N.Y. Islanders: Opening Night was a Flatbush Flop

From the desk of:  FIVE FOR FLATBUSH

No one ever said life in Brooklyn was gonna to be easy.

OPENING NIGHT

Blackhawks  3

Islanders       2

FINAL ~ OT

New York Islanders: With youz guys being new to the neighborhood and all, neutral zone gaffes are akin to playing in Flatbush Avenue traffic during rush hour - just brutal.  Way to throw your goalie under the bus!

The Chicago Blackhawks are no strangers to Thomas Greiss.  He previously part-timed in the Western Conference with San Jose and Phoenix during the first two of Chicago's recent three Cup championship runs.

After spending last season with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Garth Snow signed the free agent goalie to back up starter Jaroslav Halak.

The Fates, it seems, had other plans.

Let the record show, on October 9th, 2015, Thomas Greiss started the Islanders first official home game in Brooklyn against the defending Cup champions, and did well.  He will continue to start until Jaroslav Halak recovers from the proverbial upper body (chest) injury.

Greiss faced 32 shots and made 30 saves during Barclays Center's inaugural 60:00 minutes of regulation hockey.

Just beyond the midway point of the opening period, Chicago got whistled for too many men on the ice.  Then towards the latter end of the ensuing power play Brock Nelson committed the dreaded neutral zone turnover which resulted in Artem Anisimov's break-away short-handed goal.

It was only fitting that Captain John Tavares tied the game at 5:22 of the 2nd period on a nifty initial shot and his own rebound.

Fan relief was short lived, however.  At 15:11, Patrick Kane put Chicago back ahead.

The Isles struck back very early in the 3rd when Brock Nelson assisted on Marek Zidlicky's game tying goal at the 1:18 mark.

The Islanders were unable to convert their second power play of the game half way through the session.  The teams then remained scoreless for the balance of the 3rd period, which in effect provided Brooklyn ticket holders bonus hockey on Opening Night, and their first view of the NHL's new overtime rule change - five minutes of 3 on 3 hockey.

Barclays CEO Brett Yormark (who was resoundingly booed by the crowd) might have given traditional Islanders fans their goal horn back, however, he never promised them an ideal outcome.

Thomas Greiss turned away the first two Blackhawks shots in overtime.

Nick Leddy's slash on Marian Hossa at 1:18 perhaps only delayed the inevitable.  First off, the penalty was born of a defensive end turnover.  Then one could argue with an unobstructed Hossa bearing down upon Greiss, Leddy's infraction was justified.

No matter.  With Marian Hossa in the corner and traffic building in front of Greiss, Patrick Kane tipped in a rebound at the 1:49 mark.  Kane's game winning power play goal was his second of the game.

Tough break for Thomas Greiss, but look no further than Brock Nelson's gaffe in the 1st period as to why and when things went wrong.  It effectively cost the Islanders an Opening Night victory in their new home.

Despite the final score, the Islanders new beginning appeared well received.  All that's left is for them to post their first home victory.  Tonight, they'll finish out the back end of this home and home series against the Blackhawks in Chicago.

Then starting Monday, the Islanders will play three straight at home - along Flatbush Avenue that is.

On a side note, going out on a Friday night is somewhat of a lay-up.  With no work the following day, a hockey game is as good a destination as any.

Monday's and Thursday's games against the Jets and Predators, respectively, will prove far more telling about who's really dedicated to the new process, and who is not, I think.

Lets face it, with little to no designating parking (unlike Nassau Coliseum), we're going to find out how conducive the LIRR and MTA will be in so far as getting fans in and out of the immediate area.

The D-train is too simple for me.  It might be manageable for Mr. Smith coming from Franklin Square, but what about Mrs. Crabtree and her son coming from Islip?

We'll see.

Week days usually look like this.....

That's not exactly the Flatbush Freeway you're looking at.

N.Y. Rangers vs. N.J. Devils; Battle Of The Hudson - Game One

From the desks of:  RAISE GRESCHER WITH THE GREATS  and  THE BRICK CITY DEMONS

2013-2014

BATTLE OF THE HUDSON

 

TONIGHT

 

NEW YORK RANGERS

vs.

NEW JERSEY DEVILS

From

THE ROCK

Brick City, New Jersey

 

 

 

NEW YORK RANGERS: With Callahan And Nash Sidelined, This Is Brad Richard's And Derek Stepan's Team Now.

