... yet it happened. From ESPN:
DETROIT -- Joey MacDonald made himself right at home at Joe Louis Arena.
The former Detroit goalie made 42 saves for his first NHL shutout, and Frans Nielsen and Josh Bailey scored goals in the lowly New York Islanders' 2-0 victory over the Stanley Cup champion Red Wings on Friday night.
New York, which broke a three-game losing streak, has the worst record in the NHL, while Detroit is tied with San Jose for the league lead.
I listened to the radio feed of the game last night, thinking this one was a "gimmee." I mean... it was the Islanders, playing the Mighty Wings at home, right? What chance could the lowly Isles... with their pathetic 56 points going into last night's game, dead last in the NHL... have against the Wings? Plenty, as it turned out, and as the score shows.
I'll not make any excuses here. It just goes to show that virtually any team can win in the "new" NHL, on any given night. Detroit needed those two points last evening. At stake is first place in the West (the Wings are tied with San Jose for the conference lead) and a possible President's Trophy, the latter which, if won, would guarantee Detroit home ice all the way to the Stanley Cup Final (Presumptions 'R' Us). Not that home ice made any difference last night... at all.
The game probably left a lot of Wing's fans scratching their heads, and some Islanders going crazy.
ReplyDeleteBuck, the Flyers just finished their game with the Islanders tonight and it was a battle too. It took a Shoot-out to win the game but the Flyers did prevail. The thing with the Islanders is that they have nothing to loose so they played hard and mean (there were 4 fights). Lots of hitting and shooting too!!
ReplyDeleteFlyers escaped Nassau Colosseum on the skin of their teeth.
BT: Jimmy T sends.
It's been years since I followed hockey, but I'm sorry to hear about your loss, Buck :)
ReplyDeleteFirst one of your hockey posts i've read in its entirety...last time i followed hockey closely was...'99 when the Av's and Wings squared off in the Cup finals. i like hockey...just don't give it the time it deserves, good sport, good people.
ReplyDeleteLou: The game certainly had ME scratching my head! Detroit was really snake-bit... at least five shots got by the Islanders' goalie but hit the goal post(s) or crossbar. Some days things just don't go your way...
ReplyDeleteJimmy: I'd have been more than satisfied with a shoot-out win...
Buckskins: Get ready for more hockey here at EIP, LOL! We get kinda crazy with it once the playoffs begin. I'll probably lose half my readers... ;-)
Jay: The Wings played the Avs (and lost) in the Western Conference semis in '99... Dallas played Buffalo in the final and won (4-2) with a controversial goal in a triple overtime Game Six that people in Buffalo are STILL talking about.
But you're right... the game is fantastic (as you knew I'd say, right?)!
"I'll probably lose half my readers... ;-)"
ReplyDeleteJust consider it a way to weed out the weak and uncommitted!
There is a lot of things unimaginable, inconceivable even uncountable. Ha ha. LOL
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Humor & Fun World
And they(Red Wings) lose to Nashville tonight 4-3(not helping Columbus)...the end of the season is getting crazy...Flyers come from behind to beat the Isles last night, but are losing at home to Boston(4-2 early in the 3rd) tonight...Go Figure!
ReplyDeleteBuckskins: I like the way you think!
ReplyDeleteSkywind: It's that "uncountable" stuff that'll get you... ;-)
Pat: Columbus is going NUTS over the BJ's, aren't they?
"I listened to the radio feed of the game last night,"
ReplyDeleteThe world has really changed. Back when I lived in the Peanut Basin of the Nation, you could maybe watch 10 hockey games a year on TV, and none on radio (unless you had a good enough antenna to pick up some Canuck broadcast.
For most New Mexicans, watching the 1980 USA-USSR Olympic matchup was probably the first time they'd watched a whole hockey game, evah.
Gordon: Things haven't changed all THAT much as far as hockey on teevee goes. A little bit, yes, in that there are two or three regular season games a week on Versus now. Things change radically when the playoffs begin, though... hockey EVERY night! Woot!
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