Thinking on the Road

(Not the actual path taken this road trip, but close enough!)
The seven city road trip, which is taking up a solid chunk of the Islanders' November schedule, continues on Friday (11/20) in Minnesota. To this point the trip has gone surprisingly well, with the Isles taking 6 of a possible 8 points over the first 4 games of it. The team also finds itself somehow, almost miraculously, entrenched in a playoff spot. If reaching that goal is to be successful, everyone knows that road wins are the key. With Minnesota, St. Louis, and a weak Toronto team left on the road swing, it is imperative for the Isles to keep the winning momentum going and come home on a high note.

With the season now 1/4 completed and the Isles at a respectable 23 points (a nice rebound from their 1-4-5 start), here are some questions that you, the readers, may have some thoughts on. These are not criticisms of any player or the coaching, lest they be taken that way. Feel free to contribute in the comments section as always.

- While the desire to find secondary scoring is paramount, is it worth breaking up the top-line dynamo that Tavares, Mouslon, and Okposo have been? It is unreal how well they play together, surpassing even our own high expectations, as evidenced again Monday (11/16) night in the 4-1 win in Boston. Okposo once again started on the second line, but late in the game was on the ice with JT when Kyle threaded him a long and beautiful pass that seemingly had no chance of finding its target. It did, however, and nearly set #91 up for a brilliant goal. It could be dismissed, if only plays like this weren't occurring nightly.

Kyle has told us in the past that "chemistry is chemistry" and that he has no way to explain why the three forwards play so well together. If you have a thought or opinion on the lineup matter, let us know.

- Mark Streit's "down year." Admittedly, complaining about your team's best D-man who is 4-7-11 over 21 games and logs nearly 26 minutes of ice time per night seems petty. But there's something different about his game this year and we can't quite figure out what it is. He's on pace to record a career high 180 shots on goal, so it's not as if he's firing at the net less. It just seems that his play has been flatter, and his normally rock solid work at the blue line isn't as strong this season. What gives?

- Conversely, Andy Sutton. What has gotten into this guy to make him a defensive force? Did he just wake up one morning and realize he's 6'6" and nearly 250 pounds. He's hitting, is a +3, and has scored 3 goals on only 14 shots. Furthermore, his health issues finally seem to be in the past. Another blogger we spoke with even suggested extending his contract. Do you agree?

- Now, some overall team issues. How to stop lackadaisical third period play? Is this a conditioning problem? Inexperience? While it seems to be getting better, the Isles still look as if they are sleepwalking through the final 20 minutes of games. Any of you hockey players out there have a suggestion?

- Lastly, do you think the Isles will be able to keep up with their Atlantic division foes? The one knock on the Islanders' performance so far might be that they really haven't been heavily tested. That will change later this month, when the Isles face Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and New Jersey before the calendar turns. Right now the Isles' intradivision record stands at 1-1-1. Arguably the Eastern Conference's best teams play in the Atlantic. The Isles have beaten up on the Southeast squads (4-0-3) and have held their own (2-3-3) against the Northeast teams. How will they fare against their divisional brothers?

These questions and more will be answered as the season moves along. As for now, the Isles just have to keep outworking the "better" teams and maintaining their course. It would be a delight to surprise the pundits come April. And that starts by finishing what they've begun on this road trip.

While We Were Away...

Okposo Net recently took a little R&R time on the West Coast, and while we were out of the loop we missed a lot. Apparently since our last update:

Kyle came down with H1N1 (swine flu) and was expected to miss several games.

Kyle recovered from said flu, at least enough to play, after missing just one game.

Kyle netted an assist and a goal, the game winner, against Carolina in his return to action.

Amazing.

***
As some side notes, the Isles seem to be continuing their penchant for letting leads slip away, first in Washington (a 5-4 shootout loss) and then in Carolina (the aforementioned 4-3 OT win).

Also, John Tavares scored his first 2 goal game in the NHL in that Carolina contest, while Doug Weight will miss additional time as he recovers from his upper-body injury.

If things continue to go this way, we may just stay out of New York for the rest of the season!

Four in a Row Feels Good

Two words come to mind to describe the current state of the New York Islanders: feeling good. After defeating Edmonton 3-1 on Monday (11/2) night, the Islanders have a winning record on the season and have won four games in a row. They've also taken points in six straight games. Suddenly the team can't do anything wrong, a thoroughly unfamiliar feeling in seasons past.

Brendan Witt, of all people, contributed two goals to the effort and John Tavares notched his 5th career goal. Doug Weight, who added two assists to his already impressive career ledger, said that the team now comes on to the ice with "thoughts that we're going to win every game." This would have been an unfathomable statement just 8 or 10 games ago. Now it seems to be more than just optimistic talk.

