NY Islanders: That One Hurt and Why It Was Good

Expectations. That is something that seems to change an awful lot around New York sports.

3 Games and the Islanders have 3 points. Positive or Negative.

Put me in the positive column.

Lets Ignore the negativity of blowing a 3 goal lead in less than 5 minutes which consisted of pure bad luck of 2 late deflection goals that no one could stop and not the usual culprit - a blatant loss of composure.

They lost the game because one - they could not win a defensive zone faceoff and two - bad luck deflections on two of Boston's three goals.

One of those two will be rectified if Doug Weight can stop getting injured and bad luck goals against simply aren't going to happen every day.

This wasn't so much the Islanders scrambling around like an out classed team who got lucky with a 3 goal lead.

This team expects to perform and did not surprise themselves by a dominating 54 minutes of hockey played against one of the supposed top teams in the NHL.

Some people will say well they are a young team and they collapsed under the pressure. That is not what I saw. I saw bad luck.

How about some more positives?

John Tavares scored a goal that we all dreamed about when he was drafted firing a bullet in the smallest of openings to score his second goal of the season and give him his 5th point in 3 games.
I haven't seen anyone in an Islanders uniform score that kind of goal in a long time. It was a snipers goal. It was a sharp shooters goal. It was beautiful.

3 games and John Tavares has to put it mildly impressed the hell out of Islander fans.

3 games and the Islanders are already beginning to show their fans they are capable of competing with anyone in the NHL.

If not for bad luck of deflecting goals off of their own defensemen they would have two victories against Boston and Pittsburgh.

That simply is not going to happen every game. Sooner or later the knock hockey goals against will cease and these 1 point games will be 2 point games.

That my friends is good news and we should be excited about what this season will bring.

For the first time in a long time, I was hurt by an Islanders regular season loss and you know what? It felt good to care that much about the Islanders like that again.

In that moment, I wasn't worried about Lighthouses or draft positions or who is injured or anything but the outcome of the game.

I did not get the sense of that "Here we go again" when Boston upped the pressure.

Despite the nature of the loss with the Bruins coming back the way they did it was pure and unadulterated luck.

That is also a good sign. They are making me and the many fans I have spoken to care about them again in ways we haven't in a good while and it could not come at a better time for the organization.

I look forward to the next Islander game to see what the team can do and when I say that its not to see how they can blow this game, its to see what they can do to win it.

Positive signs? They are everywhere. Look around. You'll see them also.

FCT