And I've wasted an incredible amount of time trying to get my laptop to play the NHL radio feed so I can hear Steve MEars and CHris King call the damn game.  So much so that I"ve basically missed almost the entire first period.  So, my live blog buddie Tom Liodice isn't here this evening as he had some family obligations.  But Frank and Jim are here with me in the Blog Box, which I appreciate as I really didn't want to be sitting here alone, fighting with my new laptop.

Ok, I'll live.  We'll figure this out. 

Oh, Jackman beat the pants off Montador at 13:01 of the first.  Forgot about that.  So far that was the highlight of the period.

Jiggs had a little face time on the jumbotron to a rousing round of applause, and a few minutes later they did the same for Denis Potvin.  Many in the crowd actually stood for that.  Nice to have them back in the building.

The Loudville crowd, which is packed almost to capacity seems to be purposely chanting in defiance.  This just proves that blogs do indeed work.  Sometimes not to the effect they are aiming for, but they do work. 

BTW, there is no score as of yet, Hilbert was in the box and they only manged one shot on DiPi which he easily handled.  Ok... Shots are 7 - 7 and there's 2:49 left of the first.  Can they get past that dreaded 1 minute mark without letting anything up?  Let's see.

Horn sounds, no goals, SOG Isles 7, Panthers 11.  It went quickly.  And I need to eat something.  Like anyone cares.

In the time it takes me to go to gate 1 and then get a coffee and popcorn, I have missed two goals.  The only one I care about is the one by Comrie on the PP with an assist by Sillinger and Bergeron.  Let's see... Didn't Big Angry Man complain that Bergeron NEEDED to play.  I guess he was right.

The Islander sare back on the powerplay  as Mezei is in the box, but nothing is coming of it.

Minor celebrity sigthing:  Mike Carey came by the Blog Box before to tell us Pat Sajik was in the building and actually sitting down by the ice infront of us.  I can only ask... why? 

Odd fan sighting: There is a young boy infront of our table with very unique headwear.  He's got a crab hat with the #1 Fan licence plate attached to it..

Power play is over, and Ricky gets scored on by David Booth (who?), but it's his 10th of the season. 

And if things were bad enough, Guerin takes a hooking penalty at 12:09 and linds in the box.  Woo hoo... Just what we need.  Ok.  It didn't hurt us.

Pat Sajak did a Movie trivia contest, and stated out with  stating "The Rangers Suck."  The answer was too easy, but he won a prize pack for the kid in front of him.  Very nice.With a panther player sitting in the box for Craig Anderson for taking down Richard Park, Sillinger gets credit for a goal that just looked like a bad play by the panthers.

Loudville does it again, but it looks like they have company now in their goal chant.  I'm wondering if CB is grinding his teeth by now.

Oh Look!  Another PP as Zednik is in the box!  MAB rips one from the blue line, and it just dissapears.  No, literally... it dissapeared for a few seconds into a panthers jersey.  No one knew where the puck was.  Very entertaining.

With Comrie making another appearence in the box, the Panthers score after he had only taken a seat for a few seconds.  The shots are now 20 - 23 with the Panthers leading. With a score of 2 - 3, last minute of play in the second and #22 Cullimore in the box, the Islanders can't capitalize.

Big Angry Man texts me from his dinner "We suck." I text back "No we don't."  He doesn't believe me.  I'm sure I shouldn't tell him there is popcorn all over the new computer.  But he's having a nice dinner, and I'm having popcorn.   He'll have to live.

This game is going really fast. Or the Starbucks is just kicking in, I'm not sure.  Third starts and this will be where they have to make it work.

Stumpel just knocked over Witt and he let him.  What's that about?

Scoring change on Comrie's goal, Bergeron has been stripped of the assist.  Maybe he can make it up with a goal of his own.

TWo old men in hats just decided the row infront of our table is the perfect place to relocate to.  Oddly the usher that decided IslanderQueen couldn't sit here, is letting the men in hats block my view without saying anything to them.  I guess he doesn't like women.

Sean almost gets a chance followed by a shot from the blue line by Witt, but neither go in.

Joining Loudville is now Dunkin Donuts sections 306 & 307.  But I don't see any free coffee or donuts, just a sign.  BTW, no one has scored yet.  It's still 2 -3 Panthers leading.  They're running out of time with only 10:52 left.  They seem to be conserving energy for the road trip.  There's also rumors about DPs pads being pulled for some reason, but since I can't get my audio working ... I HAVE NO FREAKIN' IDEA!!!

Zednik hit campoli into the boards and he left the ice and kicked the boards on the bechn.  He's doubled over in pain as he's being attended to.  Frank is telling me he went into the boards with his wrist.  He's not a happy camper.

SOG are now 29 29 and 8:27 left.  This doesn't look good.  If they can't find a spark somewhere, they are not getting anything out of this game other than a little pain.

Frank says he feels some late 3rd period heroics coming.  Hopefully, it's not from the Panthers.