Islanders & NHL News: Isles alumni, Pulock opine; Conference finals at 2-0

1 year ago  /  Lighthouse Hockey  /  Read Time: 31 seconds

I don’t know, he doesn’t look that hard to defend... | Photo by Eliot J. Schechter/NHLI via Getty Images


Are we going to have a Panthers-Knights final? Both NHL conference finals are now at 2-0 after the Knights won in overtime Sunday afternoon over the Stars in Vegas. Dallas had been playing a careful controlled game hanging on to a 2-1 lead before they gave up a late equalizer, and an early OT winner.
The Panthers can take a commanding lead tonight after winning Game 2 in OT to go up 2-0 in the series.
That series continues to shine the light on big offseason acquisition Matthew Tkachuk, praised as a lead on and off the ice. [NHL]
Islanders Topics
A Viscardi Center sports celebrity fundraiser with several Islanders alumni was occasion for Jon Lane of NHL.com to get some fresh quotes from players past and one present, Ryan Pulock:

The current Isles D: ““I don’t think that we need a big change. Yeah, we have an older group, but I think those guys are important to the leadership and the success on this team.
Bobby Nystrom: “I think that there might be a few things in the works ... The team’s a little older. They might need a little bit of new blood in there.”
Butch Goring recalled his own acquisition and predicted Bo Horvat would be much better next season once he settled in. Also, on the team: “We could have easily won that series against the Hurricanes, but they let Game 2 get away. We’re not so far away. We have some areas that we need to get better.”
In what passes for official Islanders news these days, the team announced two contracts, a re-signing of Kyle MacLean on a one-year, two-way deal, and inking Daylan Kuefler to his three-year entry-level contract. Kuefler, an overager drafted in the sixth round last summer, just finished his fourth season in WHL Kamloops at age 21. Here’s the Newsday bit on the signings.
Yesterday in Isles history: The Isles won their second Cup. There would be two more before the magic stopped. [Isles]

Here’s Game 3 of that series, the first Stanley Cup final game in Minnesota:

More from yesteryear, via Stan Fischler at THN: Ken Morrow on the 1984 OT goal he’ll never forget (plus some other Maven tales about Morrow), and about how Ray Ferraro once did what Tkachuk has done, scoring back-to-back OT winners.
Elsewhere

Why the Flames, expected to announce Craig Conroy as GM, got it right. [Sportsnet]
The new NHLPA leadership is expected to meet with Gary Bettman and cover several issues, including not raising escrow in exchange for a bigger cap increase, adding two games to the schedule, and complaints from Coyotes players about CBA-violating conditions. [Post]
Brendan Shanahan on how he went from offering Kyle Dubas an extension to telling him to take a walk: “While watching Kyle’s press [conference], I think at that point there was a shift in my thinking at that moment, the dramatic shift in my thinking as I was driving home was that he might not want to be our GM.” Shanahan also said Dubas’ agent sent a “new financial package” followed by a text from Dubas that he wanted to stay, probably overplaying their hand. [NHL]
The Penguins are expected to ask the Leafs for permission to speak to Dubas. [Sportsnet]
Gary Bettman is expected to meet with Joel Quenneville to review his status. [TSN]
On recent news: What does Dubas do next? (Ottawa?) What do the Coyotes do next? [Sportsnet]
Another fallout from the failed vote in Tempe for the Coyotes: Top prospect Logan Cooley is gonna stay in school a bit. [Sportsnet]
Clayton Keller, too: His reps are asking the Coyotes about the future, now that it’s up in the air once again. [Sportsnet]
Smurfs youngster Kaapo Kakko is at the World Chamionship, trying to improve his game. [NHL]
When not kissing babies, there’s always this politician approach: Connecticut governor wants to bring the Coyotes, announces he’s reached out to Gary Bettman for a meeting, would offer the NHL “a government that’s ready to come and be their partner.” [Post]
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