The Islanders return to action taking on the Vancouver Canucks at 10PM tonight. Michael Grabner has finally been activated off Injured Reserves and will be in the lineup tonight. Lubomir Visnovsky was magically placed on IR with an upper-body injury that conveniently came out of nowhere. By no means am I saying that this is a phantom injury, but it looks bizarre that every time someone is activated off Injured Reserves, another player goes on it. With Visnovsky out, Matt Donavan will play in his place and Josh Bailey will sit in place of Grabner.
Michael Grabner will be given the chance to play with Okposo and Tavares on the top line tonight. I was never a fan of this idea but honestly I’m willing to give anything a try. I don’t think there will be any grey area here, it will either be a home run or not work at all. The rest of the offensive lines will stay in tack with Brock Nelson centering Nikolay Kulemin and Mikhail Grabovski. Frans Nielsen will center Anders Lee and Ryan Strome. Finally Casey Cizikas will center Matt Martin and Cal Clutterbuck.
Michael Grabner will definitely add some speed and excitement to the first line. I'm just not sure how this is going to blend with the skills of Okposo and Tavares. Part of me thinks that this could be really exciting and might be the shot in the arm to jump start this line at even strength. However another part of me feels that this could be a disaster as Grabner is not creative with the puck and is not a consistent without the puck. If anything it will be entertaining to watch tonight.
Jaroslav Halak will be in net tonight as Halak and the entire team looks to put their loss to the Edmonton Oilers in the rear view mirror. The Islanders have had success in Vancouver and they hope to continue it tonight with a strong performance.
Finally the AHL announced that Isles 2013 first-rounder Ryan Pulock has made their All-Star Game. Pulock was the only member of the Sound Tigers selected but he will be fun to watch during the AHL skills competition especially during the hardest shot event.