Quick thoughts

I can't even bring myself to hope for any sort of effort against the
Islanders anymore. Even when they won last year, there wasn't any
indication from them that it was important to them at all. Tonight it
looked like they just wanted to go home.

Jagr's played decently for a combined 3 minutes this year so far. He
needs to get a Clemens contract in which he only has to play for 3
months and at home.

Shanahan is incapable of making plays anymore.

The entire forward group is bad. They can't make plays, and when they
do, they can't convert. They've looked more impotent than last year.

Scott Gomez is proving everyone right. Two gigantic chances tonight.
One to give them a lead and a huge deal of momentum, and one to tie
the game. Spectacular failure in both situations.

Lundqvist should demand a trade.

Staal looked pretty good tonight. So did Girardi. The only negative
defensively was Malik all night long, and Roszival on the first goal.

I look forward to reading about how they just need more time to gel
tomorrow. In fact, I'm going to have that tattooed on my arm.


Finally, here's a little newsgroup quiz:
Scott Gomez has 1 more ____________ and one fewer _____________ than
Bryan Berard.
a. goal/eye
b. eye/goal
c. none of the above

The answer is b.

On Oct 10, 6:47 pm, Bender wrote:
> I can't even bring myself to hope for any sort of effort against the
> Islanders anymore. Even when they won last year, there wasn't any
> indication from them that it was important to them at all. Tonight it
> looked like they just wanted to go home.
>
> Jagr's played decently for a combined 3 minutes this year so far. He
> needs to get a Clemens contract in which he only has to play for 3
> months and at home.
>
> Shanahan is incapable of making plays anymore.
>
> The entire forward group is bad. They can't make plays, and when they
> do, they can't convert. They've looked more impotent than last year.
>
> Scott Gomez is proving everyone right. Two gigantic chances tonight.
> One to give them a lead and a huge deal of momentum, and one to tie
> the game. Spectacular failure in both situations.
>
> Lundqvist should demand a trade.
>
> Staal looked pretty good tonight. So did Girardi. The only negative
> defensively was Malik all night long, and Roszival on the first goal.
>
> I look forward to reading about how they just need more time to gel
> tomorrow. In fact, I'm going to have that tattooed on my arm.
>
> Finally, here's a little newsgroup quiz:
> Scott Gomez has 1 more ____________ and one fewer _____________ than
> Bryan Berard.
> a. goal/eye
> b. eye/goal
> c. none of the above
>
> The answer is b.

This was the first game I was able to watch Gomez for the most part.
I have vested interest in his performance as Chairman of The GDC, so I
made it a point to concentrate on him.

What I saw is what I've seen for years. He's not playing any worse or
better than usual. He's playing like Scott Gomez. He's going to flub
scoring chances, because that's what he does. And he'll do it again,
because that's what he does. He's a second line center who will get
you 60-70 points depending on how well his linemates do (if Shanahan
plays like he's already retired, then his numbers will certainly be
down).

Of course, while 60sh points from a second line center is perfectly
fine, most second line centers don't make 10 million dollars so I
guess if you have to weigh the positives with the negatives.

Signed,
R.J.