Islanders Team Report from Yahoo Sports

With the fewest points in the NHL, the Islanders already will be playing for future jobs over their final 30 games.

But an official competition is shaping up for the right to back up starting goalie Rick DiPietro next season—a job that often entails a heavy workload because of the former All-Star’s frequent trips to the injured list, including his ongoing knee issues.

Joey MacDonald opened this season as DiPietro’s understudy and seemingly earned a new contract for 2009-10 with solid nightly play in starting 36 of 42 games before the All-Star break. But third-stringer Yann Danis has allowed three or fewer goals in seven of his last eight starts entering Tuesday’s home game against Los Angeles, and he appears to have gained the trust of head coach Scott Gordon.

“One thing about Yann, I think he’s taken it a step further than what Joey did,” Gordon said. “Not that Joey didn’t play well, but certainly, Yann, from a level of consistency, has been able to play like a guy that’s a true No. 1. That’s reflective of his numbers…to consistently give up less than three goals is what you expect a No. 1 guy to do, and that’s the type of performance he’s been able to give us.

“It goes hand in hand with his success. When you have that kind of goaltending, it certainly makes it easier for your team to know that, when you have those off moments, it’s going to stay tight.”

Lightning 1, Islanders 0: Yann Danis had won his previous four starts and certainly appeared in line for another, keeping the Islanders in a 0-0 tie with several acrobatic saves until late in the third period Saturday night in Tampa. Still, opposing goalie Mike McKenna ended up with his first shutout in just his third NHL start, as veteran Gary Roberts’ redirection goal with 6:26 remaining sent the last-overall Isles (16-31-5) to their second straight one-goal loss.

“It’s never fun to lose like that in the third,” said Danis, who made 27 saves. “We played a good game. We battled hard. There’s definitely some positives out of it.”

Notes, Quotes

• D Chris Campoli has been installed as the Isles’ power-play quarterback with All-Star D Mark Streit, the Isles’ leading scorer this season, sidelined the last two games with a shoulder injury.

“It was different. I’m in (Streit’s) position, and we’ve all seen he does such a great job every night,” Campoli told Newsday. “It’s definitely big shoes to fill, and I just tried to go out there and keep it simple.”

• LW Sean Bergenheim was activated off the injured list after missing the previous eight games with a strained muscle in his side suffered Jan. 13, replacing center Nate Thompson (shoulder) in the lineup.

Quote To Note: “Yann’s really stepped up. He’s given us a chance every time he’s played. It’s great to see a kid like that come in and play really well for us when he gets a chance.”—Defenseman Brendan Witt, on goalie Yann Danis, following a hard-luck 1-0 loss Saturday at Tampa Bay.

Player Notes:

• G Yann Danis lowered his goals-against average over his past five starts to 1.61, but he didn’t win for the first time in that stretch in a 1-0 loss Saturday in Tampa Bay.

• RW Trent Hunter’s four-game point streak (3-1-4) was halted.

• D Chris Campoli logged a team-high 24:19 of ice-time, including 5:40 of power-play time with No. 1 defenseman Mark Streit sidelined with a shoulder injury.

Medical Watch:

• G Rick DiPietro, who appeared in just five games due to multiple injuries, has been shut down for the remainder of the season with swelling in his surgically repaired left knee.

• D Mark Streit sat out his second straight game Saturday against Tampa Bay with a shoulder injury and remains day-to-day.

• D Thomas Pock also has missed the last two games with a hand injury suffered Feb. 3 against Tampa Bay.

• D Freddy Meyer remains out indefinitely with a groin strain suffered Jan. 5 in Edmonton.

• C Mike Sillinger underwent season-ending hip surgery for the second straight season on Jan. 26.

• D Andy Sutton suffered a broken right foot on a blocked shot Dec. 19 in Minnesota and underwent surgery. He is expected to miss 8-to-10 weeks.

• C Nate Thompson was placed on the injured list after suffering a shoulder injury Feb. 5 against Florida.

Islanders Team Report

Yahoo Sports

The No. 9 pick in the draft has gotten to Game No. 10.

