Islanders Links: Shutting Out Rangers, Prideful Bunch, Trading Price?

The New York Islanders, after winning the first leg of their back-to-back on Thursday, defeated the New York Rangers 3-0 on Friday. New York Islanders forward Mathew Barzal spoke about pride after Thursday’s win and how important winning is as the season comes to a close.

These stories and more in today’s daily links!

The New York Islanders, in the second of the back-to-back, shut out the New York Rangers 3-0. The Islanders are now 30-27-9 on the season and now have tied Columbus in the standings. (NYI Hockey Now)

This week, the New York Islanders played two games against the Columbus Blue Jackets and recorded two wins, four points to leapfrog them in the standings. But at this point in the season, it was a jump that did not mean much regarding playoff chances as the Islanders still sit 15 points behind the Washington Capitals for the second wild-card spot in the East. (NYI Hockey Now)

The Washington Capitals were hard at work for a Friday skate at MedStar Capitals Iceplex and saw quite a bit of change and optimism to open the month of April. After a maintenance day on Thursday following two days off for the team, Alex Ovechkin returned for practice and was a full go. He is doing fine after not skating since Monday, and nothing appeared to be bothering the 36-year-old. (Washington Hockey Now)

From the Philadelphia Flyers’ perspective, sturdy right-winger Owen Tippett was the centerpiece in the deal that sent franchise icon Claude Giroux to Florida on March 19. In six games with the Flyers, the 6-foot-1, 207-pound Tippett has played much better than his stat line: no goals, one assist, and a minus-2 rating. (Philly Hockey Now)

Sergei Bobrovsky had a tough month of March as he missed two weeks of starts for the Florida Panthers after being struck in the mouth by an errant puck while sitting on the bench in Los Angeles. When he was on the ice, however, it was a pretty good month for the Florida goalie. (Florida Hockey Now)

Is trading Carey Price realistic, should he return to play this season and puts up good numbers? NHL Insider Elliotte Friedman dropped a bit of a bomb on his 32 Thoughts podcast when he speculated on what’s next for the Montreal Canadiens; focusing directly on the fate of Price with an upcoming roster transformation. (Montreal Hockey Now)

The Vegas Golden Knights (38-28-4, 80 points) defeated the Seattle Kraken (21-41-6, 48 points) Friday night 5-2 to close out the season series between the NHL’s two newest teams. Logan Thompson made 21 of 23 saves for his fourth-straight win and Jack Eichel scored two goals. Despite being present during the morning skate and taking warmups, Keegan Kolesar did not play Friday night. He took an awkward hit Wednesday from Riley Sheahan and left that game. The Golden Knights once again went with seven defensemen and eleven forwards. (Vegas Hockey Now)

With a home-and-home two-game set against the Penguins coming up Saturday in Denver and Tuesday at Pittsburgh, the Avalanche practiced Friday at Family Sports Center — without Nazem Kadri and J.T. Comper taking part. Kadri took an unpenalized hit midway through the third period against San Jose Thursday night and obviously was in pain, but he shortly after returned to the ice and assisted on the Avs’ final two goals in the 4-2 win. (Colorado Hockey Now)

The San Jose Sharks have figured out a hopefully big piece of their blueline next year. This afternoon, they announced the return of Nikolai Knyzhov, who was set to become a restricted free agent at the end of this year. Puckpedia had the terms: (San Jose Hockey Now)

So the man has been going through a goal-scoring slump and therefore he gets asked a lot of questions. Concerns have arisen apparently over the future of Vancouver Canucks forward Conor Garland. They shouldn’t. Let’s break it down. (Vancouver Hockey Now)

After their first consecutive losses in more than two months, the Calgary Flames were a little testy at practice. Their intensity seems to be ramping up following a shootout loss to the Los Angeles Kings Thursday night. They also dropped Tuesday’s contest to the Colorado Avalanche. It was the first time they had lost two in a row since Jan. 13, when they’d lost four straight. (Calgary Hockey Now)

It happened again. Anaheim Ducks forward Trevor Zegras went for and executed “The Michigan” for the second time in his NHL career. After trying to go in-between his legs, the shot was stopped and in one motion he scooped the puck up behind the net and with zero hesitation buried it into the net. But what was more impressive is that he had teammate Sonny Milano was in his way. (NHL)