Islanders prospects daily: Will Anatolii Golyshev play for Bridgeport 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.

New York Islanders prospects in action yesterday (2/5/21)

• Reece Newkirk (Winterhawks)
  • Stats: 1G, 4SOG, 25% FOW
• Ruslan Iskhakov (TPS)
  • Stats: 1A, 4SOG, 16:25TOI

  It was one heck of a weekend for Reece Newkirk. He and his Portland Winterhawks side played three games from Friday through Sunday and ended up with a 1-2 record. For his part, Newkirk had three points (2G, 1A), averaged five shots on net a game, and was effective 46% of the time in the faceoff dot.

  Now, Newkirk and the Winterhawks get a few days off before they’re back on the ice this Wednesday.

  Ruslan Iskhakov and his TPS side are one game away from the Liiga finals. With a 3-0 home win against HIFK, the Turku side can progress to the last round of the playoffs with one more win.

  Iskhakov, who had two points in Game 2, provided the dagger to kill the game yesterday with a wonderful setup for Josh Kestner. While falling, after fighting off an HIFK defender, Iskhakov gets a backhand pass to Kestner who has a clear lane through the defense and on goal. The Golden Helmet for TPS made it look easy as he stuffed one through the keeper.

  New York Islanders prospects in action today (3/5/21)

  • Ruslan Iskhakov (TPS)
  • Bridgeport Sound Tigers

  A win today and TPS are through to the Liiga finals, they haven’t been there since 2010 when they last won the SM-Liiga.

  Iskhakov is playing a big part in that run for the “Canada bowl”*. Iskhakov is tied for second on the team in scoring with five points through eight games and third for ice-time for forwards with an average of 16:15 per game.

  *It’s called the Kanada-malja which is Finnish for Canada bowl. The trophy was given to the league from the Finnish community in Canada.

  The Sound Tigers continue their impressive run in the AHL. Over their last five games, the Sound Tigers are 4-0-1 and hold a +7 goal differential over those five games.

  Leading the way over those games are some of the youngsters on the AHL squad. Guys like Arnaud Durandeau (although he was scratched the last time out), Blade Jenkins, and Samuel Bolduc.

  (Cole Bardreau, team leader in points, is the veteran seemingly driving the bus for all these kids.)

  I’ve got my eye on the lineup today to see if Anatolii Golyshev makes his debut. He’s been in North America for over a week now and could be in the lineup after service a quarantine period. With only two games left on the year, I can see Golyshev not actually getting into the lineup.

  But, with that being said, there aren’t Calder Cup playoffs this year and even if there were, Bridgeport isn’t anywhere near a playoff spot. Why not get him some playing time while games are available for the developmental side of the Isles org.

  We’ll see if he gets ice time today.