[Bits] Islanders Get to Airport Early, Blow Lead, Fight Delayed Two Hours

Who's up for a road trip? Well, too bad. The Islanders are going anyway. Bring sunscreen.

Islanders Info:

• Arthur Staple recaps another Wile-E Coyote style ending for the Islanders. [New$day]
• Welcome to the NHL, Calvin de Haan. You just got faced by Sidney Crosby. [Staple again]
• Brett Cyrgalis on the night and day change between last Spring and last night. [NY Post]
• Some post-game notes and quotes from the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. Marc-Andre Fleury feels about Long Island the way we feel about him. [Post-Gazette]
• Post-game video of Tavares on the officiating, Capuano on everything (even goaltending!) [LHH]
• From Eric Hornick's Skinny: Isles have been outscored 32-17 in the third period, including 25-8 in the last 18 games;
  
• I know this will come as a great shock to all of you, but the Islanders were bad in November. They were also bad in November 2012 and 2011 and... anyway, Kevin at IPB looks at why this is and who's to blame. Spoiler: everyone.
• Another, more cheerful, Islanders tradition is their toy shopping trip for the kids. [Islanders TV]
• Matt Martin could become the first NHL player to top 400 hits in a season, which will be a nice thing to put on his resume. [Puck Daddy]
• Sad news on the health of former Islander (and Canuck and Hab) Gino Odjick. [Canucks Army]

Damn, there's a lot going on:

• Tuesday night's NHL scores. Sharks beat Leafs (not surprising), Stars beat the Blackhawks (actually surprising) and the Senators beat the Panthers in front of about 100 people in Sunrise, Florida (sadly, also not surprising).
  
• Eliotte Friedman's 30 Thoughts include some informed guesses about Garth Snow's next moves and other stuff.
• The Ducks and Kings revealed their Stadium Series jerseys and, frankly, they're both lame. [SB Nation]
• Hey, everybody's hurt! Henrik Zetterberg joins teammate Pavel Datsyuk on the Red Wings shelf with a herniated disc and Vancouver's Alex Burrows took a puck in the mush from a teammate and will miss a month with a busted jaw.
• Some smart bloggin' ladies got together for a round table to discuss sexism in cyberspace. Includes many SB Nation voices include Sarah and Erin from Stanley Cup of Chowder, Langluy from Jewels from the Crown, Becca from Japer's Rink and Laura from Eyes on the Prize. Very insightful stuff because... [Puck Daddy]
• ...on the other side of the globe, a KHL team uses women in lingerie to sell tickets. Sigh. Video is slightly NSFW, but the soundtrack is priceless. [Also, Puck Daddy]
• Rogers buys rights to name the Oilers' new building in Edmonton. In other news, Rogers owns Canada. [Globe n' Mail]
• Speaking of money, we can all finally relax: poor, destitute Wayne Gretzky will at last get the money the NHL has owed him from his ill-fated ownership of the Coyotes. [Yahoo.ca]
• The Panthers want to trade defenseman Dmitry Kulikov. Yes, the Islanders should try to get him. [Sporting News]
  
• Justin Bourne looks at guys who aren't pulling their weight in the shootout. Johnny T, no!
• The definitive Angry John Tortorella gif Collection (Canucks edition). [Pass it to Bulis]
• His successor with the Rangers, Alain Vigneault, is also not a happy camper right now. [ESPN, of course]
• Jeremy Roenick wants to work for an NHL team in Seattle. No, in the front office. Not on the ice. [PD]
• How and why teams allow prospects to play in the World Junior tournament. [Yahoo.ca]
• And a nice story about billet families and the kids playing in the USHL by Katie Baker.
  
• In his latest Outnumbered column, Eric T wonders if shots at close range a good predictor of a team's future success.
• Down Goes Brown with an astonishing list of NHL coach shenanigans that make Jason Kidd's "$50,000 Watergate" look like small potatoes. [Grantland]
• Tuesday was the anniversary of the Bruins' retiring Phil Esposito's No. 7 and Ray Bourque taking No. 77 instead. Third String Goalie has a cool retrospective of that special moment.

Tuesday was also Ozzy Osbourne's birthday. So here's one for the road trip: