March of the Penguins

Tonight would have been a swell night for Marc-Andre Bergeron, but alas our power play will now suffer more then it has. Without the QB of the power play, the Islanders looked helpless, they just could not find openings on their many advantages. This being stated Ruslan Fedotenko got a nice power play goal with 1 minute left in the game losing 4-1 making it 4-2. It was simple power play thinking. Hunter Pass to Vasicek, slap on goal, rebound, Fedotenko swoops in and deposits the mail into the box. That was the only positive side of our power play tonight. There were 10 penalties called on the penguins, and we had 1 goal...fantastic.
The Islanders came out and played the entire game very strong. With the arrival of Rob Davison, who I feel played very well, midway through the first, the Islanders seemed hopeful. But a tired Rick Depietro could not stop the Penguins on 2 of the first 3 or 5 shots. It depends what you want to call a shot. Evgeni Malkin started it off on the second shot, on a wrist shot that made DP look like a minor league goalie in his first NHL game. Sykora and Taffe retained assists on the play. Then, in the same period only a few minutes later, Jeff Taffe tallied his own goal on the power play which the Islanders had a few fast breaks on. 2-1...assists Kennedy, and Letang. the first shot blocked and then cleared by a sprawling DP out of the crease, into Hilberts right skate and right into the grasp of Taffe who threw it into an open net. Second period starting with an Islander power play, failed to score once again. Midway through the second an unlikely goal scorer on an unlikely line put the puck right by Ty Conklin. Frans Nielson got his first NHL goal. That was an exciting goal for us and him his first goal, keeping us in the game for a little longer, and the start of something beautiful for the Islanders. The beauty?...that would be the potent line of Comeau, Tambellini and Neilson himself, what a fore check they have, what pressure, and some amazing stops by Ty Conklin is the only reason why that line isnt on this score sheet more. Tambo had a few nice chances along with some each by his line mates but all dreams were crushed by a man just trying to keep his job. Maybe the other end of the ice could learn something, not that we could send DP down but how about a Doobie start before the Isles V Rangers tilt comming in March. Neilsons bliss can only last so long. About a period length later, Jordan Stall one of the many Stall brothers put a wrist shot by DP. Malkin and Sykora both got their second point of the night. Mere minutes later, just like the first period, on the power play. Ryan Whitney threw a beautiful pass to Connor James, who got through the defense and made Rick once again look like an amateur, he left the entire net open and Connor just dropped placed it in the net. With a little over a minute left, Malkin took a penalty putting the Islanders on their last power play, Ruslan Fedotenko picked up a rebound off of a shot from Vasicek. Hunter also picked up an assist. The game was still out of reach though. Conklin picked up his second win against the Islanders, he is hte only goalie out of these two teams to win 2 games, every other possible candidate has only 1 win. At the end of the game there was a "pillow fight" (other writer here at weareallislanders) where Comrie and Kennedy went at it. I think Comrie took the loss, but showed heart went he went to one knee but then got back up and threw a powerful right hander.
The only think i can possibly think positive about is that Tambo, Neilson, Comeau line is here to stay and its nasty. Also one more, the Tenk, Hunter, Vasicek line is still hot each. getting a point.

Stat of the night: The Islanders out shot the Penguins 52 to 21. Thats the first time the Islanders hit the 50 shot mark in 2 years.