Coach Scott Gordon, speaking after the victory, said "It feels good. It's something that as a group we're not used to." Gordon praised the team's work ethic and felt that their attitude had remained positive and upbeat despite sputtering through the first few weeks of the season.

Dwayne Roloson made 22 saves to defeat the team he played with over the previous four seasons. He notched his fourth win of the year and lowered his Goals Against Average to 2.70.

The scene shifts to Buffalo on Wednesday (11/4) night where the Isles will try to keep their momentum going, while the Sabres look to avenge their previous 5-0 loss to the suddenly hot Isles.

The Kyle File

In order to bring you a complete picture of the season and the events surrounding the New York Islanders, our coverage of Kyle sometimes suffers. To correct this trend, we recently caught up with this website's namesake in order to bring you some information that you might not know about the emerging star. In a perfect world, this would have been 21 questions (for #21) instead of twenty. Nevertheless we present Kyle Okposo in his own words:


Q: Let's begin. Your favorite team or teams in another sport?

Kyle: The Vikings and Twins.

Q: Your favorite junk food, if you have one?

Kyle: Pizza.

Q: We know that you're a gamer...you like your video games. What are you playing right now?

Kyle: Tiger Woods (PGA Tour).

Q: That leads right into the next question. The best round of golf you've ever played was what score?

Kyle: 73. On several different courses in Minnesota.

Q: What kind of music are you listening to right now?

Kyle: Rap. Eminem's new stuff, Lil Wayne. I like some R&B too. Dr. Dre has some good stuff out.

Q: Okay, are you an athlete that likes to use Twitter, read blogs, and see what people are saying online?

Kyle: No.

Q: Favorite movie or television show right now?

Kyle: Since Entourage ended, it's Californication.

Q: Good choices. When you were in school, what was your favorite subject?

Kyle: Math.

Q: Do you speak any other languages?

Kyle: A little bit of Spanish, not much.

Q: What's the best comfort food made by a member of your family?

Kyle: Crab legs. It's just a childhood favorite.

Q: Interesting. So how did you celebrate your big 21st birthday?

Kyle: I had two beers in my room and then I got ready for the game the next day.

Q: Is there any significance to wearing the #21 uniform?

Kyle: No...well I loved (Peter) Forsberg growing up.

Q: You've mentioned that in the past. How about your dream car?

Kyle: When I was growing up it was a Range Rover.

Q: Please name a place you've always wanted to visit, but never had the chance to.

Kyle: St. Andrew's golf course in Scotland.

Q: Your favorite road city?

Kyle: Probably Tampa. It's just fun. It's always warm there and everyone always seems to be having a good time.

Q: Player past or present you'd like to spend a day with?

Kyle: Joe Sakic.

Q: If not for hockey what profession would you be doing? Or one you'd like to get into after your hockey career?

Kyle: Golf. Or being a movie critic.

Q: One sentence to describe Kyle the hockey player?

Kyle: I try to work hard all the time.

Q: And one sentence to describe Kyle the person?

Kyle: I'm pretty easy going, laid back, and I like to have a good time.

Q: And to conclude, would you like to send a message to your fans?

A: I want to say thanks to our fans. They've been great. They've been very patient with us and we're starting to click here a little bit. It's gonna be good.

Okie Scores Winner as Isles Top Rangers

The Islanders clashed with the Rangers for the first time this season on Wednesday (10/28) night. With lots of New York sports fans focused on the start of baseball's World Series, we wondered if the heated hockey tilt would take a back seat this time around.

We are happy to report it did not. We are even happier to report that the Islanders emerged victorious, giving those fans aligned with both the Yankees and Rangers a double dose of depression to deal with in the morning.

While we were scrambling to find parking and get into the building, Matt Moulson had already struck. He was slipped a beautiful breakaway pass by scrappy Jack Hillen just 55 seconds into the contest, and beat goalie Henrik Lundqvist stick side. It was 1-0 Islanders before we had even found our seat. Moulson is still leading the team in scoring, with 6 goals and 4 assists, in case you had forgotten.

Scoring first was a relief, but too many times this season (and others) we've seen an early lead evaporate. And unfortunately this lead went by the boards too, as the Rangers tied the game on P.A. Parenteau's first NHL goal at 8:30 of the period.

The Isles could have easily fallen behind in this one, but on this night the posts were Dwayne Roloson's friends. The cage saved two potential goals for the home netminder before Kyle Okposo struck on the power play in the 2nd to recapture the lead for the Isles. Nifty passing by Doug Weight and a Jack Hillen shot rebound allowed Okie to beat Lundquist with 1:46 left in the stanza.

