Afternoon Delight

The undefeated Washington Capitals and New York Islanders met Monday afternoon at Nassau County Coliseum. I'll let that sentence sink in for a minute. That's right, the Caps and Isles were undefeated on the young season. But one of the 0's had to go.

It was also Kids Day at the Coliseum. All future wives of Larry King got in free. But there were like 1200 kids at the game. I guess Rick DiPietro, Bill Guerin, Mike Comrie, Ruslan Fedotenko, and Jon Sim all got together and helped organize things for the little tykes. It's a great way to create a whole new group of fans. And it's best to get 'em used to the bitterness, disappointment, and frustration of being an Islander fan at a young age.

With that in mind, the Isles promptly went out and dropped a 2-1 decision to the Caps. It's only fitting that on Columbus Day the Islanders couldn't find the net. I really wouldn't like their chances of finding the West Indies, either.

It wasn't a real exciting game. Washington seemed rather sluggish throughout, and Alexander Semin missing the contest with an ankle injury certainly didn't help. The Isles outshot the Caps 31-12, but it was more about Washington's lackluster effort than any dominating defense on New York's part.

The clubs were tied 1-1 heading to the third. Dickie Park put the Isles up 1-0 in the first, taking a sweet pass from Darryl Bootland and beating Olaf Kolzig from the slot. Park just signed a contract extension with the Isles. Good for him. Dickie's had quite the NHL career for himself. I still remember when he first broke in with the Penguins. He's been in the league now 13 years. That's amazing. God bless the Dickie Park.

Washington responded in the second, with Viktor Kozlov unleashing a bomb over DiPietro's catching glove. Alexander Ovechkin carried the puck up the left side and slid a pass into the middle for Kozlov at the Islanders stripe. Big Viktor barged into the high slot and dropped the hammer. He killed the puck. David Caruso showed up a few minutes later to investigate.

With his size, hands, and shot, it's embarrassing Kozlov has never scored more than the 25 goals he had last year for the Isles. He only took 165 shots that season. Seeing how he's centering Ovechkin, it's hard to believe the total will rise too much this season, but he does have 10 in his first three games, so that would put him on pace for about 270. If he gets 270 shots, he'll score 35+ easy.

Anyway, the game remained tied 1-1 until the real Mike Comrie showed up in the third period. I know Islander fans were all giddy about his four goals in the first two wins, but that wasn't Mike Comrie. Today was Mike Comrie.

After taking a selfish penalty at the end of the second period, Comrie stayed true in the third, committing a lazy turnover in his own zone. Comrie was lugging out the puck under absolutely no pressure whatsoever when he attempted a careless pass up the middle. Michael Nylander was quick to intercept it and circled a few times before dropping the biscuit to Brian Pothier at the right point for a one-timer. DiPietro made the initial save but couldn't control the rebound. As the Islander netminder reached out to try and corral the loose puck, the always dangerous Brooks Laich darted in from the right corner and wristed it home for the eventual game-winner.

Comrie's mistake created the entire play. The puck had to get out of the zone. It should have gotten out of the zone. Instead, Comrie got cute and it cost him. Once the turnover happened, everyone else tried to run around and make up for it, causing Radek Martinek to lose track of Laich out of the corner. Game over. Now that's the Mike Comrie I know and loathe.

IMPRESSIVE PERFORMANCES

Olaf Kolzig, Washington Capitals: Kolzig was about the only Capital who showed up. There really weren't many spectacular saves among his 30 stops, but he was steady as she goes, bringing a sense of life to his comatose teammates.

Viktor Kozlov, Washington Capitals: Kozlov's shot was frightening. Several of the kids left crying. Or maybe that was just the Isles' new uniforms.

Michael Nylander, Washington Capitals: Nylander sucked all afternoon, looking disinterested and drowsy, but he came up big when the team needed him most. He beautifully orchestrated the game-winner.

Tom Poti, Washington Capitals: Poti led all Capitals with 22:47 of ice time, but he makes the list for a great play in the third period. With the game still tied 1-1, the Caps were on the power play when Nylander fumbled the puck out near the blue line, allowing a hard-charging Trent Hunter to swipe it and bust in on a clean breakaway. Poti chased him down from behind, dove to the ice, and used his long reach to sweep the puck off Hunter's stick at the last possible second. Hunter subsequently fell and crashed hard into the net, but Poti got all puck. No penalty on the play. It was perfect. Unless you're Hunter, because then it sucked.

Trent Hunter, New York Islanders: Despite Poti picking his pocket, Hunter had an exceptional game for the Isles. He logged 19:25 of ice time, registered three shots, and was credited with four hits. Hunter was relentless. He was New York's best forward by far.

Brendan Witt, New York Islanders: Witt logged a game-high 23:27 of ice time and gave up his body at every turn, blocking six shots. Witt's as tough as they come. I know some guys around the league wish he'd drop his gloves a bit more, but there's no questioning Witt's commitment to the team. He'll do anything to win. And when you think about it, he ended with only four fewer saves than DiPietro.

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