Pre Game: Isles @ Rangers

 photo courtesy of http://www.hauteliving.com/

Tonight, our Islanders travel to NYC to take on Ryan Callahan and the Rangers.

The goalie matchup tonight will feature Henrik Lundqvist for the Rangers.  For the Islanders, Evgeni Nabokov will once again get the start in net.

For the Islanders, defenseman Matt Carkner is out tonight with a lower body injury and Joe Finley will be dressing in his place.  Additionally, Casey Cizikas is likely to be a healthy scratch tonight replaced by Eric Boulton.

For the Rangers, Dan Girardi and Brian Boyle are scratched tonight according to reports.  Ryan Callahan will make his return to the lineup tonight, also Steve Eminger will take Girardis spot on defense.

Crosby: Isles Fans Didnt Show Class On Tuesday

In the second period of Tuesdays loss to the Penguins, Sidney Crosby took a puck to the face that was deflected of the stick of defenseman Brian Strait.

When Crosby hit the ice in obvious pain because of his reputation around the league and even his shenanigans in the game to that point, cheers came over the crowd and a chant of "Crosby Sucks" reigned from the rafters. 

Well, the star center for the Penguins wasn't shy today when asked what he thought about the actions of fans the other night.  This afternoon, before the Penguins game with the Capitals, he told reports that "The Fans didn't show a lot of class."

http://prohockeytalk.nbcsports.com/2013/02/07/crosby-isles-fans-didnt-show-a-lot-of-class/

And Visnovsky Has Finally Arrived

 photo courtesy of http://img.sport.sk/

According to Newsday, defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky made his long awaited arrival on Long Island tonight. 

Reports suggest he is due to take a physical tomorrow, practice Friday and could be in the lineup as soon as Saturday.

http://mobile.newsday.com/inf/infomo;jsessionid=0514DB8BC8C8E696EE2F.3278?site=newsday&view=islanders_item&feed:a=newsday_5min&feed:c=islanders&feed:i=1.4576187&part=1

How will you react to Visnovsky once he debuts?

Arthur Staple Calls Islander Fans Classless

 photo courtesy of http://illegalcurve.com/

In the second period of tonights game versus the Penguins, Penguins player Sidney Crosby was hit in the face with the puck and went down to the ice.

Crosby taking a puck to the face, brought a massive cheer from the Coliseum crowd because of Crosbys reputation around the league.  However, it didn't only bring a strong reaction from the crowd.  Islanders, Newsday beat writer Arthur Staple also had a strong reaction.

Staple said this via twitter describing the actions of the fans, "Bad, bad form by Coliseum crowd, cheering as Crosby goes down after taking puck to face. No class."

Its understandable for Staple to have that view point, because it probably wasn't the best thing in the world for fans to do.  However, as the teams beat writer you can't go around making fun of fans like that.  That is, "bad, bad form!"

https://mobile.twitter.com/StapeNewsday/status/298961462125268992?p=v

Powerplay Struggles Cause Isles To Fall 4-2 To Pens

 photo courtesy of http://a.espncdn.com/

Tonight, our Islanders fell by a score of 4-2 to the Penguins.  Here are some of my notes:

-Powerplay once again comes up short!  They did get a few chances so it was better then Sunday, but overall not good enough.  They struggled multiple times with things like breaking in the zone and crisp passing.

-Nabby didn't have his best game, one arguably two of the goals were ones that should've been saves.

-Not a bad game from Martin.  Good to see him step in on that fight for McDonald.

-Okposo still seems like he is a step behind out there.  He did make a nice pass to set up Grabners goal, but he still seems like it all isn't there for him yet.

After Sundays loss to the Devils, tonight was a big game.  To go pointless again tonight just sets up our showdown with the Rangers to be that much bigger then it usually is.  Hopefully, the changes to the lineup soon will provide a spark for the team because they look like they could sure use one.

Next Game: Thursday VS the Rangers 7PM @ MSG