For the second time this season, the Islanders have reached first place in the Atlantic Division. Based on what they showed over the weekend in one of the most tough-minded performances imaginable in back-to-back games played within a 24-hour period on the road, the Isles have to be regarded as a legitimate threat to win the division.
Things didn’t get any easier for the Islanders when they learned this morning that forward Trent Hunter will be out two to four weeks with a sprained knee, the same injury that previously sidelined captain and leading scorer Alexei Yashin. Hunter hasn’t been putting up offensive numbers, but he has set a tone on defense with his hitting and ability to create turnovers. Richard Park will move up, and Jeremy Colliton has been called from Bridgeport to fill a spot on the fourth line. In addition, goaltender Rick DiPietro is being rested tonight against Ottawa and replaced on the roster with Wade Dublielewicz, but at least he is expected to return Thursday against Montreal.
Despite the injuries, the character of the team coach Ted Nolan has been building really showed through as the Islanders shook off two straight losses after losing Yashin and found a way to get enough goals to defeat the high-powered Penguins and Rangers.
Obviously, the play of Viktor Kozlov, who has stepped up with seven goals and two assists in the past four games, including that unbelievable four-goal effort at Madison Square Garden, has been a real eye-opener. But the win over the Rangers had a multitude of moments that deserve comment. Sorry for the length, but there’s a lot of ground to cover. Here are some observations from a reporter’s notebook:
MIROSLAV SATAN: He’s been working hard, and it’s finally starting to show. He got the Islanders’ power play out of its funk with the opening goal in Pittsburgh, but the move he made to score the first goal against the Rangers was the first time this season that he really looked like the same player who led the Isles with 35 goals last season. The Rangers’ Brendan Shanahan blamed a lack of communication on defense for allowing Satan to score “one on five,” but maybe those magic hands are back.
MIKE SILLINGER: Sillinger is another player who stepped up offensively when he ended a 13-game drought with two goals in Pittsburgh and added two assists against the Rangers. But his real value has been in the faceoff circle. He took 33 of 69 faceoffs against the Penguins and 20 of 62 against the Rangers, winning 37 of 53 to give the Isles a clear advantage in possession in both games. Sillinger currently is third in the NHL in faceoffs won.
HARD-NOSED DEFENSE: Speed on defense might be more important than ever in the NHL, but toughness and smarts still wins games. If the Islanders make it to the playoffs, the experience of Brendan Witt, Sean Hill and Alexei Zhitnik only will become more valuable. Witt had one shift against the Rangers in which he took a shot from Jaromir Jagr off the leg, plastered Martin Straka against the glass behind the net and then blocked a shot from Michal Rozsival with his chest. Zhitnik cleared a loose puck behind DiPietro in Pittsburgh at a key moment, and he showed he still can bang in a good give-and-take with the Rangers’ Ryan Hollweg. Hill was credited with blocking an incredible 12 shots against the Rangers, and the Islanders totaled 31 blocked shots. Defensemen Tom Poti, Radek Martinek and Bruno Gervais also showed their cool under pressure with the way they moved the puck as the Islanders’ defensemen totaled just two giveaways in the two games, including none in Pittsburgh.
LEADERSHIP: When Shanahan got his hat trick to cut the Islanders’ lead to 5-4 early in the third period, Chris Simon left the bench to talk to DiPietro. After the game, Nolan said Simon did that on his own and that Richard Park said a few words to the goaltender in the locker room after the Rangers scored three goals in the second period. The second and third came 1:06 apart, and although the third happened because Shanahan knocked down a clearing pass by Witt, it appeared DiPietro just missed the glove save.
But after the game, Park said, “Those goals weren’t Ricky’s fault. We had mental lapses. He made plenty of saves to keep us in the lead.” No doubt, DiPietro did that, but still, it’s good to see DiPietro’s teammates understand how emotional he is and know when to offer timely words of encouragement.
Certainly, DiPietro notices the difference in the locker room this season. Asked about the atmosphere, DiPietro said, “It’s a good feeling. I don’t think we’ve had this feeling for quite some time here. We’ve got some veteran guys that refuse to let guys get comfortable. After that first period, we came in up 4-0, and it wasn’t, ‘Good job.’ It was, ‘We haven’t proven anything yet. There’s still two periods, a lot of hockey, especially against a good team like the Rangers. You haven’t achieved anything until that buzzer sounds and you get the two points.’”
DIPIETRO’S PLAY: DiPietro still makes the occasional mistake when he tries to do too much with the puck. Nolan shook his head over a play his goaltender attempted moments after the Rangers cut the deficit to 5-4. DiPietro caught a shot, threw the puck up in the air and attempted to hit it out of the zone with his stick as if he were hitting fungos to the outfield. But he fouled it off and left it in his own end.
