Islanders News: Saturday night’s alright for nothin’; Listening party; Batroc the Islander

No Islanders game tonight. They’re back tomorrow at 6 pm, hosting the Avalanche at Barclays Center. There are a ton of games on today though, including Colorado at Philadelphia, which will be of interest. Best case: The Avalanche prevail in a grueling regulation win over the Flyers tonight, get stuck in traffic on the way to Brooklyn during the evening, then go through the motions in an easy Islanders win on Sunday.

Obviously, this is exactly what will happen.

In the meantime...

Islanders Reads/Listens:

• The Islanders power play works now. Somebody must have smacked it on the side or changed the batteries. [Newsday]
• Scott Gomez took an out-of-the-blue phone call from Doug Weight and is now a coach in the NHL. [NHL.com]
• He sings a lot of his greatest hits in this, but I rather enjoyed this Garth Snow interview on SiriusXM NHL. He talked about Josh Bailey, John Tavares, Belmont and some brutal basketball games between he and the coaching staff. Nothing exciting but still worth the time. For once, the questions didn’t make me want to stab my eyes out.
• Also more than worth the time is this week’s Isle Seat podcast, which includes Jon Ledecky’s entire conversation with reporters from the Northwell Health unveiling this week. Ledecky’s a pretty compelling salesman. You can see why people talk so highly of him. Brian and Mike also hit upon other current Islanders topics, including the recent wonky goaltending.
• Brett Cyrgalis’s Backcheck column opens by wondering what happens if Ledecky and Scott Malkin’s vision actually becomes reality. The Islanders might become... good?
• Torgo’s look at the first 10 games of the Islanders season show a team still finding its footing.
• Altar of Bossy is back with a stream of consciousness look at the start of the season.
• Huge game for Christopher Gibson, who shut out Providence 1-0 last night. Sebastian Aho scored the lone goal for the Sound Tigers [CT Post | Soundin’ Off has a section on Aho’s transition to North America]
• The Railers beat Reading 4-2 last night. Patrick McNally had a goal and an assist. [Telegram]
• Yannick Turcotte is Worcester’s resident ass kicker. [Telegram]
• Kieffer Bellows scored twice in Portland’s 4-1 win over Spokane last night. He now has 12 on the season. [Winterhawks]
• Did you know that the guy who played Batroc the Leaper in Captain America: Winter Soldier is also some kind of MMA fighter? It’s true! That lucky young man also got to meet Mathew Barzal and Anthony Beauvillier last night at the Barclays Center weigh in. Good luck in your fight, guy*.

*- yes, I know who GSP is. I’m joking.

Other stuff

• Last Night’s Two (2) NHL scores. The Oilers get the best of their match-up with Taylor Hall, although he did score.
• A BLOCKBUSTER TRADE... Didn’t go down while you were asleep. But Darren Dreger reported that the Senators, Predators and Avalanche discussed a deal that would have sent Matt Duchene to Ottawa, Kyle Turris to Nashville and Mattias Ekholm to Colorado. [SBN | Sportsnet | TSN.ca]
• Sad News: former ref Kerry Frasier has been diagnosed with a rare blood disorder. [NHL.com]
• Marijuana will be legal in Canada next year. Could that impact the NHL? Like, chill out, man... [TSN.ca]
• The rock-paper-scissors battle between Mark Scheifele and Tyler Seguin continues. [SBN]
• Also take a minute to read this hilarious and extensive look at the many terrible Senators caps that are available for purchase. [Welcome to Your Karlsson Years]

It’s been a while now but Alumni Night was still fun, as is anything involving Clark Gillies and a microphone.