Game Notes: Isles @ Tampa 10-16-08

Yeah... from the couch that is. End of second period and Isles are up 2 - 0. Nice start.

This morning I asked my friend Dr. David Lubin who was the 7th Man award winner in 2004 for the Tampa Bay Lightning for his feelings about the Lightening. This is what I got:

"Well, it's not Melrose that wins or loses games, it's the guys on the ice. Against Carolina last week, Mike Smith was stalwart stopping over 40 shots, but the defense gave way and the offense was non existent in the last 30 minutes. I turned to my buddy when we were up 3-2 and said we were going to lose 4-3 in regulation. I was wrong, it was overtime. Stamkos hasn't been seen much averaging less than 10 minutes a game, but when you've got to kill off 9 penalties, there's not going to be much of him to see, although Melrose has suggested he might play the number one overall draft pick on the power play. With 15 new faces this year it might just take awhile to get adjusted on the ice. Problem is, you can't wait too long. The Tampa Bay Rays will be attempting to win the American League pennant tonight so attendance might be affected. There was another game vs. Boston when we played Carolina but attendance was pretty good. TV sets on all the concourses and in the suites were tuned to the game and the Lightning played the remainder of the game on the big screen following the hockey game. Glad I was watching the end at home though since it ended about 1:45 in the AM."

Thanks David.

Well, I can't stay long but I can't believe we now have a seven minute pre-game show. That's incredibly annoying.

I was very happy to see Comrie got the first goal. Not quite the $4 mill goal we've been calling for, but a goal non-the-less.

Joey Mac is doing a decent job considering, according to Howie, "he has not been considerably tested." I'm sure Joey would beg to differ with you Howie.

And my favorite part of the night so far? Look at Scott Gordon behind the bench. He's wearing a blue suit, a blue suit and an orange tie with little white accents.

Scott. You just won me over BIG TIME.

Sean, score one when I can see you.

Back to the game.

Oh why do I bother. Tied now 2 -2. Note to Barry Melrose. Drug testing. Start at "P."

And the Islanders get their win in OT. That should put a slight smile on Garth Snow's face.

SOG were even. The entire evening, they seemed very evenly matched. Which is a bad thing considering how bad we hear Tampa is.

Night.