We got to sit on the glass on Z’s side of the rink. What a freakin rush! This game had a lil bit of everything. Fast paced non stop action and a chalupa at the end! The 5 - 4 score doesn’t tell the tale at all in this win.

The Islanders came to visit and I practically chewed my nails to the quick worrying about Dipietro’s ability to give his team that big edge with his puck handling. Dip is one of the best in the league at providing that outlet jump from the net.

I settled down pretty quickly when we jumped out to the 1 - 0 lead on the stick of Tiki’s sick goal. Walk in low, deke, slither, backhand, score! Very sweet! We have good numbers when drawing first blood (11-6-1 when scoring the first goal of the game). Then it took the Isles almost 8 minutes to answer it on Bergheim’s wrister. But by that point we couldn’t seem to get the hang of fighting off the NYI’s triangular zone entry. Some big hits were bein thrown but the boys weren’t limiting the Isles chances very well (13 - 10 sogs in favor of NYI) OhHale took a borderline interference penalty (ok he interfered but he didn’t inhale) but Campoli dorked out with a hold to give us a break and a 4 on 4 situation. We took serious advantage and in the waning seconds drew a delayed call. Guess the proof is in the pudding… Z is hella dangerous back on the blue if the boys will just fraggin look up and pass. My baby boy grabbed the lead back for us with that new slap shot of his. 2 - 1 Yotes into the first intermission. (yes that was me wobblin the glass almost off its moorings in section 113… I’ll probably be banned from glass seats now, but I don’t care)

The second period was pretty good too. The captain scored one of those odd angle shots that have been making regular appearances for us lately. Rhino got his 200th point on the assist. Of course the second period was also the start of a very rough night for Tim Jackman who took a deliberate swing (apparently trying for Jovo) and hit Telly in the head, knocking him over and tweaking his helmet. The entire crowd began to religiously boo everytime Jackass touched the puck. The team should have drawn straws and decided who was gonna take that asshat behind the woodshed. He deserved it. And the refs who missed it? Should be sentenced to watch that clip over and over and over, maybe next time they see a goalie gettin roughed up they’ll call something.

The third period started out fantastic as the Joker put away a classic rebound goal in the first 5 minutes. But Josh Bailey answered it in less than a minute with his first NHL goal. But still, 4 - 2 in our favor was quite impressive. Lucky Lindy stole a puck and went down to on the breakaway to give Dip a lil 5 hole misery and get us our 3 goal lead back. Apparently we then went into a coma. (they really gotta stop indulging in these rest periods) Z made a rare miscue in challenging Richard Park on his entry into our zone, Park was flat out flying and got by Z to pop Telly and get back within striking distance. 5 - 3 Yotes. The entire crowd and the teams take a moment to celebrate Doug Weight’s 1000th NHL point (Weight joins a short but illustrious list of American born players to hit that bench mark). Apparently we still don’t take Richard Park seriously… Park pretty much ‘parked’ his ass off of Telly’s weak side and slammed home a snap shot that could’ve cost us the game with a little more time left in the period.

But hey, landmark game for the Isles with lil Josh Bailey’s first marker and Doug Weight’s entry onto the list of elite American born offensemen.Landmark game for us as well since we moved into a serious tie with ANA for 6th spot in the conference and a secondary tie for 2nd in the Pacific division!And Z celebrated his 300th NHL game with a goal, an assist and 2 blocked shots.

Stars of the game…Telly, Tiki and my baby boy with the 1st STAR!!! Go Z!!!

We face the Quackers tomorrow. Probably one of the most important games of the season. We win… we strut home in 2nd place for the Pacific and 6th place in the conference… not too shabby for the underdawgs. If we lose… we don’t fall, but rather, we hang about in neutral since the closest team to us can’t gain enough points to screw up our 7th place strangle hold.

See more of Teal’s pics

Well…after playin the sweaters off the Kings we hit Long Island with a disctinctly flat thud. Our sense of urgency ran off with our power play. (I think they are really enjoying their vacation off the coast of Fiji or something) Anyway, we played a fairly solid 30 minutes.

That Bergenheim was a monster…super hits! We had our hands full but were managing to keep the Isles contained while still getting some good shots ourselves. The posts were definately not our friend. DMO! with an awesome mid air save, Bryz with a couple fo key robberies and Mules with a buzzer busting try to end the first. The game was scoreless through the whole first and the mid point of the second.

Then stupid (that would be me) turns the game on the radio. This will now count as my superstition for the season…. no more radio! Listen on internet at work… no radio all the way home… watch when I get home from now on. Not even 1 minute after I turned the game on the Isles scored. And it had to be Bill Guerin! the poor guy hasn’t scored in more games than years Mules has been alive… But of course the Onyx curse gives that old work horse some life. I dunno if anyone else is payin attention to our record when the other team scores first? But it really stinks. When we draw first blood we are like second in the league for winning. (the Isles are 10- 0 - 0 when leading in the second!) So I immediately turn off the radio… but the damage is done. Bryz! (always give Bryz! his exclamation point…he deserves it for his play so far) saved our bacon time after time. We got sloppy and frustrated trying to solve DP.

