Islanders Gameday News: Looking to make it ten against the Sens

The Islanders look to increase their winning streak to a franchise second-best ten games with the Senators in town. Ottawa is already one of their victims on this murderer’s row, and there are arguably bigger games that lie ahead, so this has trap game written all over it.

Luckily, we have Barry Trotz as our coach. He wouldn’t let them fall into the trap, and he’s probably warned them about it already.

And hell, it sounds like he has, according to what Mathew Barzal and captain Anders Lee say in this video (also, Trotz discusses how he likes using the goalie rotation right now):

FIG Picks go here.

Islanders News

• Let’s preview the damn thing, shall we? [Islanders]
• It’s the first game of the season at Barclays Center, but they’re used to the commute. On another note, the guys say they’re not thinking about the shenanigans the Sens pulled last time, but Trotz acknowledged that they might be. [Newsday]
• VIDEO: They’re ready to extend this thing to ten games. [Newsday]
• Jordan Eberle is back at practice and was a full participant, albeit in an orange no-contact jersey. He’s getting closer, though. [Islanders]
• Since the big thing that happened in the summer of 2018, outsiders have continued to doubt the Islanders, and the Islanders have continued to show those outsiders what their doubt is worth. They embrace it, at this point. [ESPN]
• They’ve also done it while confounding NHL analytics: they’re currently 30th in Corsi For percentage, for example, but expected goals for is a lot better, which really emphasizes their and Trotz’s quality-over-quantity mantra. [The Athletic]
• Let’s catch up with the young’ins. Antoine Bibeau and Ilya Sorokin had pretty strong weeks. [Islanders Prospect Report]
• Not to fall into the trap game myself, but I previewed the importance of attending Thursday’s game (if you can) against the Penguins at Barclays Center, the first rematch since the sweep back in April. (Go tonight, too, if you can!) I even provided the link! [LHH]
• LISTEN: The second episode of our new podcast series, Islanders Award Winners, went up yesterday, thanks to the hard work of Dan Saraceni. This episode is about Bryan Trottier’s Hart Trophy and Art Ross Trophy wins in 1979. [LHH]

NHL Network caught on to the Isles’ winning streak and caught on to the Josh Bailey song, so they had Bailey on to talk about both:

Elsewhere

Last night’s NHL scores include tonight’s opponent walloping the Rangers at the Garden and Boston continuing to win, beating Pittsburgh 6-4 behind Brad Marchand’s five-point night.

• Zdeno Chara is showered with praise from other former Bruins captains of yore ahead of his 1,500th NHL game Tuesday night against the Canadiens. [NHL]
• After having the plan explained to them, Drew Doughty and Anze Kopitar are all for the Kings rebuild and re-tool on the fly a la the Bruins with Chara and Patrice Bergeron, even if it wasn’t what they signed up for when they inked their extensions. [The Athletic]
• One of their old running mates, Jake Muzzin, is preparing to play his first game against his former team when the Maple Leafs play the Kings tonight in Toronto. [Sportsnet]
• What will it take for the first gay player to come forward in the NHL, or in any of the four major sports, for that matter? [The Athletic]
• The Washington Nationals attended Sunday night’s Capitals game and embraced the Alex Ovechkin method of championship celebration. It was a sight to behold. [Yahoo]