In Net, the Replacements: Biron vs. Danis

So Scott Gordon has shown again that the Islanders goalie platoon is not quite a straight-up platoon. He's putting Martin Biron in for a second consecutive start, saying he likes Dwayne Roloson against Atlanta (tomorrow's opponent) better.

The first thing that comes to mind is the Devils are 3-0 in shootouts, while Roloson is ... not that.

Regardless, I'm looking forward to this angle. If Biron can have one of his better nights against a foe he plays tough, I like the Islanders' chances. Rob Niedermayer's injury means Patrik Elias's return will be at center -- not Lemaire's preference.

Meanwhile, though we kick Danis around a bit, it's true he had some excellent peak performances last year. Gordon, not known to blow smoke to inflate goalies' egos, had this to say about when Danis turned his season around last year:

"You'd be hard-pressed to find a guy who played better during his stretch where he was on top of his game ... For me, he really cleaned up a lot of the little things that were missing in his game, and he worked at it. That's all you can ask for your players -- to work hard and get better -- and he did that."

Remember that Gordon was very, very hard on Danis earlier in the year, and appeared almost reluctant to play him even to spell the very busy Joey MacDonald. But during Danis' hot stretch, he was stopping shots at a .930+ clip and Gordon was crowing about his improvement. An absolutely miserable final 8 games is what sent his season back down, and his save percentage back to .910. Which Danis will we see tonight?