“When it was 5-4 and he was trying to bat the puck out of the air and make it look dramatic, he missed it,” Nolan said. “Fortunately for us, it didn’t come back to haunt us. But he’s a character guy. Ricky’s one of those guys who’s very competitive, very entertaining and a very good goalie.”
How good? Well, since the home loss to Atlanta a month ago, when he committed five turnovers and heard the crowd call for backup Mike Dunham, DiPietro has gone 7-2-1 and committed only five turnovers in that 10-game span, two of which came, ironically, in the shutout he pitched in Dallas. Yes, he can take you for a rollercoaster ride, but the highs are as thrilling as the lows are scary.
He caught a couple breaks against Pittsburgh and the Rangers with a no-goal call in each game, but every goaltender needs a bit of good luck now and then. The bottom line is that DiPietro faced 80 shots in a 24-hour period, including seven from Sidney Crosby in Pittsburgh and nine from Shanahan, five from Jagr and four from Straka at the Garden. Unlike Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist, who basically benched himself after the first period, DiPietro didn’t duck out under heavy fire. He came up big with 73 saves, a .913 percentage, and won two huge divisional road games when the Islanders needed it the most.
That’s the kind of goaltending that, together with all the other good things the Islanders have been doing, can get a team to the playoffs with a real chance to do some damage. The Islanders will be only one-third of the way through the season after tonight’s game against Ottawa and they have a couple of major players missing, but you really have to like the direction they’re headed.
Comments (20)
One really can't complain about the way the Isles have played this year given what they have. They are definitely well-coached and work hard. The season is a long one--and I just hope the older legs don't lose another step as the year goes on. I believe age and lack of comparative speed is one of the biggets reasons why the Isles draw so few penalties. They simply don't blow by too many opponents. As a season ticket holder--one can readily observe this by watching so many opponents this year. Time will tell.
Having said all this, perhaps one of the biggest disappointments I experienced this season was last night--and not necessarily the Isles play, but the crowd. The announced attendance was 8,000 plus, but I don't think there were more than 7,000 in the building.
After a rousing weekend and with a win over the Rangers and taking first place--I was hopeful an energetic 12,000 might show up. But alas, the Isles came out to an empty crowd and a flat atmosphere. While these are professionals, rather than getting charged-up, I'd imagine there was something of a let down. Even when the Isles showed some life--the empty crowd gave little back to feed on.
I know this topic has been covered on the blog before, but nothing can hide the pure disappointment that this brings out.
Greg, keep up the good work.
Based on the crowd last night, the fact remains that if the Islanders packed up and moved away very few people would really miss them
Brandon, you couldn't be more wrong if you tried.
It is downright sad what has happened to the Islanders fan base and it is something that has been building for many many years. Last night on XM Radio they said this was only the 3rd time in 20 seasons the Islanders were in 1st place this late in a season. Well years of mediocrity will do that to a fan base. The arena itself gives the casual fan no reason to go to games, their is no restaurnats or bars to catch a drink before or after the game, the place sucks. Nobody will entertain clients there like they would at MSG since the suites are terrible and from what I hear it is not exactly hard to obtain one. I would like Mr. Logan to start looking into the new arena deal. Why is Nassau County still messing around, is ground going to be broken this summer? Is this just another typical toying with Islanders fans emotions? If the Islanders continue to remain at the top of the division this seasons the crowds will improve but the big picture will not change. The team is located in a terrible spot and despite Wang's attempts NC does not seem to want to move on the new arena. To average 11,000 fans in the country's biggest sports market is downright pathetic and this has reached its crisis point. After seeing the atmosphere at Pitts and MSG this past weekend the guys were so reved up. Then you come home to your fans and see this...it is so pathetic. Mr. Logan please start looking into the new arena, and lets hope the Islanders keep winning.
I would have thought the attendances would pick up but that has not happenned and if it has not happenned yet it never will. The reasons come down to simple economics.
1. Due to high cost of living on Long Island the younger worker, who were children in the 80's and the future season ticket holders have relocated elsewhere. The younger ones who have stayed can barely afford rent nevermind dropping $150(tickets, beer, dogs)on a hockey game and their salaries are not increasing. 2. Older workers now have families of 4, house, mortgage and property taxes are sky high and oh by the way thier salaries are not increasing either. There is no expendable income for Islander games. The Coliseum needs an "ABC extreme makeover sports arena edition episode" but that is not the main reason fans are not going. New Yorkers want to see teams win no matter the venue and they will go. No one complained about the arena in 02 playoffs when they sold out all 3 games and even the next two play off seasons. It is an economic issue that has turned into a demographic one too. I always liked the Green Bay Packers model of the city and taxpayers owning the team. I think that would fit well here for the Islanders. It has always been a close knit and community freindly organization. Maybe it should be looked into. So thats my take.
