Islanders @ Red Wings

DEFEAT (OT)

3 : Detroit Red Wings @ New York Islanders : 4

Tomas Tatar

Had the pleasure of actually being in the state of Michigan to cash in on my free curly fries from Eaves' hat trick last game, which, when you think about it, beat some phenomenal odds. I was so happy to get those curly fries...

Watched this game at my brother's house for New Years Eve. I got pretty drunk, so the fact we lost wasn't quite so upsetting... but we HAD that shit. Seriously.

Some Notes From The Game:

We start off with a montage to say farewell to 2010. There were some good times...

Eaves is out with an elbow injury, so we've got Tatar up from Grand Rapids. Lets see how he does.

The First Period:

Robbie Shrimp? Really? I troll the box score and find out his name is actually 'Shremp', but c'mon...

Zetterberg gets things started with a really cool backhand on goal that draws some cheers from the crowd. Which is very sparse, by the way. A ton of empty seats.

Nothing exciting until an Islander sends the puck over the glass in their zone and heads to the box for delay of game.

For the record, the Islanders are the 2nd most penalized team in the league. I'm pretty sure the Ducks are first, but don't quote me on that.

Awful power play. We don't generate anything and the Islanders clear every ten seconds. Eww.

Big E gets a nice shot on goal and there's shoving to be had over the rebound. The goalie gloves it and we head to a commercial break.

We return to a tribute to Chris Osgood, as this is the first home game since his 400th career victory. There's a montage on the jumbotron and Ozzie steps out onto the ice afterward to say thanks. The crowd gives him a standing ovation.

Congrats, Ozzie!

And I guess another Islander heads off for crosschecking. Must've missed saying it 'cause of the Ozzie shenanigans, and we try our hand at another power play. No joy, and nothing of note. A lot of trouble setting up.

The fourth line follows up our power play failure with their usual energetic party in the offensive zone. That's always so much fun to watch...

Franzen's goal:

Bertuzzi enters on the right all alone amidst three Islanders, and dumps the puck so he can head back to the bench for a shift change. Holmstrom enters the picture on the forecheck and manages to intercept a pass along the left boards. He dishes it behind the net to Zetterberg, who passes it to an incoming Franzen. The Mule wrists it on goal and the puck squeezes past Roloson and the goalpost.

Don't Feed the Mule. Seriously.

This is our first goal against the Islanders in a few years, as we only play them once a season and they've shut us out on our last two meetings.

There's some fun to be had in the Islander's crease

There's a pretty good dogpile in the new few seconds

Commercial break, and we return to Ken and Mick bantering with Murph about the Alumni game they had up in Pittsburgh to test out the arena before the Winter Classic. They show us a shot of Murph assisting on a goal, and then Ken teases Murph about being on the ice for a goal against. Murph defends himself, saying that he had his man on that play. Ken wants to know which man it was, to which Murph replies 'one of the guys that didn't score'.

I chuckled.

Bertuzzi heads to the box for getting his stick broken. Seriously. They call it 'goaltender interference'.

He's got quite the bruise on his face as well. Poor Todd.

Lidstrom's goal:

The Islanders win the faceoff and the puck heads up to a defenseman on the point. The Dman lets a slapshot go. It hits an Islander and then bounces off Jimmah into the air. Lidstrom and Tavares both wave their sticks at it. Lidstrom gets his stick on it first and smacks it right over Jimmah's shoulder and into the net.

Whoops

Tie game.

Not so perfect now, eh, Nick?

Well, we get Toddzilla back from the box and the game continues.

After another commercial break, Ken wants to feel better about Lidstrom, so they take a look at how Nick is doing compared to last year.

We call this 'improvement'

There's some banter about Bertuzzi. Who apparently cut his hair. Super short. His sideburns remain intact, thankfully.

With 5 seconds left in the period, we ice the puck.

In the last three seconds of the period, the Islanders win a faceoff in our zone and score.

Of course they do.

The Second Period:

We start off by eyeing number 21, Tomas Tatar, who nets our player profile.

There's a few minutes of hockey. Kronner gets nailed on an icing.

More hockey. Snore-fest.

Hudler gets absolutely ROBBED on a one-timer. Yeesh.