John Tavares, feeling left out as the only non-scorer on the "Moulson Golden" line, sealed the game for the Isles with about 6 minutes left to play. JT's 4th goal overall and first against his team's arch rivals sent the Rangers fans who had attended packing and the Isles boosters into a frenzy. 3-1 was the final in Uniondale.

It was a relatively clean game on the ice infraction-wise (compared to some we've witnessed in the past), and certainly the Isles' best performance of the season.

Coach Scott Gordon singled out players like Richard Park and Josh Bailey during his post-game conference, stating that while their names didn't hit the stat sheet they certainly aided in the win. Defensive mistakes were not made, and he lauded his team for playing a "full 60 minutes."

We will add this: if the Isles can play this way every night they can be a playoff team. Consistent effort is the only thing holding them back.

Dwayne Roloson confirmed this for us in a corner of the dressing room. "We blocked shots [on the penalty kill], we put sticks in the lane." He continued, "That was K.I.S.S. hockey. Keep it simple, stupid. We played our game plan to a tee." Roloson made 34 saves and recorded the win, the team's first this year in regulation.

The mood was jublilant among the other players too. Tavares was seen wearing a celebratory hardhat, and Kyle was laughing and smiling with his mates. Curiously, nobody approached KO for a sound bite this time. We'll try to remedy that later this week when we sit down with him for a fun Q&A to try to learn a little more about the emerging star.

***Fun Fact: With Kyle's point tonight, his 52nd with the team, he passes Viktor Kozlov on the all-time Islanders scoring list! But you already knew that.

More OT Losses

A quick post after another game that didn't quite go the Islanders' way. They followed up Saturday (10/14) night's 3-2 overtime loss with, yes, a 3-2 overtime loss this evening (10/26).

While this time it was the Canadiens that blew a third period lead, the Islanders again could not bank home the extra point. Though they have worked hard and gone to 6 overtimes in 10 games, their play has been inconsistent. There's no getting around that and the fact that the defense has not been up to scratch. Even Mark Streit, a bedrock blue liner last season, hasn't been immune to the mistake bug this year.

Special congratulations to Jeff Tambellini for the first two goal game of his career. Hopefully he can get on track and become the player many fans know he is capable of being. Kyle had an assist on one of the goals, raising his season point total to 7.

The Islanders host a hot Rangers team on Wednesday (10/28) night. If the Isles don't show more consistent play over a full 60 minutes, that one could get ugly.

W-I-N Spells Relief

On Wednesday (10/21) night, the Islanders were in danger of tying a franchise record for the worst opening to a season. They hadn't won in their first 6 tries, and the Carolina Hurricanes were coming to town. While disaster nearly befell the Isles in another 3rd period collapse, the New York side recovered in the shootout and recorded their first victory of 2009.

With a disappointing crowd of 9,122 in the seats to see it, the red hot Matt Moulson notched his team leading fifth goal of the season in the first period to get the scoring started. The surprise assist came from the stick of Andy Sutton, who played a very nice game and eventually earned the first star.

Carolina would tie the game in the second period on a Matt Cullen power play score, but scrappy Tim Jackman sent a goal past Hurricanes goalie Cam Ward to recapture the lead. Andy Sutton did the same under a minute later, and it seemed as if the Isles were on their way to a 'W'.

It wouldn't be that easy, though, as Carolina had some rapid fire scoring in them too. With just about 6 minutes remaining, Eric Staal scored to draw the 'Canes within one and Jussi Jokinen tied it 1:02 later.

The home crowd was dismayed, angered, and felt as if they'd seen this horror show before. But on this night the crowd was treated to a happy ending.

Though both teams had good chances to win in the 5 minute overtime, the squads sent the game to a shootout. And wouldn't you know for the first time all season each of the 3 Islanders shooters scored. First Jeff Tambellini, the shootout specialist. Then newly healed Frans Nielsen. And finally, the marquis attraction, young John Tavares. It added up to a 4-3 win for the home team.

After the game Coach Scott Gordon hoped that this would be the start of getting the season turned in the right direction, while the players we spoke with were relieved and nearly elated to have broken the dry spell. The upbeat music was blaring as the players shuffled in and out of the locker room. Goalie Dwanye Roloson even went as far as to compare his first Islanders win to a kid attending his first pro sporting event.

While we're happy for Dwayne, Andy, the coach, and the rest of the team, let's hope they can carry some of this momentum into tomorrow night's game in Montreal. It will be John Tavares' first game in the building where he became an Islander.