Saturday November 22

With a dozen games on tap on Saturday it was a ripe opportunity for Former Islander action, or so one would think. FIs made it to the scoresheet in only 5 of those tilts and even then the action was paltry at best. Here is a look at their contributions:

Less than 5 minutes in to play Vancouver goaltender Roberto Luongo was sidelined with a groin injury. A tweak seems to have rattled and rendered the starter unable to play for at least the next week. MRI findings were slight for injury but he will be reevaluated upon return home to Vancouver. Luongo faced and stopped only 1 shot and backup Curtis Sanford carried the rest of the load as the Canucks downed the host Pittsburgh Penguins 3-1. On a slightly sarcastic note, Luongo dropped his goals against average to 2.17 and increased his save percentage to .928 while keeping his record static at 11-5-2. We are wishing Roberto a speedy recovery.

Not injured, but not very effective, was New York Rangers' goaltender Stephen Valiquette who stopped 32 of 36 shots as the host Ottawa Senators thumped the Blueshirts 4-1. Vali dropped his 2nd straight start and now has a 2-2-0 record on the season with a .911 save percentage and a 2.60 goals against average. After starting the season on a mild hot streak Valiquette has surrendered 9 goals in his last 2 starts, both in the month of November.

Chicago defenseman Aaron Johnson had an assist on his team's 2nd goal as the Blackhawks overcame a 4-2 deficit to pull off a 5-4 OT win over the host Toronto Maple Leafs. Johnson snapped a 5 game point-less stretch and now has 7 points (3 goals, 4 assists) on 17 games. The helper was the 25th of Johnson's career and came in game #163. Receiving the lone assist on Toronto's 3rd goal was winger Jason Blake. Blakey has seemed to struggle this season but now has 3 goals and 7 assists for 10 points on 18 games. He has, however, managed 4 points (1 goal, 3 assists) over the last 4 games.

St. Louis d-man and captain Eric Brewer was credited with the primary assist on the team's game winning powerplay goal as the Blues edged the host Minnesota Wild 2-1. Brewer has a less than stellar 3 points (1 goal, 2 assists) on 18 games this season. Getting involved in the Blues' first goal is a surprise call up Steve Regier who received the secondary assist. On 3 games with the big club Regier has wowed with 3 goals and 1 assist for 4 points. The helper was the first of Regier's NHL career.

Washington d-man Tom Poti scored the first of only 2 Capitals' goals as they were thrashed by the host San Jose Sharks 7-2. Poti snapped a 5 game goal-less and point-less run and now has 3 goals and 3 assists for 6 points on 15 games. The 3 goals already surpasses his 2 goal effort from last season, a feat that took 71 games to accomplish.



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Friday November 21

A long weekend of sickness here at FIW has us backed up. We will try and catch up the last 4 days of action. There were 6 games on Friday with FIs making strides in 3 of those games. Here is a quick look:

Big Mac, Florida defenseman Bryan McCabe kept up his points scoring streak on Friday night notching 2 assists as the Panthers fell to the host Boston Bruins 4-2. McCabe has 9 points (3 goals, 6 assists) on 9 games this season with 8 points (3 goals, 5 assists) over his last 6 games overall.




New Jersey goaltender Kevin Weekes notched career win #100 against one of his former squads as the Devils pounced on the visiting Islanders for a 5-2 victory. Weekes stopped 25 of 27 shots to secure the win and improved to 2-3-0 on the season with respectable numbers including a .903 save percentage and a 2.86 goals against average. Weekes has a career record of 100-161-33-6 (W-L-T-OTL).


Winger Steve Regier has been a pleasant surprise for the St. Louis Blues in only 2 games of work. Do not be fooled by the picture accompanying this post in which Regier looks like he just took a mugshot while coked up, Regier has been finding the net for the Blues and recorded a goal, his 3rd in only 2 games, to help the Blues to a 3-2 OT win over the visiting Anaheim Ducks. Despite being bounced from AHL to NHL to AHL to NHL, Regier has impressed with those 3 tallies including 2 on the man advantage. This is all very surprising considering Regier never recorded a point in 18 games with the Isles over parts of 3 seasons.

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Sunday November 16

There were only 5 games on a fairly slow NHL Sunday. There was only 1 Former Islander contribution of note meaning it was an even slower Sunday for FIs. Let us take a look at the one highlight:

St. Louis winger Steve Regier, playing in his first game of the season, popped in 2 goals and received the first star of the game honor as the Blues were edged by the visiting Montreal Canadiens 3-2 in the SO. Regier scored the first goal of his NHL career only 3:48 in to stake the Blues to a 1-0 lead. Regier then added goal number 2, his first powerplay tally, only 3:24 in to the 3rd period to again give the Blues a one goal lead. Regier had played 18 games over parts of 3 seasons with the Isles but never registered a point. The Blues picked Regier up in the offseason after the Islanders cut ties with him and he made some appearances in the preseason for St. Louis. Regier was tearing it up for the Blues' AHL team, the Peoria Rivermen, with 17 points (9 goals, 8 assists) on 17 games before getting the call up before an injury to center Andy McDonald made a spot available for the youngster. Congratulations to Steve on the start to what we hope is an eventful career!

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Preseason Saturday September 27

As we catch up here at FIW on the weekend we now take a look at Saturday. There were 12 matchups with 24 teams getting their kinks out before the season starts. Former Islanders were involved in 4 of those games. Three of the competitions had incomplete boxscores so reports on those yielded no FI news. Here is a look at the FI contributions from Saturday:

Two FI goaltenders got some playing time in as the New Jersey Devils were hosted by the New York Rangers. Backstopping New Jersey to the 4-2 win was backup goalie Kevin Weekes who played half the game before giving way to Scott Clemmensen. Weekes stopped all 10 shots he faced as the Devils built a 4-0 lead around his strong performance. On the other side of the benches Blueshirts' backup Stephen Valiquette filled in the last half the game after starter Henrik Lundqvist surrendered those 4 tallies. Vali stopped all 11 shots he faced. Weekes improved to 1-1-0 on the preseason while Valiquette fell to an ominous 0-3-0 in his exhibition time.

Boston Bruins' forward Petteri Nokelainen is working hard to show he should be with the big club when the season starts. Nokelainen does have competition though. He helped his cause bgy scoring a game tying goal only 5:30 in to the 3rd period but all was for naught as the Bruins fell to the visiting Washington Capitals 4-3. This was first offensive impact Nokelainen has made in the preseason for the Bs.

New St. Louis winger Steve Regier assisted on the Blues' opening goal as they were edged by the host Dallas Stars 4-3. Regier is trying to make an impact on his new team after playing in 18 games over the last 3 season with the Isles without a scoring a point. Regier is hoping there will be an NHL spot available for him on a youthful Blues squad.


And finally, a pair of Vancouver FIs made some noise as the Canucks skittered by the host San Jose Sharks 3-2. Roberto Luongo got his first win of the preseason stopping all 14 shots he faced while playing the first 2 periods of the game. Luongo is 1-0-0 in exhibition this year. Last year's AHL scoring leader, forward Jason Krog helped the Canucks' cause with a shorthanded goal 5:31 in the 2nd period to lift Vancouver to a 2-0 lead. Krog has a real good shot to make the lineup especially in light of his recent contributions in the preseason.

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