Fletch (And The Islanders) Lives

It's the NHL Closer. We pass the mic to the kids at Orland Kurtenblog. Their NHL Closer is written by Canadians for Americans.

The Islanders Will Have a Steak Sandwich and a...Steak Sandwich That's eight wins in 11 meetings for the Isles over the Rangers, the latter of which had their win streak snapped at five games with the 2-1 defeat. Ruslan Fedotenko and Josef Vasicek — two names that Fletch might enjoy in addition to Marvin, Velma and Provo — put the Islanders up 2-0 in the second before Dr. Rozsivalpenis brought the Blueshirts within one.

Big Bird Honored: On the night the Montreal Canadiens retired Hall of Fame defenseman Larry Robinson's No. 19, the Habs and Ottawa Senators turned back the clock and played some fairly entertaining hockey. The teams combined for 67 shots and six goals as the Sens won 4-2. Robinson is the 13th Montreal player to have his number retired joining the likes of these guys and, disgracefully, not Chris Nilan.

Olli, Olli, Four-to-Three, Hanlon Should Keep Hiding: Olli Jokinen scored two goals as the Florida Panthers took out the Washington Capitals, 4-3. The Caps are now 1-7-1 in the month of November and some of their fans have had enough of coach Glen Hanlon. The chant of "Fire Hanlon" was heard reverberating around the Verizon Center on Monday night, replacing the traditional chant of "Let's Go Flyers."

A Bone for the West: The Closer has been accused of having an East Coast bias, so here's something for the rest of the continent: the St. Louis Blues beat the Nashville Predators by a score of 2-1. It wasn't a particularly exciting game, but it sure was the last of the night to finish.