Islanders News: We have so much time and so little to do!

Six in a row! That’s wonderful. I feel like the Candyman (Willy Wonka, not Daniel Robitaille).

Longest win streak in the NHL so far this season. Far cry from their loss to the Hurricanes a couple weeks ago, their last loss. Life is good as an Islanders fan, right now. Enjoy it, folks. They’re back at it tomorrow evening, hosting the Flyers at the Coliseum for a Sunday evening cordial.

Tonight, the Jets and Flames will do battle outdoors in Regina, Saskatchewan. Puck drop is 10:00 p.m. ET, though, so it will be a late night for most of us. In the mean time, read an absolutely massive amount of bits.

Islanders News

Recaps from the deposition of the Senators: LHH | Islanders | Newsday | NHL GC/Recap

A special Skinny featuring tidbits on Nick Leddy’s penalty shot goal and hat trick that wasn’t. He’s a defenseman, by the way. [NYI Skinny]

Barry Trotz liked Leddy’s game and the team’s resolve as their forwards dropped like flies (he also informed the media there were no updates on Matt Martin and Tom Kuhnhackl):

Also, congratulations to Johnny Boychuk, who got his 200th career point last night, an assist on the first Leddy goal:

Update, courtesy of Mary Burke:

• The Islanders continue to dominate the second half of back-to-backs under Trotz. [Newsday]
• Playing on the wing, Derick Brassard scored his first goal as an Islander on Thursday night and he was thrilled to get off the schneid. So much so, that he scored again last night against one of his old teams! [Newsday]
• Part of what drove the Islanders’ success against the Coyotes Thursday night was the return of Casey Cizikas. Not just his line, either. The whole team feeds off their line’s energy, which isn’t present without Cizikas. [The Athletic]
• Entering last night’s game, the Islanders had only 13 power plays in nine games, by far the lowest in the league. They got three opportunities last night, but they’re still well behind the pack. Interestingly enough, they were also tied with the Jets for fewest number of penalty kills with 22 entering the game, though they added six more to that total after last night’s abominable officiating. [Newsday]
• Stan Fischler regales the tale of the official end of the Dynasty Islanders’ run in the 1984 Stanley Cup Final against the Oilers. [Maven’s Memories]

The Minor League Report

Both AHL Bridgeport and ECHL Worcester will play three-in-three’s this weekend, so a lot of minor league hockey is in store.

• Don’t remember if this was mentioned earlier in the week, but this bit comes from a pre-game report for Tuesday night in which it was revealed Tanner Fritz re-joined the team after leaving for personal reasons. Not yet back up to speed, though, he did not play Tuesday nor last night.
• The Sound Tigers hosted the Springfield Thunderbirds and lost a wild west shoot-out 7-4. Spizzwolf Sebastian Aho had a goal for Bridgeport. [Soundin’ Off lines/preview | CT Post post-game | Sound Tigers recap]
• Things got testy between the Railers and the Adirondack Thunder, but ultimately Worcester prevailed 4-1 on the road. Goalie prospect Linus Soderstrom made 25 saves for the win in his North American professional debut. [RailersHC]

Elsewhere

Last night’s NHL scores include the Avalanche walloping the Golden Knights in Las Vegas and a huge comeback win for an enemy out west—the Capitals trailed the Canucks 5-1 until the final second of the second period. They went on to win 6-5 in the shootout. Curses!

• The Ducks had been in search of defensemen, notably having Luca Sbisa claimed out from under their noses by Winnipeg earlier in the week after signing him. Now, they’ve got one. Yesterday, they swung a deal with the Penguins to take Erik Gudbranson in exchange for Andreas Martinsen and a pick. Gudbranson is not good, but Anaheim is probably just looking for depth.
• Winnipeg and Calgary are ready to get weird outside in Regina. [NHL]
• In the spirit of tonight’s Heritage Classic, Down Goes Brown ranks each team stuck on one outdoor game in order of who should get to play in a second next; the Islanders came in sixth. [The Athletic]
• As the league shifts its attention to its youth, over-30 goalies continue to man about half of the NHL’s creases, including some elite names. [The Athletic]
• It’s never too early to think about next year: who are the top 20 pending UFAs for the summer of 2020? Taylor Hall, Roman Josi, and Nicklas Backstrom top the list. [The Athletic]
• Another UFA who didn’t qualify for that list was Patrick Marleau, who has no regrets about his time with the Maple Leafs (the Sharks played Toronto last night) and still feels there’s some gas left in his tank. This story is pretty good, other than the parallels it draws with a breaking-down Lightning McQueen in Cars 3. The original Cars? Pretty good. The sequels? Not so much. [Sportsnet]