The good news is Arthur Staple reported last night that both Al Montoya (who left the game after Evander Kane rushed the puck into his crease (video below) and David Ullstrom (who had an awkward OT collision) were cleared to fly home.

Travis Hamonic's puck to the knee mid-way through the game looked so painful that you wonder if he'll be feeling that in two nights, but it's hard to imagine that kid taking a night off. Our post-game recap is over here, but below we have post-game audio/video as well as additional coverage and other links.

And this is probably moot since all signs point to a full rookie year on the Island, but Nino Niederreiter's season clock is now up to eight games. Which means if they did want to send him back to juniors and have his Entry Level Contract "slide" one more year before fully triggering, Thursday against the Rangers would be his last game. He's minus-8 (minus-2 in his two games since coming back from the concussion) and getting about nine minutes a game.

I'm still of the view a player like him belongs in the AHL, but the rule preventing that puts teams in a tough spot. Has he shown he has more to learn? Definitely. Has he shown enough blips where I think he could learn a lot of that in the NHL this season? Yes. But would it take well more than nine games to see that? Yes.

Islanders Links

• Staple's recap for Newsday: "Nabokov went in and he was promptly greeted by a three-on-one short-handed rush by the Jets, who fumbled that chance badly." No doubt.
  
• Official site: On Travis Hamonic's NHL homecoming in Manitoba.
• Newsday on Mark Streit's recent struggles (great The Shining headline), and Capuano having a chat with him after the Minnesota turnover.
  
• Also from the Isles, a cool "40 facts" for the 40th anniversary year. I like 22 and 19 myself.
• About that history: On the goalie change before they came back against the Penguins, who would go on to be their playoff jesters multiple times.
• The Isles have resumed posting a depth chart now, though it's more a daily lineup ... unless you want to read more into it.
• The recap from SB Nation's Jets site Arctic Ice Hockey.
  

Post-game Audio

Courtesy of the gang at Illegal Curve, where they have plenty:

Travis Hamonic was amped to win in front of family, and celebrate with them afterward. He also flashed the French, his first language. [Hamonic audio]

Jack Capuano said all 20 guys played -- literally, even both goalies! -- and there were "no passengers." Praised the arena atmosphere and goaltending, absolved Kane of any malicious intent. When asked about the first quarter, he said "We gave some games away. We let some teams off the hook." [Capuano audio]

Grabner -- who logged his AHL years in Winnipeg -- was happy to return and win with his NHL home. [Grabner audio]

And clips from the Isles MSG coverage page:

Hamonic (some of the same audio) and Matt Moulson (on road wins, Rangers next):

Jack Capuano on MSG, not liking the wide-open, turnover-happy first period:

Kane-Montoya Collision

We discussed some in the recap. Obviously it's something all three players involved did what they're instructed to do: Montoya stood his ground, Kane drove the net, and Milan Jurcina cut off Kane's angle to the front. Since we see this way too much and the result of everyone doing their job is a dangerous collision that can remove goalies from games (or worse), it seems to demand more clarification from the league.

Finally, OT and just for fun: The year in media errors and corrections | Poynter.