Islanders News: Practice day in Raleigh
It warms my heart to see sad ‘Canes. | Photo by Josh Lavallee/NHLI via Getty Images
Fasching has been a great fit on the fourth line; who gets bumped if Parise joins up? The New York Islanders do not play tonight. It’s their second day off in a row after a back-to-back. Although “day off” may be a misnomer because they’ll be on the ice in Raleigh this morning for practice; yesterday was a true day off.
Tomorrow night, the Islanders visit the hated Carolina Hurricanes, whom I hate. The Isles have earned points in 16 of their last 18, which is good, but they have dropped three of their last four games. I want the Islanders to prevent the ‘Canes from doing the stupid Storm Surge and send them into the holiday unhappy.
Islanders News
If Zach Parise joins the boys—my guess is he does after the holidays so he can be with his family for the holidays—who gets bumped? [NY Post]
Hudson Fasching has been a great fit on the fourth line in place of Matt Martin, and the Identity Line may officially be dead. [NY Post]
Although they haven’t blown any leads in their last three games, the blown leads and inability to win in overtime have resulted in an absurd record of 15-8-9. [Newsday]
They’ll have to clean it up after the holidays to recover the points they gave away with those blown leads. [NY Post]
But at least they have been earning points. [THN]
The ten biggest stories in New York sports: The Islanders connection is that all five winter sports teams made the 2023 playoffs. [Newsday]
I neglected to include this on Wednesday after the win over the Edmonton Oilers, but former Rangers captain and now ESPN analyst Ryan Callahan is more entertained by the Islanders, saying he’d put on an Isles jersey. But, uh, no:
An #Isles fan not in the giving mood this holiday season. pic.twitter.com/iucLHSESBn— Eric Hornick (@ehornick) December 20, 2023
Paul Bissonnette tried to do the same thing on Wednesday night’s TNT broadcast of the Islanders-Capitals game, but Butchie told him how we all feel about it.
@BizNasty2point0 There is not one Islander fan who cares about your feelings or apologies.A couple of loses by the Isles and you will jump off the bandwagon— Butch Goring (@91Butch) December 21, 2023
Elsewhere
Last night’s NHL scores include the Hurricanes losing to the Penguins in a shootout (of course it was a three-point game) and the Flyers thankfully losing in regulation to the Predators. Also, the Devils lost a back-and-forth affair in regulation to the Oilers. Decent results for the Islanders, three-point game in Pittsburgh notwithstanding.
The Toronto Maple Leafs got lit up for nine goals against by the Buffalo Sabres, and their goalies haven’t been good, especially Ilya Samsonov. [Sportsnet]
The 32 Thoughts Podcast asks whether Lindy Ruff could be on the hot seat for the New Jersey Devils. Haven’t listened yet, so not sure if there are any Islanders bits.
But there weren’t any in the written version of 32 Thoughts, so my guess is no.
At age 51 (nearing 52), Jaromir Jagr started his 36th pro season with his hometown team. Wild. [ESPN]
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