We can't even start to truly find out how heavily a new system, adjusting to a new coach, and opening on the west coast weighed on the Rangers.  While a return back east garnered a well played all-around victory over the Capitals, not having Rick Nash and Ryan Callahan moving forward fails to lend any clarity to the Rangers early plight.  Carl Hagelin has yet to hit the ice as well.

Ryan Callahan continues to catch one bad break after another.  He missed camp stemming from off-season shoulder surgery, took a puck to the mouth against the Kings, and then suffered a broken thumb against the Caps, all the while, still literally doing everything for the Blueshirts.

Next on the forward lines are J.T. Miller and Taylor Pyatt.  Feel free to contribute at any time boys.

The Rangers are currently headlined by some good news, but mostly bad news.  In the early going, Alain Vigneault apparently has improved the power play.  The Rangers rank 13th overall - uncharted territory under Tortorella.  After five games, they have scored on the power play in three games, and have been shut down twice, and are 4 for 20 overall.  The now injured Ryan Callahan had two goals, Brad Richards and Marc Staal each have one.  On the other side of the coin, the Blueshirts rank 21st on the penalty kill, something they did exceedingly well under Torts.

If it's not one thing, it's another with this team.  Brad Richards is so far playing with marked improvement, however, Marc Staal's game is suffering after starting out strongly in the first two games of the season.  Coach Vigneault took away Staal's tradition partner against the Caps, and will most likely pair Dan Girardi and Ryan McDonagh on the top line again tonight against the Devils.

Entering tonight's game, the Rangers are likely to only dress five skaters who've scored a goal this season.  At least Brad Richards has four of them.  Otherwise, they rank 28th in the league in scoring, with still no sign of Chris Kreider.  Derek Stepan has yet to score a goal, but still leads the team with five assists.  So, his game seems to be coming along after holding out and missing camp.  The Rangers are battling attrition as well as the competition, so the time has come upon Stepan to take a larger leadership role and help stabilize the team.

Defensively, they rank a putrid 29th, however, enter tonight's game on the heels of a shutout victory over Washington.  Their goals against average is still inflated due to a 9-2 drubbing suffered against the Sharks, followed by a 6-0 wipeout against the Ducks.  Outside of the those two games, the Rangers have scored ten goals, and allowed ten goals.

The Rangers aren't home yet, but playing in Jersey is the next best thing - maybe not.  We'll find out later tonight.


NEW JERSEY DEVILS: Situation Getting Hot For Coach DeBoer And His Faltering Demons.

Maybe the new Devils owners can do something to prevent the next Brian Gionta, Zach Parise, David Clarkson or Ilya Kovalchuk from leaving town, although Kovalchuk's exit was unique, if not odd,  because he left a large sum of money on the table.  But these are certainly the most recent and frustrating departures that have slowly brought down the Devils.  This was a team that just two seasons ago played for a Stanley Cup, and is now in full blown transition.  Today, the Devils remain the lone team in Hockey not to have won a game this season.

The "old guard" is still led by the team's all-time scoring leader Patrick Elias.  While Travis Zajac, Bryce Salvador, Andy Greene and Dainius Zubrus are the remaining elders of the clan.  The group of players complimenting them is where I start to question (sacrilege, I know)) Lou Lamoriello's  direction from this point forward.

They are currently led in points by thirty-six year old defenseman Marek Zidlicky.  That already smells like trouble.   Forty-one year old Jaromir Jagr is presently averaging 17:03 minutes in October, but what about February?  Although Michael Ryder has two goals, he's thirty-three years old - not that old by any stretch.  He scored sixteen goals in forty-six games last season, which seemed promising, but can he be a 30-goal scorer for the Devils like he was for the Habs and Dallas?

Goals will certainly come at a premium this season.  So far in seven games, the Devils have scored thirteen times for a 1.8 goal per game average, and are a woeful 2 for 22 on the power play for a rate of 9.1% efficiency.

But so far scoring isn't New Jersey's biggest problem - it's their defense that looks extremely un-devilish this season.  Adam Larsson and Peter Harold can't seem to do anything right.  Having allowed twenty-six goals to date, or 3.7 per game, the Devils are uncharacteristically ranked 26th this season in goals against.  The have allowed the second most in the Eastern Conference, and rank third worst behind Edmonton and Florida in the entire NHL.

While the Devils are still in search of their first victory, goalie Martin Brodeur is still stuck on #669.  Devils fans no doubt would like for both to achieve a victory against the Rangers tonight at The Rock.




Mike.BTB