Who gets the credit for this team? Here’s a quick list. Missing tons I know. Just trying to frame things a bit.

Charles Wang: First in command, sets the deck the GM is forced to play from. Every dollar spent or not spent comes from him.

Garth Snow: Extremely limited budget for signing strong free agents in their prime, lady luck shines in 2012-2013 as he uses waiver wire to secure 4 players in the week before the season started, allowing some high draft picks to mature. Older home grown players starting to mature – Bailey, Hamonic, Martin. He’s had a bunch of bad pickups in the past (Rolston, Pandolpho, Jurcina, Eaton, Mottau, etc…). No more DP. Reasoner finally sitting. The team is finally doing the right thing for the team, and the players have responded.

Coach Jack: Had a good run at the end of the 2010-2011 season when they were all but eliminated. Their winless stretch in November that season cost Scott Gordon his job. The team gelled for the final third of this year, catapulting them into the playoffs. On ice dollar for on ice dollar, he’s taken a team that was projected to be a lottery team into contention for 5th place in the conference.

The Players: Despite the team on ice payroll, they’ve stepped up and had a hell of a final third of this season.

My take: All but Wang deserve partial credit. Despite his financial mandate, the players deserve a lot of credit for getting the job done, and you have to give Capuano the most credit. If this team failed it would be accepted that he wasn’t given a strong hand, but this team has not failed. He’d be the one getting the axe, just like Gordon before them if they were terrible so he deserves the praise for the team’s play. I can’t tell if Garth Snow, with his hands tied, has been lucky or deft. Either way, they are going to the playoffs. Cheapo or not the team will be fighting for the Stanley Cup.

If your like me, you’ve found yourself checking the standings all day long, pondering the possibilities of a 6th place finish for the Islanders. It’s been a long time coming, and it’s exciting to get a chance to see these players earn a playoff birth and see what they are capable of in NHL playoff hockey.

I believe the reason of the team’s current success and consequent tear into the playoffs can be attributed to these three guys: Matt Martin, Casey Cizikas, and Colin McDonald. When they teamed up to be the teams third line, they hit and provided the secondary scoring the team needed for so long. The team started winning, and the 2nd line started to gel as well (Bailey, Nielsen, Okposo). It’s amazing what some good competition will do. Taking DiPietro and Marty reasoner out of the lineup were significant steps to the recent success as well. The team didn’t do anything at the trade deadline, but these additions by subtractions were important.

Now it’s up to the team to play well and secure the 6th playoff spot. You’ve got to prefer the Caps in the first round, but they’ve been on fire too. There is never an easy way to the cup.

The team is in heart attack mode.  It’s a mad dash to the finish line and, although the team has played more games than most others in the hunt for the final two playoff spots, they are right in the thick of things for the first time in the John Tavares era.  Speaking of JT, where is he these days?  I know he is still scoring goals, but he needs to be more visible.  Matt Moulson and Brad Boyes could also use something to get them going.  Even with some help these days, the Isles will go the way the first line goes.

Unfair:

Southeast division is looking like the top team is going to get a bonus, that being allowed to play in the NHL playoffs even if they have less points than the real 8 seed, like they do right now.  BTW, Isles would be in 6th if not for this injustice.  Glad to hear they are doing away with it.  The new format is as follows:

 

The top three teams in each division will make up the first 12 teams in the playoffs. The remaining four spots will be filled by the next two highest-placed finishers in each conference, based on regular-season points and regardless of division. It will be possible, then, for one division to send five teams to the postseason while the other sends three.

The seeding of the wild-card teams within each divisional playoff will be determined on the basis of regular-season points. The division winner with the most points in the conference will be matched against the wild-card team with the fewest points; the division winner with the second-most points in the conference will play the wild-card team with the second fewest points.

Nabokov is playing very well again.  Isles need him to stay strong to end well.

How many more points out of the remaining 10 games does the team need to get into the playoffs?  12? 13? 14?  My hunch is 14 points will get them in.  14/20 that is.

I took my daughter, wife, and uncle to the game today, my first game of the lockout season.  It was a great day at the coliseum and was full of youngsters for the afternoon start.  Happily, the team didn’t lay an egg like it did on President’ day (7-0 L, Flyers) and treated the fans to a close game.   That is, until they blew the game wide open in the second half of the third period.   The team is still struggling for consistency, but they’ve really come a long way since their 5 game losing streak.  They’ve reached .500 for the season, and that is a good stepping stone   They’re relevant in the playoff race.  Not exactly where you prefer them to be (out but looking in), but better than fighting for lottery pics.

They’re showing more consistent offense, and from different lines which is great.  JT can’t do everything.  That being said, their defense has taken a drop.  Certain players (Tavares, Boyes, Moulson, Okposo, Grabner, Nielsen, etc..) still don’t do more than stick check.  Making the playoffs will be one thing, but winning games and series’ requires physical play.  Martin, Cizikas, and McDonald are becoming a great line as they chip in occasionally with a goal, but always with the body checks.  In my opinion, that line is the reason for their latest surge.  They’re inspiring everyone from the fans to the players.  They need to add to the chippy play and play with a set, stand up for teammates, and fight for their careers.

Here’s looking forward to a physical game in Pittsburgh tomorrow night.  They will need it to break the Penguins.

Trying hard and giving effort are important.  It is more than important on Long Island, as the team doesn’t invest in established talent and has been going with low level aging UFA’s and younger, cheaper players.   The Islanders don’t stand much of a chance unless their effort level is 100%.

