New York, New York

Even in preseason these teams hate each other! Very nice. The Rangers at Islanders game turned out to be a brawl fest with Chris Simon and Ryan Hollweg both in the line up.

The goalies had to represent, both Rick DiPietro and Al Montoya got to blows. The fight was awkward to watch with the two net minders and it looked as if DiPietro was giving pointers to the young ranger goalie Montoya before going to blows. The video is on TSN's recap about half way down. Both goaltenders were tossed after the fight as were Hollweg and Simon. Simon still needs to serve his 5 game supension for slashing Hollweg last season, he is allowed to play in preseason games.

Nice to see there is no love lost against the two squads that share a first name (NY). Bill Guerin was a little surprised at all the commotion:

''When I talked to (Mike) Sillinger, I asked if there would be any overflow from last season,'' new Islanders captain Guerin said. ''He said that it was over. He was kind of wrong.''

This should be an interesting series this year. By the way, Islanders won 5-4 in overtime.

Editors Note: Watch the fight on YouTube here.

Caps Lose, Again

Capitals 1, Islanders 4
Scoresheet – Wash Post – NY Daily

Alex Ovechkin was the only Capital to score, and the rest couldn’t solve Rick DiPietro. The Caps lose their 6th straight and their woes continue. Their inability to score is making the Capitals the team anyone can beat.

Caps are digging themselves a pretty big hole. If Ovie was scoring his highlight reel goals, it might be worth watching. But lately it’s been a string of almost goals, and missed nets. The Caps hard work just doesn’t seem to help.

Overall Grade: F

Caps need to shake out of this non-scoring slump they are on. Or their bad luck will just get worse. They just need one thing to go right for them. Just one goal at the right time, an opportune bounce, something.

I can’t imagine the moral is very high on the Caps side. This is quickly becoming not just a coach’s problem, but a General Manager’s problem. The Caps do need some help in a big way. The return of Alex Semin may help them recover.

Caps travel southward to face another divisional foe the Lightning on Tuesday night. The Caps need to find some way to win games. Or their season ends before the all-star game.