Islanders News: From Boston to Buffalo, we love our B’s

Last night the New York Islanders torched a visibly frustrated Jaroslav Halak, who was abandoned by his Bruins in the third period of a 7-2 blowout.

The Islanders now have 10 wins on the season and 60% of them are against the Bruins and Sabres, the two temporary stowaways who are sleeping on the East/Metro/Atlantic/Patrick Division couch thanks to the pandemic realignment.

Most, unexpected.

Islanders News

• About last night: That was fun! Goal explosion [LHH] Boston Beatdown. [NYI Hockey Now | Newsday | Isles | SCOC] Cal Clutterbuck didn’t play after the first, Barry Trotz said he “wasn’t too concerned” but “sometimes these linger.” Lower body, perhaps?
• How Barry saw it:

• Call it a Thursday sweep of the Bruins: Bridgeport got the job done in a comeback over Providence. [CT Post | Sound Tigers]
• Arthur Staple fielded lots of questions, not all of them about the expansion draft or Sebastian Aho. [Athletic]
• Billy Jensen catches murders and roots on the Islanders. The former has nothing to do with Dale Hunter nor Matt Cooke. [Isles]
• Barry Trotz gets a little emotional at the prospect of having some fans back at the Coliseum. [Newsday]
• The Islanders and their new arena have an “official electric transportation partner,” an agreement that includes 1,000 charging station. [Isles | Newsday]
• Time to retire the “Potvin Sucks ‘s Cups” chant? [Empire]

Elsewhere

Last night’s other scores include the Capitals beating the Penguins and the Devils topping the Sabres in OT.

• Henrik Lundqvist will not make a decision on his future for a few months at least. [NHL]
• Will the Canucks or Kings make a trade? Do you care about Auston Matthews’ wrist? [TSN Insider Trading]
• The Tkachuk brothers will face each other five times in a very short period. They are under strict parental instructions not to fight each other. Brady’s Senators took the first one in a whooping. [NHL]
• Jeff Skinner was scratched for a third consecutive game, but is it just that his coach has no idea how to use a guy who scored 40 goals when lined up with Jack Eichel? [Buffalo News]
• Related: That coach says Eichel, who was kept out last night, has been dealing with an injury since training camp. (So it’s not his linemates, is what he’s saying.) [NHL]
• Mark Scheifele loves to talk hockey and the Ray and Dregs podcast is happy to oblige. [Ray and Dregs]
• The Julien Firing: The losing skid was too familiar. [NHL] Many complicating factors, including poor special teams and...will Carey Price recover his form? [TSN]
• Julien’s interim replacement, Dominique Ducharme, has coached a lot of current NHLers. [TSN]
• The Canucks are trying to stave off a crisis of confidence. [Sportsnet]
• The Sharks had to postpone last night’s game against Vegas (Covid), but further tests came back negative so they can play the Blues as scheduled on Saturday. [NHL]