And with that, the Islanders announced Saturday that first-round pick Josh Bailey will remain with the team “for the rest of the season” instead of being sent back to his junior team, the Windsor Spitfires. Bailey, 19, had five points in his first nine appearances, and the first year of his entry-level contract kicked in once he appeared in his 10th game Saturday night against Ottawa.

“Obviously, there were times I was sitting in my hotel room thinking it was almost a matter of time before I went back to junior,” Bailey said. “Once they told me I was staying … I told them I’m starting to get my confidence as a player.”

Bailey has shown enough glimpses to prove he belongs in the NHL, although it didn’t hurt his case that Isles centers Frans Nielsen, Mike Comrie and Mike Sillinger are on the injured list. Sillinger figures to return Thursday at Washington after completing a three-game conditioning assignment at AHL Bridgeport Saturday night. And Comrie resumed skating lightly Friday for the first time since shutting down his surgically repaired right hip on Nov. 11.

But Bailey has averaged more than 17 minutes per game in his last six appearances, quickly gaining coach Scott Gordon’s trust with his vision and passing ability, particularly on the power play.

“I think it really comes down to the maturity of the player, and Josh is a mature player and person,” Gordon said. “Like I said, he’s done everything right that we’ve asked him to do … Whoever he’s going to play with down the road is going to be a better player because he’s one of those players who can make something out of nothing. That’s an exciting thing to have because those players are hard to find.”

Islanders 4, Senators 2: Throughout their sixth game in nine nights, the Islanders had the energy level and willingness to forecheck relentlessly that coach Scott Gordon thought was missing one day earlier in a blowout loss in Boston. Led by two goals by low-scoring defenseman Freddy Meyer and a clampdown in the third period in a month filled mostly with meltdowns, the Isles skated to their third straight win over Ottawa, a team they had defeated only 12 times in 59 tries in their history entering this season.

“I thought our energy level was great tonight. Right from the get-go our guys, I think, made a statement they wanted to forecheck, which is obviously the key to our success,” Gordon said. “Like I said to the guys after the game, it’s one of those things where we just came off playing six games in nine days, and the game we had Friday (in Boston) should’ve been the game we had tonight. But for me, the guys came out and they showed it’s mind over matter.”

Notes, Quotes
• C Mike Comrie hasn’t provided much return since the Isles’ handed him a $4 million contract extension for this season at last year’s trade deadline. Comrie underwent season-ending hip surgery late last season and has missed the past 10 games with inflammation in his right hip. He had two goals and six assists in 14 appearances before he was assigned to the injured list on Nov. 11.

“I want to come back the way I started the season last year when I was fully healthy. I want to feel I can help make a difference in the game and that the team can rely on me,” said Comrie, who resumed light skating Saturday. “Before I was hurt this year … I felt like I wasn’t at the level I needed to be and that was the reason why.”

• G Yann Danis was recalled from a sharpening stint at AHL Bridgeport to serve as G Joey MacDonald’s backup after demoted G Peter Mannino allowed three goals on eight shots in barely 13 minutes Friday in Boston.

“It definitely helped,” Danis told Newsday about his three games at Bridgeport. “It was good to feel the puck a little bit and get back into some sort of rhythm. Played three in a row there….Things went really well last night. It was good to get back into it and get some confidence, too.”

Quote To Note: “Enormous. Obviously, Friday left a bad taste in our mouths and we wanted to play a good game and did that. It’s tiring because it’s six (games) in nine nights, but overall this was one of our best efforts of those six games.”—Winger Andy Hilbert after the Isles rebounded from a blowout loss to Boston on Friday with a complete 4-2 home win over Ottawa.

