What a mouthful for a post title!

Why am I posting this over 24 hours after the game? I spent pretty much all day working on moving the site over to Wordpress today. I did a bunch of coding, then started moving all the content over to the database - which isn't an easy task because this site is text driven….. (HUH?). No worries, that's it for the tech talk.

Once again, the Isles let Boston get the early lead - but they managed to withstand any further pressure and power plays against. The Isles power play looked better, but they were still having a problem with puck movement and getting shots through. I started to lose track of how many shin pads they hit.

Simon missed an open net on the rebound, Hunter and Sillinger had a few chances in front of the net as well. Comrie looked better, but once again he made one too many moves. Campoli was hitting like a smaller version of Sutton - catching one of the B's with their head down for a HUGE hit.

Bergeron was back in the lineup and looked pretty good defensively tonight, although when he was on the PP he kept shooting the puck wide (looking for a deflection I suppose), so I wonder if they worked on that during practice. Berard and Bergeron on the same power play made me question that logic….

Mario (my friend’s father who sits two seats to the right of me) brought me a Canon Zoom Lens to try out. I took a bunch of pics last night - but being side tracked today did not post them. However, I did get the game winner by Park - so that will be up right after work tomorrow.

Lastly, DiPietro looked great last night - although there was some concern for him when he got nailed behind the net. Seemed a bit wobbly.

Tomorrow's Game: Dallas

Dallas is coming off a win over the Rangers which makes 5 straight. Hopefully we can knock a streaking Western Conference team off their game and get an important 2 points.

No, not that fiery under lord to the far south, but none other than Miroslav Satan. Being a life long Long Islander, I have never run into a current player when out and about on the town - guess I can’t say that anymore.

As luck would have it, one of my lights burnt out in the new apartment and I needed a Home Depot run to pick up the halogen bulb. As I am sitting in the bulb aisle picking through what seemed like thousands of the wrong bulbs - I hear this very familiar voice behind me speaking in another language. I turn around and kind of let out a “Woah, hey Miro! I thought I heard a familiar voice!” He laughed and asked if I spoke Slovak, assuming I picked up on their discussion….and laughed. I said, “Nah, I am one of bloggers for the Islanders - just recognized your voice”. I congratulated him on the great game from the night before and told him to enjoy his night.

I am not one to bother celebrities when they are out, especially with their family as he was - but I couldn’t help myself from saying a little something. Who knew that my little Home Depot trip would turn into something notable?

Maybe he’ll recognize me tomorrow night? One could always hope.

Andy nets his first!!!!!!!

Today is the day that I will be on the air with Alex and Steve at 3:30pm. We will be discussing several things, including tonights tilt against the Bruins, last weeks Ranger game, Wednesday against the Habs and yesterday’s Bruins game. As well as All-Star Voting and other general topics.

Update:

Show went great, I had a really great time - even though I feel I am a horrible interview. To listen to the show, check out the player below or head on over to www.hockeynightonlongisland.com:

I already downloaded the broadcast, and put it on my iPhone. Thanks again for having me guys, call on me anytime in the future.

Thinking back to Al Arbour night at the beginning of the month, Chris Botta posted a neat post in his blog about how then Islanders coach Rick Bowness had given him a pin from Al Arbour night in 1997. Chris titled his post “The Pin” and I thought it was a really great story.

I never really gave any thought to missing the first Al Arbour night myself, as I was younger and unable to attend as many games as I can now (mostly due to my season tickets). My uncle and I discussed the commemorative pin given out that night and how he had one somewhere - but didn’t know where. Well, before the game against the Habs on Wednesday - he said he had something for me when I picked him up before the game and handed me “The Pin”. As a die hard Islander fan, I have some really interesting memorabilia that I gathered through friends, family and of course eBay auctions. One such piece is an issue of The Hockey News from the early 80’s with Potvin, Bossy and Nystrom on the cover holding the Cup (It’s autographed by two of three). That issue was up until Wednesday my favorite Islander “artifact”, it is now the Al Arbour pin.

I know my Uncle reads my blog everyday, so I wanted to take a second to give him a very big THANK YOU. While you may view it as a small gesture, it really means a lot to me. The past year (plus) having season tickets has been a blast and I am happy you decided to go in half with me this season. Hopefully the Isles win the back half of this home and home tonight!

Well, chalk another one up in the "Mike misses part of game" column. I had to go to work today, when 90% of the country is off today - I only missed half the game though.

I caught just about 14 minutes of the second period, so the only thing I missed was boring hockey. Lucky for me, I got to witness the Isles begin to self destruct by taking some penalties the result of being stuck in the defensive zone.

They are not clearing the puck well, giving up turn overs on bad passes and those horrid clearing attempts. When they get into the offensive zone, they are clearly not putting enough pressure on Thomas.

What's up with all these behind the back and drop passes lately? Sillinger attempted to drop the puck to Hunter, who was about 3 steps in front of him when he tried a behind the back. Comrie is again trying way too hard to be pretty with the puck.

Hopefully the boys can snap out of this funk and get on the board starting the 3rd on the power play - they need it.

20 seconds in and we have a 5 on 3 for almost 2 minutes!

Blown 5 on 3 due to horrible passing, absolutely horrible.

1:53 pm: Poor Hilbert, hits the post then gets knocked down going for a rebound.

1:57 pm: Sutton lays out Kessel open ice! What a hit.

2:01 pm: Passes behind players, bad break outs lead to several icings. It seems that the other teams have done their homework on the Isles - limited space through the neutral zone and causing the Isles breakout to suffer.

2:12 pm: Metropolit scores for the Bruins, looks like it was deflected of Gervais.

2:14 pm: Another offsides call against the Isles - between icing and offsides, how can they keep the pressure on?

2:17 pm: Sillinger scores 2-1 5:39 of the 3rd. How funny is this - I was just about to tell Tom through my blog - SHUTOUT to jinx Thomas! Let's go boys!

2:24 pm: Berard pulled down - POWERPLAY! Look for Ricky to be pulled soon.

2:25 pm: DiPi pulled, can't hold the offensive zone.

2:26 pm: Timeout Islanders - hopefully they will address the horrible passing. Berard also has no control accepting a pass tonight - seems to bounce right off his stick.

2:32 pm: And that does it. Isles blow some power play chances - having NO SHOTS on a 5 on 3 and they lose by one goal.

Something needs to be done about the power play, there is absolutely no crisp passes - in the words of my High School hockey coach "No more SISSY MARY passes!". At least having a home and home gives the Isles a chance to come out even more determined to win tomorrow night.

That's about it for me today, I have to go move the rest of my stuff from the old apartment to the new apartment. Have a great day guys.

UPDATE Brendan Witt was hit with a high stick in the later part of the 3rd period and did not return. Hopefully it's nothing too serious - but look for him to come out fired out tommorow night.