Newsday: Greg Logan in the Islanders Newsday blog reports Nate Thompson will play tonight against the Canadians with the center's comments.
Updated 6:30pm Newsday: Mr Logan now reports Kurtis McLean sustained a leg injury during a pre-game soccer game. There is no timetable for his recovery.
NYI Fan Central Comments: For those scoring at home put tonight's man-games lost to injury at nine/make that now ten.
Fox Sports: Has the preview for tonight's Islander-Montreal game.
03/10/09 Francis Bouillon Groin IR. Out indefinitely 02/09/09 Guillaume Latendresse Shoulder Out until at least mid-March 03/09/09 Robert Lang Achilles IR. Likely out for the season 03/05/09 Georges Laraque Back Out indefinitely
Name G A P A Markov 9 41 50 A Kovalev 16 31 47 A Kostitsyn 23 16 39 S Koivu 11 25 36 T Plekanec 18 18 36 A Tanguay 10 17 27
Who would have thought in mid-March both the Islanders and Canadians leading scorers would both be defenders with Markov and Streit who no doubt will not be hearing the cheers he heard all-star weekend in a very important game for the Canadians and new gm/coach Bob Gainey.
Mathieu Schneider is also back with the Canadians so that adds to an offense that also has former Islander Roman Hamrlik.
Carey Price starts against the Islanders. Koivu had a big game in the comeback ot win against Edmonton.
Islanders have a win at Montreal in the infamous Ryan O'Byrne game and a blown lead at the Coliseum in a game they were well ahead long ago. Islanders obviously are a very different team from the last time they have met but have played almost every game competitive.
Isles are out of the Eastern Time Zone only for the Sunday game in Chicago with a big break coming up after Sunday.
Need to generate far more quality chances than they did Tuesday against a goaltender waiting to get beat in Martin Gerber Tuesday.
Canadians have another game against the Islanders in April at the Coliseum.
Newsday: Has the preview of Friday's noon game in Boston with comments from head coach Scott Gordon on returning to Boston and Doug Weight.
Newsday: Mr Logan in the Islanders Newsday blog reports Nate Thompson will return with Mitch Fritz heading back to Bridgeport.
Boston Globe & Boston Herald: Have the latest on the Boston Bruins (Marco Sturm out/Matt Lashoff was returned to Providence) going into Friday's noon game after it's loss against Buffalo on Wednesday here.
Pittsburgh Tribune Review: Rob Rossi had a few words from Mark Streit on the not so bright spotlight hockey has in New York City against major sports in an article on Sidney Crosby perhaps someday playing in this market.
Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio's article is on callup Dennis Packard with his comments while head coach Jack Capuano talks about the process for recalls between Bridgeport and Utah.
Bridgeport plays against Hartford Friday night 7pm at Harbor Yard. ______________________________________________________________ NYI Fan Central Comments:
Lets call this the daily articles and game preview mostly written Wednesday for Friday morning combined. I will have a postgame blog entry on Friday afternoon.
Everyone knows the Bruins record going into this game and how they have had the Islanders number since Claude Julien became head coach. Scott Gordon's first regular season game coaching in Boston after a preseason visit.
A year ago Islanders appeared to mail in two games in Boston, the second coming just before the all-star game where the Bruins came in off a big loss and talked about how badly they wanted two points while the Islanders players talked like it was the last game of the season and drew some criticism afterward when they lost handily.
Good measuring stick here for what kind of effort we see, win or lose.
Every club in the division is on a good run, they won five of six and kept pace or even lost ground. No doubt they will be a little fragile after Wednesday but there is no time for anything but winning.
Newsday: Greg Logan in the Islanders Newsday blog had a practice report that Mitch Fritz was returned to Bridgeport and that Nate Thompson sustained an injury and will be out for Saturday's game against Pittsburgh.
Also reported Bergenheim practiced and should play Saturday. Josh Bailey and Mike Sillinger skated as well as Radek Martinek.
Someone will be recalled for Fritz on Saturday or sooner.
NYI Fan Central Comments: No point speculating, Bridgeport does not have a Friday game this week.
Would be great to see Mike Sillinger (or anyone injured) return and play some hockey games.
Newsday: Greg Logan's recap has comments from head coach Scott Gordon, Richard Park who spoke of how this team has been coming together over the last five-six games along with how frustrated the Rangers were and Nate Thompson on his first NHL goal.
