Islanders prospects daily: Liiga semi-finals begin today

Here’s you’re daily New York Islanders prospects report. You’ll find out who played yesterday (and how they did), who’s playing today (and what to look for), and every few updates I’ll tell you how these prospects have moved up (or down) in my prospects rankings.

There were no prospects in action yesterday so the focus today will simply be on the players playing today, and there are a few of them.

New York Islanders prospects in action today (29/4/21)

The semi-finals have begun in the Finnish SM-Liiga. Ruslan Iskhakov’s TPS side will take on HIFK in Helsinki. Iskhakov was a little quiet in his first-round series with a single point recorded. But he was a good two-way center for his team. He’ll face a much better team this time around.

I’d expect Iskhakov to continue being a strong two-way player for TPS in this series. The only difference is I suspect he’ll have a better time getting on the score sheet in this series.

It’s a “win-and-in” situation for Robin Salo and Orebro. The semi-final best-of-five series is tied at two games apiece. Orebro was on the bring the last time out but manage to squeak by with a 3-2 win.

Salo hasn’t registered a point in the series. Which is quite the opposite of his first series where he put up four points in four games. Not that he’ll care if they win. He can however hang his hat on the fact that he’s played a ton of minutes in this series. Only Kristian Näkyvä has averaged more ice time for Orebro.

The Sound Tigers hope to continue their strong late-season performance with a date against the Providence Bruins. Bridgeport have gone 3-0-1 over their last four games. The team seems to have figured out who their top line is and what personnel can bring them success. Too bad the season is basically over now.

They left it late against Hartford last time out. They ran a 2-0 deficit until the final few minutes of the game only to drop the contest in OT while killing a penalty. A more consistent effort could net them a fourth win in five games today. Could.

Note: All eyes will be on the Sound Tigers lineup today. Will Anatolii Golyshev make his debut? He left for the US a week ago. As far as I know, quarantine is only supposed to be seven days, max.

Now, technically it hasn’t been a full seven days yet. That will be tomorrow. His quarantine could also end before that. He could have had to sit for five days, which would have ended on the 27.

So, we’ll see if he’s a healthy scratch again today. I wouldn’t expect him to be in the lineup for today’s game, but he should be there for the next one I’d expect.

New York Islanders prospects in action today (29/4/21)

Schedule