Raise your hands if you expected a 1-0 Islanders win last night PUT YOUR HANDS DOWN. Next up, Thursday versus Calgary.
Islanders bits:
- Recaps: LHH | New$day | IPB | Islanders | Russian Machine | Japers Rink
- The Skinny from the Capital
- Arthur Staple invokes George Costanza to boil down the Thomas Vanek situation. Worlds are colliding! [New$day]
- Video: Vanek and Jack Capuano talk free ageny with SNY TV.
- ESPN's Pierre Lebrun (a.k.a. the good one), looks at Snow's options for trading Vanek and whose shopping list he's on.
- CBS Sport's Jeff Capellini goes through a lot of words to say, "Nice try Garth. Keep playing."
- There's way too much awesome going on in this Voice of Russia interview with Lubomir Visnovsky to be ignored. Set yourself some time to read about this "interesting complex cat" and don't let Garth Snow push you around. And Dom looks at an accompanying video here. Vote for Lubo.
- Sound Tigers defenseman Marc Cantin received a four-game suspension for a match penalty against Springfield on Saturday. [AHL]
Other notes:
- Last night's NHL scores. The Leafs lost to the Panthers, who snapped an 1-for-20000 power play drought and the Sens and Blues played a wild one.
- Jewels from the Crown examines the Sam Gagner to the Kings trade rumor that's been gaining steam.
- Ads for the KHL's CSA are cheesy fun featuring Ilya Kovalchuk. [Awful Advertising]
- Bill Guerin's backyard rink is much nicer than your house. [The Pens Blog]
- The team bedrooms in Sochi are much worse than your house. [Deadspin]
- The Florida Panthers will take your losing lottery scratch-offs and turn them into game tickets. This is not a joke. [Puck Daddy]
- Do the Winnipeg Jets need to buy out Ondrej Pavelec's contract? [Arctic Ice Hockey]
- It's become much harder to push narratives in the NHL during the era of analytics. [Eric T at SB Nation]
- Broad Street Bullies GM Keith Allen passed away yesterday at the age of 90. [THN]
- A very thoughtful piece from Matchsticks and Gasoline about becoming comfortable with the mediocrity of your team. Many feelings we can probably empathize with.
- What comes after a "miracle?" For the 1984 US Olympic Men's Hockey team, the answer is nothing good. A great long read from SB Nation.
And because it's stuck in your head now...