Islanders Gameday 5 News: The game that's bigger because they didn't win the other big game

Tonight is a big game and you know it, and I don't have to introduce it, but I probably will in three different cliched ways throughout the day because what else are we gonna do to anxiously pass the time?

Islanders-Panthers Series Reads

• Ryan Pulock isn't in Florida and he's not expected to return in the series. [LHH]
  
• So Pulock is out, the Isles have a few options to replace him, and the team was shown lots of video that should embarrass everyone not named Frans, Kyle or Johnny T. [Newsday]
• But seriously, the rest of the team has to make sure it's not just on those guys. [Newsday]
• It's been about three decades since the Isles won a Game 5. Man, the 2000s have been rough. [LHH]
• This is why you don't throw beer, idiot: One, it's terrible to waste beer. Two, you're displaying for all to see you've no emotional intelligence. Three, you could hit Denis Potvin (and other broadcasters). [Newsday, talking to the victims | Daily News, with the extent of its coverage before tonight]]
• In his on-going "coach's perspective" analysis at nhl.com, Todd Richards says expect more energy from the Isles tonight. I mean you would sure hope. [NHL]
• And speaking of hope, maybe years of this squad failing in this situation has taught them not to do it again. [Post]
• The deal with Jakub Kindl dressing as a "precaution" in Game 4 and playing exactly 0:00. [Sportsnet]
• The young Panthers and their ageless sage are feeling it. [Times]

Game 5 tomorrow @ 8! Who's ready to watch the #Isles WIN?! Best party in NYC, guaranteed!! #islanders #yesyesyes pic.twitter.com/RGfSBoTykO

— Overlook (@OverlookNYC) April 22, 2016

Sound Tigers in AHL Playoffs

Bridgeport playoffs begin this weekend with the Sound Tigers as a heavy underdog against the historic and loaded Toronto Marlies:

• Series at a glance [CT Post | BST]
  
• Expect Toronto to lean on vets [Toronto Sun] A look at their best old farts. [PPP]
• It's special for Matt Finn, the only player on the squad from the Michael Grabner trade (One's in Missouri, one's with the Isles, one was traded, one went home). [CT Post]
• The Sound Tigers just about relish being heavy underdogs here. [Soundin' Off]

The other prospects

• Dan rounded up the three Isles juniors remaining, each playing in a different CHL semifinal. [LHH]
• Joshua Ho-Sang is better than ever, ready for the pros. [Sportsnet - podcast]
  

Pat Foley Does Not Like Your Damned Late Starts

The longtime Hawks broadcaster -- whose local feed was being carried on whatever NBC-Comcast-Universal-Uberalles channel was airing the national broadcast -- went off on the late starts for games played in the Central Time Zone:

Foley just went off at the NHL omg pic.twitter.com/NcCthvsglL

— Zetter (@zetterhut) April 22, 2016

Fair point, but as a fan of wall-to-wall playoff hockey, I'm all for it. Someone's got to be the late game when the California teams are either off or playing in Nashville and Western Canada is no better than Eastern Canada at getting a team into this dance.

Best part is he was, uh, cut off on the national feed mid-rant.

Update! Cranky Mike Milbury weighed in on cranky Pat Foley's cranky rant and made himself look like a super cranky fool (again). Watch the video at Second City Hockey.

And Other Things

• R.I.P. Prince. He once promoted the 1996 Stanley Cup playoffs. [Puck Daddy - video]
• Amid the Andrew Shaw fallout, Ben Lovejoy says homophobic slurs have "pretty much been eradicated" from the Penguins locker room. [Daily News]
• The Lightning eliminated the Wings. The Smurfs were smoked at home and Lundqvist was pulled as they fall behind 3-1 in the series. The Ducks thumped Nashville to even a series where the road team has won the first four. [SB Nation]