Isn’t it amazing how quickly fan sentiment can change in the NHL playoffs? Isn’t it fascinating how drastically one’s reputation can rise or fall? Just two weeks ago, Islanders’ fans were holding their breath at the thought of Thomas Greiss starting in goal for the team’s first-round series against the Panthers. And now they’re all […]

Boy, is it a good time to be an Islanders fan. The team just won its first playoff series in 23 years and has grabbed an early lead on the Lightning in the Conference Semifinals. Meanwhile, the Rangers have already cleaned out their lockers, the Mets and Yankees are still a couple of months away […]

Before Sunday night, before his last-gasp equalizer and his brilliant double-overtime winner and his team’s first playoff series victory in 23 years, John Tavares had already begun to rewrite his playoff reputation. But Holy Christ – or should we say, “Holy Greiss?” – what a plot twist we were in for. In a span of […]

A year ago, the New York Islanders’ final season in the Nassau Coliseum was winding to a close. One of the team’s last games in its original home was against the Detroit Red Wings — a Sunday matinee, on March 29, 2015. This writer was in attendance, and sat down afterward to record his thoughts on the […]

This notion may be anathema to Islanders fans, but it is in the team’s best interests to lose tonight in Madison Square Garden. Heck, it’s in the Rangers’ best interests, too. The players won’t be shooting on their own goalie, of course, and the hometown fans won’t cheer when the visiting team scores, but whoever […]

It’s commonly agreed that the Stanley Cup is the hardest trophy to win in professional sports. Between four best-of-seven series, a minefield of dangerous opponents and referees that are always trying to screw you, the NHL playoffs are not for the faint of heart. The struggle, of course, is what makes the triumph so satisfying, […]

With the Islanders looking less and less like a Cup contender as the 2015-16 season winds to a close, a familiar feeling has crept up within the team’s fanbase. The organization may be wasting the prime of John Tavares’ career. Since drafting the wunderkind in 2009, the Islanders have made the playoffs two times in six […]

Less than two weeks ago, we took a look at the Islanders’ playoff prospects and predicted they’d finish comfortably in third-place in the Metropolitan Division. Fast-forward to today, and the roof is falling through on the team’s season. Where the Isles once seemed like a lock for the playoffs, they now seem like a gamble. […]

Opinions vary on what it takes to go the distance in professional sports, but one notion reigns supreme: defense wins championships. If so, the Islanders are sitting quite pretty in a wide-open Eastern Conference. Calvin de Haan, enjoying a breakout season on the blueline, returned to the lineup Monday night in the Isles’ 3-2 win […]

Islanders GM Garth Snow pulled off a last-minute deal before Monday’s 3 p.m. trade deadline, acquiring forward Shane Prince from the Senators in exchange for the Isles’ third round pick in the 2016 entry draft. Ottawa will also send the Isles its seventh round pick in this year’s draft. For the Islanders, Prince figures to […]

With Kyle Okposo having recently played his 500th NHL game and looking more and more like an offseason departure, now’s as good a time as any to reflect on his career as an Islander. Though it’s hard to remember now and the fans would just as soon forget it, there was in fact a time […]

Early this week, Barclays Center announced its plans to raise season ticket prices in certain obstructed view sections for the Islanders’ 2016-17 season. Fans subject to the price hike could either bite the bullet and renew, or opt out of their seats by the middle of March. It was a sucker punch of sour news […]

When Jaroslav Halak was placed on IR Dec. 27, we wondered whether backup Thomas Greiss could rise to the challenge. Ten days and five games later, Greiss has answered in the affirmative. Greiss started all five games for the Islanders in Halak’s stead, compiling a 3-2 record to go alongside a .917 save percentage and […]

The Islanders have ridden terrific goaltending to Eastern Conference prominence, but their greatest asset will be diminished as the Christmas recess concludes. Starting goalie Jaroslav Halak was placed on injured reserve Dec. 27 with an upper-body injury, meaning primary goaltending duties will fall to backup Thomas Greiss for the next week. (Halak’s IR stint is […]

Ryan Strome’s NHL career is but a season and a half old and already feels like it’s come full circle. For Strome’s future with the Islanders – and, for that matter, in the NHL – feels as hazy today as it did they the day they drafted him fifth overall in the 2011 entry draft. […]