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Isles/Avs one more before the break |
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The Islanders return to the Nassau Veteran’s Memorial Coliseum tonight to take on the Colorado Avalanche as this is the Isles last game before the Olympic stoppage. This can’t come soon enough as the Islanders are free falling into the break. The only story line over the next three weeks will be making sure Thomas Vanek isn’t injured while playing for Team Austria.
With the roster being frozen at 3pm yesterday; Vanek and Andrew Macdonald will now be islanders for the next month right up to the trade deadline. I was told that the offers were simply not good enough for Islander’s General Manager to make a deal for either player so the roster freeze came and went with the pair of soon to be unrestricted free agents on the New York roster.
Travis Hamonic will return to the lineup as he is finally cleared to play by the Islander medical staff. The Islanders did send down defenseman Matt Donovan to Bridgeport today and he will play for the Sound Tigers during the Olympic break. When the break is over and some pending UFA’s are moved from this roster I would expect that Ryan Strome, Matt Donovan and possibly Anders Lee will be recalled to Long Island to get a strong look with the big club.
In net tonight Evgeni Nabokov will be making the start and I fully expect that you will see a healthy dose of him until the Islanders are mathematically eliminated from playoff contention. The Islanders will have their hands full with quite possibly the fastest team in the league. The Avalanche are a dynamic offense team and the struggling Islanders will without question have their work cut out for them.
I will be at the Bridgeport Sound Tigers game tonight as they celebrate their 1,000 game in the AHL. I’ll be watching our prospects closely and throughout the Olympic break check back into hockey buzz for features on some of the future Islanders. As always for more on all things hockey please follow me on Twitter and Instagram at @DanDanNoodles78.