Wednesday January 2

The new year is slowly building up. On Wednesday night there were 14 teams in 7 contests around the league. Former Islanders are tipping in help where they can. Let us take a look at the FI happenings from this, the 2nd day of 2008:

* Olli Jokinen assisted on the too-little-too-late goal as the Florida Panthers were edged by the host New Jersey Devils 3-2. O-Jok's assist came on the final tally of the night, 5:06 into the 3rd period. Jokinen now has an even 40 points (20 goals, 20 assists) on 40 games this year.

* Chris Osgood continues to keep pucks out of the net. He did his job excellently again on Wednesday night as he stopped 23 of 24 shots in a 4-1 Red Wings win over the Dallas Stars in Detroit. Chris Osgood is playing like never before in his 14 year career. He is posting an 18-2-1 record with a league leading .931 save percentage as well as a league leading 1.71 goals against average. Over his last 3 starts, Osgood has posted a 3-0-0 record with 1 shutout, a 1.00 goals against average and a .962 save percentage.

* We at FIW believe that Robert Nilsson will be a star before long. He continues to preen himself to be an elite points scorer in his current stint with Edmonton. Nilsson recorded an assist on the Oilers' 2nd goal as they downed the host St. Louis Blues 3-2 in OT. Nilsson has a respectable 16 points (3 goals, 13 assists) on 33 games this season. With the helper, Nilsson snapped a 3 game point-less streak. Also getting involved was Blues' defenseman Eric Brewer who assisted on the tying goal with less than 9 minutes remaining in regulation. Brewer has 9 points (1 goal, 8 assists) on 33 games. He snapped a 6 game point-less streak with the assist.

* Phoenix forward Mike York assisted on the 2nd goal as the visiting Coyotes thrashed the Colorado Avalanche 5-2. York has 11 points (5 goals, 6 assists) on 35 games. It is only the second time this season that York has had points in consecutive games, this time managing 2 assists over the last 2 tilts.

* Adrian Aucoin opened the scoring 1:39 into the 1st period as the Calgary Flames eked by the visiting New York Rangers 4-3. The goal was Aucoin's 7th of the year. He now has 22 points (7 goals, 15 assists) on 40 games this season. Playing especially well as of late, Aucoin has 10 points on 3 goals and 7 assists over the last 10 games. The 7 goals is the most Aucoin has scored since 2003-04 when he notched 13 with the Islanders.

* Todd Bertuzzi has kept up his recent strong play as well. He had a powerplay assist on the game winner with 15 seconds remaining in the 2nd period as the Anaheim Ducks knocked off the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets 2-1. Bert has 15 points (6 goals, 9 assists) on 28 games including 5 points (2 goals, 3 assists) on the man advantage. He is riding a season high 5 game point streak in which he has 2 goals and 3 assists.

Stay logged on to FIW for more updates as they happen.