NY Islanders: That One Hurt and Why It Was Good

(Photo by Paul Bereswill/Getty Images)

Expectations. That is something that seems to change an awful lot around New York sports.

After three games, the Islanders have three points; positive or Negative.

Put me in the positive column.

Let's ignore the negativity of blowing a three-goal lead in less than five minutes which consisted of pure bad luck with two late deflection goals that no one could stop and not the usual culprit—a blatant loss of composure.

They lost the game because (1) they could not win a defensive zone faceoff and (2) bad luck deflections on two of Boston's three goals.

One of those two will be rectified if Doug Weight can stop getting injured and bad luck goals against simply aren't going to happen every day.

This wasn't so much the Islanders scrambling around like an out-classed team that got lucky with a three-goal lead.

This team expects to perform and did not surprise itself by a dominating 54 minutes of hockey played against one of the supposed top teams in the NHL.

Some people will say that they are a young team and they collapsed under the pressure. That is not what I saw. I saw bad luck.

How about some more positives?

John Tavares scored a goal that we all dreamed about when he was drafted, firing a bullet in the smallest of openings to score his second goal of the season and give him his fifth point in three games.

I haven't seen anyone in an Islanders uniform score that kind of goal in a long time. It was a sniper's goal. It was a sharp shooter's goal. It was beautiful.

After three games, John Tavares has—to put it mildly—impressed the hell out of Islander fans.

After three games, the Islanders are already beginning to show their fans they are capable of competing with anyone in the NHL.

If not for bad luck of deflecting goals off their own defensemen, they would have two victories against Boston and Pittsburgh.

That simply is not going to happen every game. Sooner or later, the knock hockey goals against will cease and these one-point games will be two-point games.

That, my friends, is good news and we should be excited about what this season will bring.

For the first time in a long time, I was hurt by an Islanders' regular season loss, and you know what? It felt good to care that much about the Islanders like that again.

In that moment, I wasn't worried about lighthouses, draft positions, who is injured, or anything but the outcome of the game.

I did not get the sense of that "here we go again" when Boston upped the pressure.

Despite the nature of the loss with the Bruins coming back the way they did, it was pure and unadulterated luck.

That is also a good sign. The Islanders are making me and the many fans I have spoken to care about them again in ways we haven't in a good while and it could not come at a better time for the organization.

I look forward to the next Islander game to see what the team can do, and when I say that, it's not to see how they can blow this game, it's to see what they can do to win it.

Positive signs? They are everywhere. Look around. You'll see them also.

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