Islanders Gameday News: Weekend against Jersey; Confidence Game; Ho-Sang, Tigers roar

It’s still the regular season, but the Islanders and Devils are about to play a sort of mini-playoff series this weekend. Tonight in Newark and tomorrow in Brooklyn, two teams will play that desperately need points to stay relevant. Why it took two teams in the same division until mid-February to play each other, we may never know.

FIG Picks go here. Cal Clutterbuck might still be out but we’ll find out later.

Also:

Jiggs McDonald will handle #Isles telecasts this wkend; @brendanmburke & his wife get set to welcome their second child. Best 2 the Burkes!

— Brian Compton (@BComptonNHL) February 17, 2017

Islanders Stuff

• Casey Cizikas, Stephen Gionta and Andrew Ladd all got interviews after the Rangers game and all credited the same thing to Doug Weight: confidence. [LHH]
• P.A. Parenteau has, really, no opinion on playing the Islanders after they waived him. He's got other stuff on his mind, like maybe being traded (and it was also, like, six months ago). [NJ.com]
• Also, Devils goalie Keith Kinkaid (who will probably play at least one of these games) remembers Nassau Coliseum. [Northjersey.com]
• Not to look past this weekend, but that big ass road trip looms pretty large, too. [Newsday]
• Thursday's win was a big night for some unsung Islanders heroes. [Islanders]
• Some Islanders fans might hate Barclays Center, but the Rangers definitely do. [Brooksie]
• After the game, Islanders radio analyst Greg Picker interviewed Pat LaFontaine and Butch Goring. [Sound Cloud]
• The Sound Tigers were on MSG last night. And they won! Eight Five in a row, now. Josh Ho-Sang had a huge game, with three assists and an empty net goal to ice their 5-2 win over Rochester. And Jaroslav Halak picked up his 11th straight victory. [CT Post]
• Meanwhile, Eamon McAdam has been elevated to Sound Tigers back-up as Stephon Williams goes down to Missouri. [CT Post]
• Another two assists for Mathew Barzal in Seattle's 4-2 loss to Tri-City. [T-Birds]
• Hey, David Quenneville is almost back from his broken leg. [Medicine Hat News]

Other stuff

• Last night's NHL scores. Holy cow:
  

  Oh my sweet hell, Jagr. pic.twitter.com/qm01NQMX9s

  — AOL KEYWORD: Mike (@mikeFAIL) February 18, 2017

  
  
• More injury news for Pittsburgh's injury-prone Olli Maatta. This time, he'll miss a few weeks with a broken hand. But maybe it opens an opportunity for the Penguins. [Pensburgh]
• Lightning keyboardist Krystof Srebrakowski is a fascinating dude. [Raw Charge]

Hey, check this out tomorrow. Brock Nelson's gonna be in it.