Mike and Dan look back at a week that was great for the Islanders until it wasn't, and an annoying week ahead.

With wins over the Devils and Rangers on either side of the Christmas break, the Islanders gave their fans a great holiday. Whether it was a surprise game-winning goal from Adam Pelech or an incredible performance by David Rittich against a team of scumbags and nobodies, there was a lot to like. Sunday's game in Columbus looked as if it might be another reason to smile but in a one-minute-plus span in the third period, those feelings got wiped away. The Islanders ran out of gas and missed out on two points, but we award Rittich with a brand new weekly prize for his efforts.

The upcoming week features two winnable games against wounded Western Conference opponents and another meeting with the hated Maple Leafs at UBS Arena. This one is going to be more annoying than usual as it's the first meeting of the last two Islanders to be drafted first overall. But while John Tavares does his usual classy thing and gets fawned over by The Weirdest Media Circus in All of Sports, Matthew Schaefer might be coming face-to-face with his past as a Leafs fan. We can only hope that someone (ahem... Matt Martin?) teaches him about the significance of these games for Islanders Fans. We bring forth a brand new Master Leaf Theatre to remind us that things are different up there.

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