Islanders News: Don't Read These

Don't read the Islanders links, unless you're a masochist. Skip to the Ray Pfeifer story and read from there down.

Islanders links

• Recaps of an "embarrassing" and "unacceptable" effort: LHH | Newsday | NY Post | NY Daily News | Islanders | NHL.com | NYI Skinny | Pensburgh
• The Magic Number is still five. It will be four if the Bruins lose to Chicago today. Don't bet on it. [Skinny]
  
• Jack Capuano expects J-F Berube to learn some valuable lessons from that beating. Namely, don't suck when the rest of your teammates suck, too. [Newsday]
  
• Good guy Matt Martin donated $10K to the Islanders Children's Foundation. [Isles]
• More on Ray Pfeifer, the Sept. 11th firefighter who dropped the first puck at yesterday's game. [Newsday]
• Alan Quine and the Sound Tigers had a good Sunday, with a hat trick and a win over the Baby Pens. [CT Post | Soundin' Off]

Meanwhile...

• Oh boy. As we were still wallowing in depression, the Lightning announced that Steven Stamkos will miss 1-3 months with a blood clot in his arm. Already without defenseman Anton Stralman, this is a crushing blow to one of the East's realistic Cup contenders. Oh, and Stamkos is a UFA, too, in case you forgot. Man, that sucks. [Tampa Bay.com]
• Then, another bombshell: Elliotte Friedman reported on Hockey Night in Canada that Pavel Datsyuk could leave for the KHL as early as next season to reunite with his family. Not only would the Red Wings lose a key player, but they'd still be on the hook for his $7 million salary because he signed an over-35 contract. [WIIM cries it out | Ken Holland refutes via the Freep.]
• An escalator broke at Wells Fargo Center after yesterday's Flyers game and the scene was a scary one. [BSH]
  
• Totally OT but that's probably appreciated: A new book tells the story of 1975, the year the Mets, Yankees, Giants and Jets all shared Shea Stadium. I wonder if they complained about the bad grass. [CBS NY]