not sure if he got during practice or what. And he has made some very bad mental mistakes on the ice. He doesn't seem alert as he twice during the series has just about iced the puck while one stride away from the center ice red line. Justin Papineau: Was a healthy scratch for the 3rd straight game. I'm still hearing "Why hasn't Papineau played in this series? What is wrong with Laviolette for not playing him?" Folks, Papineau is a player of the future for the Islanders. Lets face it, he only had one big game against the Blackhawks, a weak team. Yeah, he hit the post twice against the Leafs, but you got to go with results. Do you want to take the chance by inserting him into the lineup now? Who knows. Maybe he does get put in and makes a difference. Maybe he doesn't. You never know. But personally I would only put him in if the Isles were down 3-1 in the series and they were returning home for Game 5. Which isn't happening because that means they would have had home ice from the start. It's just too much of a chance for me right now. On the flip side, with the Islanders dressing Godard, Cairns and Timander and none of them hardly playing, you might as well start Papineau now instead of shortening the bench. Mattias Weinhandl: Unfortunately broke his toe in the game Saturday against Atlanta in the Isles 3-2 loss. He played Sunday in the 2-1 win in Carolina. But now he is out indefinitely. Weinhandl scored 6 goals this season in his rookie year. 3 of the goals came against Ottawa and Patrick Lalime. Now doesn't it seem even more unfortunate the Islanders don't have him nor the depth he could have brought at the forward position. At least he could have helped make a formidable fourth line. Eric Godard: Played just over a minute. He even recorded his first NHL point when he assisted on Yashin's first period goal that put the Isles up 1-0. Godard managed to help Kvasha dislodge the puck away from the net and to Yashin behind the net. Godard was a +1. Justin Mapletoft: Was
a healthy scratch with Godard being re-inserted. Defense: Roman Hamrlik: Played over 39 minutes and had 3 shots on goal. He was a -1 on the night. The Isles need him to shoot the puck more, especially on the power play. Hamrlik is probably more of a power play quarterback than the other big 3. He needs to show it. Adrian Aucoin: Played almost 46 minutes and recorded 6 shots on goal which was second most on the Islanders. 3 came in the second period and 3 in the third. That is a lot of ice time, led all skaters. But Aucoin if anybody can handle it. Janne Niinimaa: Played over 31 minutes, had 1 shot on goal and was a -2, team worst. Niinimaa took an abysmal 4 penalties in this game. If you take those chances away Ottawa would have had only 2 power plays all night. Twice Niinimaa was called for holding the stick. The first one in the second period was actually a weak call by the officials as replay showed Niinimaa never even touched the players stick. Eric Cairns: Played over 2 minutes. Cairns at times has become the odd man out during big games as Laviolette loses confidence in his speed. At one point the Isles sent Cairns out in the third and the Senators, noticing the move, threw Martin Havlat out there to fly right by him. Cairns did not play the rest of the game. Kenny Jonsson: Played over 39 minutes and was probably the Isles best d-man defensively last night. He made some beautiful skate and stick plays to steal the puck in the Islanders zone. Radek Martinek: Was a healthy scratch after playing the first two games in Ottawa. Martinek took a couple of bad penalties in the second period of Game 2 and Laviolette decided to sit him in favor of Mattias Timander. Mattias Timander:
Played only a little over 4 minutes total. Though besides Godard he was
the only other plus Islander at +1. Timander became so shaky, particularly
during 1 shift in the first OT that he didn't see the ice again. He tried
to clear the zone on a backhand deep in the Isles end and set up the
Senators by giving them the puck inside the blue line. The Isles managed
to get a play stoppage, but Isles color commentator for Fox Sports, Joe
Micheletti remarked that he saw Isles assistant coach Jacques Laperierre
look in Laviolette's direction with a face as if "should I call him
off the ice." The Isles left him out there for the next faceoff but
he was quickly changed first chance they got. Micheletti remarked how bad
he felt for Timander, who had absolutely no legs after sitting on the
bench idle for most the game. In the first OT, after seeing the Isles go
with 4 d-men, I was wishing they would have dressed Martinek. Hopefully he
will be back in there for Game 4. Goal: Garth Snow: He did everything he could last night. Snow had a great game. There was some worries after being pulled late in Game 2 in Ottawa. But that is forgotten about. There was nothing he really could have done on the first blast by White. The second goal by Phillips you kinda wish he could have stopped. Garth was most valiant in the first OT session. He made some brilliant saves and when the Isles began looking tired Snow kept them in it with some unbelievable stops. On the final goal, what can you say. It was a redirection and he got beat. Now the team just has to forget it and focus on Game 4. A game they need to win. On the night, Snow made 29 saves.
Coaches I just don't like riding 4 d-men. We did that last season and now we are doing it again. I just hope these guys aren't going to be tired out. We have two games in two nights now, with travel. They are the back end of 3 games in 4 nights and hopefully all the extra ice time the defense got with the OT will not have the effect. They had a day to rest. Would be much different if Game 4 goes to extended OT. Hopefully it won't come to that because the Isles need to win it soundly in regulation. But as mentioned, we can't dress three players and hardly play them all night. Whether it's because of no confidence in those players or what, get some guys on the bench who can play, dress some players who can play more than one or two shifts a game. Special Teams The power play killed it for the Isles. That's what it came down to. They went 1 for 10. When you get 10 power play opportunities in a playoff game you have to score. But the Isles defense is too hesitant to shoot the puck and the forwards just keep sending it back up to them. In the series the Isles are 2 for 21. The lone power play goal was scored by Randy Robitaille off the rush to make it 2-1 in the first period. Ottawa just seconds before had scored on a 4 on 3 to tie the game up. Todd White blasted a shot by Snow for his first. The Senators went 1 for 6 in the game and are 2 for 20 in the series.
