Friday, January 11, 2007- The New York Islanders roll into Calgary tonight for the first time since January 15, 2002. Yes, you read that correctly, the Islanders are 4 days shy of not being in Cowtown in 6 years. Of course, if the Edmonton game on Monday is any indication, there's a chance they might not show up tonight either...
- The Islanders have 3 points in their last 4 games, all from extra time losses. Unfortunately, their most recent 3 games have been against divisional rivals (Colorado, Edmonton, and Vancouver)...
- Calgary had a five game winning streak snapped by the Coyotes on Tuesday night in the Saddledome, but this may be just the right team to face to start another one before heading out on the road for a 3 game stint...
- Bill Guerin leads the Islanders in goals with 15, which wouldn't have been as surprising if this game took place 5 years ago. And you can say ditto for team assists (20) and points (33) leader Mike Comrie, but then again he does have a pop starlet to impress. Former rookie sensation Trent Hunter seems to have found a way to extend his sophomore slump into his fourth season...
- With stunning offence like that, its no wonder that Rick Dipietro was the only one from the fishsticks to make the All Star game (which I plan on posting about tomorrow at some point). Although he did rightfully merit his selection, as he is playing extremely well. Just not Roberto Luongo well (way to go Mike!)...
You could say that the Islanders have much more balanced scoring than the Flames do (since the point differential between the 1st and 8th forward is only 2 points per player), but that would imply that they actually have scoring. Their +/- leader is Blake Comeau with a +4, and that's because he's only played in 11 games (although he did get 4 points, which puts him right up there with the team's ppg leaders). These guys appear to be the Toronto Blue Jays of the NHL, where the only reason that they win games is because of standout performances by their stoppers (I'm comparing goalies to pitchers in this equation, for those of you that I may have lost there), including wins by Dubielewicz while Dipietro was injured a couple weeks ago. Wade Dubielewicz!!!
If there was one game all season that Kipper should most definitely be able to get a shutout in (hell, Mathieu Garon did), its this one!
I pick the Flames to win this one 5-0, giving Kipper the long overdue shutout and topping the goal output from the Oilers. Flames goals by Iginla x2, Huselius, Lombardi, and Smith (dude's putting my last name to shame, even I would have had at least one goal after 34 games)...
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