Effort is expected and required when you are a professional and pulling down hundreds of thousands of dollars.  You have to expect your team give a good effort.  The Islanders have been called out in several games this year by their coach as being passengers and not putting forth the effort.  Is it the coach’s job to get that effort from his players?  He’s walking a fine line there because many assume it’s a reflection of the coaching staff when the team plays poorly.  Is Coach Jack throwing himself under the bus?

The team needs something to change, someway to ensure effort and bring the skill/leadership level up.  Thet’re  still close to a playoff birth, but they have not shown the maturity that can hold leads or sustain their effort with a 60 minute game.  They need to figure it out soon, or it will be another year of pressure free spring hockey to pad stats.  I’m not looking forward to anything now except change.  Running the status quo is not working, and the fans deserve something…

From the opening shift of the 7-0 blowout to the Flyers, the team didn’t have it.  In what unfortunately is becoming standard form, Moulson lost his man (Giroux) on the back-check and Giroux scored.  To sum things up, I feel, regretfully,  like I lost 2 hours of my life.  It’s the kind of loss where as a fan you feel like the team owes you something afterwards.  It also begs the question – Where was the motivation?.. Where was the tongue lashing between periods by the next in line Doug Weight?

The team pulled no rabbits out of their hats, nor goals out of their —es.  Don’t look now, but luckily there won’t be much time to sulk about this one.  Put up a good effort and a win and this will be the benchmark of how low the team can go.  Start a new losing streak and it will start an avalanche of destruction and will likely claim several victims.  I know I already feel like a victim…  Games like the last are just unwatchable.  I feel for the full house that had to watch the team lay an egg in front of all of those young fans…

The main story of the game was John Tavares netting his 4th career hat trick to propel the Islanders to their second consecutive win against a divisional opponent.  The sub plot was “Moose” Hedberg standing on his head again in net for the first period and a half.  I was concerned the Isles would never figure him out when the walls came crashing down and the Isles had 3 goals on the board by the end of the second period.

I had some thoughts while watching the game:

JT is our offensive savior, but he still needs to work on his D and turnovers, specifically leaving the D zone and entering the offensive zone.  .  He probably feels he needs to do it all himself.  If he can polish his D game more he’s going to be unstoppable.

Hits, or no hits?  The team has quite a few players on offense and defense that don’t take the body.  There are several players on the team that refuse to even check their coats at restaurants.  Matt Moulson and Michael Grabner stand out somewhat, but only because they don’t hit much but can still produce.  Moulson is sitting at 10th in the league in scoring, and Grabner has more breakaway chances then anyone else while PK’ing well.  It’s hard to argue with production, but if you’ve ever watched playoff hockey (I know, I know Isles fans) you’d realize that everyone finished their checks.  It’s just hard to believe that players will all of the sudden just abandon their game to start hitting.  The changes need to happen before.  Only then will the Isles have success.  Cappy seems to agree.

The coash has been giving the Isles 4th line valuable ice time because they hustle, hit, and even pitch in a point here and there.  Martin, Cizikas, and McDonald have been proving that following through with the hits can change the game.  It wears down the opposing team, and creates more space for everyone.  You can’t win with grinders alone, but if all players grinded a bit more, this team could play at a higher level.  Remember Pittsburgh?  That should be the rallying cry.

2 points is still 2 points, but I think we all know that a shootout win is not the same as an overtime win is not the same as a regulation win.  Perhaps I’m upset with the system here.  There are better ways to allot the points for all of these scenarios.  That being said, the Islanders pulled the 2 points out of their hat vs. the Rangers.  It felt good watching a goalie play us and have an off game.

Too often the team makes goalies look like the second coming of Patrick Roy.  Now, having said that, The team plays the Devils today, where Johan “Ken Dryden” Hedberg will be manning the pipes, fresh off a shutout in his last game vs. the Isles.  The Devils play a boring game, so hope the Islanders do all of two things, either score or hit or fight.  I know that’s three things.  They’ll need to do all three to make me happy.  They don’t need to be in that order either.

Hot start, optimism abound.  short lived.  Enter losing streak.  Extended bad luck.  Bad calls.  et al.  ad nauseum.

Isles fans optimism from early in the season had taken a distinct turn into chicken little, sky is falling territory.  A 5 game losing streak in a 48 game season will do that to the fans though.   Any early season kudos for a great start have been erased, and fans are looking for answers.  More often than not, they are finding that their club has been taking the path of least financial resistance.  That’s not to say they can’t do anything to improve the team, but it’s unlikely.  The trade for Tim Thomas’ contract give them some flexibility to stay above the cap floor and cut some dead weight on the team, but alas, the track record of late is to spend little, get less.  Read BD Galloff’s article and you can see why optimism is tough right now for the fans.

Isles trade for the rights to Tim Thomas, currently suspended from the NHL as he is focusing, in his own words, on family, friends  and faith.  Don’t worry Isles fans, Rick DiPietro will still be the backup on the club.  Unless something cosmically profound happens, the move was to bring the team into compliance with the salary cap minimum.  The best part for the thrifty team is that they don’t have to pay him as he is suspended, don’t have to give up anything if he doesn’t play (likely), and get to enjoy being compliant with NHL’s policy of minimum team salary requirements.

I hate the move.  I’d much rather they overpay to get real NHL talent on the team, rather than playing games to circumvent the salary cap floor for another season.  I don’t want to buy into the theory that this sort of move is good for the team.  It’s time to move on from the cap minimum…  It’s being proven that it’s impossible to win anything but lottery picks can come at the cap minimum.