Did you have a good MLK Day? Mine was fantastic. Here's a bit of coverage from the afternoon's demolition, which Eric noted featured the most Islanders shots on goal (46) in a shutout win "since totaling 48 while blanking the Devils 7-0 on February 22, 1987." He also notes the last five Islanders shutouts have been by five different goalies (DP, Roloson, Biron, MacDonald, Danis). Elsewhere:
For the win (standard fishwrap fare): NY Post | Daily News | Newsday (That'll be $5, please)
Bloggerific: IPB: "The best the Islanders have played since ... Peter Laviolette." Good thing we fired that guy! | Our Lighthouse Hockey recap and comments | Three live blogs: 7th Woman | Islesblogger | View from 317
In-depth Devils coverage: In Lou We Trust recaps, then digs into their losing ways ... Fire & Ice with deep coverage, including this from Lemaire: "We even had trouble in our own end. Usually we’re really good in our own end and tonight they could make plays as they wished." ... NJ.com with a bunch, including Zach Parise questioning the shot counters, Lemaire calling it their worst effort of the season (always a treat when you can force that), and Yann Danis on playing in a familiar venue against familiar friends but an unfamiliar jersey [also: facial hair update].
Unrelated This & That: Ex-Flyers captains weigh in on Mike Richards [LeBrun] | Another recap of how Ted Leonsis gets new media | Over a six-year span, the Islanders had the most proficient powerplay of modern hockey. It didn't win them the Cup. | Leafs site Pension Plan Puppets did an epic, uber-gamethread series last night to raise $1500 for Haiti relief, thanks to about 10,000 total comments. And the Leafs even won on a late Kessel game-winner. | The Oilers on the other hand ... did not win. Not at all. It was horrendous.
After the jump, two videos: Gordon presser and Matt Moulson, asked "Did you think you were capable of this much success?" answering: "Well I'm not gonna say no to that; I think I'm in trouble if I say that."
Scott Gordon on Goalie Rotation, Why the Team is Winning
Matt Moulson on Slumping and Making Sure He Keeps His Job
Gameday preview will be up in a few hours. Penguins tonight at 7 p.m.