Lighthouse Hockey: Try to fixate on something else.
For those who went into this Islanders transitional season with low or at least cautiously tempered expectations, the last eight games have been startling, confusing and pretty damn fun. I say eight games, because the 6-1 road trip, which started with some “not great but pulled it off” wins and steamrolled into some “that was […]
18 days ago | 1 read
The Islanders have turned their traditional season-ending western road trip into…something else entirely. Thoroughly dispatching the Red Wings in Detroit, the Isles finished the seven-game stretch with a 6-1 record that has launched them up the standings. At the quarter pole, they’re suddenly in a non-wild card playoff position and just a couple points off […]
19 days ago | 2 reads
The Islanders finish their long and surprisingly successful road trip tonight in Detroit, back in the Eastern time zone and oh so lose to returning home for a weekend of back-to-back afternoon games. A win tonight would put them in the non-wildcard proper playoff section of the Metro for the moment. Just half a year […]
19 days ago | 0 reads
Tuesday night had a chaotic, disheartening ending to what otherwise should’ve been an uplifting evening as the Isles took four of six points from a run through Vegas, Colorado and Dallas. (Six of eight when you include Utah, no slouches themselves, though that effort was less impressive.) The Isles’ win over the Stars in a […]
20 days ago | 0 reads
When you post on SB Nation, we don’t want you to miss all the conversations and responses that follow. So starting today, whenever a user replies to your comment or to your post on the Feed, you’ll see a notification at the top right corner of the page. And of course, this means that when […]
20 days ago | 0 reads
Well that was one of the most up and down third periods of hockey in a long time. A 1-1, penalty-free game after two periods quickly devolved after Bo Horvat gave the Isles a 2-1 lead, then took a high-sticking double minor that also earned him a misconduct penalty. Kyle Palmieri scored short handed to […]
21 days ago | 1 read
Mike and Dan are in good spirits as the Islanders win four of the first five games of their road trip and show signs of excitement. The seven game gauntlet through several Stanley Cup contenders loomed large on the schedule. But after three electric overtime games, the Islanders were making believers out of many. While […]
21 days ago | 0 reads
How do you get to Texas, the old joke goes: Go south till you smell it, then west till you step in it. The Islanders are in Dallas tonight where they’ll step in it, alright. The Stars are a perennial contender off to another great start, 12-4-3, and of course the Isles lost both games […]
21 days ago | 0 reads
With the Islanders riding a three-game overtime win streak, if you were expecting a back-to-earth reality check against the league-leading Avalanche in Colorado, that’s not exactly what they received. Though the Isles lost, 4-1, the game was close until the end — an empty netter plus a garbage-time deflection goal by Brock Nelson inflated the […]
23 days ago | 0 reads
The Islanders are riding a 4-0 start to a seven-game stretch away from home that includes three consecutive overtime wins, which is both inspiring and classic “that’s the luck of the draw” kind of muddied reflection of where they are. The East is a mashup of meh-ness but the Islanders now find themselves in wild […]
23 days ago | 0 reads
Hey all, good to be back writing recaps! I spent the early part of the season in Tokyo, so the disastrous 0-3 start to the season happened in the early morning for me. It’s a weird experience to get notifications on Islanders goals while eating breakfast. But like I said, good to be back, and […]
25 days ago | 2 reads
If you didn’t stay up late last night, you missed quite the stirring against-script conclusion. Shorthanded in OT, having blown a 2-0 lead and then scored a late 6-on-5 goal just to make it to extra time, the Isles pulled off another one on the back of Ilya Sorokin and a tremendous individual play by […]
25 days ago | 2 reads
Joined again by their friend Sab, Mike and Dan remember Josef Vašíček, the big, versatile, likeable center who left us far too early in the Lokomotiv airplane disaster. Vašíček only spent one season on Long Island, but he made a lot of fans in that short time, bringing goals and a big smile to a […]
25 days ago | 2 reads
The Islanders pulled off multiple stunning escapes to take both points in Las Vegas, capped by J-G Pageau’s dramatic shorthanded solo effort to win the game in overtime, 4-3. Twice when things looked set for a loss, the Isles flipped the script, including Mat Barzal tying it with 2:37 left in regulation after his team […]
26 days ago | 2 reads
The Islanders’ seven-game road trip really gets down to business tonight with the opening of a back-to-back at Vegas and then Utah. Sorry for the mid-week gap in posts — I had something planned about the crater in the fourth line but an ill-timed broadband outage scrapped that. Dan and Mike touched on it in […]
26 days ago | 4 reads
The Islanders at the as-yet-undefeated-at-home Devils right where they wanted them: Having killed off a fourth Devils power play late in a tied game, the Isles finally got a power play of their own, and after a middling start, Kyle Palmieri cashed in for the would-be winner. But after missing several empty net tries and […]
29 days ago | 3 reads
Mike and Dan recap a week of great, bad and ugly as the Islanders follow-up a no-show performance at home with a hilarious win on the road. The week started with an eventful, entertaining game against the Bruins that didn’t go the Islanders’ way, and also included some social media drama. All of that was […]
29 days ago | 3 reads
The Islanders have a daunting November road trip ahead, but the travel part doesn’t kick in until later this week. For now, and tonight, they’re just over in Newark to complete the weekend’s metro area tour. That started with a thud at home on Long Island in an uninspiring loss to the Wild, but rebounded […]
29 days ago | 5 reads
Yeah, I think I’ll accept a flat home loss to the Wild in exchange for a Garden-silencing shutout of the Rangers any weekend. The Isles bounced back from a poor Friday night in front of home fans by pleasing plenty other home fans at Madison Square Garden with a 5-0 shutout of their pajama-clad rivals. […]
about 1 month ago | 3 reads
The Islanders and Rangers have their first meeting of the season in Manhattan tonight, with both teams playing the second half of a back-to-back. In theory the Isles have the advantage, since they played at home (but poorly) last night, while the Rangers are coming back from Detroit, where they beat the Red Wings handily. […]
about 1 month ago | 5 reads
Woof. The Islanders were thoroughly outplayed by a team that was on the back end of a traveling back-to-back, looking like a rusty, uninspired squad. It wasn’t laziness or lack of trying, rather it just looked like no one was in sync, no one could make or catch a pass — save for a couple […]
about 1 month ago | 6 reads
The Islanders are back in action for a hyperlocal back-to-back, with the Wild at home tonight followed by a visit to the Rangers on Saturday night to tee up a long and dreaded Western trip. The Wild are coming in on a back-to-back after losing in Raleigh last night, but we know quite well that […]
about 1 month ago | 3 reads
The Islanders had an extra day (and day off) to stew over missed opportunities in the shootout loss to the Bruins, and also for Matthew Schaefer to go on TNT and haze Henrik Lundqvist for being a Ranger. Speaking of which, tomorrow’s home game vs. the Wild is the start of a back-to-back that ends […]
about 1 month ago | 3 reads
The Islanders will try to make it a win streak tonight when they host the Bruins. For a change, they do not enter the evening in last place…they’re just among five teams tied for last in the East with 13 points. First Islanders Goal picks for tonight go here. Islanders News Elsewhere Four games last […]
about 1 month ago | 1 read
Mike and Dan recap a busy week in which the Islanders stayed afloat thanks in large part to record-breaking super rookie Matthew Schaefer. The week started very poorly, with another blown lead followed by another blowout to a familiar bully. But what looked like a new bottom gave way to an unexpected rebound. A comeback […]
about 1 month ago | 1 read