Roster Report
Goaltenders: Joey MacDonald, Yann Danis
Defensemen: Mark Streit, Radek Martinek, Brendan Witt, Andy Sutton, Freddy Meyer, Chris Campoli
First Line: Sean Bergenheim, Doug Weight, Bill Guerin
Second Line: Andy Hilbert, Josh Bailey, Trent Hunter
Third Line: Jeff Tambellini, Richard Park, Jon Sim
Fourth Line: Nate Thompson, Jeremy Colliton, Tim Jackman

Player Notes:
• D Freddy Meyer, who entered this game with 12 goals in 184 career NHL games, scored twice and added an assist in a 4-2 win Saturday over Ottawa.
• RW Trent Hunter became the first Islander to reach 10 goals this season with an empty-netter with 1:01 remaining.
• LW Jeff Tambellini, who hasn’t scored in 41 games dating back to last season, played just 7:35, including two shifts in the third period.

MEDICAL WATCH
• C Frans Nielsen will miss 8-to-12 weeks after suffering multiple leg injuries, believed to include a high-ankle sprain, Nov. 21 in New Jersey.
• G Rick DiPietro underwent arthoscopic surgery Oct. 31 on his left knee. He will be sidelined at least 4-to-6 weeks after suffering his latest in a string of injuries on Oct. 25. DiPietro also underwent hip and right-knee surgery during the offseason.
• D Bruno Gervais was placed on injured reserve and missed his third straight game with an undisclosed leg injury. He’ll be eligible to return for the Isles’ next game Thursday in Washington.
• RW Kyle Okposo has resumed practicing with the team but missed his sixth straight game since suffering a hand/wrist injury Nov. 17.
• C Mike Comrie, who underwent offseason surgery on his right hip, missed his 10th straight game since Nov. 11 with inflammation. The Islanders have issued no timeframe concerning his return, although he has resumed light skating on his own.
• C Mike Sillinger was set to complete a three-game conditioning assignment Saturday at AHL Bridgeport, and is expected to make his first appearance since February hip surgery Thursday against Washington.

Freddy Meyer has surgery

Greg Logan has a bit of Islanders' injury news.

He's cracked the fact that Freddy Meyer had sports hernia surgery and used some sort of abacus to decipher that Fred will be back in two to four weeks.

Nice to see Andy Sutton do what he does best last night. Sutton was in charge clearing out the crease for Joey MacDonald last night in the 3-2 OT loss to the Flyers. I thought Campoli has a strong game and Mark Streit continues to excel.

Speaking of, Thomas Pock has gone from Rangers-dumpee to playing on the top pair with Streit. Pock has looked good too.

Logan also reports that Radek Martinek (undisclosed upper-body/shoulder injury) was at the optional morning skate today. Radek has been out since October 11.

Frederick W. Meyer IV

It's just fun to say that name: Frederick W. Meyer IV.

He sounds like he might be a lawyer. "If you've been injured in an accident, call the law offices of Frederick W. Meyer IV and tell them you mean business!"

Anyhoo, today's post is just a celebration of All Things Meyer. Freddy Meyer has had one heck of a strange season so far this year. He started out with the Isles but was let go so that the team could sign Bryan Berard. He was picked up by the Phoenix Coyotes and played some for them but was ultimately sent to San Antonio of the American League.

When he was waived by the Coyotes, the Isles scooped him back up and made him a healthy scratch for 18 games in a row.

Meyer has now played 4 games for the Islanders and is a minus-1. As usual, the numbers alone do not tell the story for Meyer. Instead of being oddman-out on the Isles' defense corps, Meyer's been activated to take the place of the struggling Bryan Berard and Marc Andre Bergeron.

No one can discount the jump Bergeron gave the team last year. I would argue that his impact on the team last season was bigger than that when Ryan Smyth arrived. All of a sudden, with that big shot of his, Bergeron made the Isles PP much more dangerous and because of that shot, the opposition had to stay up higher to guard against the bomb. Until he arrived, the penalty killers could stay low because there was no threat from the points.

The same applies with Bryan Berard. At the beginning of the year, when the PP was on fire, Berard was making the smart play with puck by dumping it on goal and letting his teammates sit on the rebounds. Plus, Berard was making great passes while running the power play.

The Bergeron we have seen this season--while still very dangerous on the power play--is more of the Bergeron we'd heard about from Edmonton. He's scary with the puck at times and is prone to trying to make a great pass or play when the safer option is the smarter move. Ted Nolan has had to sit Bergeron in an attempt to get through to him regarding what his role is and what the Islanders need him to do to be successful.

