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Sorokin still looks a little rough around the edges but vastly better than when he started the season.

Lee out indefinitely with the dreaded LBI. Looked like an ACL tear with the way Zacha fell on him. This is exactly what you expect for the Isles- they finally get to first place and they lose their top scorer. Wahlstrom plays the other wing. Bellows and Dal Colle aren't going to score much. Move Beauvillier up to be with Barzal and Eberle again, then move Dal Colle to the 2nd line to dig pucks out of the corner for Nelson to shoot. Although for some reason Trotz doesn't seem to like Barzal and Beauvillier together, so he'll probably move Bailey to that spot.
Another alternative is to call up Ladd. HAHAHAAHAHAHA. I'm funny.

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Last time Bellows played Barry Trotz ripped him for not playing the right way. Tonight he was thrown into Lee's LW1 spot and scored 2. WOOOO! He had the tying and winning goals.
First Islander to have his first 4 goals be in 2 2-goal games.

Wahlstrom had a nice end to end rush for his goal. Great, quick release on his wrist shot to score.

Devils again today.

40 points in 28 games, which is the halfway point this year. First place by 2 points, although the Caps have a game in hand. Are the Isles in first because they've beaten up on the bottom 2 teams (6-0 vs Sabres, 4-1 vs Devils so far), or are those teams so far down because they've played a very good Islanders team so many times? Isles schedule gets a lot tougher from here on, with more games against the other teams currently in playoff positions or close to it. But they're also 4-0 vs Boston so far. I don't expect that string to continue, but they've shown they can beat good teams. Hopefully that continues.

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Posting your political views on social media is like sticking your head up your ass & whispering: You're just as likely to change someone's mind, and you'll always come out looking like a shithead.

I was on the bench for Miss18.1's game when the Isles-Devils should have about ended, so during a lull before a faceoff I snuck a peak at my phone and saw the Isles lost 3-2 in OT to the Devils on a Subban goal. After the game I had to text my wife and when I unlocked my phone the score changed to an Isles SO win, 3-2. I was most confused (but happy) and saw that the league reviewed Subban's OT goal for offside and called no goal, then the Isles won in the 4th round of the SO on a Wahlstrom wrist laser. Bellows opened the scoring by tipping an Aho shot off his arm. Go to the net kids. Good things will happen. Great to see the Isles rookies scoring in close games.

Another odd event with this game. When I turned the game on (before leaving for our game) it was delayed and there was back and forth between the refs and Trotz and the lineup card seemed to be in dispute. Turns out Pageau got covid protocoled just before warmups and Dobson was pulled from warmups. Two ways of looking at this. Either the league is doing a good job by not letting a guy get into a game if he's got anything at all going on, or they're doing a shitty job by allowing a guy on for warmups, who could potentially infect his entire team. Aho and Czarnik filled in. Aho had an assist on Bellows' goal (he's the one who shot it) and then a bad giveaway on the Devils' tying goal. But from what I saw he didn't play badly for a guy who hasn't played in forever. No word on how long Pageau and Dobson will be out for.

The schedule gets tougher now. Next dozen is Caps, Philly x3, Boston x2, Pens x2, Caps, Philly, Caps, Philly.

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Posting your political views on social media is like sticking your head up your ass & whispering: You're just as likely to change someone's mind, and you'll always come out looking like a shithead.

Isles expected to sign F Anatoly Golyshev, who just had his KHL contract terminated.

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Was coming here to write that. No contract details yet.

Also, Pageau is off the Covid list. How does one get onto/off of the covid list in like 36 hours? Have the runs after a bad meal, then get a test?

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Posting your political views on social media is like sticking your head up your ass & whispering: You're just as likely to change someone's mind, and you'll always come out looking like a shithead.

Isles shit the bed vs the Caps again. Barzal with another stupid penalty. Fucking grow up kid. He was interfered with a bit so he crosschecked the buy in the upper back and flattened him. Just dumb. Trotz benched him for almost half the third period for it.

