UNIONDALE, N.Y. -- After having a chance to digest the realignment setup agreed to at the NHL Board of Governors meeting on Monday, Tampa Bay Lightning coach Guy Boucher was philosophical.

"I woke up and thought, 'Let's just build a practice rink in Vermont. That's a good solution,'" he said with a smile during a Tuesday media scrum.

Under the new setup, the Lightning and Florida Panthers are grouped with Boston, Buffalo, Montreal, Toronto and Ottawa. The demise of the Southeast Division will mean fewer trips to Carolina and Washington and plenty of time in New England, Western New York and Eastern Canada.

"It's difficult to understand why Carolina, which is an hour away, is not in our conference," he said, "We've built a rivalry with Washington and they're gone too. 

"Let's not kid ourselves -- we're going to have more travel, and we're going to have to deal with it."

But Boucher also said he realizes that trying to juggle an alignment that would make all 30 teams happy was going to be impossible.

"I'm sure the League worked extremely hard trying to do something that makes sense -- and it's difficult to make sense of 'not enough teams for here and there,' and you're stuck," he said. "I can see how difficult it must have been for them to make something that made sense, to keep the rivalries.

"You look at Boston -- they're pretty close to the other teams and could have been in the other division, but they've got rivalries with Buffalo and Montreal, the old Adams Division. Do you want to separate Pittsburgh and Philly? I think it was very difficult for them to decide what to do."

One thing Boucher said is sure to continue is that his team will be a popular destination for teams to bring their fathers along on road trips.

"We'll see that all year long," he said. "Everyone's got their 'Father's Trip' in Tampa."

 

UNIONDALE, N.Y. -- The Tampa Bay Lightning bring a four-game losing streak to the Nassau Coliseum for tonight's game against the New York Islanders. They've scored just seven goals in those games, including two each in 4-2 losses to the New York Rangers at home on Saturday and at Ottawa on Monday.

But coach Guy Boucher feels his team is doing a lot of things right -- except for putting the puck in the net.

"At the beginning of the year, on the road, we were horrible," Boucher said. "Plain and simple -- all over the place. The work ethic wasn't there. The relentlessness wasn't there, the physicality wasn't there. We were getting some chances, but not like now. Now, it's ridiculous -- our games could be 5-1 after two periods. That's frustrating -- to miss those goals.

“During the game, it's frustrating -- and when I look at the video it's really frustrating. You can't believe the goals that we've missed; it's unreal. We've had more scoring chances than even last year -- just ridiculous."

It's not that the Lightning lack firepower -- Steven Stamkos, Vincent Lecavalier and Martin St. Louis are three of the best offensive players in the NHL. But for whatever reason, the pucks haven't been going in.

"I don't remember coaching a team that has misfired that much," Boucher said. "Look at Stammer -- he was wide-open, the puck on his stick, the goalie wasn't even there, but something happens and it trickles. That's just one of them.

"We're missing these goals, and that comes with swagger and swagger comes with results. It's a vicious circle. But one thing's for sure: We're playing great. If we keep at it and stick to it and continue working at the small details, we'll be a much better team, because once the (puck) goes in and we correct these little things … we can hope for good things."

The Lightning led 2-1 in the third period of the games against the Rangers and Senators, but allowed three goals each time and went home empty-handed -- dropping them to 11-13-2 and 13th place in the Eastern Conference.

"If we want to win games, we have to make sure we check in those moments," Boucher said. "Both those games -- one with three minutes left, one with four minutes left -- you go into overtime and lose, it's still a point and a point, like winning one of the two games, and those points are big."

After former Islander Dwayne Roloson played in Ottawa on Monday, Mathieu Garon will start in goal for the Lightning, who again will be without defenseman Pavel Kubina, out with a lower-body injury. Tampa Bay recalled Evan Oberg from the AHL Norfolk Admirals for the game -- they acquired Oberg just four days ago in a four-player swap with Florida.

