Islanders Bits: Sound Tigers Who Elevated Their Game in Sweep?

At long last and after some time to recharge, our annual report card series will begin later today, followed by some prospect talk. But first, some a.m. NHL links and some talk of the Islanders prospects who are still playing or saw their season end over the weekend:

Michael Fornabaio in the CT Post has the season wrap -- be sure to check the sidebar box too. The blog offers more, with my annual favorite: postseason quotes from lots of players, with plenty from coach Brent Thompson and GM Garth Snow. No decisions made this soon; meetings to come in May.

Ryan Strome and Mitchell Theoret return to action for Game 4 tonight in Ottawa. Here's the clip of their IceDogs goalie Mark Vizentin scoring a goal in Game 3. And here's analysis of the Game 3 win.

Update: @dchesnokov on Twitter: Kirill Petrov: "My dream to play in the NHL. My contract expires on April 30. Then I will decide what to do."

Post tour of the Brooklyn areener, with some hockey-specific questions. On that note, THW: Bettman Misses Point with Brooklyn Comments

NHL/Hockey Links

Relevant to goalie discussions: NHL save percentage continues to creep upward.

The Canucks postseason wrap was filled with news, from Roberto Luongo being cool with being traded and Mike Gillis talking openly of doing the pump-and-dump with Cody Hodgson. Some further speculation here.

A colorful look at the Blackhawks post-mortem.

Backhand Shelf: The Culture of Hitting, the NHLPA, and the Armstrong Paradox theScore.com | By the way, you know what I never see discussed in the concussion/headshot debate? The fact that NHLers backcheck like wolves in today's NHL, and as recently as the 1980s that never happened. Dedicated backchecking leads to blindside hits. The forward who crosses to the middle accounts for the defensemen he's facing (except Lindros) but not for the Cooke coming across from behind.

HF Top 50 prospects: 50-41 | 40-31

Bridgeport Coda

Back to the Bridgeport collection of quotes though: Notice Thompson speaking of Ty Wishart and Calvin de Haan "elevating" their game for the playoffs. File that away for our endless summer musings.

Ultimately, it's remarkable there was zero playoff experience on the squad. We've seen rising teams go through that adjustment at the NHL level. It's a nebulous topic, but if there's any transfer of lessons here, I'll take it.