Moral Victory?

There was never really any doubt going into Thursday nights game that it would be an uphill battle for the Islanders. With the Isles going 0-for-2009 thus far, goaltender Joey MacDonald going down with a groin injury two days prior, plus the mighty Boston Bruins coming to town, things did not look very promising. The Bruins have been tops in the East for quite some time, and their explosive offense, plus rock steady defense led by Zdeno Chara and goaltender Tim Thomas gave everyone the impression that it would be a bad day to don the blue and orange. Well, everyone was wrong...

What came about was 60 minutes of hockey which resembled nothing of the 7-2 debacle in Boston on Black Friday, the last time these two teams met. In fact, it was the exact opposite. The Islanders skated with the Bruins for a full 60 minutes, established a forecheck early on in the game, and more surprisingly, threw their bodies around all over the ice. While it helped that three of Boston's best forwards (Milan Lucic, Phil Kessel, and Patrice Bergeron) did not play, the Isles minimized mistakes, moved the puck well in the zone, applied offensive and defensive pressure for a full 60 minutes, which is essential to Gordan's overspeed philosophy.

All of that aside though, the most encouraging sight of the night was the play of Kyle Okposo. Late in the first period, he took a nasty puck to the face. However, during the second period, he returned wearing a full visor and sporting a nasty bump on his right lower jaw. That didn't stop him though, as he bowled over Bruins for the rest of the game. After the game, when asked by Stan Fischler why he didn't take the rest of the game off, he simply shrugged, smiled and said "it's a hockey game".

There's no such thing as a "moral victory" in professional sports. "Win-win situations" do not apply to pro atheletes. However, 2-1 loss to Boston is as close as you get. With Yann Danis coming up huge for the Islanders several times during the game, plus a well skated game, the Islanders can take a few positive away from this game.