Wahlstrom with the Isles lone goal. His 6th. Bellows came pretty close to scoring too but drew a hooking call.

Flyers x3 up next.

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Posting your political views on social media is like sticking your head up your ass & whispering: You're just as likely to change someone's mind, and you'll always come out looking like a shithead.

Anders Lee out for the season. Time to spend that LTIR money.

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Yeah, it's what we all pretty much guessed. Still a big bummer. I was hoping Lou's press conference this morning was to say they'd pulled off a trade to use that LTIR money.
Still plenty of time for it.

Lee had the third longest Islanders consecutive game played streak at 294. He'd been a healthy scratch in the playoffs a few years ago vs the Caps after fighting Wilson (after Wilson's career ending hit on Visnovsky). Capuano had told them to not go after Wilson. No idea how many games Lee played prior to that. He was tied for the team lead with 12 goals too.

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Posting your political views on social media is like sticking your head up your ass & whispering: You're just as likely to change someone's mind, and you'll always come out looking like a shithead.

Lost a detailed post to the timeout.

Dobson still out due to covid protocol.

Isles have said they plan to use Lee's LTIR relief to bring someone in. I'd imagine a rental, since anyone with term would need to be protected, and Lee should be back next year. Unless they plan to expose someone else who makes a decent salary. But the obvious trade target is Hall, who makes 8 to Lee's 7. Isles give up just about any roster player and they've got the cap made up. Buffalo could probably use Hickey on D. Andrew Ladd may be the ass kicker they need to get going! I know, nobody is taking him...

Flyers got whooped by the Rangers 9-0 last night. So will they come in like a bunch of hurt kittens, or like a group of Karens dropped off at a Bronx block party, and fight like tigers? Could go either way. Hopefully they press for an early goal and make dumb mistakes. But I doubt it. 3 straight games could mean the Isles effectively bury them or let them back into the playoff picture.

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Posting your political views on social media is like sticking your head up your ass & whispering: You're just as likely to change someone's mind, and you'll always come out looking like a shithead.

Someone said the Isles might be kicking the tires on Filip Forsberg, who'd be just about a perfect Anders Lee replacement, but he's gonna be expensive, not to mention a pending UFA.

I think they want a UFA. They've got more cap problems next year. Unless they can get someone to take Ladd or another bad contract, they're fucked.

UFAs- Cizikas, who anchors that 4th line. Andy Greene- probably let him walk. They've got Beauvillier, Dal Coll and Bellows up front who are RFAs and Pelech is an RFA on D, and then Sorokin too. There will be some raises there. Pelech especially. Can they trade Ladd and some picks to Seattle instead of losing a player? Do they need a cap mule, I mean, former Captain?

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Posting your political views on social media is like sticking your head up your ass & whispering: You're just as likely to change someone's mind, and you'll always come out looking like a shithead.

Isles didn't bother showing up to the first 40 minutes of this one. Gave up 3 in the 2nd and it looked like they'd get blown out by a rebounding Philly team. They played 19:59 of the third and scored 3 to tie it up, then someone pulled a lazy icing from like 5' behind the red line. I said "here we go. Philly scores off the faceoff". Mrs.18 said "like the one vs Tampa that got Toews traded." Yep. A clean Philly faceoff win, a few passes and Lindblom got his 2nd of the game to win it in regulation 4-3. I don't remember who iced it, but they should be benched for the next game.
Barzal with a nice 4 minute high sticking penalty in the first. Dude leads the league in TYPIMS/60. For those who don't know, those are "Thank You!" penalties, when a good player takes himself out of the game. In Barzal's case, the dude has some of the best stick control in the world when his stick is on the ice. But if he lifts it over his knees, it's probably hitting someone in the face, right in front of a ref. I'd drop a 2' section of thick, heavy pipe over his stick for a practice to make the point that he needs to keep that shit down.
Let's see who they play next, ah yes, Philly again.

