Wednesday April 18

Last night was a great example of why we have our mission here at FIW: "To note the proliferation of Islander talent around the league". Life as a Former Islanders is invariably easier than life as an Islander. Ted Nolan, before the game against Buffalo on Wednesday night, said that some teams get the breaks and others don't. He put the Isles into that category of those who don't and boy was he preaching to the choir. The Islanders, in a bureacratic nightmare of league favoritism and referee dysfunctionality lost Wednesday night's Game 4 due to a no-goal call on a puck that was clearly a goal. Citing an inane rule in the book they claimed that Brendan Witt forced the puck in by pushing the goalie into the net. The contact that they claim resulted in a puck in the net came well after the loose puck was already in. Teams like Buffalo can rest assured in the fact that the NHL is in their pockets. It is all corporate. Ted Nolan, Garth Snow and the players did not get upset as much as they should have. I guess it's part of accepting the crap life of being Islanders. Now if only the fans can grow up and stopping throwing stuff on the ice, that would be great.

The Islanders eventually loss 4-2 to fall behind in the series 3 games to 1. They play for their lives Friday evening. In other news FIs accounted for a lone assist. In Tampa Bay the New Jersey Devils evened the series with a 4-3 OT win over the Lightning to knot the series up at 2. In San Jose the Sharks skimmed by the Nashville Predators 3-2 to grab a commanding 3 to 1 series lead. Here is the one FI happening of the night:

• Martin Straka assisted on the Rangers' first goal of the game, a powerplay tally 7:57 into the first period. The Rangers eventually won the game 4-2 to sweep the opening round series over the Atlanta Thrashers. The sweep allowed the Rangers to celebrate on home ice. The regular season 70 point scorer now has 3 points, all assists, in 4 games this postseason.

4 games are on the schedule tonight with 3 games having the possibility to wrap up completely. Stay tuned to FIW for all the hottest playoff action.