Late Islanders Gameday News and Game 7 Thread: A rare October road game in Ohio

Crazy day, folks. Apologies for the late thread. Thank you for your patience.

Our lovely New York Islanders are in Ohio to take on the Columbus Blue Jackets and their goddamn cannon. It should be a blast.

Quite a few Islanders enter the game on point streaks. Hopefully, at least some of them continue, if not all of them.

Turning to the other end of the ice, Columbus has played decently through their first seven games. Much like the Isles, they sit a game above NHL .500. It will be up to the Islanders to take care of business.

FIG Picks go here. Stick taps to Doc_Ad for putting up that thread. Much appreciated.

Islanders News

• A preview of tonight’s tilt, courtesy of the team site.
• Noah Dobson is playing at “another level” of late, and it has been nice to see. It would be a huge boon for the team if he maintains it throughout the year. [Newsday]
• Here’s what the numbers say about Sam Bolduc: He doesn’t play a lot, but he hasn’t been too bad in the offensive zone when he has played. [THN]
• The Isles have given up a lot of shots in the last four games, and they’re giving Ilya Sorokin too heavy of a workload. [amNY]
• However, it appears there is a good possibility that Semyon Varlamov gets tonight’s game.

Elsewhere

Yesterday’s NHL scores featured another regulation loss for the Buffalo Sabres, this time to the New Jersey Devils, and the Chicago Blackhawks defeating in overtime the last undefeated team, the Vegas Golden Knights.

• The Shane Pinto investigation kicked off early in the summer, and the Ottawa Senators did not learn of it until training camp. It appears he got in trouble for “proxy betting.” [Sportsnet]
• Connor Clifton hit Nico Hischier in the head in that Sabres-Devils game and was suspended two games for it. [NHL] Hischier left the game and will be out tomorrow for New Jersey. [NHL]
• Connor McDavid has resumed skating and hasn’t officially been ruled out for tomorrow’s Heritage Classic. Boy could the Edmonton Oilers use him. Both they and the Calgary Flames are atrocious right now. [NHL]
• More injury news: I must have missed it, but Thomas Chabot blocked a shot with his right hand, fracturing it, on Thursday night when the Isles hosted the Sens. He’s out four-to-six weeks, and their defensive core is devastated right now. [NHL]
• The Anaheim Ducks and 32 Thoughts’ favorite GM Pat Verbeek are implementing a load management system a la NBA superstars with rookie and 2023 second overall pick Leo Carlsson. Carlsson and his agent are on board with the plan. [NHL]
• Canada Post unveiled a Willie O’Ree commemorative stamp ahead of the Heritage Classic. [NHL]