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Posting your political views on social media is like sticking your head up your ass & whispering: You're just as likely to change someone's mind, and you'll always come out looking like a shithead.

Barzal has a bit of that peak era Saku Koivu in him. Saku had high end game, and part of that was being really chippy going for the puck. Took a lot of minor penalties in his day.

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But you can't have your best player leading the team in PIMs. He's not Gordie Howe. And Howe figured out to stay out of the box. Barzal's penalties are mostly accidental, not even like he's trying to assert himself as a tough guy. That's what makes it so bad.

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Posting your political views on social media is like sticking your head up your ass & whispering: You're just as likely to change someone's mind, and you'll always come out looking like a shithead.

Golyshev signed to a 1 year, 2-way deal.

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Posting your political views on social media is like sticking your head up your ass & whispering: You're just as likely to change someone's mind, and you'll always come out looking like a shithead.

Isles with a nice bounce-back win vs the Flyers. 6-1. had a 4-0 lead in the first, let the Flyers get their 1 goal close to the end of the frame, then got 2 more in the 3rd. Thomas Hickey returned to the lineup for Dobson (still out with C19 protocol, which you have to think isn't just "protocol" anymore). Hickey looked damn good, getting 2 assists and playing some solid D. Wahlstrom with another goal. Bailey, Pageau and Beavillier each got one as well, plus Cizikas with 2.

Flyers again on Monday. Isles-Bruins game for Tuesday is postponed due to Bruins C19 protocol.

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Posting your political views on social media is like sticking your head up your ass & whispering: You're just as likely to change someone's mind, and you'll always come out looking like a shithead.

Golyshev assigned to Bridgeport. If he were to play for the Isles he'd cost them a pro-rated $920k.

Flyers again tonight, in what would be the "rubber game" of a baseball series.

Hickey is supposed to play again. Happy for the dude. He hadn't played an NHL game in 716 days, lost his brother during that time, and admitted in a post-game interview that he doubted his ability during that time. I hope Dobson comes back soon, but I hope they keep using Hickey as the 7th D-man. Aho had a nice goal but he looked overmatched quite often. Hickey has proven he's a smart player and can throw a huge hit here and there. He's well liked by the Isles and fans. If they don't plan to use him, I hope they trade him to a team where he can get a chance to play every day.

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Posting your political views on social media is like sticking your head up your ass & whispering: You're just as likely to change someone's mind, and you'll always come out looking like a shithead.

Sorokin steals the rubber game. 2-1 OT win. Sorokin stops 36 shots while Elliot stops 18. Wahlstrom with the tying goal in the third and Beauvillier wins it in OT after the Isles killed a late Leddy hooking penalty. Pretty weak call, especially after it looked like the Flyers goal was kicked in.

Isles were supposed to be at the Bruins tomorrow but that game is postponed. They're still supposed to play the Bruins on Thursday though.

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Posting your political views on social media is like sticking your head up your ass & whispering: You're just as likely to change someone's mind, and you'll always come out looking like a shithead.

Isles beat the Bruins in OT to keep pace with the Caps and stay in first place. The Bruins were up 2-0 after 2, with 2 players getting their first goals of the year. I missed them but it sounds like both were shots from the boards that either Varlamov didn't see or maybe they pinballed off Isles' skates? Either way, they battled back to tie it in the third, taking the lead with like 2:51 to go in the game, looking like a regulation win. Then the Bruins scored with like 2:01 to go. But Beauvillier won it in OT following in for a huge rebound left by Halak. 4 of the Isles last 5 OT winners have been scored by Beauvillier.

Not a good thing for the rest of the McEast if the Bruins start getting secondary scoring.

Pens on Saturday and Monday.

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Posting your political views on social media is like sticking your head up your ass & whispering: You're just as likely to change someone's mind, and you'll always come out looking like a shithead.