LIVEBLOG: Okposo's debut - Leafs 3, Islanders 1

We're live at the Coliseum tonight for the game between your New York Islanders and the Toronto Maple Leafs, and we're very excited to see Steve Regier and Matthew Spiller take the ice.

Oh, yeah, there's Kyle Okposo, too.

The 19-year-old future of the franchise (no pressure, kid) makes his NHL debut wearing Number 21, and not the No. 12 he wore in Bridgeport. Kenneth Dick of OkposoNet informs us that Okposo wore No. 9 at Minnesota, so basically the number on the back doesn't matter as much as the logo on the front, or the numbers in the points column that he can provide. Or, he just likes Brent Sutter better than Duane.

Lots of youngsters in the lineup and Rick DiPietro is out getting an MRI on his troublesome hip, so basically, the Isles get a jump on the 2008-09 preseason. And we're pretty much reduced to rooting HARD against the Rangers. (Go, Sabres!)

Here's a fun fact: Okposo was born April 16 (same day as my son!), 1988 -- five years after the Isles last won the cup, when I was a sophomore in college. Ouch.

Okposo playing with Park and Comeau, doesn't touch the puck but generates some cheers when he steps out on the ice for his first and second shifts. Other than waiting on Okposo, not a ton of excitement here with these 2 teams. Personally? I'm looking for someone - anyone - to run Darcy Tucker. And I'm not alone on that front.

Okposo gets his first shot on goal at the 11:30 mark - save Tokala. No score but the Isles lead in broken stick blades, 2-0. You're welcome.

GOOOOOOOOAL! Talk about end-to-end! Rob Davison gets his first, shorthanded, FROM HIS OWN GOAL LINE. His clear bounced along toward Toskala like a football. He went down, it got by him. That'll be on YouTube within the hour. You got the feeling once the puck was in the Toronto end and it was clear that it was on net, that it could be trouble. But a goal? Unreal.

That's the book on Toskala - he has trouble with the long shots. The reeeeaallll long shots.

Isles up, 1-0, after one.

Besides the arrival of Okposo, the only other good news surrounding the team lately was the news that Nassau County executive Tom Suozzi threw his support behind the Lighthouse Project. Read more about it here. Hopefully, the legislature will get behind it as well and we'll have a new home here sooner rather than later. But knowing Nassau County government, I'm not holding my breath.

Isles killing their third penalty of the game early in the second. Meyer drills Blake, then Dubie stones Kubina on a slapper from the slot. Another good kill.

Penalty on Tucker for hooking, Isles on the power play. Of course, the Leafs have the best scoring chance so far, with Stajan stealing the puck at the blue line and then flying around Berard, who does his best imitation of a fire hydrant. No goal. Okposo almost gets a chance charging to the net, but the pass doesn't get there. Meanwhile, the Isles kill their fourth penalty (too many men).

End of two, still 1-0 Isles.

Is it wrong to be looking up the top 30 2008 draft prospects according to International Scouting Services? That's what I'm doing between the second and third periods. Here's a list -- no profiles yet, but the top prospects are ranked. Here's a tip: Use the list to look these guys up on YouTube. There's plenty of highlights to enjoy. Love that Internet. Here are some profiles as well. Again, you're welcome.

Bad goal allowed by the Isles so I guess they're even on that score as well as the actual score -- and we're tied, 1-1. My hand to God I had just been thinking about writing that the Leafs will score midway through the period, then again with about three minutes left, with an empty netter to cap it off. We'll see - we're a third of the way there.

While the glass is being fixed, here's a thought: The NYI Mobile trivia question asked, who was the first Islander to win the Calder Trophy. And it was multiple choice - Potvin, Trottier, or Bossy. Of course it was Potvin, who was here first -- and yet the most popular answer was Trots at 51 percent??! Let's hope a bunch of weisenheimers texted the wrong answer on purpose, because that's just flat-out embarrassing.

WEAK call against Johnson for holding against Blake. Is this hockey?

Sure enough - a power play goal by Kubina. Give them enough chances, and they're going to score. We'll wait patiently for the make-up call, refs. It's 2-1 Leafs with 8:49 to go.

Leafs goal waved off, Blake called for interference on Dubie, two minutes. Awwwww, tough break, Blakie. And thank you, Mr. Official. Alas, the spirit was willing but the power play is still weak.

Dubie to the bench, breakaway - but Toskala makes the toe save on Comrie. And then there's the empty-netter. Game over, 3-1 Leafs. That's six straight losses and 10 of 12 for the Isles-slash-Sound Tigers.

--

POSTGAME REPORT

Ted Nolan came out and said the veteran guys on the squad gave a poor effort and Bill Guerin agreed with him. Both praised Okposo's debut.

NOLAN:

The young kids played extremely well. We need a better effort as a whole.

ON NEEDING TO GIVE A BETTER EXAMPLE: I don't care who's in the lineup, you care about who competes in the lineup. We played OK, but that's not good enough.

ON OKPOSO: You can tell he's a player when he steps on the ice, he has a great sense for the game.

We didn't want to give him too much in his first game but he did well. He wants the puck.

Dubie gave us a chance. That's all you want from your goaltender.


BILL GUERIN ON NOLAN'S COMMENTS: I 100 percent agree with him.

They didn't have too much to work on off the older guys. It just wasn't there. We're going to try to win with who we have. The lines were shuffled, but in the end, hockey's hockey. You can't use that as an excuse. We could have won that game tonight. We have to do our best to avoid getting down and avoid getting negative.

ON OKPOSO: He played well. Your first game in the league, you're nervous. I think only Mario
came in and had a good first shift and was ready to go.

It's quite a thrill, your first NHL game. (Guerin remarked that his own debut was too long ago to remember but recalled it was at the old Chicago Stadium.)

