Islanders Bits: Bridgeport wins, Lee advances, Strome in the hole

Before we get into links and fodder, did you notice that moment in last night's second period when John Tavares received an airborne pass behind him off his heel, flipped it up to his stick, then calmly carried through the neutral zone? Sick.

A little more on last night's 3-0 (2 ENG) win over the Panthers: Newsday with Moulson on when the game is on the line | The Post has Tavares wishing they'd just run away with a lead | The Skinny: Nabby is four wins from 19th all-time | LBC likes the black ... in action, at least | The Herald bemoans the Panthers' anemic offense.

Fornabaio on Jordan Hill's two-goal game in Bridgeport's win. More in the Post here.

And speaking of which, more from Hornick: Excluding the abysmal first start, Rick DiPietro "is 5-2-0 in the last 7 (2.12, 92.1%) and has been even better over the last 5 (4-1-0, 1.79, 93.5%)."

Video highlights of the win:

• Further down the pipeline: Anders Lee and Robbie Russo's Notre Dame won the last-ever CCHA final yesterday. Lee scored the tying goal, hammering in a pass from behind the net. His 20 goals led the conference.
  
• So Notre Dame will head to the NCAA tournament, facing St. Cloud State next weekend (March 30, 1:30 p.m.) in Ohio. Scott Mayfield's Denver U. faces U. of New Hampshire Friday at 8 p.m. in Manchester.
• In Canadian juniors, Ryan Strome's NIagara IceDogs lost both games of their playoff series with Oshawa and are now down 0-2. Game 1 | Game 2
• In the WHL, Brenden Kichton's Spokane squad is up 2-0 on Tri-City. In the OHL, Andrey Pedan's Guelph Storm is down 0-2 to Kitchener.
• A few more prospect updates at the official site here.
• Garik16 guest posts at IPB on Hickey vs. Finley. On that note, in case you missed this, Lubomir Visnovsky on partnering with both of them.

Around the NHL:

• What did the Stars get in the Morrow for Morrow trade?
• Yours truly samples who gets the blame for Guy Boucher's firing in Tampa Bay.
  
• Marian Gaborik was demoted again during the Smurfs' shootout loss to the Caps last night. Stupid three-point games.
• The 20 greatest Guy Boucher faces.
• A reporter has put Tyler Myers on the trade block.

Looking Ahead

So the Islanders now hit the road for a four-game trip, playing every other day: Washington, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, New Jersey. They follow up that visit to Newark with a home game against the Jets the very next night ... which takes them right up to the trade deadline. Fun times ahead.