Forward Adam Hall, a scratch in the last two games, is likely to dress -- "there's a big chance he plays," Boucher said. "Big, big chance."

 

UNIONDALE, N.Y. -- Three days after the biggest game of his NHL career, New York Islanders forward Matt Moulson was still all smiles.

"It was a lot of fun -- one of those games where everything seemed to bounce my way," Moulson said after Tuesday's morning skate before the Islanders' game against the Tampa Bay Lightning. "My linemates obviously made some unbelievable plays as well."

Moulson became the first player this season to score four in a game when he did it Saturday night in Dallas, helping the Islanders beat the Stars 5-4. Linemates John Tavares and PA Parenteau each had three assists.

The 28-year-old said he had a sense after his second goal in the first period that Saturday could be a special night.

"After the second one -- I'm still trying to figure out how it bounced like it did, right to me for the open net," he said. "After that, I said 'maybe things are bouncing my way tonight.'"

The big night gave Moulson six goals in three games, earning him the NHL's First Star of the Week -- and giving him bragging rights over his brother-in-law, Los Angeles goaltender Jonathan Quick, who earned the Third Star.

"I told him bronze is all right," Moulson said with a laugh.

On a more serious note, he said the honor was a testament to his linemates.

"They've been playing great," he said. "All the goals I got during the week were a result of some pretty great plays by them."

Said Tavares: "It's a pretty great honor. He deserves it. [In Dallas] Mollie was right in the right spots, finding those loose pucks -- and he's not going to miss those too often."

 

 

UNIONDALE, N.Y. -- Al Montoya will be back in goal for the New York Islanders on Tuesday night against the Tampa Bay Lightning. But the injuries that came home with the Islanders along with three wins and a shootout loss on their four-game road trip will force some shuffling in front of him.

Forwards Michael Grabner (groin) and Nino Niederreiter (concussion), both of whom were injured in Saturday's 5-4 win at Dallas, are out tonight. So is defenseman Andrew MacDonald, whose injured leg kept him out of games at Chicago and Dallas and will sideline him for at least another two weeks.

Rookie goaltender Kevin Poulin is up from AHL Bridgeport to back up Montoya after Rick DiPietro left Saturday’s game after two periods with a groin injury. The Isles' third veteran goaltender, Evgeni Nabokov, is still recovering from a groin injury sustained on Nov. 17. He has resumed skating, and Isles coach Jack Capuano said the team will know more tomorrow.

"Andrew will be out an extended period, and Nino is still going through all the phases with the concussion," Capuano said after the optional morning skate. "Grabs is definitely out. He's day-to-day. He didn't skate this morning."

Capuano isn't sure exactly who will play with whom.

"We're throwing it around a little bit," he said. "We'll probably move [Brian] Rolston up to start the game with Kyle [Okposo] and Frans [Nielsen]."

The Islanders called up forward Tim Wallace from Bridgeport. He'll dress along with center Michael Haley, a healthy scratch for the past three games. Defenseman Dylan Reese, called up to replace McDonald over the weekend, will also play.

The Islanders are back at the Nassau Coliseum after going 3-0-1 on a four-game trip that included wins in New Jersey, Buffalo and Dallas plus a shootout loss in Chicago.

UNIONDALE, N.Y. – 2010 first-round pick Nino Niederreiter will make his season debut Tuesday night for the New York Islanders. 2006 first-rounder Kyle Okposo will sit.

Niederreiter rejoined the team after his two-week conditioning stint with AHL Bridgeport ended following Sunday’s game. The 19-year-old from Switzerland looked good in preseason, mostly skating with John Tavares and Matt Moulson, but went down with a groin injury in the late stages of camp. He skated Tuesday morning and said he “felt great.”

Coach Jack Capuano hinted at the morning skate that Niederreiter, the fifth player taken in the 2010 NHL Draft, would dress, but made no commitment and didn’t hint who might sit in his stead. The odd man out turned out to be Okposo, who has no goals, three assists and a minus-7 rating in 14 games. Okposo, the seventh player chosen in 2006, started the season on the second line with Frans Nielsen in the middle and Michael Grabner on the left, but was dropped down to the third line when Capuano remodeled his lines 10 days ago.

The Islanders hope Niederreiter can provide them with a spark – they are 1-6-3 in their last 10 games since beating the Rangers 4-2 in their big-city rivals’ last visit to the Nassau Coliseum on Oct. 15. Since then. The Rangers are 9-2-1, including their current six-game winning streak.

Capuano will also make a change on defense, dressing Milan Jurcina and scratching Mark Eaton.

UNIONDALE, N.Y. -- New York Rangers coach John Tortorella has had his ups and downs with high-scoring forward Marian Gaborik during their two-plus seasons together. As the Rangers head into tonight's visit to the Nassau Coliseum, they're definitely on the ups.

Not only is Gaborik leading the Rangers with 9 goals and 15 points, he has, in Tortorella's eyes, been the Rangers' most consistent player through the first six weeks of the season -- a stretch that includes New York's current six-game winning streak.

Scoring never has been a problem for Gaborik, a two-time 42-goal scorer – including 2009-10, his first season with the Rangers. It's been the other areas of the game that Tortorella says have seen the most improvement.

"Where I think he's made tremendous improvement is his play away from the puck -- the back pressure, being in the right position when he doesn't have the puck," Tortorella said after the morning skate at the Coliseum. "I think he's finding out that when we play better team defense, we have the puck more."

Gaborik took a lot of heat from Tortorella last season, when he slumped from 42 goals to 22. Now, he's on pace to surpass his career high in goals this season -- and his plus-8 rating is second on the team and tops among forwards.

"He's a proud man. He's a good man, and he did not like how it worked out last year," Tortorella said. "You could sense that he was going to have a really good year. He's certainly off to a very good start."

Tortorella said most of the coaching he and his staff do is team-oriented, rather than working with individual players, and gave Gaborik the credit for his improved play.

"It comes down to the player's willingness to do it and realizing it does work, as far as playing good defense to help out your offense," he said of Gaborik's improvement without the puck.

"He's a smart guy. Ever since I met him, and that was three years ago, he's asked questions. You can tell that he's engaged. I think there's a motivation there with Gabby, where he wants to help his team get to the next level. He knows he has the ability; it's just a matter of consistently doing it."

UNIONDALE, N.Y. -- Nino Niederreiter's two-week conditioning stint with the AHL Bridgeport Sound Tigers is over -- he scored goals in each of his last three games. The New York Islanders' top pick in the 2010 NHL Draft is back on Long Island, but coach Jack Capuano won't commit to playing him in Tuesday night's game against the New York Rangers.

In fact, Capuano wouldn't commit to what his lines would look like when his team takes the ice tonight, other than that Evgeni Nabokov will make his second straight start in goal, with Al Montoya as his backup.

"I think that he can bring an element of size and physicality to our lineup," Capuano said of the 6-foot-2, 205-pound forward, who looked good in training camp before suffering a groin injury. "What I'd like to see him do is like all the other guys -- play within the team structure but play loose and enjoy yourself."

There hasn't been much to enjoy on the Island lately. The Islanders are mired in a 1-6-3 slump that began after a 4-2 victory against the Rangers at the Nassau Coliseum on Oct. 15. That includes an 0-2-1 road trip that ended with a 4-1 loss at Vancouver on Sunday night.

"Some guys are squeezing their sticks right now," Capuano said. "As bad as the last couple of weeks (have been), we've had some chances; we’re just not scoring."

As for what he's looking for from Niederreiter, whether it's tonight or later in the week?

"I want him to play like he played at Bridgeport," Capuano said. "He worked hard and got himself back to where he needed to be.