He got involved in the game and had a couple of opportunities. There's a reason he's here.


KYLE OKPOSO (whose locker is between Comeau's and Guerin's, for what it's worth):

I thought the game was faster than it was the first period, but then I calmed down a bit.

On his scoring chance: I had a little more time than I thought.

The first period I was very nervous.

It's not different than what I've played. Obviously the skill level is higher. But hockey's hockey, whether it's on the pond or here. You've played a thousand times.

All the guys were really supportive and just said to relax.

It's getting better all the time...

Team records? Goals by the bushel? Free chili?

Quite a difference from just a week ago but the Islanders' fortunes are looking brighter with three straight wins coming into Monday's matinee against the Sharks. It's funny but when the Islanders lost to the Penguins and the Wild, the postgame commentary was all about how the effort was there and they were playing well, and while they did look better the results still weren't there and you got the feeling that it was just so much talk.

Well, three wins and 13 goals later, the Isles are three points out of a playoff spot. A big win against Philly followed by a terrific win on the road against Toronto, scoring four power play goals and killing four of five on the PK. Then Saturday's effort against the Thrashers in front of a sellout, limiting Atlanta to just 10 shots on goal, a team record. Wow. Throw in 49 shots for and you have as dominating a win as you'll see.

Imagine what the defense can do once Witt and Gervais get back. And it's great to see how well Freddy Meyer has been playing, and how guys like Fedotenko and Satan, Bergenheim and Comrie have picked up their games. Auditioning for the trade deadline? Perhaps, but the bottom line is the team is in the mix again and looks to be turning it on at the right time.

Game recap: Islanders 4, Maple Leafs 3 (OT)

This was one of those good news/better news/bad news games for the Islanders. The good news is that Wade Dubielewicz proved that he can step it up for the team when they need it. The better news is that Dubie's stellar play in the third period and overtime helped the Islanders win their third straight game, a 4-3 victory over the Maple Leafs Wednesday night at the Coliseum.

The bad news is that the reason Dubie was in goal in the first place is that Rick DiPietro suffered a knee injury in pregame warmups and lasted just the first period, in which the Islanders scored three goals, which if my math is correct represented a 300 percent increase in scoring efficiency compared to the last six weeks.

DiPietro was scheduled to get an MRI and be reevaluated Thursday, and as of 11:15 a.m. there has been no update. DiPietro will not make the trip to Ottawa for Thursday night's game against the Senators, so Yoda will need to use the force again tonight.

Mike Comrie scored twice, including the OT game-winner off an assist from Richard Park, who had a career-best three assists in the game. Of course, Park made the winning play as the final seconds of overtime ticked away by stealing the puck from Jason Blake, making his return to the Coliseum as a Maple Leaf. Blake was treaded well by the Islanders with a video tribute and was mostly well-received by the crowd, so there probably more than a few pangs of pain when he his giveaway led to Comrie's game-winner with less than 10 seconds left on the clock (right, Dee?).

It was a fabulous play by by Park, who has been one of the team's best players this season. He stole the puck at the Islanders' blue line, broke into the Maple Leafs zone and fired a shot of which a Toronto defender got a piece. But Comrie was there charging to the net and put the puck past Andrew Raycroft, another backup getting rare playing time.

Park has the opportunity to make that play thanks to Dubie, who got some help from the crossbar on a shot by Mats Sundin but was otherwise a stone wall as he made four BIG stops in the OT in a shooting-gallery atmosphere.

Another interesting development was the significant playing time afforded Blake Comeau and Freddy Meyer, particularly at the end of the game. Comeau has some serious jump and it's clear that Ted Nolan is going to give him the opportunities to help the team. I love the fact that there are so many young players contributing to a team that is also winning.

It was a thrilling victory, to be sure, and it was great to see Dubie coming up huge. But let's not kid ourselves - the Isles need DP back, pronto. Let's hope he's OK.

Tom Liodice of The Tiger Track (who had a great live blog of the game) says Joey Macdonald of the Sound Tigers will back up Dubie tonight in Ottawa.

Game recap: Maple Leafs 8, Islanders 1

You know those radio ads that claim to have to have the perfect system to amass incredible wealth and will send you A FREE DVD explaining how? Well, I've got them all beat. Just bet the mortgage against the Mets when they face a rookie pitcher and against the Islanders the game after they play the Rangers. It's money in the bank.

The Islanders had to travel to Toronto (home of old friend Darcy Tucker and ex-Islander Jason Blake) the day after beating the Rangers, and with Wade Dubielewicz in net to give Rick DiPietro a rest, you could be fairly certain the Islanders' fifth game in seven days would end badly. But 8-1?

This one was over once Matt Stajan put a shorthanded goal past Dubie late in the second period to give the Leafs a 4-1 lead. It was 5-1 before the second intermission, and that was pretty much all she wrote. Marc-Andre Bergeron made defensive mistakes on both goals, but it's hard to label one guy the goat when you lose by seven.

What bears watching is the seven-defender rotation. I can't see it lasting very long, but who's out? Bergeron, Witt, Martinek and Sutton are all pretty much locked in, and Gervais and Campoli are playing well and deserve to stay in the lineup to develop. But with Berard as the seventh d-man, that means forwards get shafted for time, and one thing we've noticed so far is that other than the top line, there's been no consistency or flow among the other forward combinations. Is it worth having Berard around for a few minutes of power-play time per game?

Meanwhile, Mats Sundin was honored for setting new, all-time team records for goals (390) and points (917) and received a much-deserved ovation from the home crowd. Blake also had a nice assist on Tomas Kaberle's goal in the second period, carrying the puck into the Islanders zone, stopping on a dime and spinning to find a streaking Kaberle with a quick pass. How many times have we seen that before? Great play by a very good player who is missed.