Having a Devil of a Time in New Jersey

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Things seem to never go right for the Islanders in New Jersey. Last visit they lost Radek and Doug. This time they lost Nielsen. They also lost the game and the momentum they built in the win against the Penguins on Friday afternoon.

So maybe it's the REALLY early day games they have a problem with, or just the NJ Devils and future hall-of-famer, Marty Brodeur. But that being said, the biggest problems according to Jack Hillen were penalties (his) and turnovers (every one's). "Our forecheck was a little bit off too."

According to Scott Gordon, it was a lot off. "We didn't have the patience to wait on our forecheck. Patience on our side has to be there. We got away from it. Now were playing into their hands."

Patience is a virtue and not easy to teach, neither is discipline. "We have to play with a certain amount of discipline. And we didn't."

Penalties are noticeably adding up for the Islanders who have been testing their goalies and PK-ers with five on three opportunities more than they should. Additionally, the penalties are coming from some veterans as well as rookie players. So, when Scott Gordon talks about discipline and patience, he's talking to the entire team.

However, as Jack Hillen told reporters "we're still having a great year so far. It's only one game."

Yes, in the scheme of things, the Islanders are still on their way to a good season. But losing key players to injury will once again dog their success. There is still no definitive word on the return of Captain Doug Weight and the loss of Andy Sutton for (hopefully) only a few games may leave Andrew MacDonald up from Bridgeport.

On the bright side for one guy who has been spending too much time in the press box may actually get some ice time in Nielsen's place. Well, Gordon DID say he's only use him if he needed a Center. Knock, Knock, Robbie. This is opportunity. There's a Center down.

Once again Anthony Curatolo and I will be creating a new episode of Off The Rush later this morning looking at this week in Islanders Hockey and the upcoming road games after their much needed days off.

Later!