Islanders Gameday News: Sharknado Five; Halak hopeful; Leblanc let loose

The undefeated Sharks swim from New Jersey, around Staten Island, under the Verrazano Bridge and to Brooklyn to face the Islanders tonight. Game time is 7:30 pm and you can leave your FIG picks here.

Also, medium-level news: Islanders Anxiety is now on both iTunes and Stitcher Radio for your listening convenience. So download, rate, review, like, star, whatever you gotta do. Super special thanks to community member sconig for his invaluable advice for busting through Apple's defenses.

You can still listen to Episode 2 to hear me fear the Islanders will come out flat against the Predators (they did!) and Mike worry about Jaroslav Halak returning by this weekend. Speaking of ol' Jaro...

Islanders Links

• Update!: Halak is in tonight for his first game of the season, as is the much requested Thomas Hickey. Brian Strait sits, meaning it's safe to watch again. [NHL.com | Why not keep all three goalies for a while?]
• To make room for Hickey, Eric Boulton was placed on injured reserve, a move no one could have possibly predicted when the 39-year-old half-dimensional player was inexplicably re-signed for literal peanuts last week. [Islanders Twitter]
• Arthur Staple blogs about John Tavares' greatness, Thomas Greiss' cool and the traditional October attendance woes (with special appearance by Nelson Muntz).
• The Tavares Appreciation Society met yesterday at the LHH Community Center. Dom on the power move goal | Willhoft on the undisputed leader.
• We should call Brock Nelson "The MIG" because he's flying on the wing with a couple of Russians. [Islanders]
• Marek Zidlicky is slowly fitting in with his new team. [NY Post]
• The players are learning how the boards works and using those quirks to their advantage. Or they've just gotten lucky. [IPB]
• We want to hear your stories about interacting with players, coaches or anyone near the glass at a hockey game. It's a perk worth keeping.
• October 15th, 1993 was a historic day in Islanders history, and for the health of their customers. [Along the Boards]

Sound Tigers Stuff

• The Islanders placed Louis Leblanc on unconditional waivers yesterday for purposes of a buyout. and it ;ooks like he's already ticketed for the KHL. His absence alleviates a veteran log jam for the Sound Tigers [The Score | Soundin' Off]. Considering he was a shot in the dark, signed by the Islanders for nothing this summer after he wasn't qualified by the Ducks and after flaming out with the Canadiens, his loss isn't something to get upset over, although I'm sure someone somewhere is.
• More Leblanc:
  

  leblanc's 11-12-23 led a bad harvard team (9-21-3) in 09/10, habs panic, put him in the Q. a no. 18 pick eventually played just 50 NHL gms

  — r + l = ok (@twolinepass) October 16, 2015

  Bell Centre went crazy when he was drafted by Montreal 18th overall in 2009. Next pick was Chris Kreider. https://t.co/1AdAdQypq2

  — Steve Mears (@MearsyNHL) October 16, 2015

  
  
• Ross Johnston scored the game-winning goal in the third period last night's 5-4 victory over Providence. Bridgeport is now 4-0, but trouble could be on the horizon as goalie Christopher Gibson left the game with an injury. [Soundin' Off]
• Johnston's goal could have been considered the Death Blow, making the P-Bruins Cry, Cry Again.
  

  SOUND TIGERS WIN!!! The #BST are now 4-0 on the season after defeating the #PBruins 5-4 tonight pic.twitter.com/2Lqk0DeT13

  — The Sound Tigers (@TheSoundTigers) October 17, 2015

  
  
  

Other stuff

• Columbus is 0-5 after a 6-3 loss to the Maple Leafs. The Leafs!  [Cannon]
• Meanwhile, former Leaf Phil Kessel is loving life in the Steel City. [Sportsnet]
• The Habs extended Tomas Plekanec for two more seasons of turtleneck rockin'. [EOTP]
• Carey Price's TKO of Chris Kreider was a victory for goalies everywhere. [EOTP]
• The Panthers were busy, coming to a convoluted agreement with Broward County to keep the team in Sunrise and inject their coffers with cash. [TSN.ca]
• They also named former defenseman and part-time Twitter comedian Hal Gill as Manager of Player Development. [NHL.com]
• Todd McLellan will coach Team North America at next year's World Cup. [NHL.com]
• The Riveters play their first ever home game against the Boston Pride tomorrow night. Today's Slapshot looks ahead to the game. And you can score tickets here.