HoCkeY 2022-23

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Islanders did little over the off-season except fire their coach, and replace 2 old defenseman with 2 younger ones (Romanov in a trade from Montreal) and srcratch/rookie duo Aho and Salo, respectively.

Got off to a real shitty start but suddenly won 3 in a row, shutting out Rangers, beating Carolina on the road and last night overcame a 3-0 deficit to the Stanley Cup champion Avs to win 5-4.

I think the Devils might be the best of the 3 locals so far.

[Fman99]

I'll be attending my first Syracuse Crunch game of the season next Friday as my run club is having a group outing. I like watching hockey live. On TV, not so much.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

The Lunchpail and I trudged out to UBS Arena last night to watch the Isles-Flames game.

The "BS" in UBS is how difficult it is to get there. I actually biked there to buy the tickets (saving $17 in per-ticket "convenience" fees) and we'd have been better off biking to the game as I tried to decipher train schedules to the game but gave up so we ate $33 for parking then fought traffic for an hour to get there (about 18 miles door to door). The arena is nice especially if you like Heineken-branded beer bars. We went to the halal stand and got Falafel rather than fight the crowds for chicken fingers.

Then the game looked like a mistake too as Calgary barraged Sorokin with dozens of shots at took a 2-0 1st period lead then 3-1 going to the third. I half-considered leaving before the 3rd period but the Islanders fought back and tied it at 3, leading to overtime. A Calgary penalty gave the Isles a 4-on-3 powerplay when Dobson on the feed from Barzal hammered home the winner with just over a minute to play.



We were seated behind the goal just the the left of the cage up 12 rows.

[Frayed Knot]

When the Meadowlands was first being built and Pete Rozrlle was trying to fight off arguments about how bad it was to see NYC's football teams taken out of NYC, he responded by talking about how quickly he was able to get there from midtown ... by Helicopter!!!

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Oh the Islanders overcame another 3-1 3rd period deficit last night-- only against the Rangers at MSG, with a 4-3 regulation win.

[Marshmallowmilkshake]

Islanders are doing really well!

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

The new coach eased up on Trotz's defense-first game, so they've become a little easier to shoot on but the defensemen all have a bunch of goals, except Romanov who's a young (22) bruiser they got for draft picks. Plus Sorokin is probably the best goalie in the game now. They are also showing real resilience, lots of 3rd period goals and come from behinds.

Saturday's win over Philly ended with lots of rough stuff, and they play again Tuesday. So expect the isles to un-scratch Ross "The Boss" Johnston who's known for his knuckles. That game is on espn+ which I don't get.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Saturday's win over Philly ended with lots of rough stuff, and they play again Tuesday. So expect the isles to un-scratch Ross "The Boss" Johnston who's known for his knuckles. That game is on espn+ which I don't get.

Sure enough, 2 fights in the first 8 seconds of the game. The Isles played like shit and lost however

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

The Devils are really fast skaters and made it a game, pulling their goalie with 7 minutes left trailing by 3. They got one back and hit a few posts. Romanov delivered the hip check of the year. Isles win 6-4

[Frayed Knot]

More like just a straight shoulder hit right into the dude's chest. Hard but clean. If you dont want to get laid out like that then you gotta skate with your head up.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Dude never returned to the ice.

Clutterbuck of the Islanders broke his nose delivering a check, smashed into a helmet. He left for a few minutes and came back wearing a birdcage and with a tampon shoved in his nostril, got an assist and a goal

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Been a while. Rangers and Devils are in playoff positions. Scuffling isles in a 6 team fight for a wild card.

Looks bleak. They haven't been sound all year and as soon as they address one weakness in scoring-- they traded for Vancouver f Bo Horvat, topline C Barzal goes down with a leg injury.

Pageaeu, Wahlstrom, Clutterbuck also out.

That said big win last night in Pittsburgh with a makeshift crew. Big fight put all 10 skaters on the ice in the penalty box

[Frayed Knot]

. Big fight put all 10 skaters on the ice in the penalty box

I thought those kinds of brawls were mostly a thing of the past in this era's NHL

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

More like 2 guys got 5 for fighting, 8 guys got 2 for roughing

[MFS62]

More like 2 guys got 5 for fighting, 8 guys got 2 for roughing

And five soccer players siting in the stands fainted at the sight of blood.
Later

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Isles now 6-1-1 since I declared that things were bleak. They are giving up talent to everyone and finding a way to win ugly. Tonight in Pittsburgh they came back from 3-1 with 5 minutes left and won in ot.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

[Methead]

I've gone to a couple Bridgeport Islanders games this year, since my daughter has sung the national anthem with her school and extracurricular choir groups. Fun times!

[Frayed Knot]

Nice final couple of minutes for the Ice Landers tonight in their first home playoff game of the year and certainty a 'Must Have' game seeing as how they were down 2 games to none.

Game was tied 1-1 with under 4 minutes left.
5-1 Isles was your final.
They pretty much made Carolina goalie Antti Raanta say 'uncle'.

[Frayed Knot]

The Boston Bruins, coming off one of the best regular seasons in the history of the NHL, find themselves in OT of Game 7 trying to avoid elimination in the opening playoff round.
Bruins 3 - Florida Panthers 3 one minute into OT

[Frayed Knot]

Panthers have had two Golden chances in the first three minutes of OT but converted neither.

[Frayed Knot]

Panthers win.
NHL playoff system continues to be a joke.

[metirish]

I don't watch much NHL anymore but watched most of NYR / NJ game 7 , wow NJ were all over them

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Devils were good this year, all of a sudden.

Islanders got the exit they deserved. They just weren't good enough this year, for a variety of reasons (terrible power play, inopportune injuries, sloppiness on defense).

[MFS62]

Boomer Esiason, a rabid Ranger fan, lost it this morning. He was even insulting New Jersey and the bridges to get there.
I didn't watch the game and when the 11:00 PM news cane on they showed a picture of the Empire State Building lit up in red white and blue. But when they said it was for the anniversary of the building and the Devils won I felt a lot better.
I don't follow hockey much anymore, but I think the Devils haven't received their due respect from the fans, press and other media in the city.
Later