Lineups: ISLANDERS DEFENSEMEN GOALTENDERS OTTAWA SENATORS DEFENSEMEN GOALTENDERS
Power-play Conversions:
OTT - 1 of 6, NYI - 1 of 10.
IslesInfo Pregame Preview Preview Game 3: Home Ice Advantage Apr 14: The Isles won all three of their games at the NVMC in the 2002 playoffs against the Leafs. This year they hope for the same success as they return home for Game's 3 & 4 against the Senators. Isles fans are sure to provide true home ice advantage. Isles vs. Senators Game 3 Preview: The New York Islanders went unbeaten at home during last season's playoffs. Unfortunately, they couldn't win one on the road. Coming home with a surprising split of the first two games in Ottawa, the Islanders hope to use home ice to their advantage as they host Game 3 of their best-of-seven first-round series with the top-seeded Senators. With a tight defense, Garth Snow backed the eighth-seeded Islanders to a 3-0 victory over Ottawa in Game 1 on Wednesday. However, the Senators bounced right back Saturday, cruising to a 3-0 win of their own behind two goals from Marian Hossa and Patrick Lalime's solid goaltending. "In Game 1, we were a different team and (Saturday) we proved we were back and we played simple hockey,'' said Hossa, who established a franchise record with 45 goals during the regular season. The Islanders - 3-0 at the Nassau Coliseum against Toronto in the first round last year in a series New York lost in seven games - are anxious to get back to Long Island and jump back on top of Ottawa. "We got outplayed (in Game 2),'' Islanders coach Peter Laviolette admitted. "We'll move on and look forward to going home to our fans. It's been a good place for us in the playoffs. We know we got a good dose of Ottawa (Saturday). It was a good kick in the teeth for us.'' Islander forward Eric Goddard is expected to be back after serving a one-game suspension for a high stick to Chris Neil's head in Game 1. However, New York center Jason Wiemer was assessed a match penalty in Game 2 for head-butting Neil - a play that is being reviewed by the NHL. PLAYOFF TEAM LEADERS: Senators - Hossa, 2 goals and 2 points; five tied with 1 assist; Neil, 9 PIM. Islanders - three with 1 goal; Roman Hamrlik, 2 assists and 2 points; Arron Asham and Wiemer, 14 PIM. No Suspensions: GM Mike Milbury said he had been informed by Dave Newell, the supervisor of officials who was at the game, that the Isles shouldn't expect any further discipline to be leveled against Wiemer, who was given a mandatory major penalty and game-misconduct. "I don't think there's going to be anything if the supervisor didn't deem it a suspendable offense," Milbury said. Chris Neil has been at the center of several skirmishes, including what Milbury believes was a "suspendable" elbow to Alexei Yashin in Game1. A few Isles also were complaining that Neil should be banned for leaving the bench following a whistle to fight Eric Cairns late in Game2. Milbury usually can't help himself when given the opportunity to take verbal shots, and cracked about Neil: "Besides, we might be better off with him in the lineup." White Out: Remember, the fans are being urged to wear white to tonight's game. I have been hearing how some in the media thought the Ottawa fans were a bit disappointing as they were not that loud in supporting their team. I truly believe we the fans can play a big part in pumping the Islanders up tonight and help charge them to victory. When the fans get loud at the Coliseum, you can hardly hear yourself think let alone talk. It should be a great experience once again. Hopefully it will have a good outcome. Commentary:
I can't stand Arthur Staple. Here is a Ranger beat writer writing from
the Senators point of view against the Isles. Yesterday he had the gall to
say Wiemer would be suspended for both Game's 3 & 4. Is this guy a
Ranger fan or what?? Today he says that if the Senators score the first goal
tonight the crowd will go quiet. This guy is just a jealous Ranger fan who
wants to see the Senators win. It makes me sick. Newsday, take this guy off
the beat for the series. We don't want to read this crap in our Newspaper.
It's ok to write from the opposing team's point of view but to predict so
much anti-Islanders dribble is a joke....The Isles can look to the
Edmonton-Dallas series as motivation as well as the 8th seeded Oilers took a
2-1 lead over the Western Conference leading Stars with a 3-2 Game 3 win
Sunday night in Edmonton.
Let's Get Physical The Senators think they can win in our building. But that was during the regular season. Tonight they will learn first hand what a playoff crowd is all about. They should also be in for a rough and bruising game as the Isles are sure to come out with an edge. Notes: The Senators, who didn't lose consecutive games during the entire season, haven't had much trouble on Long Island in recent years. Ottawa enters Game 3 riding a prodigious 14-game road unbeaten streak in the series. The Senators went 1-0-1 at the Coliseum this season and are 10-0-4 on the road against the Islanders dating to a 5-4 loss on Jan. 6, 1996. "We have to go in there and take away their confidence,'' center Shaun Van Allen said. "It's a good rink for us to play in.'' Known primarily as a finesse team in recent years, the Senators have already established that they will be much more physical during this playoff run. "I think they hit everybody,'' Laviolette said after Game 2. "I did notice they were skating. The whole game of hockey right now in the National Hockey League is skating. The first game we skated, the second game they skated. The results are justified.'' While the Senators took criticism for being overly physical in the Game 1 loss, they proved Saturday that they could play tough hockey without sacrificing their offensive game. "We have to be more physical if we want to win,'' said Ottawa's Magnus Arvedson. "Hitting them maybe we get them tired and then they won't play as well, but we can't go out looking for hits. "It's important to be in the right position.''
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1998-2003 Tom Mascioli