Newsday: Mark Herrmann was so bitter about the Islanders winning he opened with a dig that the backup goalie on the Islanders can become the gm before Joey MacDonald's comments along with Richard Park and Scott Gordon on his play in an article that was also about Brodeur and DiPietro now being out for extended periods.
NYI Fan Central Comments: Of course Mr Herrmann makes it sound like the Islanders came into this game completely healthy up front/on the backline and were not playing a fourth game in six days against a team off since Saturday. Islanders recently lost a game they took sixty shots and I did not read from Mr Herrmann how badly the club outplayed Carolina.
Islanders have had the Rangers number at Msg for a while now and the record does not lie. It's no longer coincidence or a mismatch no matter how much Mr Herrmann does not want to write about it. DiPietro, Dubielewicz and now MacDonald have had the better of the Rangers at Msg.
I guess now it's time for Newsday to bring up the Ranger hangover for the next few days, this win means nothing without some goals and a win against Atlanta tomorrow because they have to get on a serious unbeaten streak here to get back in the playoff mix.
NY Post: Jay Greenberg makes his bi-yearly appearance to tell everyone the Islanders have been losing for fifteen years, have no people in the stands, that Charles Wang will have to threaten Nassau County to get his Lighthouse and that Scott Gordon's club will not be tanking. Sprinkled in were comments from Bill Guerin after the Blue Jacket game and about there being few systems like Scott Gordon's in the NHL.
Not much was written about the game.
NYI Fan Central Comments: You can almost see it play out at the Sports department at the Post. Dan Martin is the semi-regular writer but the former St Louis-Philadelphia hockey writer turned shock jock of all trades at the Post decided he wanted to step in and do a good rip job on the Islanders as he does once or twice a year because they are playing in the city.
With Jay Greenberg as a friend the Islanders need no enemies.
I don't want to pop Mr Greenberg's balloon but one billion, three hundred twenty million Chinese also could care less about the Rangers too and unfortunately a lot of Manhattan no longer cares as well. All he needs to do is pick up his own paper to see how far the hockey team at Msg has fallen in media circles in this town against the major market sports as that one Ranger article is buried deeper and deeper.
That's why Mr Greenberg no longer covers hockey with any regularity for the Post and the Rangers will not be seeing any Post back pages during the regular season.
Hint-That loud cheering after the Islanders scored was not coming from Knick fans or the political crowd as a state turned blue or red last night. Apparently the team that cannot draw at home as usual had a solid road turnout in the city.
Of course if the Post did not have a coverage double-standard sending Mark Everson to cover every Devils game while the Post never replaced Evan Grossman more people would be interested in New York Islander hockey which Mr Greenberg wanted no part of writing about. Not even an Islander blog at the Post.
Phil Mushnick told me last season Islander hockey was a luxury the Post could not afford. I guess this was their idea of splurging to cover a game for us to show up and put down the club?
I think this is more space than the Islanders have gotten in the Post all season for an article? Nothing like Jay Greenberg to make everyone feel awful about the team after a win. I guess that was the idea.
At least he pointed out the Islanders should have been the more tired club.
NY Post: Larry Brooks article beat up the Rangers for their loss.
Daily News: Peter Botte's limited space article had Scott Gordon's praise for his club, along with Richard Park and Joey MacDonald.
Daily News: Michael Obernauer had the Ranger-centric coverage of the Islanders win.
Journal News a brief Ranger-centric article.
Newsday: Steve Zipay's article has comments from head coach Scott Gordon and Joey MacDonald.
NYI Fan Central Comments: Seems the Islanders receive more coverage from Cablevision/Newsday when they play another team. No second article from Mr Logan and one article fits all from Mr Herrmann?
NY Times went AP only at least in terms of the web (at this time) did not to have an article for last night's game which is kind of shocking. As a rule their articles hit the website by midnight after games.
Edmonton Sun: Derek Van Diest reports the United States lost 5-2 against Germany Tuesday in this year's World Junior A Challenge with Islander prospect D Matt Donovan part of the team. Wednesday they'll face Canada East in the final game of the round robin before moving on to the quarter-finals regardless.
Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio has comments from head coach Jack Capuano on the loss of Mark Parrish and what it means for his prospects as Mr Fornabaio previews Wednesday's 11am game at Harbor Yard with a few words from Tim Jackman.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins at Bridgeport Sound Tigers WHEN -- Today, 11 a.m. WHERE -- Arena at Harbor Yard ON THE AIR -- No radio; Webcast and Internet pay-per-view at www.soundtigers.com
Newsday: Greg Logan went all out to make DiPietro not playing in relief of Joey MacDonald the story of the day while Scott Gordon explained his philosophy on pulling goaltenders while the beatwriter accused the coach of only answering questions he wanted to. Joey MacDonald gave his comments with the beatwriter again cornering him on the subject of DiPietro's availability.
Newsday: Mark Herrmann barely stopped short of writing DiPietro was injured and could not play but dressed anyway while Nate Thompson defended his goaltender. Joey MacDonald also talked about the game along with more from Bill Guerin.
Newsday: Greg Logan has comments from Nate Thompson about the fights and Bill Guerin on the penalties.
NYI Fan Central Comments: It's over the top Newsday is attempting to play doctor and second guess the coach to this degree. MacDonald had a shaky couple of costly goals, others were just breakdowns no goalie could stop with open nets. Islanders had Campoli, Martinek, Sillinger from the playoff with Buffalo injured today but as usual Mr Herrmann needed to kick a little extra dirt on them and stir the pot asking what's changed since the playoff series with Buffalo?
It's three games and they could have won two, tone it down Mr Herrmann. One thing that has not changed is how vindictive Newsday is running down this club every chance the get and targeting DiPietro.
If Gordon wanted DiPietro to sit out regardless, Danis would have been recalled.
Sure seems many Newsday staff writers have some major issues with Rick DiPietro for just about anything and are not going to make it easy for the club with the injury policy but who can blame the team given how poor they have been treated by the local media for so long?
Daily News: Peter Botte was permitted by Daily News Sports editor Leon Carter to make his first appearance at Nassau Coliseum since last season and jumped right on the DiPietro bandwagon wondering why the goaltender was was not used in the third period with Scott Gordon's comments who felt his club did not play a very good game with Mr Botte writing that his answer was to deflect from discussing his goaltender.
NY Post: Dan Martin's coverage included Bill Guerin's comments about how much work this team has to do along with Scott Gordon.
Newsday: Jim Baumbach had a few words about DiPietro as he had selective amnesia about what goalie won the season series between Lundqvist-Brodeur and Rick DiPietro a year ago along with what goalie faced the least shots per game in the Eastern Conference and for three months still could not get his save percentage above nine in Henrik Lundqvist.
Lundqvist is seeing even less shots than he did a year ago to date so credit his early play but any goaltender should win with less shots and a trap, an argument the media uses often against Martin Brodeur which seems a double-standard by Mr Baumbach.
Buffalo News: Mike Harrington has the Sabre coverage.
Updated Tuesday Morning: Newsday: Mr Logan blogs Tuesday morning with captain Bill Guerin's comments who did not excuse fatigue for his teams play and pointed to his time under former Devils coach Jacques LeMaire's system taking a long time for the club to learn. Mr Logan then gave early impressions of the lines and young players while forgetting Nielsen's first period chance where he got to the perfect spot and was robbed shorthanded on a great feed from Hunter.
NYI Fan Central Comments: Curiously Mr Logan felt despite Guerin's comments on the future things look grim for a team right now that is only 1-2 that has yet to play close to it's full lineup that easily could have been 2-1 if not for interference against MacDonald.
Newsday: Anthony Rieber in the latest Newsday disgrace claims the Islanders since trading for Ryan Smyth have been timid and cheap in the decision making process despite what the Islanders paid Mark Streit or Mr Logan's claims of the offers Drury or Scott Gomez being virtually the same (not front-loaded) as the Ranger contracts were.
Sarina Observer: Dave Borody has comments from Islander prospect Justin DiBenedetto along with Sarnia head coach Dave MacQueen on his five goal, seven point game on Sunday.
Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio has a blog update with his early Sound Tiger impressions along with the lineup among other items.
Anchorage Daily News: Doyle Woody has an article from the hometown paper on the newest Islander, Nate Thompson about being claimed on waivers, Scott Gordon from working together in Providence along with what's ahead and why he will wear the #45 for New York.
Boston Globe: Fluto Shinzawa has comments from Bruins assistant general manager Jim Benning along with head coach Claude Julien who had high praise for Thompson who the team tried to trade but according to Benning, there were other teams besides the Islanders who were interested in claiming Thompson.
