Newsday: Greg Logan reports head coach Scott Gordon put his team through an unusually physical practice Sunday according to the beatwriter for the day off between games while the coach felt the teams effort has not been as strong as when they dropped the 2-1 games they played against Boston & the Rangers where he felt his team dominated the play.
He also credited his young players as the kind you want for the long run based on how they work and felt the recent games(not sure if he meant the overall team) have been more enjoyable then it was even during the winning streak.
NYI Fan Central Comments:
Scott Gordon sometimes losses me with where he goes with comments. On one hand it seemed he was talking about effort dropping then he was was more pleased recently with play vs when the winning streak was happening.
I'm simply not sure, no ITV at this time to clear things up.
Newsday: Greg Logan in the Islanders Newsday blog reports Mark Streit participated in practice and could be a game time decision while talking about expecting the team to compete hard and win games down the stretch with jobs on the line for next year. Head coach Scott Gordon discusses his goaltending rotation and scouting the teams number one possible pick himself as he deferred to his gm/scouting staff.
Cbc.com/several sources: Report the Pittsburgh Penguins Sunday night fired head coach Michel Therrien and replaced him with former Islander assistant coach Dan Bylsma (2005-06) who is head coach of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on an interim basis.
Former Islander Tom Fitzgerald, the Penguins’ director of player development, will join the staff as an assistant coach.
NYI Fan Central Comments:
Tough to say whether it was the record or how the coach got along with the players but clearly Pittsburgh is a helicopter team which was the term used to describe the late 80's Islander team who had Bryan Trottier, Brent Sutter and Pat Lafontaine down the middle but not nearly enough talent on the wings.
General Manager Ray Shero deserves to take the hit for assembling the team and for giving the coach a three year extension.
Who is to say how long Dan Bylsma is interim coach but a nice promotion for someone who was an assistant with the Islanders in 2005-06. The group of available coaches suggests it will be an interim spot but we'll see.
THN.com: Ken Campbell says it's an absurd concept teams tank for a top draft pick as he claims the Islanders are by far the worst team in the league but ignores writing about the 359 man games lost to injury as a big reason for the clubs record.