"Obviously he's had some success in junior hockey; he scored some big goals. For us -- top nine, with some power-play time. He's got quick hands for a big guy. Hopefully we'll get some pucks to the net, he'll get to the net and good things will happen."

Niederreiter spent nine games with the Islanders last season before being returned to Portland of the Western Hockey League. The Islanders could send him back again, but he wants to make the kind of impression that will keep him on Long Island for good.

"I'm excited to be back here," he said. "If I get the chance tonight, hopefully I can score.

"I'm just trying to do the best I can every night to show (GM) Garth (Snow) that I can stay here and he can't send me down. This is definitely where I want to be."

 

UNIONDALE, N.Y. – John Tavares knows he’d better get his legs going early tonight.
 
With the New York Islanders mired in a six-game losing streak and having scored a League-low 18 goals in 11 games, coach Jack Capuano reshuffled his lines for Saturday night against the Washington Capitals. For Tavares, who has scored seven of New York’s goals and assisted on four others, it means replacing right wing PA Parenteau with Michael Grabner.
 
Not only did Grabner score 34 goals as a rookie last season, but he also won the fastest skater competition at All-Star Weekend in January.
 
The third-year center is looking forward to playing with Grabner and regular linemate Matt Moulson in the reshuffled pairings.
 
“I think it will be good – a little bit of a different mindset,” Tavares said Saturday morning. “As much as we’ve been getting opportunities, we haven’t been getting results. Sometimes you just need a different look, a clean slate, a different mindset to breed some confidence and excitement into everybody.”
 
With the Isles having been blanked in two of their last three games and scoring just seven goals during the six-game slide, Tavares said the Islanders have to look at the shuffle in a positive light.
 
“You have to take it that way,” he said. “We’ve been playing pretty well – although it’s easy to say you’re playing well when you’re not winning. We’ve been creating a lot of opportunities; we just haven’t been able to find the net. Hopefully some new chemistry, some new looks will bring some of the success and results we’re looking for.”
 
Having Grabner instead of Parenteau will mean some changes for Tavares.
 
“It is a little bit [different],” he said. “You have guys who do things differently and play different styles. It’s not really going to change my game, but for sure it will be a little different.
 
“I’m looking forward to playing with [Grabner]. It should be fun.”
 
There hasn’t been a lot of fun on Long Island for the past three weeks – the Isles haven’t won since beating the Rangers 4-2 on Oct. 15. Tavares said the Islanders need to go back to what they were doing in the early stages of the season, which saw them win three in a row before the current slump.
 
“I think sometimes when you’re trying to make the perfect play or the perfect shot, that starts putting you in trouble,” he told NHL.com. “You’re not going to get those opportunities every night. A lot of the goals you see on the highlights come from just putting pucks on the net and maybe you get a loose rebound or it goes off a skate and in – and that can get you going.
 
“Then everything comes more easily. You play more simple and you do the right thing. People say ‘you’re working too hard,’ but I feel it’s more like you’re trying to complicate things more than you should. You need to keep it simple and do the little things that will start to build your confidence and breed success.”

UNIONDALE, N.Y. -- The Washington Capitals have owned the New York Islanders in recent years. They swept the season series against the Isles in 2010-11 and have 11 wins and three overtime/shootout losses in the last 14 meetings.

The Caps are also 9-2-0 and averaging four goals a game after a 5-1 win Friday at Carolina. The Islanders have gone six games without a win and are last in the NHL with just 18 goals scored.
But don't try to tell coach Bruce Boudreau or his players that tonight's visit to the Nassau Coliseum will be easy -- after all, eight of the last 14 games between the teams have gone past regulation and 11, including all four last season, were decided by one goal.

"I never take these guys lightly," Boudreau said. "They are as tough a team as we play, no matter what they've gone through. You look at their lineup and you have a hard time believing that so many good players have not got very many goals. You watch the last three games -- they worked so hard, you just know they're going to break out. You just pray it's not against you."