As far as Isles tix go, they seem to be ludicrously overpriced. I'm a NYI fan living in DC, where I can get into the back rows of Verizon Center for $5. I was home over Thanksgiving break and bought a "Family Fun Pack" that put me ten rows from the top of the Coliseum for $125 (they threw in hats to sweeten the deal). If they had a price point below $25, people would come to games, buy some brews, dogs, jerseys, and maybe next game they would be interested in sitting a bit closer to the ice by buying the $40 tix. The initial cost of entry into Islanders fandom is way too high.
To Danny B in Tennessee-- Fan support can be judged in two ways.... the number of asses in the seats, and TV ratings. The Islanders are miserable in both categories.
An original Islander fan, I'd be quite happy to attend a game if:
a) I could afford tickets--they're 60% over any rational middle-class budget.
b) There was a way to get to the Coliseum from Manhattan--I don't own a car.
It would of been very nice if the Isles piggybacked a new arena into Flushing to join CitiField and Arthur Ashe Stadium. Too late now.
just putting my 2 cents in on the poor attendance issue. i have four major reasons why attendance is bad. first, the ticket prices are sky high. long island is a very expensive to live in and a lot of people are struggling to stay here. which means, that they are not going to drop a couple of hundred dollars or so to come to the colisuem. i think that the average islander fan has been outpriced by the club. if i'm not mistaken, the isles don't get any revenue from concessions or parking, which could accounf for the high ticket prices. but if they dropped the ticket prices, they would still make back there money based on volume. if you look at the attendance figures from november, when they had the kids get in for free policy, attendance was about 2,000 persons higher, which i think shows that the interest is there, just not at what the isles charge. next, we'll come to the fact that the isles haven't won a playoff series is 14 years. remember how popular the isles were after the 93 playoff run? it was great. they need a playoff round win this year. it will generate interest. even though they are in first place now, it's only by one point and it's still very early in the year. not enough to drag the average person back to a game. my third reason is that there is no mass transit link. even a shuttle bus from the lirr stations around the coliseum would get in some people who don't own a car or who don't want to drive to uniondale. this is why the flushing site should be looked at if nassau doesn't renovate the coliseum. my final reason is that the colisuem is a dump and that the experience of watching a game here stinks. there is nothing to do at the coliseum except watch the game. every other arena/stadium in america has plenty of other activities to take part in. this makes the high ticket price problem an even bigger problem. hopefully greg (who is doing a great job) will look into the issues of the high ticket prices and what exactly is going on with the renovation plans for the coliseum. it's been at least 6 months since there has been any news on the renovation plans. i'll be there on thursday vs. the habs. lets go isles!
I like a few others mentioning an LIRR shuttle bus and think it would be great-even if they charged a buck or two. The Devils must get a few hundred extra fans each game with a $9 bus from the Port Authority and you'd think the Isles could do the same from a much shorter distance--especially if they developed a discounted LIRR ticket price.
And while I'm not defintely not advocating for sloshed fans--I might occassionaly have a beer or two at a game knowing I won't have to get behind a wheel.
Also, I was in Pittsburgh this weekend--and they have a special where I'm told students can buy any seats still available one hour before the game at $20 each. Kids were lined up in the early afternoon and gobbled up about 2,000 seats. A local article said some season ticket holders did not like the discount, but others liked the energy the students brought into the building.
Btw, did anyone notice that Bridgeport is having a Santa promo later this month where anyone wearing a Santa suit gets in free? I seem to recall a similar promo recently that went a little off plan. It makes you wonder if anyone learned their lesson.
The Islanders really need to come up with some promotions and I really like what the Pens are doing, all seats 1 hour before game time are $20.00, the Islanders should look and learn here. If the team is in 1st place and people see they can get in for 20 bucks guess what, you will sell another 2000-3000 seats. But the Islanders marketing and promotional department I think is made up of the stupidest people in sports. Hey, but what do we know...
Brandon,
Plenty of people would care trust me. Ratings and ticket sales are different altogether.
There are a lot of interesting opinions here and I hope Greg can come up with some new information on what (if anything) is being done to get the Islanders arena renovated and what is being done to coax fans back. Greg: has Charles Wang thought about buying out SMG? If he did, he could change the ticket prices to whatever he wanted. THAT would be fantastic.
While I agree that there aren't "other activities" at the Coliseum to do other than watch the game, I disagree that it's a lousy place to see a game. It is still the best arena in the NHL to see a game based on how close even the cheapest cheap seat is to the ice. Go anywhere else and nothing comes close. The other great part about it is the fact that when the Coliseum gets loud, it gets LOUD. Again, no other arena comes close. I think 16,000 every night should be the goal. No need to build a 25,000 seat monstrosity where you can barely see anything in the 300 section. I like the number of seats we have, let's just make a good thing better.