Our third period has not been pretty and we were down by 1 despite all the chances we had, I was losin hope fast. Then our PK brain farts and its suddenly 2 - 0 Isles. Carci is a bit of a bad boy , givin DP a lil tacky tap after the puck is caught. Bergheim and Sutton take exception and the teams mix it up behind the net (this is a sign of the ugly to come). Another PK dammmit! But oh boy! Vbrat w/ the steal, Vbrat and Donor on the shortie rush! BOYNK! playin trailer pots Vbrats rebound. 2 - 1 Isles. We’re finally in it.

Just as I’m gearing up to play to tie… Comrie and Guerin cause a ruckus and Geurin strikes again. 3 - 1 Isles. But there is time 7 minutes left but we look a little funked as DP keeps us off the board. But the lil terrier Niiikooo! Kaaapanennn! spots a loose puck in a crease scrum and darts in to poke it home. 3 - 2 Isles. We get legs and attitude! But so do the Isles! Its an ugly scramble in which liberties are taken repeatedly by both sides.

1 minute left and we’re on the PP! (yeah I’m practically vibrating at this point) We battle like hell and then the refs brain fart (DP holds a catch….and holds acatch….and holds acatch….no whistle and then DP skates out and bats it out to the blue) what a crock…and it sets up the ugly crap that follows.

The next time DP catches the puck Donor taps his glove to make sure the refs blow the frickin whistle and everyone goes to war. Donor, Jovo are gettin blasted by Isles players. (the refs grab Donor and leave Jovo to disappear under the punching and kicking of 3 Isles) Hanzal is pulling Isles off Jovo and gets grabbed by 2 of them like a piece of taffy (Witt has his fist coked and gloves off) but Hanzal gives him no resistance (smart boy) and the refs eventually get Witless to go away. In the mean time there is a gang style jump in goin on behind the net still, with DP and his partners beatin the hell out of Jovo still. Finally all culprits are broken apart. Total and complete bullshat follows as penalties are assessed (mostly to Yotes) You have to see the whole 1:30 to be as pissed as I am right now.

We lose 3 - 2 but not cuz we didn’t give it everything we had. I’ve seen bad calls and I’ve seen refs lose control of the game before…this was a stinker for sure. I’d like another shot at these boyos and I’m not normally the blood thirsty type. But next season…I hope the taste of this game is still in their mouth and we get some revenge.

1 - 1 on the road… we face the Devils next.

The Kings need better guards or better locks. The Yotes keep gettin in and makin off with the points.

Tonight was no exception to the rule. We can’t solve the Sharks but we pretty much have owned the royals so far this season. We’re in their heads at this point and they can’t seem to shake us. Some pundits (I hesitate to use the word journalists for these twits) have made a big deal out of Blake being punted out of the game (like he coulda stopped the Yotes all on his lonesome). C’mon people even with Blake in we have spanked the Kings, game after game. (And yes I am still pissed about Blake roughin up my boy Z) so this post may be a wee bit more critical than usual.

Plain and simple facts: Bryz >>> all the King’s goalies combined. Yotes scoring committee >>> all the King’s talent combined. Game over, Yotes win… again.

Stopping the big gun (Kopitar) and the mini automatic (Cammelleri) seems to do the trick. Everyone else just seems to cover up and hand over the crown jewels. But gotta give props to Dustin and JS, they did give their all.

This was a big one for us. The win helps put us on good footing when we start our long Eastern road trip. We’ll need every bit of confidence we can muster goin out to play places like the MSG (scary place for a buncha of noobies). But first we got a stop on the Island to face Nolan and his shaky gang of mutts.

The Isles have play off aspirations…those are dreams with legs. They will be looking to take advantage of us to get their heads in the right space. Their coach seems to be ready to take off the kid gloves and go medieval on them if they don’t start living up to expectations. ( “I’ve given guys plenty of opportunities, but patience can only go so long,” Nolan said. “We’re in a business. You have to produce and you have to play hard.” ~ Ted Nolan)  http://scores.espn.go.com/nhl/recap?gameId=271212002

Comrie needs to be looked after too. (I know he was one of ours once but still…) whup him like he stole somethin! Ex Yotes have a way of doin a lot of damage (errr Nagy exepted).

Do NOT let Suitcase Sillinger eat all the face offs! FOs = possession and we need to get that momentum on our side so we can shell the hell out of DP.

Shoot early, shoot often (worked for us last time and worked for the Sabres the other night), DP is no slouch between the pipes this season (yeah I made fun of his overpaid patoot last season)  but never under estimate a desperate goalie. ( Rick DiPietro, making his fifth consecutive start, finished with 36 saves. “They put a lot of traffic in front,” DiPietro said of the Sabres. “That was effective.”)

We really need to get rollin quick on this road trip. Facin all the News (Isles, Rangers, Devils) is gonna wring us dry before headin in to face the Flyers, Briere is one of the keys there. Shutting him down will require our quickest and most creative boys to be on their toes.(heads up and shields high boys! the Broadstreet Bullies can be had, but there will most likely be bloodshed) then all the way back to face the team that has owned us all season (nuthin like fending off a Shark attack after an Atlantic swim marathon with a buncha parahnas). This is gonna be the most important test of our new goalie and the fortitude and stamina of the kidlets. Lets go get ‘em Yotes!

EDIT: thanx to T and Kir for catchin my weird crossover (and for those who read it early… Briere still plays for the Flyers ) roflmao