Forward Mike Knuble warned that the Caps can't just take the Islanders' record at face value.

"That's a trap you fall into," he said. "You look at their record and you see they haven't scored a lot of goals and it's very easy to think you're going to have another night like last night. They show up and play hard against us. They can put you on your heels very quickly.

"They'll come out buzzing -- we know that. You can talk about it and know it's going to happen, but you have to be prepared for it."

In addition to solid goaltending, scheduling and a bit of luck, Boudreau said his team's depth offensively is a major reason for the fast start.

"We've had pretty good balance, where if some guys aren't going, other guys are going,” Boudreau said. “We haven't had a game as yet where we've had 15 guys just not going. That's been a positive thing."

For the Islanders to snap their slide, they'll have to beat a goaltender who has given them fits throughout his career. Tomas Vokoun is 7-1-0 in his first season with the Caps -- and 14-5-1 with a 1.96 goals-against average and four shutouts in his career against the Isles.

Here is the projected lineup for the Capitals:

Alex Ovechkin – Nicklas Backstrom – Alexander Semin
Troy Brouwer – Marcus Johansson – Cody Eakin/Mathieu Perreault
Jason Chimera – Brooks Laich – Joel Ward
Matt Hendricks – Jeff Halpern – Mike Knuble

Roman Hamrlik – John Carlson
Jeff Schultz – Karl Alzner
John Erskine – Dennis Wideman

Tomas Vokoun
Michal Neuvirth

UNIONDALE, N.Y. -- Rick DiPietro will get his third straight start when the New York Islanders play host to the Washington Capitals tonight, but the cast in front of him has been rearranged. With his team mired in a six-game losing streak and stuck in an offensive slump, coach Jack Capuano has completely revamped his lines.

John Tavares, who has seven of the Isles' 18 goals, will center the top line with Matt Moulson on the right side and Michael Grabner moving up and playing on the left. Frans Nielsen, Grabner's usual center, will have PA Parenteau, Tavares' regular right wing, and Brian Rolston, who moves up from the third line, on the left.

Marty Reasoner moves from the fourth line to the third and will center Blake Comeau and Kyle Okposo -- who usually plays with Nielsen and Grabner. Josh Bailey, who hasn't had a point in 11 games this season, will center a fourth line with Jay Pandolfo and Matt Martin.

"Obviously we haven't been scoring many goals," Capuano said. "We've got to do something."

Capuano did not tell his players about the changes until this morning; Friday's practice was run using the pairings that the Isles had maintained through their first 11 games.

"It doesn't matter who you play with," he said. "You have to do the little things."

DiPietro will make his third straight start, with Al Montoya dressing as his backup. Evgeni Nabokov continues to recover from a lower-body injury; Capuano said he's close to being at full strength and will skate Sunday.

The Capitals, who come to Nassau Coliseum with a 9-2-0 record after winning 5-1 at Carolina on Saturday, probably wouldn't be Capuano's choice of opponent as his team goes for its first win in three weeks. The Caps won their first seven games, lost at Edmonton and Vancouver, then bounced back by beating Anaheim and Carolina this week. They are also 11-0-3 in their last 14 games against the Isles.

"They have some guys who are obviously very skilled. Time and space are something that we have to take away as much as we can," Capuano said when asked about slowing down an attack that includes Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom. "We can't let their fourth man beat us up the ice. We have to be very disciplined in our own end."
 
Here is the projected lineup for the Islanders:
 
Michael Grabner – John Tavares – Matt Moulson
Brian Rolston – Frans Nielsen – PA Parenteau
Blake Comeau – Marty Reasoner – Kyle Okposo
Matt Martin – Josh Bailey – Jay Pandolfo

Mark Streit – Steve Staios
Andrew MacDonald – Travis Hamonic
Mark Eaton – Milan Jurcina

Rick DiPietro
Al Montoya