Top Shelf : Islanders Daily : 8/31/2013

Ed Mulholland-USA TODAY Sports

What a great time to be a sports fan. With the final day of August upon us, attention turns towards a number of huge events.

The baseball playoffs are heating up and pennant races and wild card spots are up for grabs as the season enters its final month, the National Football League is set to kick off their annual 16 game sprint to the finish line on Thursday evening and National Hockey League training camps will be open for business within the next two weeks.

Yesterday, Madison Square Garden network continued their summer ice series with a look back at game four of the Islanders exciting playoff series with the Pittsburgh Penguins. The goal celebration by Casey Cizikas when he slid the puck past a helpless Marc-Andre Fleury is something to be watched over and over again, for its pure joy and excitement that it created for Casey and his linemates on the ice at the time.

Anticipation as well as expectations for this New York Islanders team are at a high with the off-season additions ready to come in to make the team an absolute nightmare to face over the course of an 82 game season. The ice at the Coliseum has been laid down and is ready to go as players make their way back to Long Island from their summer destination of choice.

Let’s take a quick glance around the NHL from yesterday and get you all caught up.

• The incomparable Teemu Selanne has agreed to rejoin the Anaheim Ducks for one more season. A hall of fame spot is waiting at the end of his illustrious career.
• Nazem Kadri has said he will no longer talk about his contract negotiations until a new deal is signed.
• Daniel Alfredsson skated with his new Red Wings teammates for the first time yesterday and Ottawa coach Paul MacLean, when asked, said it is time to move on from the drama that unfolded over the off-season.

Lastly, for some good old Islanders-Rangers fun as we head into camp, head on over to Bluelinestation.com, our sister site here on the Fansided network and vote ‘Islanders’ in their latest poll. Hee Hee

-Andy (@tazman19)

In Case You Missed It

• Staff writer Ashley March takes us back in time for part two of her outstanding ‘Flashback Friday’ piece (EOI)
• John Tavares continues to show how much of a class individual he is, as well as a pretty good hockey player (Newsday)
• Absolute brilliance by PGI as he parody’s NHL14s new ‘Olympic mode’ (Lighthouse Hockey)
• Dominik takes a look at Columbus as they prepare to enter the Islanders division (Lighthouse Hockey)
• Isles have GOOD problems heading into training camp (Isles Optimism)
• 5 Isles under the most pressure this year (Bleacher Report)

Two Minutes For Tweeting

•  Isles fans caught notice of the team buying into not only Jack Capuano’s philosophy but the effort that is needed to succeed in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Looking forward to seeing that carry over to the regular season of 2013-14.

• Nabokov, along with stellar team defense, got the Islanders to this point Billy, you are correct. He just tired under the enormous weight of games played and facing a high powered offense like the Penguins in the first round. You all remember what that same Pittsburgh offense did to Craig Anderson the following series, right?

•  Your future assistant captain and heart and soul of the bottom two lines are in for increased roles this season.

•  John…..why you look so angry? LOL

•  Don’t get it twisted. Dan is as Islanders as it comes but that is a sharp looking piece of apparel right there. Now, if he would have bought something Devils or Rangers related, we would have forced him to punch himself in the face. ?

•  I could not help myself last night either wondering what the zebras were looking at in the series. Especially after being refreshed about Colin McDonald getting his head pounded into the ice and Morrow and Cooke combining to interfere with Matt Martin.