Going nowhere? Hah!

Break up the Islanders?

That's how it looks after a six -- SIX! -- game winning streak that has the club a point behind the eighth-place Rangers and a point ahead of the slumping Flyers.

Hard to believe, but when this streak began, against those Flyers, one of the big debates in the Blog Box was what the team should do at the trade deadline - buy or sell? One of the bloggers -- you can guess who if you're an avid Blog Box reader -- said that night that "this team is going nowhere" and that Garth Snow should essentially hold a fire sale and deal anyone with value, including players like Brendan Witt (who got hurt that same game), Mike Sillinger, etc. Who knew they'd rattle off six straight while the injured kept piling up?

One player who won't be dealt anytime soon is Trent Hunter, who inked a new five-year deal. Snow called him part of the Islanders' core, and I like Hunter as a player -- he plays hard all the time. I just wish he'd produce more than the 8 goals and 24 points he currently has.

One of those assists came on the game-tying goal against the Capitals, Josef Vasicek's backhanded flip off the hip of Olaf Kolzig. Hey, it counts. Mike Comrie -- another player mentioned as possible trade material who has been playing extremely well -- scored the winner on the final shot of the shootout.

Thursday's night's 1-0 win over the Lightning not only marked Chris Simon's return from suspension but Rick DiPietro's third shutout of the season. Both teams looked tired having played the night before so fans were treated to a cautious, defensive game, but an entertaining one nonetheless. DiPietro made 32 saves, 14 in the third period alone, and Radek Martinek had another huge game after helping shut down Alex Ovetchkin.

Some fans booed Simon, and while I wouldn't have been among them, I can't blame them. Simon seems like a good guy who has made some terrible decisions, and getting suspended doesn't help the club. But Nolan has his back, and I expect him to be on this team through the end of the season. Jeff Tambellini was sent down to make room.

Sunday afternoon's game at New Jersey is the last before the deadline, but don't expect anything earth-shattering. Then again, we didn't see Ryan Smyth coming last year, either.

Game recap: Hurricanes 3, Islanders 2 (OT)

Another day, another blown two-goal lead, this one coming apart with the Isles ahead by 2 with less than 17 minutes left in regulation.

I took my five-year-old son to the game, and he was getting antsy down the stretch, for reasons much different than mine. He wanted to get his free hockey stick (more on that in a later post) and go home. I just wanted to see the Islanders win.

OK, so there's not much you can do when a shot from the point ricochets a couple of times before finding the twine, which is what happened on Carolina's first goal. But then a shot from the point finds the five-hole (Was DiPietro screened? Tough to tell from Section 325) and suddenly the game is tied.

Just as I was explaining the concept of overtime to my son, Carolina scored. "That's a horrible loss," said my friend Jimmy Mac, seated in front of us with his wife and two young daughters. I'm sure he -- and plenty of other parents of young ones at the game -- wanted to vent a little more loudly and profanely at the turn of events, but we held our collective tongues in order to be good role models.

All this despite the return of Radek Martinek and Brendan Witt to the back line, and for two-plus periods -- particularly the second period -- all looked fine. Hilbert and Satan gave the Isles a two-goal cushion and the game seemed somewhat in hand. Another lesson for the young ones -- never let down.

Meanwhile, there was plenty to complain about regarding the officiating. Few penalties called all game, and then Martinek gets called for boarding (borderline in my eyes, but OK) -- but you're telling me Fedotenko WASN'T hammered by a cross check in front of the Carolina net in the final minutes? Where was that call? And then Sutton is called for a cross check in overtime? Horrible. Of course, the Hurricanes score to win. No home calls here, I guess.

So that's three in-conference points the Islanders have let slip through their fingers the last few days, with game two of the home-and-home at Carolina on Tuesday night.

SUFFOLK ALL-STARS RULE!

Sweet sassy molassy, did you see the final score of the Lighthouse Cup? Suffolk County romped to an 11-0 victory over the Nassau County stars, scoring eight goals in the second period to put the game away early. Read all about it here. Congrats, Suffolk!

Game recap: Rangers 4, Islanders 2

Eleven games and counting where the Islanders have scored no more than twice. Remarkably, they are 5-5 with an overtime loss in that stretch, which says a lot about the defense and the play of Rick DiPietro. But you wonder how much longer the team can tread water when a third goal by the opposition equals a loss.

You kind of knew beating the Rangers would be tough one night after a big win over the Senators. Toss in the fact that the game was at the Garden, and that the Rangers were supremely motivated to win after dropping the first three meetings of the season. Sure enough, they jumped out on top on a goal by Jaromir Jagr. Miro Satan got the equalizer early in the second, but two more goals by the Rangers threatened to blow the game open. Mike Comrie's wrister late in the second got the Isles within one again -- but that also meant they had reached their goal quota for the game.

Again, the power play (can we really call it that any more) was a major culprit, going scoreless in four chances, including a 29-second, 5-on-3 advantage in the first.

We mentioned it in one of the early blog posts this season, but the Islanders just don't have that one scorer who scares you, or who can carry a team when they need it. So you figure if Garth Snow has a Christmas list, a sniper is at the top.

The ugliness came courtesy of Ryan Hollweg, who showed again how classless he is by threatening to rip open the fresh stitches in Radek Martinek's face. Martinek caught a skate blade the night before, but played with 15 stitches nonetheless. Of course, Hollweg saw the wound as a target, and displayed his intelligence by telling Martinek he would rip them open when they met in scrum along the boards.

When Simon slashed Hollweg in the face, it was a bad split-second decision by a player who has always been highly regarded by his teammates. Hollweg, however, thinks about his violence before inflicting it, and is as much of a lowlife as anyone in the league. If the NHL is serious about protecting its players (and some of Colin Campbell's "punishments" make you wonder), it will sit Hollweg for a few games.

Not that it would make much of a difference to Hollweg.