Isles Address Weaknesses at Trade Deadline with Kennedy, Neuvirth

The New York Islanders entered Monday's NHL trade deadline with very low expectations. After making pre-season trades for Nick Leddy and Johnny Boychuk, they didn't have much left in the way of assets and seemed comfortable that these moves were the ones that caused those around them to try and answer. Art Staple even tried to bring Isles fans down from their dreams of deadline moves with his article just days before.

Isles Down NHL Points Leader Nashville, 5-2

The Islanders continued to show some solid play against one of the leagues best, and it can give us some hope that maybe they'll get out of the 'rut' that they've found themselves in over the past few weeks when they had less than stellar outings against some of the teams fighting for lottery positions rather than playoff positions.

Isles Down Rangers as Season Resumes; Thoughts to Start '2nd Half'

A little snow couldn't keep the Islanders and Rangers from playing on Tuesday night. It couldn't keep the fans home either. I can't recall ever seeing the Nassau Coliseum that full so soon after a snowstorm but the fans showed up, loud and proud. It brought a fun atmosphere for what was an intense game to kick off the 2nd half of the season. It's key not to get lost in some of the intensity, and the Isles did their best to not let that happen despite the eight day break on their way to the 4-1 victory.

Tavares the Hero as Isles Beat Devils 3-2 in OT

With less than stellar efforts in their prior two games in Edmonton and Vancouver, the Islanders needed to get back to their winning ways with the team now back in the East. A win against the Devils would be just what they needed heading into tougher games against the Blue Jackets and Rangers later this week. But to do that the Islanders needed some better play than what we saw in Western Canada.

Isles end 2014 with Victory in Winnipeg

The Isles 2014 portion of the season has come to a conclusion, with a convincing 5-2 win over the Winnipeg Jets. The Isles overall played very well in the game, and dominated puck possession particularly with 5-on-5 play. Perhaps even better than that, the Isles never had a 3-0 lead that they had the opportunity to blow.

Isles get late Comeback vs. Tampa, Win Fourth Straight

This year is different in the sense that even when the odds are against them, the Islanders seem to find a way to pull out a win. We're seeing the Isles get the better of play on teams and actually end up on top, which is a reversal from some of what we've seen in previous years as well.

Halak Wins 11th Straight to Break Record as Isles Sweep Home-and-Home with Sens

Clearly, the Ottawa Senators are one of those pesky teams with a good grasp on defense and not a whole lot going on offensively. If you're going to beat them, you have to capitalize on any of the mistakes they make. The Islanders didn't do that often but did it just enough where they eked out two wins over them, sweeping the home-and-home series between Long Island and Ottawa.

Sharks 3-1 win gives Isles Third Consecutive Loss

The Islanders improved play against the San Jose Sharks gave hope that they'd be able to score a 3rd period goal and get back on track, but ultimately it was a Logan Couture re-direct that would prove to be all the Sharks needed to give the Isles their 3rd loss in a row as they continued to shuffle lines and search for answers.

Isles Defeat Stars 7-5 Behind Nielsen's Hat Trick

The Islanders really like those track meets, don't they?

On Saturday night it was another high scoring affair, and for the second consecutive season an evenly matched Dallas Stars team came into the building and gave up a hat trick to an Islanders center.

Isles Lose First Game, Fall 3-1 to Pens

The Islanders started off playing well, keeping things simple and steady while getting save after save from Jaroslav Halak against a Penguins team that seemed a bit apprehensive.

Grabovski Out Indefinitely

Infamously, we do not know why one of our star players is out, but all we know for sure is that he is hurt.

 Photo Credit: Getty Images

Going back to the days of Scott Gordon, the Islanders have been very hush-hush in regards to injuries. They never really tell us what is going on, leaving us to wonder what the injury is, the severity of said injury, and the timetable for a players return. To anyone who watched the game against San Jose on Thursday night, the early indication would have been that Mikhail Grabovski had suffered a concussion. He took a hit high, fell to the ice and in the process smacked his head again, and then lied there motionless for what felt like an eternity. I was sitting in section 208, roughly 20 rows up from the injury, and to say it was gruesome would be an understatement. To be honest, it was frightening.



Thankfully, he was able to skate off the ice, and we soon found out that he had not suffered a concussion, but was suffering from an "upper body injury". No kidding. Yesterday, it was Newsday's Art Staple who broke the news about Grabovski not making the trip to Pittsburgh for tonight's matchup against the rival Penguins:

Grabovski won't travel to Pittsburgh with #Isles. Out indefinitely is all I've heard.
— Arthur Staple (@StapeNewsday) October 17, 2014

I'm going to go out on a limb here and make my own prediction for what is ailing Mikhail Grabovski, who had three points in his first three full games with the Islanders: Bruised Sternum, out 2-4 weeks. This will prove to be a tough loss for the Islanders, who have been to their best start in 12 years. Missing Michael Grabner has proven to be a blow to our penalty kill. Losing Mikhail Grabovski, who has produced early on and has provided depth as scoring, will only make things more difficult for a team who is trying to silence their critics, and who also calls upon Colin McDonald and Eric Boulton off the bench, as it seems that Anders Lee will not be called up just yet. Let's just hope that Josh Bailey's production so far can sustain, at least for as long as Grabno is out of the lineup.

NYI FYI will be live today at 12 PM EST on NYIFYI.com.

-Sean

Isles Defeat Rangers 6-3 in First Meeting of Rivals

The Islanders were nowhere near the best team on the ice on Tuesday night when they played the New York Rangers at MSG, but they were the better team in the only period where that mattered. It helped of course that the Islanders got great goaltending out of Jaroslav Halak that kept them in the game, allowing them to tie late in the second and score four in the 3rd to give the Isles the 6-3 victory.

Nelson and Boychuk Shine in Season Opener

After making two huge trades last weekend, the level of anticipation for the 2014-15 season reached heights that no one can remember in recent years to the point where every passing day seemed like it was taking more than 24 hours. On Friday, we finally had our first look at the new look Islanders and they made a nice statement in their 5-3 win over the Carolina Hurricanes.

Isles Second go Against Devils at Barclays Results in a Win

The second game for the Isles at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn went much better than the first one. However, this was not hard to accomplish given that last preseason the Isles lost 3-0 to the New Jersey Devils and didn't give their fans much to get excited about. Friday night was a little different as the Isles came out flying and put the first two goals on the board on the way to their 3-2 shootout win over their rivals from New Jersey.

Isles Fall to Canes in Coliseum Preseason Game

The Islanders dropped their only preseason game at Nassau Coliseum on Wednesday night, losing 4-2 to the Carolina Hurricanes thanks to some strong special teams play by their division rivals.

Isles kick-off Exhibition Schedule with Sweep of Sens

The Isles kicked off their preseason schedule with a sweep of the Ottawa Senators, defeating them 3-2 in a split squad double header on Monday.

Isles Busy on First Two Days of UFA: Add Grabovski, Kulemin, Johnson

Although the first day of free agency didn't go the way as many had planned, by the end of day two the Islanders entire body of work looked much better and made many who were gloomy at least smile a bit as the Isles showed some life.