Notes From Home Opener

The first thing that truly stood out was the exceptional play from Doug Weight. He looked like a completely different player from last year and definitely did not look his age. He logged over twenty minutes of ice time last night, playing on his line and covering the spot left vacant by John Tavares.

The power-play was also very good last night going 3-4 including Weight's goal on a 5-on-3 situation in the second period and Matt Moulson's game-tying goal with under three minutes remaining. Going 3-4 on opening night shows some signs of life to a power-play that was one of the worst in the league last season.

Special teams as a whole was very good last night with the Isles going 5-6 on the penalty kill. Again, that hopefully is a sign of things to come for a penalty kill that was again one of the lowest in the league last season.

The team also showed a lot of character and maturity in not giving up when down by a couple goals last night. They continued to play tough and take shots without being discouraged and they got a hard earned point out of it. A point that Doug Weight felt they probably would not have been able to get last year.

Rick DiPietro was very shaky in the first period, but that should have been expected. He takes full responsibility for the second goal, a very soft goal, but other than that he was very solid. However, the fans need to stick by him a little bit. He is an excellent goaltender with a lot of skill who has been plagued by injuries. That's not his fault. Give the guy a little bit of a break. The "We want Roli" chants last night were definitely not deserved.

James Wisnieski is going to be a fan favorite here on the Island. He notched a goal, assist, a penalty, and an incredible hit on Jamie Benn of the Stars in front of the Islanders bench. If he keeps hitting like that Isles fans will be asking "Andy Sutton; who's that?"

The Coliseum was not sold-out, but there was a pretty good crowd nonetheless. The place was rocking though right after Mouslon tied the game up. It's always great to hear the Coliseum that loud.

One last note: For those people who were standing on the line for the Loudville section, Michael Grabner, Jack Hillen, and Rob Schremp all came out to greet the fans on line. That was very cool. Hillen seemed very quiet. I'm not sure if he is just quiet by nature, but it seemed that he was quiet because he was upset he wasn't in the lineup. That should be understandable since he was one of the top defenseman for the Islanders almost all of last season. Rob Schremp was very upbeat, and got a good laugh when the crowd starting chanting his name. I also asked him how his back was feeling and he said "Pretty good, but I just really want to get on the ice again." We all want you out there too, Rob.