Islanders Gameday News: Precious Points Precariously Present in Pittsburgh; Ho-Sang uniform drama comes "home"

Wednesday’s game was big and so is this one. The Penguins lost to Ottawa in a shootout last night and the Bruins lost to Tampa. A win in Pittsburgh would pull the Islanders even with Boston in points before the two teams meet in Brooklyn tomorrow night.

Everything else is secondary.

FIG picks go here. Ryan Strome will be out.

Islanders Stuff

• The big news from yesterday: Jaroslav Halak is back from his AHL exile, with the Islanders season on the line and with a packed schedule looming. [LHH | Newsday | NY Post | Islanders]
• The bad news from yesterday: Ryan Strome suffered a broken wrist during the game against the Rangers and will miss significant time. [LHH | Newsday]
• Obviously, we’re going to read a lot about Joshua Ho-Sang’s uniform number today. One thing we know for sure, the dude is a great quote. He tells Newsday he’s cool with Pittsburgh booing him and tells the Post-Gazette that it’s not just Mario Lemieux’s play on the ice that he’s paying tribute to (Also, Mario is fine with it BTW). Pensburgh tells Pens fans to lay off the kid tonight.
• Doug Weight isn't afraid to give his team an earful if they need it. [NHL.com]
• It took forever, but Andrew Ladd has become the contributor the Islanders hoped he would be. [Brooklyn Daily Eagle]
• Mike wants your ideas on how to open up scoring in the NHL. [LHH Power Rankings]
• With the Halak recall, Bridgeport made a bunch of moves including calling Stephon Williams up from Missouri. The Sound Tigers also signed Tim Wallace - yes, that Tim Wallace - to fill in at forward for the time being. [BST | Soundin' Off | Fornabaio on Halak]
• Earlier this week, the TSN Insider crew of Bob McKenzie, Pierre LeBrun and Darren Dreger spent a lot of time in a lot of places talking about John Tavares' next contract. [All have been added to the still-growing Encyclopedia]
• Mathew Barzal wasn't the only Islanders prospect to receive WHL honors. Parker Wotherspoon was named to the league's second All Star team. [Tri-City Herald]

Other Stuff

• Last Night's NHL scores. Sadly, the Devils couldn't help the Islanders out a little. Also, here come the Hurricanes.
• Sidney Crosby nearly removed Marc Methot's finger with a slash. Hopefully, he got that out of his system before tonight. [SBN]
• The Lightning might need bodies but they're out of AHL recalls. Oops. [Raw Charge]
• The NHL will punish Sweden by making the Senators and Avalanche play two games there next November. [NHL.com]
• Ed Belfour put on his Blackhawks uniform for one last skate. [CSN Chicago]
• The Golden Knights have partnered with Cirque Du Soleil because it's Vegas, baby. [NHL.com]
• The seven (7) minute power play the Leafs had to kill off on Wednesday apparently was Mike Babcock's fault because of a weird rule. [SBN]
• This is cute. [St. Louis Game Time]

Anders Lee, who was profiled in the New York Times, was also on NHL Now talking Weight, the playoff push and Kan Jam.