Category: puck

The Islanders desperately don’t want what happened with John Tavares to happen again with the man who took over his team captaincy, Anders Lee. Yet the big-bodied Lee is set to be an unrestricted free agent this summer, just as Tavares was last summer before he signed a deal with his hometown Maple Leafs. So […]

The favorite son grew up and went away, and when he returned home for a visit, well, guess what? He was not welcome. Shocker. John Taveras spent the first nine years of his career bleeding the blue and orange of the Islanders franchise he represented with dignity. That barely mattered to the rabid fans who […]

David Quinn’s initial foray into NHL overtime delivered his first career win. “I loved overtime then,” the coach said with a grin Thursday. But in the eight games that have ended in overtime since that 3-2 victory over the Sharks on Oct. 11 at the Garden, the Rangers are 0-8, including Wednesday’s loss to the […]

It wasn’t where it hit, but how it hit. And that could have been the difference between life and death. Islanders defenseman Johnny Boychuk was part of one of hockey’s scariest possible moments on Thursday night at the Coliseum when he took a skate blade to the throat. Late in the second period, he had […]

Sean Avery is trying to take John Tavares’ place as the most hated hockey player on Long Island. The former Rangers forward, who retired in 2012 after years as one of the league’s most reviled players, blasted Islanders fans in a profanity-laced video he posted Friday for their treatment of their former captain in his […]

The emotional high was followed by the emotional lull. This is the roller coaster the Islanders are going to ride for the rest of the season, possibly into the postseason — which, mind you, they are thinking about quite a bit now that the calendar has turned to March. And letdowns like this self-inflicted 3-1 […]

The Rangers had worked to earn most of the best scoring chances early Friday night and only had a one-goal lead to show for it, thanks to Carey Price. The Canadiens then used a pair of second-period dump-ins to grab hold of the game for good. Teams often lament bad bounces, and while the Rangers […]

Libor Hajek took the ice all alone for his rookie lap during warmups Friday night at the Garden. The tradition may not have helped settle the nerves building inside of the 21-year-old Rangers defenseman ahead of his NHL debut, but the solo skate did let it all sink in. “It was beautiful,” Hajek said after […]

The reeling Devils fought hard, but couldn’t play spoiler. Travis Konecny and Sean Couturier scored in a 57-second span bridging the second and third periods and the Philadelphia Flyers continued their playoff push with a 6-3 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Friday night at Prudential Center in Newark. “Every point is huge for […]

You know something? I owe an apology to Islanders’ fans for setting the bar so low before John Tavares’ return to the Coliseum on Thursday that when it had ended, I actually wrote that it had not been an ugly night at the old barn. Because, and I knew it in my gut in the […]