Lighthouse Hockey: Try to fixate on something else.
The NHL break continues but men’s hockey begins today at the Olympics, with Group B featuring Slovakia-Finland (10:30 a.m. EST) and Sweden vs. hosts Italy (3:00 p.m. EST). There are three groups that will do round-robin in the preliminary round, and the U.S. has the relatively light Group C assignment with House of Frans Denmark, […]
about 19 hours ago | 0 reads
Mike and Dan recap the Islanders’ wheezing last games and take stock of where the team sits at the Olympic break before enjoying a dessert of Ranger Piece Theater. The Islanders did what we asked last week and grabbed at least four points. Too bad they looked mostly lousy while doing it. So while their […]
1 day ago | 0 reads
Was Nassau Coliseum even louder during some 2000s Resurrection Moments than it was during the dynasty’s greatest moments? We’ll never know for sure, but a couple threads on Twitter elicited “loudest I ever heard that building” sentiments, though the Cup heyday and these other moments are a generation or two apart. There was a release, […]
2 days ago | 0 reads
Ever since a couple of friends who most often hosted Super Bowl parties each relocated out of town, I’ve…discovered the sheer joy and found time that comes with not following the NFL. An intense, grueling season of Sundays to myself and my family culminates in Super Bowl Sunday, when I can go wherever I want […]
3 days ago | 0 reads
Along with “Thrill of Defeat” host and Pittsburgh guy Dan Hopper, we remember Dick Tarnstrom, who turned getting waived by the Islanders into a starring role on some bad transitional Penguins teams. While the Penguins have had some all time great players in their history, the periods between those players were pretty dire. Bankruptcies, empty […]
6 days ago | 0 reads
Up until a little over 16 minutes into the third, this recap had a very different vibe. The Islanders did only register 14 shots on goal, apparently tying their lowest ever against the New Jersey Devils, last done in 2004. Ilya Sorokin needed to put in a Vezina-level (and frankly, Hart-level) performance to keep the […]
6 days ago | 0 reads
I don’t know nor care when the Olympics actually start (the men’s hockey games start in six days), but for our NHL-centric purposes they start tomorrow. Or rather, today is the last day before a long, cold break in the schedule, when we’ll just hope Bo Horvat and Ondrej Palat stay healthy while we hear […]
7 days ago | 2 reads
The New York Islanders pulled out a late equalizer and 5-4 overtime win in an intense, back-and-forth meeting with the Pittsburgh Penguins that highlighted how we have Ilya Sorokin and they have Replacement Jarry. True, Sorokin allowed at least one goal he would want back, when Bryan Rust banked a shot in off his glove […]
8 days ago | 0 reads
The Islanders did not get the job done in D.C., they did not claim any points vs. the Capitals, so they’ll aim for redemption tonight back home against the Penguins. Helpfully, Pittsburgh lost last night in regulation on a late Claude Giroux goal, so their standings edge above the Isles remains two points, though with […]
9 days ago | 0 reads
Third-string rookie goalie? No problem… for the Capitals. Clay Stevenson played just his second game this year, and while he didn’t get his first career shutout, he turned away 29 of 30 shots by the Islanders. Bo Horvat still looks a bit rusty after missing some time due to injury; he had a lot of […]
9 days ago | 2 reads
Mike and Dan look back at a packed week of trades, wins, a season sweep and one terrible loss that makes an already daunting upcoming week for the Islanders even more scary. For five days last week, Islanders fans were feeling good. Three wins, two over the Rangers in a humiliating season sweep complete with […]
10 days ago | 1 read
The Islanders enter a pretty significant back-to-back with a match vs. the Capitals tonight in D.C. followed by tomorrow night at home to the Penguins. The Capitals are just four points behind the Isles and can narrow that gap tonight, though they’ve played one more game. The Penguins currently sit two points above the Islanders […]
10 days ago | 2 reads
The Islanders lost a frustrating game in regulation to the Nashville Predators, one they didn’t really deserve anything from, though the circumstances were still frustrating. They blew an early 2-0 lead after looking pretty good in the first 10 minutes of the game, then were completely discombobulated the rest of the way, relying on Ilya […]
11 days ago | 1 read
Ilya Sorokin will start again tonight as the Islanders host Barry’s Predators. After starting what looked like another lost, tankable season, Nashville has rebounded a bit and is in shouting distance of the Western playoff wild card slots. But the odds are still slim and the question persists of whether they should dump assets like […]
12 days ago | 0 reads
The morning after beating the Rangers is always sweet; after completing a season sweep, even more so. And remember, it’s not about how they did it, it’s about how badly the misguided Rangers fans in your life feel. The competition over the next four pre-Olympic games should put up more of a fight, but for […]
13 days ago | 0 reads
The New York Islanders completed their latest season sweep of the crosstown Rangers with a sleepy 2-1 win at Madison Square Garden. The win also represented a sweep of their home-and-home over the last 24 hours, and banked some important points in the run-up to the Olympic break. As has often been the case this […]
13 days ago | 2 reads
The Islanders met a moribund rival and soundly defeated the Rangers, who logged their fewest shots ever in the history of this derby rivalry. That team over there looked to be sleepwalking, outside of a few dangerous chances that the Isles maddeningly conceded. Maybe it was a bit of numbed shock in reaction to Artemi […]
14 days ago | 0 reads
It was a fun one to start the home-and-home as the New York Islanders beat the New York Rangers 5-2 in a game they dominated from the start. While the Islanders added two players in Palat and Soucy leading up to this Olympic break trade freeze, the Rangers have put Artemi Panarin on the trade […]
14 days ago | 1 read
For all of us wondering if Islanders GM Mathieu Darche was going to invest in his currently-playoff-position team or commence with a selloff, the last two days gave us a clear answer. The first-year GM is not going big-game hunting, but he is managing assets (and spending a little cap space) to bring in veteran […]
15 days ago | 2 reads
What on earth is going on in the Metropolitan Division? More narrowly, the metropolitan trio in the Metropolitan Division? For the second time this week, the New York Islanders made a trade with one of their next door neighbors in a move that again appears to aid both parties. The Isles sent winger Max Tsyplakov […]
15 days ago | 1 read
The Islanders rebounded from a blah road trip and a worse return home by shutting out the Flyers — with a goal from each special team! — but the most interesting news of the day was confirmation that they were making a trade…with the {plugs nose} Rangers, of all teams. They acquired pending UFA defenseman […]
16 days ago | 2 reads
There were some lineup swaps tonight with Cal Ritchie (lower body injury) and Simon Holmstrom (illness) out. Max Tsyplakov and Marc Gatcomb drew into the lineup, giving both of them an opportunity to make an impression after a tough game for the Islanders against Buffalo. The Islanders bounced back tonight in Philadelphia, with JG Pageau […]
16 days ago | 2 reads
Mother Nature isn’t the only one capable of bringing down a storm. We had so much to discuss that we broke this episode into two parts. In Part 1, Mike and Dan find the Islanders at a low point after an average road trip and a disastrous return game. In three games this week, the […]
17 days ago | 0 reads
The Islanders will try to rediscover their game, or at least their look, with a visit to Philadelphia tonight. The Flyers are just two points back with a game in hand, coming off a potential “statement” victory in Colorado. That third position in the Metro the Isles currently (and tenuously) hold has become more prominent […]
17 days ago | 2 reads
The Islanders returned home and fell to the surging Sabres in what evolved into a 5-0 blowout after a competitive period and a half. Bo Horvat returned to the lineup but was one of 13 Islanders shooters who failed to beat Alex Lyon — indeed, Horvat logged four SOG while Emil Heineman had six — […]
18 days ago | 4 reads