Islanders Bits: Sound Tigers Swept Out; Strome's IceDogs Tied

If even best-of-seven series are short and cruel (more on one of those in depth later today), then best-of-fives can be downright torturous.

Cam "don't call me Jean-Guy" Talbot* had himself a weekend to remember, and now the Bridgeport Sound Tigers are out of the playoffs seemingly before they started.

Unlike the first two games, this one was not a Talbot shutout, though he and Kevin Poulin each stopped over 40 shots (50 for Poulin, 44 for Talbot) Sunday.

The info: Game Sheet | Fornabaio's blog blamed Talbot ... as well as Marek Hrivik, a relatively unknown Slovakian ATO who had a great series. | Official recap | More notes from Fornabaio here, including the lineup removal of Brock Nelson and John Persson for what became the finale.

It's too bad for the kids, who were all over Twitter thanking fans afterward. Too bad for us Islanders fans, who were hoping for more of the pipeline to cheer for (help us Strome and Kabanov, you're our only hope). Alas. Short series. Time to get to Isles report cards anyway.

Other Hockey Reading

Oh speaking of Ryan Strome, his IceDogs got thumped, falling behind 4-0 and forcing the goalie out. Series tied 1-1. They climbed back to make it 4-3 at one point but lost 7-4. Strome and Mitchell Theoret had assists. Ottawa captain Marc Zanetti is facing a suspension that could end his junior career after that Game 1 kicking incident.

Meanwhile, in Robin Figren's life...

JT Crazy: Fan Created NHL 13 JT Covers | Facebook

Draft A: Defensemen rule draft class, but no stars – USATODAY.com

Draft B: Milan Lucic And Drafting Coke Machines | OilersNation

You know who was awful again yesterday? Marc-Andre Fleury. I mean, just look at those goals. I mentioned in the series preview how badly overrated he is -- and the Pens' strength allows fans to think he's elite -- but my goodness I didn't expect a series like that.

Claude Giroux demanded to get the opening shift yesterday, drilled Sidney Crosby and scored the opening goal 32 seconds in. So: Pens’ Orpik on Giroux: "He was the best player on the ice" | ProHockeyTalk and McKenzie: Time to make Giroux the Flyers captain

Giggle: Sean Couturier tells us what it was like to shut down Evgeni Malkin | ProHockeyTalk

Charting: Patrick Roy vs. his peers - Habs Eyes On The Prize (and no, not management/coaching peers)

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Read the following only if you enjoy personal childhood tripe. Or want to know why I footnoted Talbot.

J-G Talbot: About the Asterisk

*This is TMI of sorts, but oh well, in the name of father-son hockey anecdotes: In the table hockey "league" I had with my dad as a young impressionable "follow Arbour's Isles" pup, we drafted real NHL players (only Blues or Isles allowed) and drew their numbers and names on the Stiga figures of our respective teams -- no duplicate numbers allowed, so sadly you could not have both Clark Gillies and Dave Chyzowski on the same team. (By the way, I contend bubble hockey does not hold a candle to the more realistic and more maneuverable Stiga rod hockey games, but that's another conversation.) When we made trades, out came the Off to erase those numbers and fit the figures with new ones.

My father had Jean-Guy Talbot because he had all the old-timers. When one day in the course of events during "a hockey play" the plastic Stiga figure known as Talbot snapped off his peg and broke his leg, my dad insisted that his figure not be replaced. You can't just make a new Talbot; he broke his leg, duh! Several surgical reconstructions with tape and cardboard did not hold, and Talbot only played a few more games before his career was over and -- get this, his #17 was raised to the rafters above our humble rink. No fundraiser was held, but it was a solemn occasion indeed.