3/11: New York at Tampa 7:30pm Msg plus

New York Islander Fan Central | 3/11/2008 10:50:00 AM | | | | |
Islanders website: Has the preview for tonight's game against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
On the ice everyone knows the score with the Islanders and the playoffs. If they have any outside hope of having any chance to get back in the playoff race they have to be able to work through a teams defense and goaltending and finish some quality chances starting tonight against a Tampa team playing competitive hockey and have a lot of new faces since the Brad Richards trade.

At this point it will be interesting to see if the Islanders play as if they are resigned to not making the playoffs which would go against the mantra of the character of this group.

Usually when this is pushed this far back against the wall the push back. I'm not sure they have that much more fight left in them.

No word on a possible Bruno Gervais return tonight.

The Msg-plus era begins in the latest scheme by Msg to put even more Garden control on all Islander content. I highly doubt we see any additional Islander or Devil programming because the idea behind owning the television rights has always been to control and limit the Garden's competition.

Updated 6:30pm:
Newsday: Greg Logan reports in Newsday's Islander blog Josef Vasicek may not play with the flu and Ben Walter has been recalled from Bridgeport. Ted Nolan comments on the move along with an update on Bruno Gervais. Rick DiPietro talks about the challenge in front of the club to get back into playoff contention.