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Let's play two

September 22, 2014, 11:30 AM ET [111 Comments]
Dan Petriw
New York Islanders Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
The puck drops on the Islander’s preseason today as the team has traveled to St. John’s Newfoundland for a pair of split squad games with the Ottawa Senators. The first game starts at 1:30p, with the second following at 6. The only regular not making the trip was Matt Martin, he will be playing in the Isles next game on Wednesday. Here are the line combinations for today’s games against the Sens.

Game 1 roster
Dal-Colle – Strome – Ho-Sang
Lee- Nelson – Collberg
Zolnierczyk – Cizikas – Skille
Boulton – Mouillerat – MacDonald
Reinhart – Pulock
Czuczman – Mayfield
De Haan- Hamonic
Johnson – Leggio

Game 2 roster
Bailey – Tavares – Okposo
Kulemin – Grabovski – Conacher
Grabner – Nielsen – Clutterbuck
Persson – Sundstrom – Gallant
Strait – Brennan
Hickey – Visnovsky
Donovan – Carkner
Halak – Poulin

I would not look into anything right now as this really is a glorified scrimmage. I know the twitter world is going nuts over where Josh Bailey is but I’m not ready to go crazy over that. We all know that Bailey does not deserve first line minutes. I think we can all agree on that. However, if Bailey is on the opening night roster we need him to be functional.

John Tavares has elevated the play of everyone he has played with over his time in the NHL. Here is what I’m hoping if Bailey is indeed on the first line. Either, Josh is extremely productive and this works. Or perhaps Bailey is productive enough to raise his trade value.

This is just one game over the first full week of camp. Nothing is set in stone yet and I bet we see someone else auditioning for top line minutes on Wednesday. Unfortunately these games are not televised anywhere but you can listen to them on TSN radio 1200. The final outcome of today’s games are not important. I’m hoping everyone gets through them with no injuries. The health of this team is a key factor in their success this season, especially the health of that blue line. As always for more on all things hockey please follow me on twitter @DanDanNoodles78.
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