Isles-Canucks: New York Stuns Vancouver For Third Straight Win!

The New York Islanders squared off against the Vancouver Canucks tonight in a matchup that most experts felt would be very easy game to predict.

Ex-Islander and star goalie for the Canucks Roberto Luongo was pissed off at his former team and a lot of people, including myself, were expecting him to dominate the game. Their outstanding and highly motivated goal-tender, plus the Canucks' dynamic offense, should have spelt a handsome victory for Vancouver.

Unfortunately for the Canucks, Islanders back up Joey MacDonald, who is filling in for the injured DiPietro, continues to improve every single day, and this game was by far his best effort of the season. 

He held the Canucks to only one goal, matching Luongo who gave up a score in the second period. 

Neither team could solve their opposition's fantastic goal tending in the third period which took us to over-time, securing at least a point for both teams, far more than most Islander fans thought they would have earned today.

So on we went into O.T., and in the final seconds the Canucks put a tremendous amount of pressure on the Islanders but MacDonald pulled off a couple of very impressive saves, sending the game to a shoot-out.

This is when I said "Good Game, we lose" because I felt that Luongo would be a brick wall in the shootout. Not to mention that Scott Gordon's second shooter was 19-year-old Josh Bailey.

The Isles elected to shoot first, and out came Frans Nielsen who beat Luongo and gave the Islanders the early lead.

Bailey missed miserably, hitting the puck weakly off Luongo's chest.

Unfortunately for the Canucks, Nielsen's goal was all that the Islanders needed as Joey MacDonald slammed the door shut on their three shooters, giving the Islanders their third straight victory after a home and home sweep of the Ottawa Senators.

My apologies to all of the fans in the front row donning the Vancouver Canucks jerseys. They just wasted a ton of money. Between traveling from Canada to New York, to buying the expensive seats, not to mention lying to their bosses to get off work; all so they could see their favorite team play in game they expected to win.

All that effort went for naught as they witnessed a horrible loss to the lowly Islanders.

The Islanders will now take a bus ride down to Newark where they face the Devils on Friday night, hoping to extend their winning streak to a lofty four games.