It’s paint cans playing chess time, as the Devils and Islanders face off! Join us as we woolgather the game away.
– Early in the first, Clarkson and some Islander get into a fight well behind the play. And when the penalties are announced, it turns out that Clarkson was guilty of the infraction that started it all, in this case, holding. Wait a sec — since when would anyone beat Clarkson up for holding them? That Islander was so lucky!
– Before Clarkson’s penalty is over, Whitey gets called for interference on what Chico calls “a crushing hit” on an Islander well after the Islander had let go of the puck at the blue line. Replay clearly shows that more than three seconds had passed after the puck left the scene before Whitey made contact, but Pookie thinks that’s hardly an excuse: “Whitey can’t count to three! He shouldn’t be penalized for that!”
– Nielsson scores for the Islanders and we have to admit that any love-affair we might have had with Yann Danis is effectively nipped in the bud as he loses his chance to get Marty’s record-setting shutout.
– Being Friday night and being that no one wants to cook dinner on a Friday night, we opt for frozen pizza. The oven was turned on to pre-heat at the start of the period. At 7:40 Schnookie got up to check the progress of our gourmet meal only to discover the oven has only gotten up to 230 degrees. That’s right — Devils-Islanders match-ups are so boring, even household appliances are made sluggish in the face of paint cans playing chess.
– Exhibit A in Brian Rolston’s case that he is not the worst hockey player on earth is Marty Biron giving up a goal on a long, unfluttering, unscreened, untipped point shot from Cory Murphy. Cory. Murphy. That’s just shameful. But WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!
– Exhibit B in Brian Rolston’s case that he is not the worst hockey player on earth is him scoring on the power play late in the second period. We might concede that for at least tonight, Marty Biron is definitely worse than Rolston. WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (As we are writing this bit of gathered wool, Pookie remarks, “I hope we get up to Exhibit Z tonight.”)
– Rolston’s spirits must be flagging — when he’s interviewed at the end of the second by Stan, he doesn’t wink at the camera. We know, we know, it’s probably just because he’s now stuck slaving away in the Lemaire-run salt mines, but still! He was the guy who wanted Lemaire here in the first place! So what’s his excuse?
– Just as we are about to remark that Devils/Islanders games on Friday nights don’t really inspire us to much commentary (and that’s more our fault than the Devils or Islanders, to be fair), Martinek has to leave the ice after suffering a leg injury on a hit by Zach. Suddenly the living room at stately IPB Manor is filled with a chorus of “I say, man! I killed a man in the ring tonight.”
– You know what? The Devils just seem zestier with Patty back in the lineup. Just imagine how zesty they’ll be when Patty and Paulie and Pando are all playing!
