The Islanders' mess, which they thought couldn't get worse, continued Thursday night when they were beaten 3-0 by the Montreal Canadiens. It was the team's sixth straight defeat and the seventh in eight games.
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CHIRPIN'
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"It's desperate times, you can feel it."
-- Buffalo defenseman James Patrick on his team's struggles.
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THE NUMBER
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The number of consecutive games that Pittsburgh's Mario Lemieux has a point, as well as the number of consecutive games the Penguins have scored a goal in the first period.
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WHO'S HOT
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Tampa Bay Lightning forward Martin St. Louis, who has 20 points, nine of them goals, in 13 games and is a plus-8.
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WHO'S NOT
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Philadelphia forward Simon Gagne, who has just one goal in his first 12 games after scoring a team-high 33 last season.
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THIS WEEK'S SIGN ...
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... the Earth is off its axis: This week's sign the earth is off its axis: Tampa Bay center Vincent Lecavalier, who entered the season with a career rating of minus-88, is plus-7.
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The team's most desperate moment came last Saturday when they hurried captain Michael Peca, in true secret-squirrel fashion, out of knee rehabilitation into the lineup for 27 seconds in an effort to motivate his teammates. A risk? Certainly. But when things are going sour, you can't blame a club for trying a multitude of things to turn it around.
General manager Mike Milbury, who is known for his ability to change on the fly with mixed results, characterized the move as one that "grasped at a straw and missed. It was an attempt to motivate, but put it in the category of 'Nice try.' "
Their best player, Alexei Yashin, is playing without passion (gee, that's a shocker), their goaltender, Chris Osgood, is way out of sorts, and nothing is making sense about this team. How about a tea-leaf reader? We hear there are tons of them on Long Island. Miss Cleo is out of business, but there has to be someone else. Otherwise ... well ... duck.
And the rules are?
Ask Eric Lindros about the ill-advised penalties he's been taking and he seems less inclined to blame himself and more inclined to fault both his own confusion at the way the rule book is being enforced and the officials. Lindros took a stupid penalty against Boston (the Bruins wound up winning the game on the ensuing power play) and took another against St. Louis (which led to their game-winning goal), and wound up stapled to the bench for the rest of the game.
"Hockey is a contact sport," said Lindros. "I understand what they're trying to do but it's tough to play the game this way. I just can't figure out the refereeing. [Against Toronto, defenseman Wade Belak] trips on the puck and I get a five-minute major and game misconduct. Two penalties I got when guys ran into me and I still don't know who they are. I know refereeing is not easy. But you'd just like a little consistency."
The Rangers surely are saying the same thing about Lindros.
Playing both sides of puck
There has been a real turnaround regarding Boston's blueliners contributing offense. Last season, the Bruins' blue line corps couldn't find the net with a map and a compass. This year, that has changed dramatically. They've added free-agent Bryan Berard and promoted Jonathan Girard from the minors. Both are obviously talented, but there is a certain risk/reward ratio involved, too. For example, Berard, an ex-Ranger, made more passes to his former teammates in the first two periods than he completed to his new teammates last Saturday. However, Berard's wrister through traffic that glanced off the stick of forward Pavel Bure accounted for the winner. Through 11 games, Berard who had 2 goals and 23 points last year in 82 games, already has 3 goals and 5 points. Hal Gill and Nick Boynton had five points each through 11 games.
Frustrations boil over
Stop us if you've heard this before but Carolina goaltender Arturs Irbe is mad as hell and he's not going to take it anymore.
Or something like that.
It's difficult to beat the drum about your lack of playing time when your rival -- in this case Kevin Weekes -- is kicking your butt. Weekes, who has been flat-out spectacular despite his team's ridiculous inability to score goals, shut out Buffalo 2-0 on Thursday. Irbe had been the iron man of the team, playing 206 of 259 games over the last four years, but he was winless in three starts this year.
"I hate the situation," said Irbe, who has the same agent as Weekes. "I'm not happy. I'm working my [butt] off right now, anyway I can get back in the net. It hasn't been easy. It's been hard. I've dealt with this before but it doesn't make it any easier."
To quote a really bad cliche, nobody promised you a rose garden, Archie. Had you earned it, you'd be playing now. To have an agent represent both Weekes and Irbe is strange, yes, but largely irrelevant. Weekes is better right now. Irbe just needs to deal with it.
Depth chart
When center Radek Bonk returned to the Ottawa Senators lineup after missing five games because of a shoulder injury, he got a surprise -- a relocation to left wing so Jason Spezza could remain at the pivot with Marian Hossa on the right. Bonk said it was fine with him. Spezza was relieved because he has no interest in being sent down to play in the AHL. "As long as I'm wearing the right sweater, I'm happy," he said. "I just want to keep getting my chances to play."
Has Montreal Canadiens goaltender Jose Theodore overcome his early season struggles? After posting a 1-4-2 record, a woeful 4.06 goals-against average and .861 save percentage, he made 42 saves in a 3-0 win Thursday. Then again, it was the Islanders.
Toronto forward Nik Antropov dodged a bullet when an MRI on his left knee showed no significant damage. The sprained medial collateral ligament means he'll miss just 7-10 days. Antropov's fear was understandable. The 22-year-old has had both knees reconstructed in the last three years.
Coach Ken Hitchcock may drive some of his players nuts but he's earning plenty of respect from his troops in Philadelphia. "I don't think his system is much different than a lot of other systems," said feisty forward Jeremy Roenick. "But Hitch just takes things to the bitter, bitter ultimate detail of everything and everywhere. He'll even tell you which way your skates should be pointed in neutral ice when checking somebody. It's a lot to have to absorb so you have to always be mentally aware of what is going on around you."
He doesn't get the ink that many of his teammates do but that doesn't make the season veteran defenseman Eric Weinrich is having any less impressive. Weinrich, through 12 games, was the league leader in plus-minus at plus-14.
The New York Islanders haven't been very good on the penalty kill. Heading into their game against Montreal, the club had surrendered 20 power-play goals, worst in the league.
After all the fanfare surrounding the Lightning's great start, they plummeted back to earth after an 0-3 string on the road. "It was an awful road trip," said goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin, referring to losses at Washington, Pittsburgh and Toronto. After outscoring teams 18-7 in the third period and overtime, the tables were turned and they were outscored 7-3 in the third.
It hasn't happened yet, however Florida coach Mike Keenan expects defenseman Jay Bouwmeester to develop into a splendid NHL talent. The third overall pick in June is coming along but the youngster is going to need time to develop. "Both of his parents are teachers," said Keenan. "And you can see that he learns quickly. You tell him something once and he pretty much picks it up. You never know, but my prediction is he's going to be an outstanding player."
Nancy Marrapese-Burrell of the Boston Globe is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.
