Isles paint the town Orange and Blue with 4-2 victory over Rangers

While one teams stock is rising, the other has their fans very nervous as the New York Islanders and Rangers are on very different paths so far. It had seemed as if in the pre-season it was going to be the Blueshirts that’d dominate regular season play, but thus far the season has proved otherwise.

Yes, it is only three games for the Rangers, but there is definite trouble for the fans of the Red, White and Blue as the team hasn’t really reached its full potential as of yet.

As for the Islanders, right now their stock is on the rise-and it happens to be a good time to buy into the team. Why buy into the Islanders…John Tavares, as the forward continues to develop and grow into one of the elite players in the NHL.

The forward recorded his third career hat trick to lead the Islanders (3-1-0) to a 4-2 victory over the Blueshirts in hockey action on Saturday night. Both teams were also skating for a cause, as you can see several players and coaches wearing pick for the Hockey Fights Cancer Campaign.

There was also bragging rights, as the youthful Islanders team now sits as the top team in New York City with this victory. In what was an instant classic at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, both teams battled until Tavares took over the game in the third period of play.

John, who has really worked on his skating skills, and has also bulked up in the off-season, was set up on a pretty pass by Mark Streit (3) and P.A. Parenteau (5), to push the team ahead at the 3:30 mark.

As for the Rangers, they were able to score twice on keeper Evgeni Nabokov, who made 29 saves in the cage. The Blueshirts found goals from Marian Gaborik (2) at the 6:23 mark of the second period, as ‘Gabby’ was set up by Brad Richards (2) and Derek Stepan (1).

Brandon Prust recorded his first goal of the season, on a nice pass from Ruslan Fedotenko (2), which had tied the game up at 2-2 to tie things up before the end of the second period of play. Tavares took over in the third, to lead the Islanders to their third straight victory.

Michael Del Zotto and Tim Erixon were both plus two’s on the ice for the Rangers, while cager Henrik Lundqvist made 30 saves in the cage.

The Islanders will look to keep this positive momentum going, but will have four days off until their next game, as they will face the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday at 7:30 p.m.

As for the Rangers, they will have a lot of questions to answer before this road trip continues with a tour of Canada coming up next for the Blueshirts. First stop for the guys will be a trip to Vancouver for a 10:00 p.m. game against the Canucks.

Stacy Podelski

http://www.smacksportvideos.com/

OH GOD !!! ANOTHER HABS IMPLOSION !!! SOMETHING IS UP IN MONTREAL

Montreal fans suffered through another Habs implosion on the ice on Saturday night.  This loss threatens to become an issue for the team. The Canadiens have started this new season in troubling fashion.  The pre season play of the Habs should have foretold that bad play would rear its head in regular season play.  Mediocre offensive production in the pre season and sloppy goaltending gave the Habs a losing record before the start of the 2011-2112 race to the Cup.

So far in regular season play things have not been much better for Montreal. The Habs have lost some important games against the Leafs, Flames and the Avalanche.  Yes it is still early but Montreal is very streaky if history is any indication.  The problem here is that Montreal usually gets off to a strong start and softens in mid year.  A losing streak at the start of the year is deadly.  Ask the Leafs.  They usually loose big at the start of the year.  Once you lose big at the start of the year, you are playing catch up for the rest of the season.  That always ends up badly.  If Montreal has a losing streak out of the gate and softens mid season, it could be a very long year for Price and his teamates.

Yes the injury bug is all over the Habs roster but these guys need to pick up their game.  Carey Price is running on the success fumes from his break out season last year.  This year is dramatically different, and Carey needs to start recognizing the change.  Against the Leafs, Price let in easy  goals despite the fact Toronto's poor play. The story was the same against the Flames.  Price got bombed and it looked like he had taken the day off.  He was there in body against Calgary but mentally he was somewhere else.    His latest fiasco against Colorado is more evidence that Price's magic is MIA.  The shootout loss was unacceptable against a very young Avalanche team.

We don't like the 1+1 in this situation.  Injuries + poor play from Price could see the Habs get off to the poorest start in years.  Time will tell but all true Habs fans should be concerned.