Penguins reward the fans who had faith

I remember watching the Penguins play the Islanders at the Coliseum earlier this season and thinking, these guys don't look that good at all. The Pens were the defending Eastern Conference champions, and had two all-world players in Sidney Crosby and Yvgeni Malkin, and yet there was something missing.

Well, they found it. They fired their coach in mid-February after four months of uninspired play and replaced him with Dan Bylsma of Wilkes-Barre (I know, "Who?!"), then added Bill Guerin for a conditional draft pick, and the march was on. They rallied to beat the Capitals and Alexander Ovetchkin in seven games, got a vacation with a four-game sweep of Carolina, then resurrected themselves from a 2-0 deficit in the Stanley Cup Finals to beat the Red Wings in seven, winning the final game on the road.

Wow.

So congratulations to Guerin, who was given a shot to win another Cup and got it, along with ex-Islanders teammates Miro Satan and Ruslan Fedotenko.

Like the Blackhawks and the Bruins, the Penguins also provide Islanders fans with hope. Another team that was dismal a couple of seasons ago, now winning games and giving their fans plenty to get excited about. The Pens also were in danger of leaving Pittsburgh if they didn't get a new arena.

They got their building -- it's going up right across the street from the Igloo, in fact -- and now they have the Stanley Cup.

Coincidence? Charles Wang probably doesn't think so.

Changing the channel was never so easy

My kids dominate the television in our house. If it isn't Noggin or PBS Kids, the TV is tuned to Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon or Toon Disney, or a Scooby-Doo DVD. I've got the theme for "Arthur" burned into my hippocampus.

Thursday night my son couldn't decide what video to watch before bedtime, so I said, "Great, we can watch the Islanders," and we turned on the game in time to see the Penguins go up, 2-0. Moments later, we saw Mark Streit score on the power play and I felt a surge of optimism, and wondered if I shouldn't start recording the game on the DVR so I could watch the whole thing after the kids went to bed.

Maybe not. Two Pittsburgh goals later, we switched to "Sid the Science Kid" (not to be confused with Sid the Kid), and by the time the kids were asleep, the score was 7-1. Guess I didn't miss much.

Joey MacDonald allowed two soft goals before being pulled, but when you lose, 9-2, you can't put it all on the goalies. Blowouts like this are on everyone, coaches included, and the Isles' malaise continues. Are they really this bad?

I have a hard time saying 'no.'

But there was some good news. Rick DiPietro is almost ready to return to the ice, and is awaiting medical clearance. He says he hopes to be back before Christmas.

Will that give us some Happy Holidays? We can only hope.

Detroit looks dominant in game one

The Red Wings looked pretty unbeatable in the opener of the Stanley Cup finals, shutting out the Penguins, 4-0.

Over at ESPN.com, Scott Burnside asks the question: Do the Penguins need to fail in order to win later, as did the Oilers in 1983? Avid readers of this space recall that on May 20 I predicted a Red Wings victory in six games and noted that, like the Oilers, the talented Penguins are just not there yet and could follow the same path the Oilers did.

Short-time Islanders GM Neil Smith -- who was with the Isles in the Cup years -- comes to a similar conclusion in the article , and Kevin Lowe notes that it's a matter of learning how to win. Butch Goring confirms the legend of the defeated Oilers passing by the Isles locker room and seeing less celebration than relief, a sign that the Isles left everything out on the ice while the Oilers hadn't yet reached that level of comittment.

One can see the same scenario playing out this season.

Game recap: Islanders 4, Penguins 1

When I golf, I find I play much better against good players, like my man Frank Pasquale, and when I'm paired up with other duffers, we slog around the course like a bunch of Al Czerviks. The level of play is raised by better competition.

I guess that's the deal with the Islanders, because just a couple of days after improving to 6-1 against the Devils, the Islanders blasted the division-leading Penguins, 4-1, at home and in front of a national television audience. Sure, there was a 3-1 loss to Philly in between, but the Isles were done in by the power play that night, and hey, you can't win 'em all.

With so many young players fighting for 2008-09 roster spots, it was nice to see the veterans step up, with goals by Guerin, Park and Hunter, the last one created by Satan's superior effort. Bergenheim also scored and he's fast becoming a favorite. Dubie also played strong after getting the Flyers game off.

A couple of side notes for you: With so many eyes looking ahead to the draft, here's an interesting story by ESPN.com's Scott Burnside on the sorry state of the Atlanta Thrashers. The best part is that Ilya Kovalchuk's contract runs out in two years. Now, everyone will be after him and why wouldn't a superstar like him want to play for the Rangers? But Charles Wang threw a ton of cash at Yashin and isn't afraid of the big contract (D.P.). Hey, we can dream, right?

Also, you may have seen the video but what Jonathan Roy -- son of Patrick -- did in a QMJHL game the other day was disgusting. Thankfully, his cheap shot has been punished by the league, and so was Papa Roy, who denied that his gesture from the bench was meant to encourage his son to charge the opposing goalie at the other end of the ice. Roy senior was one of the all-time greats, but he and his son apparently have a lot to learn about sportsmanship and class.

Game recap: Penguins 4, Islanders 2

"The power play was awful."

That's Sean Bergenheim's assessment of the Islanders' brutal 1-for-9 performance with the man advantage Tuesday night against the Penguins, and Sean, thousands of Islanders fans agree with you. Awful, awful, awful.

This was a huge opportunity to take down the Penguins, who played shorthanded for half the game and are still without Sidney Crosby. Instead, they failed to capitalize on the power play, and while Ty Conklin made 50 saves, this was a case of quantity having nothing to do with quality.

Conklin himself said, "Sometimes shot clocks aren't indicative of the game necessarily." You got it, pal.

