The Islanders are in the city of brotherly love tonight as they take on the Philadelphia Flyers in a critical Metro Division matchup. With a home and home against Philly tonight and Monday afternoon this is a clear chance for the Isles to make up some ground within the division. Travis Hamonic will be out again tonight as he continues to battle the symptoms of an apparent concussion.
Since the Islanders are playing a collection of border line felons Islander head coach Jack Capuano will dress Eric Boulton and Matt Carkner and sit Peter Regin and Radek Martinek. I have no issue with Boulton playing as his limited ice time has been effective this season and he has surpassed perhaps our expectations of his role. Carkner as we know has struggled considerably but so has Martinek. In this instance it is a case of pick your poison.
To say I am concerned about the second line would be an understatement to say the least. Something has to be done with Josh Bailey. His goal drought is approaching forty games. At some point soon he has to be dropped to another line, placed in the press box or traded for anyone that can help this team. I can’t justify giving Bailey top six minutes when he has been so invisible. Frans Nielsen deserves better than to have to line up between the struggling Bailey and the struggling Colin McDonald.
In between the pipes tonight Kevin Poulin will get the start again as he comes off an impressive win over the Tampa Bay Lightning. Poulin is still very raw and I’m not certain what he will develop into but right now he is giving his team a chance to win game and that is all you can ask for in your netminder. I do think that he gets too deep in the net at times which leads to some goals and rebound but his results since Nabokov went down with an injury speak for itself.
In some other hockey related news. I had mentioned earlier that I will be doing a silent auction fundraiser in support of my friend running in the Boston Marathon. I will be doing this next month as items are rolling in and there will be many Islander and Sound Tigers items up for bid to help support the Boston Bruin Foundation. Also we will be selling tickets to the Boston Bruins casino night with 100 percent of the ticket cost going to the Bruins foundation. If you are interested or know someone who is please let me know. As always for more on all thing hockey please follow me on twitter or Instagram at @DanDanNoodles78.