NYI.com & Associated Press: Have preview for tonight's game against Tampa Bay.
Islanders TV: Chris King and Steve Mears archived seven minutes of practice Wednesday. No lineup changes expected but Brian Berard was healthy enough to skate in a coaches warmup suit.
NYI Fan Central Comments:
Some may look at Tampa's 6-1 loss at New Jersey last night and see a club that has not won on the road all season. I watched this game and it was 2-1 with less then fifteen minutes left before the Devils took control and there were a lot of fights from a team that skated very well. The final score did not reflect how hard they worked. If Johan Holmqvist plays it will be his third game in four days, Marc Denis did come in when the Devils broke the game open.
You can bet coach John Tortarella will be pushing everything he can out of his team, Islanders better shake off any rust and excuses early and get into the trenches.
Tampa Bay has been outscored 9-2 on its current trip and 24-10 in five road games, it will try for a ninth straight victory over the Islanders since losing 3-0 on March 21, 2004 even though many of those losses were with Garth Snow and Mike Dunham starting. DiPietro is 2-5-0 with three ties and a 3.01 GAA in 10 starts versus Tampa Bay.
Note-I'm not sure many know there is a message board here but there is a game thread posted for every game for folks to talk about the games or post their own Islander-hockey related topics.
Feel free to stop by and talk about the game.
Updated 11am:
Newsday: Mark Herrmann had two blog updates on Mike Sillinger's night and a quick word from Ruslan Fedotenko meeting his former team tonight.
Regina Post Leader/Cam West News: Greg Harder
had an excellent feature on Mike Sillinger that's a must read with more than anything Newsday has provided for their hometown player. Bill Guerin is also quoted.
"I hate to sound modest about it because I'm very, very proud," Sillinger said from his Long Island, N.Y., home. "I just can't believe I'm at 1,000 games.
"There's not a lot of players who have done it. When you sit back and reflect, I guess you want to give yourself a pat on the back. It's quite an accomplishment"
"I'm very thankful," he said humbly. "Ever since I signed here last year, the Islanders organization has been fantastic to my family and myself."