Islanders Bits: Palffy the Prolific Pensioner; Kichton the Scorer; Lottery Date...If You Care

The New York Islanders host the Montreal Canadiens today, as their seven-game homestand has evolved like so in the first four: L, L, OTL, SOW. It should get harder now with the conference-leading Canadiens and rival Rangers up next.

(FIG players, if you're looking for where to leave your pick for tonight's First Islanders Goal, head here.)

But before the full preview, let's catch up on other reading:

Isles, Former Isles, and Future Spec

In Newsday, good insight overall into how Travis Hamonic and Andrew MacDonald are viewing their play, and luck, lately, including:

"I scrutinize every game, I know how I play. I can confidently say I'm not playing the way the results show. Even the first goal [on Sunday], I put my stick in the lane to block a shot, and are you kidding me?"

[...]

"It is frustrating when you see those kinds of numbers and then you think back to, a number of the goals are on bounces, or off Hammer's chest," MacDonald said. "But there's also instances where we deserve the minus. It's something we're conscious of.

I've no idea why you'd be interested in this, dear Isles fan, but the NHL Draft Lottery date is set for April 29 (with draft day June 30). As previously noted, the odds for winning the lottery have not changed, however with all 14 non-playoff teams eligible to move up to #1, the odds of selecting #1 have changed: In other words, where previously the Oilers 30th-place team had a nearly 50% shot of retaining the 1st overall pick, now the Oilers whoever finishes in last has a 75% chance of selecting 2nd overall.

• Ziggy Palffy is still a stud (and "pensioner"), taking the Slovak scoring crown again.
• The Isles prospect update is in your Kichton.
  
• Chris Botta on XM Home Ice about the DiPietro drama, and DiPietro's quick response as the comments blew up.
  
• Future roommates NetsDaily wonders if Coliseum disputes are the prelude to an early exit to Brooklyn.
• Fantasy love for Ryan Strome.
• Mike Fornabaio's blog with aftermath of the Sound Tigers' comeback OT loss to the Whale, their rivals for the final East playoff seed. More in the gamer, including Scott Pellerin on Ken Reiter.
  

Beyond

• Meathead Patrick Kaleta was suspended five games.
• The Oilers sent a fourth-rounder to Toronto for fourth-liner/grinder/mustache guy Mike Brown. Thinking Oilers fans aren't too happy. And here's why.
• On that note, fighting: Punching In and Standing Tall: Do Fights Help Teams Win? - Pension Plan Puppets
• Every team's defensemen depth with their cap hit.
  
• From the real world: NHL veteran Dominic Moore opens up about his wife, their life and her death - The Globe and Mail
• On defensemen who are good (Karlsson) or bad (Gill) at zone breakouts.
• Brooks with some "staggering" revenue projections for the 2013 season and some Zeitgeist-ish "quotes" from Brian Burke.
  

More game preview stuff up later. FIG picks go here.