head coach: Rick Bowness

roster: C - Robert Reichel, Travis Green, Bryan Smolinski, Claude Lapointe, Sergei Nemchinov. LW - Mike Hough, Paul Kruse, Ken Belanger. RW - Zigmund Palffy, Mariusz Czerkawski, Dan Plante, Steve Webb, Todd Bertuzzi. D - Scott Lachance, Bryan Berard, Dennis Vaske, Richard Pilon, Bryan McCabe, Kenny Jonsson, John Namestnikov. G - Eric Fichaud, Wade Flaherty, Tommy Salo.

injuries: None.

transactions: 11/01 RW Warren Luhning sent to Kentucky (AHL).

standings:

Eastern Conference - Atlantic Division   
Team         GP   W   L   T   PTS   GF   GA   
Philadelphia 16   8   5   3    19   48   40
New Jersey   12   8   4   0    16   41   23
Washington   14   7   5   2    16   44   36
NY Islanders 13   6   5   2    14   40   33
NY Rangers   15   3   6   6    12   36   41
Florida      13   3   7   3     9   28   42
Tampa Bay    13   2   9   2     6   23   43

game results:

10/21 at Los Angeles  L 3-2
10/25 Anaheim         L 4-2
10/27 San Jose        L 2-1
10/29 at Montreal     W 5-2
10/30 Rangers         W 5-3
11/01 Los Angeles     W 4-2

team news:

by David Strauss, NY Islanders Correspondent

Last year, when the Islanders went 29-41-12 and failed to earn a postseason berth for the third straight year, their power play was dismal, finishing the season ranked 22nd in the league. It was so bad, 13.9 percent, that Islander fans often wished the Isles would just decline the penalty. It was so bad that the Coliseum started putting up clips from "Joanie Loves Chachi" on the jumbotron to keep the fans awake. (No, that's not true, but it sure is a gruesome image, ain't it?) And the penalty killing wasn't that much better, tied for 14th in the league at 83.4 percent.

With no veteran d-man brought in to tutor the young defense, it looked like it would be another trying year on the special teams for the boys from Uniondale. Perhaps a few choice scenes from "Charles in Charge"? But hey, hey, whaddya know. Perhaps the appropriate clips this year would come from something cool, like "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." Call it "Berard the Penalty Slayer", slap a TV-PPG rating on it, and you're good to go. There's no doubt the Isles' special teams have contributed to their solid start, over .500 in October for the first time in years. They're second in the league on the power play in the early going, converting on almost 24% of their chances. The penalty killing has been equally impressive, killing off 91.7% of the opposition's power plays, good for third in the league. That included having stopped the Rangers on all six power-play attempts in a 5-3 win Thursday at Nassau Coliseum, in which the Rangers looked tired and sluggish next to the younger, faster Islanders. Key on the improvements in the penalty killing are the additions of veterans Sergei Nemchinov, Mike Hough and Tom Chorske during the off-season.

But the power play is where the team has really shined. That power play thatwas supposed to suck this season. Apparently, nobody mentioned this to Bryan Berard. You know Berard, right? No, not the one who once pinch hit for Joe Schlabotnik. Bryan Berard, league leader in power-play points. Berard, league leader in power-play goals. Yup, that Berard. And he doesn't even need the help of a brooding yet enigmatic 241-year-old vampire with a soul.

But the resurgence on the power play, one of the trademarks of the powerhouse Isles teams of the 70s and early 80s, is also attributable to the presence of Robert Reichel, tied for third in power-play points and fifth in overall scoring. Reichel's presence on the power play has also allowed Ziggy Palffy more room to move, and improved his scoring totals with the man-up. Berard has 12 power-play points and six power-play goals, and Reichel has nine points on the power play.

Berard admits he makes the odd mistake, but the goals he scores and the way he scores them has his coach pleased. Coach Rick Bowness has left Berard with free reign to jump into the attack any time he choses. The result: seven goals, eight assists, and several opponents vanquished with a hockey stick to the heart in his first 13 games this season. That after only eight goals in his Rookie of the Year campaign. "They don't have any reins on me," said Berard, who had a goal and two assists in a 5-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens this week. "They just want me to make the right decisions. Sometimes it works and sometimes not. I think a little more experience will help me make the right decisions."

"I think I'm more comfortable, I think what it was last year is I wasn't real comfortable on the power play. I think I was trying to do too much, trying to create too much. This season, coming in, I felt more comfortable, more confident. I knew what I had to do, I knew what had to be done . . . I'm just trying to do it. And if I don't have something, I don't force it." Berard has been assisted by new assistant coaches Wayne Fleming and Brad McCrimmon in his maturing as a power-play QB. "The other team has guys who are paid a lot of money to kill penalties," Fleming said. "So you raise the expectation. Every time you step on the ice, you expect to score. You don't `hope' to score. But you say, `Hey, we're going to score here.' You try not to force things that aren't there, while having the ability to be creative at the same time."

"It's a nice surprise," Bowness said. "With the defensive league we are now playing in and the goals-for totals going down, special teams play an even bigger role. If you're not an explosive team - and very few teams are in this league - then you'd better have good specialty teams . . . because that's what you need to win games."

According to the Daily News, Berard's incentive-laden contract, among other things, calls for a $15,000 bonus after his third power-play goal and $5,000 for each one thereafter. With six already, he's earned $30,000 in just 13 games. When he scores his 10th goal - in itself worth $70,000 - he starts on a lucrative series of scoring bonuses which could net him $735,000 if he reaches 25 goals, 55 assists or 70 points. In all, Berard could come close to tripling his $850,000 salary/bonus.

"He's got great instincts and you've got to let him rely on them," Bowness said. "That doesn't mean that in a 2-1 game, he should be up there gambling. Sometimes he goes at the wrong time, but you have to let him do that. He's got to learn for himself. He's such a talent. He'll be a star in this league for a long time," Bowness predicted. "He's got the skill, the temperament and the desire to be great -- that's the key."

Bowness had nearly became Berard's coach in Ottawa in 1995-96 after the Senators drafted the former Detroit junior first overall. But Berard's agent, Tom Laidlaw, was opposed to having Berard sign with the Sens. "It worked out for the best," said Berard of his move to the Isles. "Now, I'm close to home and this is a young team with lots of talent. This is going to be a good team for a while."

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