Hodge: Thumbs up to the Isles, down to Sharks' excuses Dave Hodge gives a thumbs up to the "real" New York Islanders while putting his thumb down to excuses made on behalf of the San Jose Sharks.

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The job here is to state an opinion, support it with available facts, and hope it’s right. It’s much easier to do that, and to say “thumbs up”, when indisputable evidence is discovered. Lo and behold, there is indisputable evidence that the New York Islanders are going to host playoff games in their final year at Nassau County Coliseum. Here it is - the Islanders scored seven goals last night against the Dallas Stars, and John Tavares didn’t score any of them.

Furthermore, he didn’t assist on any of them. When the Islanders can score seven times without a point from their leading scorer, the guy who led the league just a couple of days ago, they’re a playoff team. So thumbs up to the Islanders and a proper end to their time at the Nassau Coliseum. Count on it, as you count the points that Tavares will surely get the next time the Isles score seven goals.

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My thumb is down to Marc-Edouard Vlasic’s statement that “there’s nothing wrong with the San Jose Sharks.” He needed to say there’s nothing “seriously” wrong with his team, because, seriously, there’s something wrong when the Sharks lose at home to the Buffalo Sabres.

I know it sounds like I’m picking on any team that loses to Buffalo, because I made an unflattering reference to the Carolina Hurricanes’ loss to Buffalo, but here’s why San Jose deserves criticism - when a last-place team tours California, playing three games in four nights, and loses the first two games, it simply shouldn’t win the third one. It requires help in the form of a no-show by the home side for a team like Buffalo to beat the Sharks or the Kings or the Ducks under those circumstances. Coming as it did on the heels of a last-minute, 5-4 loss to Columbus, San Jose’s performance in the 2-1 yawner against the Sabres pretty much wipes out the glow of the Sharks’ good start to the season, and should cause some concern.