And, yes, the same applies to Berard. He's never been the most dependable defensive player but he has always had the offensive skill. That's the trade-off you make with him. Can you live with the defensive deficiency? Is Berard's offensive production enough to make Ted Nolan and the Islanders coaching staff look past the issues in his own end.

Here is where Freddy Meyer comes in. Ted Nolan is playing the guys on the merit system. Meyer practiced hard and didn't complain. He knows the system and more than that, he is playing within himself. It doesn't matter about pedigree, contract, of the name on the back of the sweater. All that matters is that the effort is there. That's why Richard Park and Andy Hilbert are seeing time on the power play...and that is why Freddy Meyer is playing a simple, well-rounded game and Berard and Bergeron are watching from the press box.

Where was "Black Betty"?

Well, the Giants pooped in the punch bowl for sure yesterday and that
has me feeling prickly as a summer cactus. When I get fired up about
the inability of some of the higher-salaried people on the Giants
roster, I just try and relax and I remind myself that the Islanders are
9 and 4 so far this season. Yes!

This week begins a stretch where our boys are finally going to be
playing some games on the road...such as they are. I bet teams from the
Western Conference are jealous when they see stretches like this. The
Isles meet the Flyers tonight and the Penguins on Thursday. Then they
head to Jersey for the Devils on Saturday, the Rangers on Monday, and
the Canadiens on November 21. The day after Thanksgiving the Isles are
in Boston for a nooner and then host the Bruins the following night at
the Coliseum. Not a whole heck of a lot of traveling, for sure.

What can we say about the Devils game...other than the Games Ops peeps
didn't play "Black Betty"? I keed. No, it was another solid effort by
our boys in blue and orange. Somebody needs to call the fire department
because Miro Satan is on fire! Also, we need to keep Dancin' Stan
Hunter (love that nickname) in LI because his son Trent has been playing
very, very well since Dad came to visit. Billy Jaffe and Howie Rose
made the observation and I think it is true: we need to get Stan on the
road trip!

I especially liked the way our defensemen were heading to the net
Saturday night. Billy and Howie mentioned Andy Sutton's name many times
because Sutton was setting up shop right in front of Martin "Mr. 499"
Brodeur. Again, I keed. I love Brodeur and I think he is the best
goalie I've seen since Roy (I know how to take a stand on the real
issues, eh?) but everyone knows that the best way to beat any goalie is
to keep the puck near his feet. Sure, he is awesome in the butterfly
but packing the crease and playing it to his feet is the way to slide
'em past him. Of course, I say that and recognize that Miro's GWG was a
quick slam on a goal mouth pass from Trent Hunter that Brodeur had no
chance of stopping--especially because it was on a 5-on-3 PP advantage.
You know what I mean.

Over the weekend the Isles also welcomed back one Frederick Meyer IV as
well. Freddy had been with the Isles until getting cut when the team
needed to sign Bryan Berard. Of course, Berard has been out for a bit
and now ace in the hole Aaron Johnson is out for 6-8 weeks with a knee
injury so the backline is looking a bit depleted. Hey, the great thing
is that Meyer comes in fully aware of the systems and style of play so
he should be ready to go as soon as tonight against the Flyers.

Bill Guerin took a puck to the face against the Devils and although he
came back to play because he is a hockey player and that's what you do,
The Captain ended up missing the third period with the injury. Looked
to get him on the eyebrow area and he is reported to be re-examined
today before the Flyer game. I have a sneaking suspicion that if the
swelling is down and there's no damage to the eye itself that The
Captain will be in the lineup tonight.

Radek Martinek also was rocking a cut over his eye that needed a few
stitches the other night. He came back to play and was his usual steady
self. He reminds me a lot of Kenny Morrow in so many ways. I know that
is saying a lot but both guys were steady and played against the top
offensive players all the time without making any mistakes. Radek and
Brendan Witt compliment each other so well. You get the sense of
stability that Kenny Jonsson and Adrian Aucoin used to give us.

