Islanders welcome home cooking after grueling road stretch
Photo credit: AP | Philadelphia Flyers forward Arron Asham, from left, can't get a shot past New York Islanders defenseman Freddy Meyer and goalie Martin Biron in the third period. (December 8, 2009)
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Toronto 3, Islanders 2
Home sweet home.
That's likely the prevailing thought for the Islanders, who Wednesday night in Toronto finally completed a demanding stretch in which they played 14 of 17 games on the road.
The team now will enjoy some well-deserved relief from the hectic and burdensome schedule they have endured this past month. The Islanders will not get on a plane or leave the state of New York until their New Year's Eve game in Ottawa.
With eight of their next 10 games at home - the other two are against the Rangers at Madison Square Garden - the Islanders finally can unpack those suitcases.
"Now we just have to put this stretch of games we've been talking about for so long behind us," coach Scott Gordon said. "Now we move forward and know that we are going to be able to play some games at home."
The Islanders, who finished 6-9-2 in the 17-game stretch, fared pretty well away from home to start. But they tapered off and began to show the ill effects of so much time spent on the road, with very little practice time to refresh and fine-tune.
That frenetic pace now transitions into a relatively calm December in which the Islanders can hope to retain some semblance of normalcy amid a compacted NHL schedule because of the Winter Olympics.
"It's been such a constant, us being on the road. I think we're all kind of worn out," Gordon said. "That doesn't make the games any easier, but at least you know that we'll have some consistency with our lives the next three weeks, which we haven't had."
Notes & quotes: Rehabbing goaltender Rick DiPietro, who returned to game action Saturday in Bridgeport for the first time since his season-ending knee injury last year, will make his next start tomorrow in Springfield. DiPietro will start again Tuesday in Bridgeport to complete his three-game conditioning stint. After his assignment in Bridgeport is complete, it will be up to the Islanders' coaches to determine how and when to work him into the goaltending rotation.