On July 28, the Bruins re-signed Thompson to a one-year, $500,000 contract, according to the writer he had a strong training camp, serving mostly as a fourth-line center and penalty killer.
NYI Fan Central Comments: Always love finding articles from hometown papers on players, and comments from the organization that let him go. Classy stuff again from the Bruins.
Make your own judgements where he plays here, fourth line center/penalty killer.
NHL.com: Reported the New York Islanders on Wednesday claimed center Nate Thompson off waivers from the Boston Bruins and reassigned defenseman Brett Skinner to Bridgeport. Mr Botta over at My Point Blank Blog here had the story from practice earlier today along with Scott Gordon's comments about why the team made a claim on him and what he will bring to the club.
Updated: Newsday: Greg Logan has an updated blog with head coach Scott Gordon's comments on Nate Thompson being part of the answer in terms of the physical part of the roster with a skating element the coach likes and can play not only center but other wings so this will not necessarily effect Josh Bailey's status.
Some statistical career back ground here along with his AHL.com profile here.
NYI Fan Central Comments: A little surprising. We can speculate all night on the roster and what this little move does because Thompson is a center and we all know Josh Bailey is a center.
Frans Nielsen is playing center, Park, Hilbert can play center and we all know Mike Comrie, Doug Weight with Mike Sillinger are you guessed it, centers.
Something has to give sooner or later among the forwards if this coach sticks to his words of Bailey having to play on it's top three lines.
I guess if you voted Brett Skinner (meaning you did not vote for his demotion) you did not win the poll after all and dropping a defender to claim a center we will see what the ripple effect is unless Garth Snow has a defender healthier than expected or one he wants to acquire?
What does it say about Colliton or Walter when a twenty four year old center is claimed for a spot either of them needed to win in this camp along with twenty five year old Rob Hennigar's very early assignment to the Bridgeport part of camp and for that matter Mike Iggulden who got a cameo with San Jose against the Islanders?
If Thompson was claimed for enforcer skills, at this point I have to ask why did Garth Snow sign Joel Rechlicz to a three year contract?
I'm not sure Garth Snow or Scott Gordon are done yet.
Newsday: Mr Logan's 10/9 article has comments from Josh Bailey and Jack Hillen about where they have been used in practice along with what role they could have working with the veterans vs prospects for the time they are here, Scott Gordon talks about what he liked in Hillen from the beginning from his two games last season.
Islanders website: Has a team preview which included Scott Gordon's comments, Nate Thompson was listed with the defenders but overall a solid job.
Newsday: Jim Baumbach actually attended practice and had an interview with Kyle Okposo who spoke about last year's experience, what he is looking to do this season and what the coaches have him working on.
NYI Fan Central Comments: Good article, you almost read his work and expect something negative based on the blog entries which begs the question why not drop the shock jock act and do more of this? Anyone else notice Thomas Pock has been around about a week and the club has not issued one statement from him nor has Newsday done one interview?
Bridgeport Sound Tigers: Announced it's final roster for the Sound Tigers that is not so final now because it did not include Brett Skinner's demotion.
Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio in his blog entries also had the numerical roster and a few other entries about Internet game coverage changing to basically an ITV ppv format for the American Hockey League here which now have Mr Wang's neulion stamp on them as he is waiting on paperwork regarding some players.
NYI Fan Central Comments: I will be updating all this on the prospects blog including the link to the PPV television coverage.
I think I have most of the roster correct for Bridgeport in terms of numbers but have to do some changes to reflect the final cuts so bear with me for those who read the prospect blog profiles. With the turnover in Utah and Odessa it would be impossible for me to keep up with tryout contracts which is why it's best to link to their websites as updates happen which we do have for everyone.
I did see Campoli and Sutton open the market today here along with Islanders president Chris Dey with the players comments on the event.
Alex & Steve from Hockey Night on LI are having a double-header this weekend in terms of radio shows here with one on Friday at 5pm and another on Saturday at 3:30pm before the home opener to kick off the season after Scott Cullen appeared a few weeks ago. They invited me to appear on the Friday show and as always it will be a lot of fun and both do an excellent job with the program which is features on the sidebar of NYIFC.
Quick Note: Filatov was assigned to the AHL and can be recalled.
Finally: Unless something major breaks on Thursday I have scheduled our season preview at appear at 7:30am as opposed to the regular news articles but the feeders are available for the local coverage.
