Halak in, Metro doubtful, AK46 demoted

[IE]

Jaroslav Halak was the first goaltender off the ice at today's morning skate will means tonight against the Islanders he'll get his fourth consecutive start. The last time Halak started four straight was last Feb. 21-28. He won all four, blanked Vancouver and had a save percentage of .952 in that stretch.

Glen Metropolit is doubtful for tonight's game. He stayed home from the morning skate because of the flu.

There were several lines changes but the most significant sees Andrei Kostitsyn dropped to the fourth line. He practiced this morning with Kyle Chipchura and Gregory Stewart.

The second line has Tomas Plekanec betweeen Guillaume Latendresse and Matt D'Agostini. Maxim Lapierre, who played well as a second-line winger in the past two games, is back at centre because of the questions about Metropolit's health. His linemates are Max Pacioretty and Travis Moen.

 

[IE]

About that last Montreal loss...


Martin Biron didn't mince his words when referring to Thursday's 5-1 loss against Montreal.

"It was a crappy game," Biron said. "But now we have the chance to respond. How we come out tonight will show what we're made of."

The Islanders will have to do a much better job of limiting Montreal's chances--Thursday they had 43 SOG against Biron--and make better decisions with the puck (23 turnovers Thursday, including a couple ugly ones in their own defensive zone that directly resulted in goals for Montreal).

"As well as Montreal played against us Thursday, that's as bad as we can possibly play. We played slow and deliberate. If you're not pushing the puck and putting them on their heels, it's going to play into their advantage."

Gordon said the turnovers they were making--with respect to the separation between the forwards and defenseman--played into the gap the Isles d-men had to deal with on a lot of Montreal's scoring opportunities.

"They pretty much walked through us, in the neutral zone and in the offensive zone."

***

I talked to defenseman Radek Martinek about his bounceback game against Washington after a poor performance Thursday in Montreal, and he said that Saturday was a neccessary one for him to get under his belt.

"I know what I did wrong [in Montreal] and I learned from it. I skated more, moved the puck more and played better positionally."

Along with his shorthanded goal, Martinek helped to neutralize Ovechkin, who was limited to a season-low 2 shots on goal.

"Of course it's a good thing. I have todso it every game though, not just one game."

***

Any way you slice it, John Tavares has had a strong start to his rookie season. Understandably, he's going to have some peaks and valleys that accompany his first season in the league as he adjusts to the learning curve of playing in the NHL. Having said that, I don't think it's a big deal that he is point-less in his past three games. I did, however, ask him if there was something he needed to do more of moving forward.

Tavares said he has still been able to create scoring chances, but perhaps has tried to pick the top corners too much. Along with shortening his shifts, Tavares said he'll work on trying to be a little less picky about placement and just throw the puck at the net.

am skate for islanders:

Looks like the same lines as last game:

Moulson-Tavares-Okposo

Bergenheim-Nielsen-Sim

Tambellini-Bailey-Comeau

Thompson-Park-Jackman

And these appear to be D-pairings. I'll update if something changes:

Streit-Gervais

Sutton-Martinek

Hillen-Witt

Biron in goal