Isles Smacked in the Mouth

The title is true both literally and figuratively. First off, our best wishes go out to scrappy defenseman Jack Hillen, who took an Alexander Ovechkin shot to the face during Tuesday (1/26) night's game. He was taken to the hospital after the incident, which you can see (courtesy of ESPN.com) here. Nobody from the team had an update on Jack's condition immediately following the game.

If you clicked on the video and accompanying story, you probably also noticed that the actual game was just as unpleasant. A 7-2 defeat at the hands of the Washington Capitals. The Caps scored 1:05 in, and other than an Isles goal to make the game 2-1 early on, they never looked back. It was so bad that Washington players were skating through two Islander defenders and scoring goals. Too ugly to even talk about.

If there was a bright side to the game for the Islanders, it would have to be the small accomplishments of keeping Ovechkin pointless, and Kyle scoring a nice goal fed by John Tavares. And that's about it.

After a really nice run, our worry is that the Isles are backsliding a bit. They dropped their previous game to a struggling New Jersey team, and now get blown out by Washington. Not to take credit away from the Caps, a dynamic offensive team, but this game opened a few eyes as to where the Isles really are in their rebuilding process.

One can hope that the Islanders are able to pull out of this mini-slump as they now travel to Carolina, Philly, Florida, and Tampa Bay for a road trip. None of the teams listed are world-beaters, and it would be an opportune time for the Isles to pick up some much needed points.