Thursday, November 13, 2008

Puck Poise & Patience 11-13-08



That's what Scott Gordon had to say in the post game about Josh Bailey after the Islander game in Ottawa tonight. I suppose the kid is making a case for himself to stay with "his" team.

I had a feeling the Islanders would be able to win this one, and it was nice to see that feeling was right for a change. I'm always hopeful, but it was different tonight. Then again, the odds were with me. They can't lose EVERY game; it's just not possible.

While watching the first period, I noticed little things that I liked about Sutton, Hilbert and Weight. Was it actually possible that this could be a good team with just really bad luck?

I watched Bailey set up some very nice plays for his second NHL game. And then Okposo scored off Bailey and Campoli and I had to smile. Not just because Josh had his first NHL point (and Okposo finally had a new goal for the highlight reels) but because it was the spark they needed to get them going.

When Hunter scored with his back to Auld, I thought about the dreaded "lead" that leads to loss. But after checking the NYIC board, I told myself and the other members to just have faith.

I kept hoping that Sean would make it three, but as hard as he worked, the goal wasn't his. But I'm sure he'll take that assist point on Guerin's goal as it was a decent set up for his two veteran line mates.

Puck Poise and Patience. Could that be the winning recipe to start putting some numbers in the win column of the stat sheets? We've seen Sutton have great patience with the puck, and Weight too. Perhaps this is something Gordon can teach all of them. But for now, his youngest pupil seems to have a pretty good head start.

Congratulations Josh. Guess you won't be heading to Windsor any time soon.

1 comment:

Paul Kreischer said...

I was wondering what your thoughts are about Tambellini. Does he look lost or does it look like he's had some bad luck? Put Bailey with Tambs and Okposo for a line and see how that could work out.