The Isles outshot the Pens 23-6 in the first period and were down 2-0. Frans Nielsen cut the gap to one in the second period, but the Pens scored the next two in the third to put it away.

Just a horrible, horrible loss at home with plenty to gain. The Isles visit the Hossa-less Thrashers Thursday before hosting the Flyers Saturday afternoon in a crucial conference battle.

Game recap: Islanders 4, Penguins 2

Break out the New Year's champagne early, folks. The Islanders finally broke the three-goal barrier. That they won on the road against the division-rival Penguins is perhaps more important than the goal total, but when you look at how this team has struggled offensively, it's nice to have finally popped that cork.

Since November 1, a 23-game stretch, the Isles had not scored more than three goals in a game. Two-goal leads may as well have been 20. But now Blake Comeau is in the house. In his second game with the big club the 21-year-old assisted on Andy Hilbert's game-tying goal and scored what proved to be the game-winner with a slap shot midway through the third. Just 37 seconds later, Trent Hunter gave the Isles a two-goal lead to secure the victory.

A quick primer on Blake Comeau (not to be confused with Weezer lead singer Rivers Cuomo or Lake Como, the Italian Rivera resort where George Clooney lives large with supermodels): He helped Team Canada win gold at the 2003 U18 tournament in Russia, and then led the Kelowna Rockets win the Memorial Cup a year later. In 2005, Comeau scored 21 goals with 53 assists for 74 points in 60 games, and also helped Canada win gold at the IIHF Under 20 World Championships, leading the team in points under head coach Brent Sutter. So the guy is a winner.

He had 12 goals and 31 assists for 43 points with the Sound Tigers last season. He wasn't exactly setting Bridgeport on fire this season, with three goals and six helpers in 25 games, but he has a great opportunity now with Chris Simon suspended for 30 games.

Comeau teamed with Hilbert and Tim Jackman for a productive line, while Miro Satan scored 44 seconds into the game for his fourth point (three goals) in four games against the Pens this season.

Up next, the Capitals tonight at the Coliseum in what Isles fans hope will be an early Christmas present. Hope to see many, many of you there!

Game recap: Penguins 3, Islanders 2

Plenty of Islanders fans and personnel (and this blogger) have defended Chris Simon these last few months, noting that he is a good teammate and person and shouldn't be judged for the swipe he took at Ryan Hollweg's head last season. And by all accounts, Simon is a good guy who has made some bad decisions.

What he did against the Penguins, however, goes well beyond that and there is no defense for it. Slew-footing Jarkko Ruutu as he's stepping into the bench is one thing. Intentionally stepping on his foot with your blade while he is down is quite another.

It doesn't matter what the situation is, or how tense the game is, or who the opposing player is or what he may have said or done to possibly instigate such an act (and Ruutu has a rep) -- it's wrong, and Simon had plenty of time to think about it. That it happened with less than six minutes left in the third and the Isles down a goal makes it more mind-boggling. What was accomplished? How does that help the team? You have to be smarter than that, there's just no excuse.

The five-minute match penalty just about killed any hope of an Isles comeback, although they did have some shorthanded chances, including a great one on a breakaway by Mike Sillinger that was stopped by Dany Sabourin.

That the Islanders were that close seemed unlikely after a first period that saw the Pens dominate, jumping out to a 2-0 lead with goals less than four minutes apart. A giveaway led to Sidney Crosby's goal and then Ryan Whitney beat Rick DiPietro (37 saves) with a wrist shot. (Full disclosure, Whitney - like D.P. - went to my alma mater, BU, and is on my fantasy hockey team. So I wasn't THAT upset.)

Give the Isles credit for battling back at home, netting two in the second on a nice goal by Richard Park off a feed from Mike Comrie. Then just 45 seconds later, a beautiful breakout from Bergenheim to Vasicek to Satan and then back to Vasicek charging the net, tying the score. Things were looking up and the crowd was rocking.

It didn't last, as Tyler Kennedy (three points) scored on the power play to put the Pens up, 3-2, before the end of the second. It was Pittsburgh's only PPG in six chances.

The Isles will get ready for the Sabres at home Wednesday night (can we draw more than 10,000 on a weeknight?), and wait to hear from the NHL about Simon, who will likely get the seventh suspension of his career. You have to question what he's bringing to the table at this point, and whether it's worth it.

Game recap: Penguins 3, Islanders 2

Just when the Islanders could use a day off - and they've had more than their share so far - there's none to be found. Instead, the Islanders get to visit the Devils and Martin Brodeur, who not only has beaten the Isles 38 times with 10 shutouts, but is going for career win No. 500. It's his third shot at the mark, and it's at home against a team he has pretty much owned.

Good luck, fellas.

The Islanders head to Jersey fresh off another close loss, this one a 3-2 defeat against the Penguins at the Igloo. The Isles battled back to tie the game in the second period after being down a goal, but lost the lead for good when Sidney Crosby picked Brendan Witt's pocket and fed a perfect feed to Georges Laracque of all people, who roofed it for a 3-2 Pens lead. The third period was scoreless.

Bryan Berard, back on the blueline, lamented after the game that this was one that the Islanders should have had, which was pretty much the feeling after the loss to the Flyers on Monday night. But the Isles managed only one shot on two power play attempts, while the Pens had six man-up advantages, scoring once. The Isles are now 2-4 on the road.

Mike Comrie and Josef Vasicek scored for the Isles and they're tied to the team lead in goals at six. Comrie deflected a shot by Witt and Vasicek made a terrific play after winning a faceoff in the Pens' end, drifting behind the defense to get in position for what was a game-tying goal.

Now, the Islanders will try and break out of its offensive rut against the Devils and Brodeur. True, the Devils and Brodeur himself have struggled thus far, but this will be a tough game. A win for the Isles here would be huge.