Eyes On Isles
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Top Shelf : Daily News And Notes 4/16/2013

By Andy Graziano

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April 11, 2013; Boston, MA, USA; The New York Islanders celebrate their victory over the Boston Bruins at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports

Middletown, N. J. – The New York Islanders play their final home game of the regular season tonight against the Florida Panthers. Due to a scheduling quirk (or maybe not…hmmm) the team will then embark on a 5 game road trip to close out the truncated sked. Will there be playoff hockey on the horizon after that into early May? Things sure are looking that way but not getting ahead of ourselves, there is still plenty of work left to do. The pregame will be upcoming this afternoon to get you ready with all you need to know.

Sitting On The Bridge

The Bridgeport Sound Tigers, coming off a thrilling 3-2 overtime win over Syracuse, take to the ice tonight at home against the Portland Pirates. Talk about a quirk, the Tigers will play 3 of their last 4 games against these same opponents!

Bridgeport are currently 6 points behind the baby Rangers for the 8th and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference with 2 games in hand. Doing simple math, they are all but assured of heading into the summer with eyes towards next season.

This is as good a time as any to continue the development of star prospects Ryan Strome, Brock Nelson, Nino Niederreiter and Matt Donovan among others. If the Isles can manage to lock something up post Saturday night, we could see some of these up with the big club for next weeks games. That all depends on how management looks in terms of their own Eastern Conference seeding potential.

Links

Important social media announcement from the staff at eyesonisles.

Come check out the petition for the Winter Classic at Citi Field.

Chris McNally of LHH highlights the top 3 Islanders home games of 2013.

The official Islanders site has their updated prospect report here.

Floating Around The Twitter-sphere

  •   Kichton is the last true remaining prospect not in the fold. The belief here is that he eventually comes to his senses and realizes what this team is on the verge of becoming but in all honesty, I would not imagine Garth Snow is all that concerned. The defense corps down at the Bridge are teeming and almost ready for NHL action and that is not including last years first round pick Griffin Reinhart.
  • Hornick is the definitive source for all things Islanders when it relates to numbers and he proves it again here. Master of math always comes up with the interesting tidbits that Howie and Butch announce during the game.
  • Ken is a great Isles fan on twitter and always keeps it positive (well, mostly, haha). In all seriousness, the Isles need the crowd to show up tonight on a Tuesday in Long Island and show your appreciation for all this team has accomplished this season. It really is a great time to be an Islanders fan right now and the players need to hear it.
  • Streit is right, the Coliseum was like that of yesterday for the grudge match with the Rangers on Saturday. Sources have put the split at at least 60-40 for Isles fans, which was good to see. The Rangers know they have competition both in the stands and on the ice again.

 Last Night In The NHL

  • Bruins-Senators was postponed and will be made up at a later date.
  • Wow, the Devils cannot catch a break, losing to Toronto 2-0, despite outshooting the Leafs 32-12. New Jersey has lost 13 of their last 15, and have not won in 10 straight scoring 16 goals in that stretch. Since Martin Brodeur won his 666th game, the ‘Devils’ have not won. Freaky…..
  • The Blackhawks kept sailing along, defeating Dallas handily 5-2. The Hawks are an amazing 33-5-4 on the year. What an incredible run.
  • The Flyers downed the suddenly struggling Canadiens (losers 3 of last 4) in Montreal last night 7-3. With their power play, the Flyers look to play the role of spoiler in the season’s final two weeks starting tonight against the New York Rangers.
  • Here is a remarkable overtime glove save by the Jackets Sergei Bobrovsky..

Current Eastern Conference Standings

As always we thank you for reading eyesonisles. Keep it tuned here this afternoon for the pregame of tonight’s game versus the Florida Panthers.

You can also find us on Facebook. Come on over and throw us a like!

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Eyes-on-Isles/145354682166083

Other Facebook Islanders pages that deserve your attention!

https://www.facebook.com/AllThingsIslanders

https://www.facebook.com/isles4life

Check out Gary Harding’s blog (former Isles booster club VP)

http://islestalk.com/

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