7:07: Trent Hunter is not in the line-up tonight either. Trevor Gillies will be taking his place. Trevor has averaged under two minutes of ice time per game this season.
4:45 PM: The Islanders are in Montreal tonight to take on the Canadiens. As originally thought, Dwayne Roloson gets the start for the Islanders with Rick DiPietro having played the last two games. Roloson's last start was in Toronto. I doubt he'll show much rust though, if any. It took a couple of games at the beginning of the year before he got a nod, and he had a nice performance against Washington in that game.
Josh Bailey returns to the lineup after missing time with the hip pointer injury. I'm very happy the Islanders took it slow with Josh so that he could get to 100%. Very excited to see him get back on the ice tonight, and I would imagine the combination of him playing with Frans Nielsen and P.A. Parenteau will be a good one. Nielsen has quietly been having a strong start to the season, and Parenteau leads the team in points. Bailey has made those who have played with him better this season.
Matt Martin, in for the injured Michael Grabner, plays his first game of the year, and will be on a line with Doug Weight and Nino Niederreiter. This has the makings of a fun line to watch. Nino is playing in his 9th game, and a decision will be made about his future after the game. I have a feeling that he is going to be going back to Portland of the WHL. That's not from a source or anything, just something I'm feeling in my gut (more on my reasoning either later tonight or tomorrow).
Carey Price stars yet again for the Canadiens. The young goalie has certainly had his ups and downs since arriving on the scene a couple of years ago, but is off to a nice start this season. He has played in every game so far this season.
The Canadiens are a very fast team, with a virtually non-existant power-play so far this season. This, of course, is due in large part to the absence of Andrei Markov, who might return Friday for the 2nd part of the home-and-home. But in the meantime, the Islanders defensemen are going to have to do an extra good job of forcing the play to the outside. This Canadiens team is too quick and skilled to get caught out of position, no matter how big you are compared to them. Look for Milan Jurcina to have yet another steady game for the reason's I highlighted in this space yesterday.
This should be another fun one, in a building that hasn't been too kind to the Islanders in recent years. It's another early season test. Let's hope they break this hex tonight.
-CH
nyifyi@gmail.com
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