The Islanders will hope to keep their stretch of solid play going as they roll into Madison Square Garden tonight to battle their rivals; the New York Rangers. The Islanders are 10-5 in their past 15 games and if they have any hopes of a postseason berth this is the type of 15 game stretch they will need to maintain for the remainder of the season.
In a goaltending matchup that I have seen dozens of times over the past three years; Kevin Poulin will battle Cam Talbot. Talbot is starting in place of Henrik Lundqvist who has been listed as “ill.… On defense Radek Martinek will replace Matt Carkner and Peter Regin will play in place of Eric Boulton.
The Islanders continue to get dominate play from their first line and the third and fourth lines have created chances recently as Brock Nelson continues his strong play and is really developing into a good looking hockey player. Cal Clutterbuck has also been very active and he has done an admirable job on the penalty kill which has been much improved over the past 15 games.
I may sound like a broken record but the Islanders desperately need the second line to catch fire. Frans Nielsen has been fine this season but his line mates have to produce. Josh Bailey did a great job setting up Brock Nelson on his goal yesterday against the Flyers but he HAS to find a way to score some goals. The fact that Bailey hasn’t scored in thirty plus games is reaching a comical level or perhaps something out of a Greek tragedy.
I was surprised yesterday that Capitals defenseman Steve Oleksy was placed on waivers and even more surprised that he cleared. In my opinion the former Sound Tiger could have helped the backend of this blue line adding toughness and leadership. I am speculating but in order to claim him the Islanders would have had to waive Radek Martinek or sent down Matt Donovan. I am not general manager of the Islanders but in my opinion Oleksy could have been an improvement over either Matt Carkner or Radek Martinek. 28 other teams passed on him so I’m not going to pound my fists and throw a tantrum but I believe the Islanders missed a chance to improve their defense.
In other roster news from within the organization defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky has return to skating with the team but is not cleared for contact. Goalie Evgeni Nabokov is practicing with the squad and there is a possibility that he could return for Thursday’s game against the Penguins. This is news the Isles needed to hear. As always for more on all things hockey please follow me on Twitter and Instagram at @DanDanNoodles78.