The New York Islanders face the Pittsburgh Penguins on NBC Sports tonight. Appropriate that the network's "NHL Revealed" show featured a heavy dose of the Islanders last night.
Did you catch it? Lots of love for John Tavares and Kyle Okposo. We discuss some of the NHL Revealed highlights over here.
The Reads around Here
- Newsday confirms what you probably figured by now: The Isles won't be leaving the Coliseum a year early. Honestly, the building needs a proper sendoff, with a riveting season.
- More pressingly, Newsday's Arthur Staple believes Andrew MacDonald is seeking $5 million per year. That development is covered on our free agent's form letter checklist from last week.
- The official site on all these comeback wins.
- On tonight's opponent: Do the Penguins lose their focus on defense when they are fully healthy? - SBNation.com
- The Penguins trounced Montreal 5-1 at home last night. [NHL]
- As so many Isles fans have experienced, NHL blackout rules -- specifically, sticking you with the Sabres and the Sabres only despite broader MSG coverage -- are insane. [THW]
- A rant on that Daily News piece about the Isles win over the Rangers. [EOI]
- Charles Wang doesn't get enough credit for things like this: The 6th annual Lighthouse Tournament is underway, with youth teams from China, Japan and Finland meeting teams from Long Island.
From Elias, on the latest comeback win, at the Garden:
"It was the sixth time since December 29 that the Islanders won a game in which they trailed by two goals or more, and five of those six wins were recorded in regulation time. No other NHL team has posted more than two two-goal comeback wins over the past 24 days."
Beyond the Island
- Dallas Eakins is frustrated, and makes a point about counting hits. [SB Nation]
- Pension Plan Puppets rips the Oilers, and they should know.
- So should the fans putting "Lowe Must Go" billboards up around Edmonton. [C&B]
- Denis Savard discusses the spinorama and other things with Puck Daddy. [Yahoo]
- Richard Sherman says hockey players are thugs. Which, I mean, you know...we call them that all the time. [Puck Daddy]
- This story on the Danbury Thrashers and the 17-year-old put in charge is excellent. [SI]
FIG Picks
Leave your First Islanders Goal picks for tonight this way. Remember the game has a half-hour later start due to NBCS coverage.