NY Islander Articles 9/20

New York Islander Fan Central | 9/20/2007 06:59:00 AM | | |
Newsday article for Thursday is about the work new assistant coach Gerard Gallant is doing with the powerplay.

* The biggest improvement the Isles could make would be to convince referees to give them more power-play opportunities. They ranked 12th in the NHL last season with an 18.1 percent success rate, but their 348 chances were second fewest in the league to Florida's 337.

"I don't know what their power play was last year, but there's no reason it can't be better because there's some good talent," Gallant said. "We talked about working on the power play early, and that's the main reason I stayed back the first two games was to work with some core veterans.

"My philosophy is that I look to have a couple of set plays. In the power play, when you're getting pressure, you don't have a lot of time to set up plays. But in five-on-threes and four-on-threes, you get a little bit more time. That's when I let the guys know this is their money play. If there's one play that's going to work against a team, we're going to go with that. But a lot of times, power-play goals are scored from guys paying the price in front of the net and getting shots through."

"Obviously, I know the league pretty well after spending the last nine years in Columbus," said Gallant, who briefly played with Nolan in the AHL. "I don't know if my experience was a factor or not, but Teddy knows my character and what kind of person I am."


Times and Transcript had the following articles:
NY Islanders always welcome NHL clash packs Coliseum Have faith Nolan tells grieving students NHL PRE-SEASON

Back in Bridgeport Michael Fornabaio did a Ct Post article Capuano gets feel for future Sound Tigers Montreal Gazette did a Canadian perspective article on the exhibition game.

Cory Witt's media blog gave his thoughts on the game. Kimber Auerbach did a website update on the game that had more of a Sound Tiger perspective.