April 6, 2011: Islanders v. Bruins

Islanders of a different, more glorious era. That era would be the 1970-1980s. That era has long since departed Long Island.

Puck-drop is at 7pm EST. Enthusiasm for this game, for both the Islanders and the Bruins, has to be close to nil. I can include myself in this category. The Islanders will be cellar-dwellers yet again and the Bruins are secured in their third seed and don’t appear overly anxious to capture a higher slot. There was one interesting point made by Coach Julien to the media this morning, and that regarded Tomas Kaberle’s development and “re-education” as a Bruin. Toronto played a man-on-man defense, whilst the Bruins are a zone team. That’s illuminating and I should hope this bodes well for Kaberle’s (ahem, post-re-signing) future with the team.

In an interview on 98.5 two days ago, Cam Neely remarked upon the Bruins’ loss the previous night against the Rangers, saying more or less that it was a “fine loss” and not reason for concern. The attitude was understandable, but the ramifications of such thinking perhaps more insidious, more unsettling. Really, because the Bruins relinquishing a 3-0 in anything, ever again, is, well, haunting. For obvious reasons.

But, across 82 games, it’s impossible to get too worked up. Even keel, even keel.