An Islander falls into Jimmah. I note this, because last time Bertuzzi fell into a goaltender he got a penalty for it. The Islanders are apparently immune to goaltender interference penalties. And this just further proves the point that the only penalties Bertuzzi gets are penalties for being Todd Bertuzzi.

Man, there are people tripping all over each other everywhere.

Franzen has a glorious chance but shoots it wide. Of course he does.

Knowing I just complained about the lack of goaltender interference calls, Dan O'Halloran calls the Islanders for goaltender interference.

Hah.

Powerplay time.

We don't really manage anything. Holmstrom stickhandles the puck in center ice and passes to a wing with no one there. Mick is vastly amused.

Kronner gets robbed on a good give-n-go. The look on Kronner's face following this is absolutely priceless. I'm sure whatever he muttered as he skated away was less than pretty.

We cut to an interview with Lidstrom about New Years Resolutions. Apparently Homer usually comes up with the best ones. Nick refuses to elaborate further. Ken is very curious.

Mick is annoyed when the Islanders implement a trap.

We bang away at a rebound in front of the crease. No joy.

JUST SHOOT THE PUCK. UGHHH.

Tatar almost scores. Keep your chin up, kid. You'll get it.

The Islanders win a faceoff in the Red Wing's zone and score off a deflect.

What. The. Hell.

3-1 Islanders now.

In the waning minutes of the period, the fourth lines comes out and throws a party. It was awesome.

With eight seconds left in the period...

Filppula's goal:

This one is a bit crazy. It starts with a Lidstrom slapshot from the center point. The rebound gets lost in a tangle of bodies and lands over by Helm outside the crease, who manages to whack it on goal. It hits the goal post and bounces over to Filppula, who gloves it out of the air and buries it. Meanwhile, a Islander dman has shoved Bertuzzi in Roloson, who goes sprawling in the crease. Roloson is so pissed that they didn't call goaltender interference (again) on Bertuzzi that he shoves the net off its mooring and has a few choice words for Dan O'Halloran.

Filp enters from the left mere seconds after this to glove the puck. This was the only clear shot of the goal I could get.

The Third Period:

Our first real action happens when an Islander trips Franzen, drawing a penalty. The falling Franzen manages to dish the puck to an incoming Zetterberg, who has a beautiful scoring chance. Unfortunately, his stick disintegrates on the shot.

Noodle

Damn.

We don't generate much of anything on the power play. Bertuzzi gets robbed. And drops a lot of F-bombs afterward

The Islanders nail our goalpost. I hate that sound.

Bertuzzi gets nailed with the puck. Poor guy.

Franzen gets another good opportunity. And misses the net. SERIOUSLY, FRANZEN.

Tatar's goal:

Funky one, but I'm sure Tatar will take it. Puck battle along the left boards. Raffi pulls it free and dishes to Helm, who shoots it on goal. Tatar gets a stickblade in the way - the puck bounces lazily into the air, just over Roloson, and dribbles in.

The first of many, hopefully

Congratulations on your first NHL goal, Tatar. Keep it up.

Bertuzzi negates an icing. He does that a lot, actually.

Zetterberg gets tripped. No call.

Bertuzzi bowls over two Islanders. Mick chuckles.

Zetterberg breaks his stick. Again.

Last minute of the period. Bertuzzi dislodges the net.

Nothing.

Overtime:

Helm gets railed into the boards, drawing a penalty for tripping.

Franzen breaks his stick on the faceoff. Lovely.

Zetterberg had a WIDE open net but sends it wide. I say ugly things to my computer monitor.

Franzen gets his stick slashed and broken as he's screening the goaltender. No call.

WTF, yo!

Instead, the refs call Zetterberg for holding. Awesome.

So now we've got 3-on-3 hockey. I'm trying to remember the last time I saw this. Can't think of one. Very interesting...

The Islanders camp behind their net like little bitches until their penalty expires, and the remaining time on the clock is a power play in their favor.

And then they score.

Damn.

Don't Think We Didn't Notice:

Other than the fact that the Islanders play a pretty boring game of hockey... Lidstrom checks someone into the Wing's bench. This is always good to see.

You all saw it

 No one Served With Pride.