Islanders open preseason with season-ending loss to Rangers

The New York Islanders opened the preseason schedule last night with the first of what will be many season-ending losses to look forward to, suffer through, and ultimately label fatal disasters over the next six months.

It was gainst the Rangers at Madison Square Garden, which the Islanders have generally owned (during the regular season) the last few years. There’s really nothing at all you can read into any of it — as you well know, unless you’re new here — but hey: Job aspirant Robin Salo scored the lone goal in the 4-1 loss. So there’s that.

Islanders News

• Lane Lambert: “There are some things that we obviously have to work on and special teams are one of them. We hadn’t had a chance to practice them so far.” He also discussed Simon Holmstrom and Newly Physical Oliver Wahlstrom. [Isles 3 Takeaways]
• The “first game for all of us” applies not just to the mish-mash roster but also to the new coaching staff:

• Dan and Mike talk preseason, Lane Lambert, Mathew Barzal’s refreshing approach to being an Islander, and various pundits recycling the same old crap. [Islanders Anxiety podcast]
• Does Holmstrom have a chance? We’ll see. [Newsday | Post]
• Or put it another way: Which young Islanders forwards could end up in the opening night lineup? Meh. [Athletic]
• Nothing to learn from the preseason opener, really. [Post]

Elsewhere

• Update your fantasy drafts accordingly: Brock Boeser is expected to miss 3-4 weeks after hand surgery. [NHL | TSN]
• Hurricane > trumps Lightning and therefore two Tampa preseason games are postponed. [TSN]
• Pacific Division preview: the Battle of Alberta has fresh appeal. [Sportsnet]
• The next wave of young players in Minnesota is totally Wild. [ESPN]
• Canada will lift its COVID vaccine requirement at the border effective Oct. 1, which will allow unvaccinated pro athletes to participate in games there. [Sportsnet] By the way: If you haven’t noticed, Vox/SB Nation has a very low tolerance for vaccine disinformation and tired conspiracy rants against public health science in comments. If you’re of that inclination, best limit your conspiracy venting to how the entire league and media are against the Islanders.
• NASA tested crashing a small spacecraft in order to redirect an asteroid, which could prove useful if they ever want to crash one into a Rangers-Penguins playoff game. [NPR]
• Matt Dumba isn’t worried about a trade in his potential UFA walk year. [TSN]