The New York Islanders are in Toronto, amazingly sharing a hotel with Rick DiPietro's Charlotte Checkers. They'll play the Maple Leafs tonight though, so no crush of reunion stories, I promise:
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Kevin Poulin is confident, reports everyone. Also: "It took about a year after the surgery before I felt 100 percent in terms of flexibility and strength." [Newsday]
- NY Hockey Journal: Aaron Ness fitting in nicely, no?
- Isles high school draft pick Doyle Somerby has made an immediate impression at BU. [SBN College Hockey]
- Hahaha: What is #IslesTwitter? The behavior of Joe Isles fan on Twitter, shift by shift. [EOI]
- Also at EOI, a look at Isles team stats through the first quarter.
- The Sound Tigers have been bad boys, so they skated and skated and watched and worked and maybe did some tidying up too. [Soundin Off]
- Meanwhile, the goalie injury domino: Pellerin says Reiter has to take this opportunity and run with it, and Parker Milner has to push him. [CT Post]
- Is Kevin Poulin The Answer? asks everyone. [TCL] (Us too. Asking, I mean. Not answering.)
- This is mostly about Poulin, but does call Thomas Vanek's injury a "muscle strain." [Newsday]
Elsewhere
- The Isles play the Leafs tonight. How are the maple foliages doing? Well, they've gotten good goaltending, you may have heard. [Vintage Leaf Memories]
- How is big free agent addition David Clarkson doing? Well he missed 10 games due to trying to babysit John Scott, so there's that. He's also not getting the shots he got in New Jersey. [Leafs Nation]
- However, Robin Williams would tell him the Leafs offensive woes are "not your fault. It's not your fault." [Globe and Mail]
- Seriously, it's not his fault. So stop that, guys. [TSN]
- FIG Picks: Leave your First Islanders Goal picks for tonight right over here.
- The NHL announced, or clarified what's up really, a "seven-part series, NHL Revealed: A Season Like No Other" following the teams playing outdoor games. We might discover who John Tavares is. Matt Moulson's brother-in-law too. [NHL]
- John Collins discusses that and the outdoor games and growing the business game and such. [Puck Daddy]
- The Penguins shuffled their lines to try to goose their offense, and it took 18 minutes for their first shot. But they eventually pulled ahead of the Ducks in the third period with the help of this MOZO. [SBN]
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Mark Scheifele and the "rookie mistake," illustrated [Backhand Shelf]
- Satire: The Devils' conspiracy against Cory Schneider. [In Lou We Trust]
- Well: How would Brendan Shanahan treat Rob Ford? - Sporting News
- Is Douglas Murray the worst defenseman in the NHL? [EOHTP] Addendum: Is Mike Mottau back in the NHL with the Panthers?