Islanders Back-to-Back Gameday News: The cat o’ nine tails

With their win last night over the Lightning, the Islanders have won eight straight to tie the third-best winning streak in franchise history.

Tonight, they have a chance to tie the second-longest winning streak in franchise history, the nine-gamer that began on the last day of the 1980s and opened up the 90s for the Islanders. We’ve heard so much about that nine-gamer over the last couple of weeks.

FIG Picks for tonight’s game go here.

Fair warning, some of these bits are out of date and were better suited for news yesterday, but some troubles forced us to postpone yesterday’s Bits post. Still, we know you like to read, so we’re including them anyway.

Islanders News

Recaps from the insulation: LHH | Islanders | Newsday | NHL GC | NHL Recap | AP | NYI Skinny

The wise man speaks:

• Looking ahead to tonight, what can we expect against the Sabres, who have a similar record but have struggled in their last couple games? [Islanders]
• We know, for (almost) certain, that Barry Trotz’s goalie rotation will remain in tact. Semyon Varlamov will (probably) be in net tonight. [Newsday]
• Last night was Military Appreciation Night at the Coliseum and the Isles wore camo practice jerseys in warm-ups. Now, you can get them via auction. [NHL]
• Carey Haber has 19 Thoughts to offer on the Islanders’ first month of the season. Mathew Barzal is an important part of the streak. [LHH]
• Here’s hoping “Brocktober” is only the beginning of Brock Nelson’s season. I think he’ll perform admirably in all months. [Islanders Insight]
• The defensemen are getting in on the offensive fun during the streak. [Newsday]
• There was some concern Anthony Beauvillier wouldn’t be able to go last night with illness, but he was okay and played well. [Newsday]
• Dom Luszcyzszyn’s 16 Stats points out that the Islanders have been “getting hosed” when it comes to not getting any power plays. [The Athletic]
• Floral Park is seeking a temporary court order to stop certain work at Belmont right now, but nothing in their complaint is anything other than typical construction consequences, so I doubt the court is going to want to intervene. [Newsday]
• Mike Fornabaio appears to be doing weekly breakdowns of the Sound Tigers now; here’s his piece from a couple days ago. [CT Insider]
• Not included in that post was Bridgeport’s 5-1 road loss to the Lightning’s affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch. [Sound Tigers | CT Post]
• The Crunch, for their part, fell two seconds shy of scoring the two quickest goals in AHL history, and one of them was scored by Mitchell Stephens. Who’s Stephens? No. 33 overall in the 2015 NHL Draft: the second-round pick Garth Snow acquired, along with the Mathew Barzal pick, from the Oilers for Griffin Reinhart. Snow then packaged this pick and another for Tampa Bay’s no. 28 overall, who became Beauvillier. So, thank you, Mitchell Stephens. I think.
• Brendan Burke is among the rising stars in NHL broadcasting, and our worst fears about him have been “confirmed:” there’s musings that he could, one day, end up in the top U.S. hockey broadcasting chair currently held by Doc Emerick. It would be great for him, and he’d deserve it, and he could always do what Doc did with the Devils and still call local games while working nationally. But man. [ESPN]
• Stan Fischler compares the two dynasties of the 1980s to compare who’s best, and the team that won 19 straight playoff series prevails. [Maven’s Memories]
• LISTEN: At 8:45, the Hockey PDOcast discusses the Islanders proving last season wasn’t a fluke. [Yahoo]

The league is recognizing its hottest team:

Elsewhere

Last night’s NHL scores include tonight’s opponent getting throttled by the Capitals and an offensive explosion for the Hurricanes in their win over the Red Wings. Thursday’s NHL scores include a couple of overtime winners: the Canadiens over the Golden Knights and the Flames over the Predators.

• Some coaches are in the final year of their contracts and might be looking for new jobs next season, depending on what their current teams want to do with them. [The Athletic]
• A hero for NHL teams? The dentists, who perform some gruesome repairs. [ESPN]
• Barry Trotz once said, as coach of the Capitals, that winning was contagious. Only a year and a half after the Washington Capitals won a Stanley Cup, the Washington Mystics won the WNBA title and the Washington Nationals won a World Series. [Japers’ Rink]