The surging Islanders head to Kanata to take on the struggling Sens, who always play the Islanders tough. Sens possibly to get a boost today should G Craig Anderson make his return from well-deserved time off to spend time with his wife who is battling cancer. If he's back, expect an emotional uplift for Ottawa. But we're hoping to make this a good outcome for the Ottawa-area boys Alan Quine and Calvin de Haan who should both have lots of family at the game.
No lineups announced yet, but with the back-to-back on tap with COL tomorrow, wouldn't be surprised to see Greiss today given the importance of the conference game this afternoon.
The Isles are now 13-4-4 in their last 21 games (since December 20th vs. Boston). In those games, the PP is 13-65 (20.0%) and the penalty kill is 6-46 (87.0%). The only NHL teams with better records in that span are Washington (19-3-3, including 0-2-0 vs. the Isles) and Minnesota (17-4-2).
With his next assist, Josh Bailey will tie Ed Westfall and Benoit Hogue for 26 on the team's all-time list with 105. John Tavares is in a 10th place tie with Derek King with 288; his next one gives him sole possession of 10th place with Bob Bourne next at 304.
In Bridgeport, Ryan Pulock scored the GWG goal in a 1-0 win over Providence. Pulock entered this season as one of 4 Sound Tigers defensemen in club history with 4 or more GWGs. He now has four more in the past 16 days (stands at 10-9-19 in 25 games played). Oh, and that Halak guy? He's been great in BPT. He's won 8 starts in a row, and in his 12 appearances as a Sound Tiger has a 1.99 GAA and a .933 save percentage, which would lead the AHL if he had enough qualifying minutes (he's about 100 minutes shy). I think that's better than someone on the active roster with a 3.27 GAA and .896 save pctg, but what do I know.
Finally, a WHL game last night with 2 of our top prospects as Tri-Cities took on Seattle with Seattle winning 6-2. Good looking D prospect Parker Wotherspoon scored a goal for Tri Cities and is 9-41-50 in 53 games, good for 4th in the WHL for defenseman scoring. Mat Barzal continues his rampage with another 3 points last night (all assists) and is 7-41-48 in 28 games played. He has 10 points in his last 4 games, and 23 points in his past 11 games.
Let's Go Islanders
Let's go Islanders!
Let's go Islanders!
Well said. I'm not confident in this one but a win would really say a lot.. that is until we drop the Avs game :)
Need to just get shots on net early from every angle and see how sharp he is
2. A matinee game loss? Color me shocked. Gee, that never happens.
CAR losing, BOS and PHI each tied late in their games. Isles need to take care of their business as they'll get no help, nor do they deserve any.
Here's hoping the NYR run the Avs ragged tonight and leave them with nothing for tomorrow night's game. Those will be 2 must-have points.
Totally agree with pga, Halak should be starting tomorrow night. 3 goalies was a disaster and everyone but Snow knew it. Now he is compounding the problem by keeping the inferior tendie up here.
Happy with Weight, but the prime organizational problem is still in charge.