Islanders B2B Gameday News: Let’s try that again; Belmont season ticket sales

Well, it was bound to finally happen, at least it happened when the Islanders had created a little breathing room in the standings, and on a night when the Capitals lost too: The Islanders lost to the Bruins last night, Boston’s first win in six tries, and the Isles gave Taylor Hall a slump-busting breakaway too.

They remain in Boston where they’ll try to make amends tonight.

Leave your First Islanders Goal picks here.

Islanders News

• About last night: The Islanders came out flat, took early penalties, and were punished accordingly. [LHH | Isles | NHL] The couple days of rest and practice clearly didn’t help... [Newsday]
• ...which means they are likely to see some line tweaks and possibly different faces tonight as Barry seeks to “find out about all the pieces.” [Newsday]
• It was six games on the Covid Protocol list, but radio play-by-play man finally returned to the call. [Newsday]
• Season tickets at the new arena in Belmont are 90% sold. [Newsday]
• Oliver Wahlstrom is a fun-loving guy, but he takes his work seriously and is an example of the Isles accepting all kinds of personalities. [Athletic]
• The Sound Tigers lost Thursday, but Blade Jenkins got his first pro goal. [Sound Tigers]
• Newly signed Collin Adams out of North Dakota joins Bridgeport at an opportune time. [Isles Blog]

Thus Spake Trotzathustra:

Elsewhere

Last night’s NHL scores included the Capitals losing to the Sabres (teehee), the Rangers shutting out the Devils, and the Flyers getting by the Penguins in a shootout.

• The Leafs were without Auston Matthews and lost to the Jets. [NHL]
• Your favorite Dom assesses how contenders and challengers stack up after the trade deadline: “This is by far the highest my model has ever been on the Islanders and it may still not be high enough.” Winnipeg also gets some overdue but conditional love. [Athletic]
• The Lightning will be without Steven Stamkos till May. [NHL]
• Interesting sequence as the NHL was just going to go ahead with a quick and super-condensed schedule for the Canucks as they return from almost the entire roster having Covid. [Athletic] But J.T. Miller spoke of how it’s crazy and their return isn’t really about hockey. [Sportsnet] And the NHL yesterday finally announced it would pump the brakes and delay their return (they were scheduled to play the Oilers tonight), at least a little bit. [NHL]
• The plan is still for the Canucks to play 56 games, even though several will surely be meaningless. [TSN]
• The Oilers continue to adapt to scheduling changes in the Covid world, like the postponement of tonight’s game. [Sportsnet]
• With cases rising but a return plan conditionally approved, the OHL sort of gives an update on its plans. [OHL]