Thanks for the work, Greg, please see if you can answer any of our questions you see posted here. We're all hanging on your every word for that!
Danny- I do appreciate your opinion, even though I don't agree at all. Let me ask you this.. if Wang buys out SMG, do you honestly think he's just going to buy them out with the goodness of his heart? Come on, Wang's a businessman. And whatever he spends to buy them out would be passed on to the consumer in the form of even higher ticket prices. I just don't think ticket prices are the problem. It's the promotions department (or seeming lack thereof). Yes, the lack of mass transit and the ridiculous parking fees are a problem... but they were also a problem in the good years and they routinely packed the place
the islanders do offer discounts to college students and military personnel with their valid id. i believe tix start at $19 and they are in the last few rows of the 300's. the inconsistency of this organization over the past few years (both the management and on-ice product) and the cost of the game experience are the two biggest detractors to fan attendance. what isles fan wants to pay $100-$200 to watch a 5-1 loss to tampa bay on a monday night? not me. also, the islanders market to families and little kids way too much. please, we don't need a mascot or kids opening night, the ice girls and figure skating during the intermission are cheesy. we are new yorkers, we don't need all this nonsense, just win hockey games (more than 2 in a row) and they will come.
I remember a few years ago, 2002-03, when Blake scored the hat trick against the Penguins (I think it was). I wanted to go to the game and get student seats, but when I got to the box office, they were sold out. The cheapest tickets were $70, and I couldn't afford that. It's not the cheaper seats that are the problem--as soon as people get over the management circus and realize that the team is capable of winning a lot of games, the 300s will fill up. The issue is that the people who can afford the lower seats and boxes--corporations and the like, entertaining clients--really don't have the kind of environment they need. That won't come until there's a new building.
That said, I agree that if they lowered the prices, they'd make up the difference in volume. And if they modified their student prices to be more like what Pittsburgh does, and you could get top quality seats for 20 bucks, that might inspire more of them to come out.
The fans are there, though. There's no other way to explain the attendance from a few years ago when the team started winning, or even the Thanksgiving weekend games this year.
Greg, do you think you can tone it down on the attendance being the theme for every weeknight game?
Boston's having the same problems, so is St Louis, New Jersey, Chicago and a few other markets. Those Dolan announced Ranger sellouts are just that, most nights they have about 12,000 and that's with the corporations and Knick fans.
This is not just an Islander problem, we played them in New Jersey and 8,200 showed for the game and a lot of Islander fans.
Seemed like 3,000 or more Islander fans at Msg last week.
And the problem is worse in New York than anywhere, baseball casts a huge shadow over all newspaper coverage. The lockout also hurt a lot.
Wang cannot just give away tickets, he's losing too much as it is.
How about Neil Best doing those tv ratings and noting many games on Msg/FSN-2 are not advertised. Best always seems to cover up poor Ranger ratings.
Finally, how about more coverage so more fans learn about the club and want to go. Does Newsday need a Ranger beatwriter, the Post, News and Times barely cover our team so why bother with the Rangers unless Msg-Dolan holds it against the paper with less Knicks accesss?
Brandon,
You're right about one thing, and that's the fact that it's not just one reason why attendance is down. It's a compilation of things, but I think there are two major remedies: one is winning. If the Islanders are winning, people will come, period. The second remedy is definitely ticket prices. They are just too darn high. If you lowered them, not give them away, but lower them, fans will come. Of course rolled up in both of these suggestions is the given that advertising for the team is horrible. TV, newspapers, they've all abandoned the team. If we're gonna market to kids DO IT. don't bring a cheesy mascot into the arena, get the message out on TV and newspapers. But as far as Wang goes, he's already lost a ton of money on this team. He's shown his commitment. If Nassau would approve his plan (most of it anyway, I'm against the tower) he could really show how good of a business man he is. He knows you have to spend money to make money. Let him do it and he'll show you.
1) I'm very excited that Comeau is getting a shot tonight
2) I'm certainly not going to be confused for a wealthy man any time soon, but I've been to over half the games so far. I'm not judging anyone for not going, but I feel like that while the seats should certainly be cheaper there are seats available at a somewhat reasonable price. I do remember going to games in high school and getting a nice discount, but those days are long gone ;-)
They're playing well and it would be nice to be in a building with other fans there ...that being said - I'm off to tonight's game! lets go islanders ....
Hey, you can take down that First Place Islanders headline now. They are in third, and just about out of the top-8 in the East again.
The Yankees have several five dollar ticket nights per year in the upper deck. I've been at The Stadium on a Wednesday when those seats were $19, and attendance was about 46,000. The following night, a five dollar night, attendance was 55,000. There's a reason they're called the "cheap seats." I know there are only 41 games for the Islanders rather than 81 for the Yankees, but attendance would definetly get a boost from the 300 section at The Coliseum becoming significantly cheaper.