Happy Meal, MacDonald! Isles shut out the Wings.

It's not pride that comes before the fall. It's haughtiness.

And how haughty for the last place, Tavares Anglers (read: New York Islanders) to walk into Hockey Town and shut out the Detroit Red Wings on their home turf. Perhaps 'tis the pride of one Joey MacDonald, a former Red Wing who had not started a game in seven contests (recouping from a knee injury), to return to play in Motown and earn the dOnut.

I am sure the fans of the Red Wing will note the 4 shots in the 3rd period off the post behind MacDonald. But we all know, when it happens, the goalie says, 'that's all I gave him'. Posts go 'tink', horn goes not.

I imagine Babcock had warned his team how tough it would be to play the last place Isles - a team playing for pride and with nothing to lose, going up against the best team in the NHL as a measuring stick for what they have learned this season and preparing for the next.

I wonder if the Wings' players were too proud to take the lowly Isles seriously?

The Islanders played their last contest of the 08/09 season against a Western Conference team tonight and the 'youth movement' has much to hang their hat, er helmet, on.

Whether a Red Wings fan or an Islanders fan, it was a good, hard-fought contest. It won't affect Detroit's positioning in the standings for post-season play as they race to the President's trophy. It will , perhaps, remind them to skate hard every night and get ready for the playoffs, plugging any holes exposed tonight.

For the hurtin' Isles fans, well, they may have thought pride comes before the fall. But not so. It's the Isles that will come ready and eager....next Fall.

Here, here Hockey!