Lastly, I don't want to start an Oprah book club or anything, but people
have been asking me about the new books written by Bret Hart and Chris
Jericho. I've read both and I can tell you that each one is definitely
worth checking out. Jericho's book flows along like a buddy telling you
stories and when you're done, I think you can't help but like the guy
more and more. Bret's book is just like he seems to be: rather tortured
at times and serious. The guy has been through a lot and let's face
it--he's been on the doorstep of a lot of history. When he wasn't
knocking on the door of history, he was directly in the middle of
controversy. If you're looking for massive insight and disclosure about
Montreal 1997, there's not a lot new here. But if you want to learn
about the real Hart family and a lot about the early WWF, this is a good
one to read.

So there you go. Five stars for each book. Five stars for entirely
different reasons.

Isles win; Sim Injured; Meyer on Waivers

How is that online petition coming?

After watching the Islanders' victory over the Sabres last night, one thing becomes very, very clear: this is going to be a team that no one wants to play. Up and down the bench, Ted Nolan's boys have what Peter Laviolette calls "jam". They're as aggressive without the puck as they seem to be with the puck. The up-tempo style is fun as heck to watch.

Mike Comrie potted another two goals and Chris Campoli added another with a laser knuckleball (I know, that doesn't sound right but if you saw it you know what I mean) in the first. DiPietro was solid in the cage and made a couple of his patented long passes out of the zone--one of which was tapped by The Tank to the captain who made another pass to Comrie to set up a tasty backhander past Ryan Miller that broke a 1-1 tie early in the third.

Not all the news last night was great. Jon Sim left the game with a knee injury. Sim, an impressively relentless forechecker, bounced around like a pinball out there last night but ended up missing a check and crashing into the boards. He's to be evaluated today but the FSN crew speculated that Nolan may have to dip into the Soundtigers roster for a replacement player to suit up on Monday afternoon due to the expected swelling around Sim's knee. Jeff Tambellini sort of springs to mind, doesn't he?

Also--and we noticed that he was not announced to the crowd before the game so something had to be up, Freddy Meyer was placed on waivers by GM Garth Snow on waivers for the purpose of assigning him to Bridgeport. According to the FSN crew, Meyer has until noon today (Sunday) to clear waivers and report to The Bridge if he's not claimed by another NHL team looking for defensive depth.

Meyer's assignment/departure will put the Islander roster to one below the 23-man maximum, opening the way for Snow to finally sign free-agent defenseman Bryan Berard, who has actually had to pay his own expenses to practice with the Islanders since training camp ended. It's been a poorly kept secret that Ted Nolan has planned to have Berard QB the power play for the Isles.

Hockey Night In Canada

Tonight the boys are on HNIC. I only wish the Islanders were in a better state right now for the big game in Ottawa, but they're not. At the very least, we get to see Don Cherry.

In the past few days, Freddy Meyer has been shut down with a broken finger. Accoring to the team website, Fred's been gutting it out with the finger for some time now. Hats off to him. He's proven to be a team guy.

It also looks like Bruno Gervais is going to be shut down with that bad ankle as well. Again, it is a good move. Both guys have shown promise and have long careers ahead of them.

Garth Snow has brought in some replacements on defense--and boy, do we need it. Deron Quint and Todd Simpson have been signed for the rest of the season. At the very least, bringing in two veterans to take over for the depleted squad show the guys in the room that the team brass is still trying to make that playoff push.

Bad news on the guys up front too. As everyone already knows, Captain Canada was out of the last game against Buffalo with a leg problem. I hope Ryan Smyth plays tonight in Ottawa. Andy Hilbert's shoulder kept him out of the Buffalo game as well.

There's speculation surrounding the goaltending situation for the Islanders. Ricky's concussion issues--and yes, they are officially concussion issues now--may keep him out for the rest of the year. Wallace Matthews in Newsday wrote that the team should keep Rick out of the rest of the season, and I have to say that I agree. Whatever side of the 15-year contract you're on, no one wants to see a young man cut down in his prime.

Expect Wade Dubielewicz tonight. I thought he was solid coming in for Dunham in Buffalo.