Catching Up.....

Wow, it has been almost a month since I last posted. Ouch. I finally had the motivation to put together a big update post to get caught up.
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ISLANDERS RE-ASSIGN GALLANT

-----From islanders.nhl.com-----

"The New York Islanders announced Friday that Assistant Coach Gerard Gallant has been re-assigned as a special consultant to General Manager, Garth Snow.

"Gerard has been an essential member of our coaching staff," said Snow. "He will serve as a valuable asset within the hockey operations department."

"I am grateful to the Islanders organization for affording me the opportunity to continue my coaching career last season," said Gallant. "I am excited about the opportunity to work with Garth, which at this point in time will also allow me to spend more time with my family and even get a chance to watch my son play in junior hockey."

Gallant served as an Assistant Coach with the Islanders in the 2007-08 season. He previously served as the Columbus Blue Jackets head coach from the 2003-04 season to midway through the 2006-07 season. Gallant was an original member of the Blue Jackets franchise, serving as an assistant coach before his head coaching tenure. "

SILLINGER NOT READY FOR SEASON

-----By Greg Logan-----

"By the end of last season, the Islanders had more talent on the injury list than they did on the ice. But with the veterans scheduled to report for training camp [today], it appears 37-year-old center Mike Sillinger is the one key player who is not ready for camp and might not make it back for the season opener Oct. 10.

Sillinger, who has anchored the checking line the past two seasons while contributing offensively, had to shut it down last January. He missed the final 30 games because of a right hip injury that eventually required him to undergo microfracture surgery. Many of the Isles' injured veterans skated Thursday in an informal workout at the club's training facility in Syosset, but Sillinger has not been cleared for contact and will be on his own rehab schedule in camp in Moncton, New Brunswick.

In mid-July, Sillinger suffered what he described as "a little setback" because his hip joint wasn't producing the normal amount of lubrication and required an injection to speed the process. "For me to jump right back in and take two or three steps backwards, we don't want to do that," Sillinger said. "Am I going to be ready Oct. 10? Who knows? That's a question we can't answer right now."

As part of the surgery, he had two holes drilled in his hip. He has regained strength in the hip muscles, but he said the joint is tight and the muscles aren't firing properly yet. "There's pain in the joint," said Sillinger, who has been skating since June. "I have to work with it to get back the mobility ... The stuff that hurts is the side-to-side movement and the shooting and opening up."

San Jose defenseman Rob Blake came back from similar surgery last season, and Sillinger is confident he can do the same. "I want to finish the year," Sillinger said. "I want to start it as well, but I'm more concerned about finishing it. I've done a lot of rehab, and I don't want to take a chance of going backwards now."

NYI ROOKIES DEFEAT BOSTON ROOKIES

-----From islanders.nhl.com-----

"The familiarity factor was at a high Thursday afternoon during the New York Islanders and Boston Bruins' rookie game, which saw the Islanders skate to an 8-4 win at The Rinks at Shelton. Scott Gordon, the former coach of the Providence Bruins, Boston's AHL affiliate, took his place for the first time behind the Islanders' bench as head coach. But by the end of the game, all eyes were on a former Bruins' prospect that played last season with the Sound Tigers, Sean Bentivoglio, after he tallied three second-period goals.

"This summer I really worked on my shot after hearing upper management tell me I needed to shoot more instead of my usual first instinct of passing," Bentivoglio said. "I was paired on a line with (Rob) Hennigar today and he fed me a bunch of nice passes in my wheel-house which made it easy to shoot."

Boston broke the scoreless tie only 1:18 into the first period when Jordan Knackstedt scored the first goal of the exhibition season on an assist from Mikko Lehtonen for the early Bruins' 1-0 lead.

Islanders' first round draft pick, Josh Bailey, would even the score at 1-1, just over 10 minutes later. Mark Katic took a shot from the right point, which was stopped by Bruins' starting goalie Kevin Regan, but the rebound popped into the slot where Bailey—the Islanders first pick in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft—snapped the puck past Regan's blocker.

Before the period would come to a close, Boston regained the lead when Levi Nelson shoveled a loose puck through the legs of Islanders' starting goaltender Peter Mannino for the 2-1 lead entering the second period. Brad Marchand collected the lone assist on the tally.

Tomas Marcinko tied the score at 2-2 nearly seven minutes into the middle frame. Max Gratchev threw a centering passing on net that deflected in traffic and came to Marcinko in front where he one-timed the puck past Regan's out-stretched pad. At about the halfway mark of the second, Bentivoglio scored his first marker of the game to take the Islanders' first lead of the game at 3-2. Hennigar hesitated in the right corner, waiting for Bentivoglio to get to the far post, and snapped a pass to him for the tap-in goal, his first of the pre-season, coming on the man-advantage. The Bruins would tie the score at three when Blake Wheeler scored his only tally of the game on an assist from Arthur Fritch.

The two teams swapped goals minutes later but Bentivoglio would complete his hat-trick with two goals before the period would end. His third goal came with only 37 seconds remaining in the period while the Islanders were short-handed when he emphatically one-timed the puck past net-minder Michael Hutchinson, who replaced Regan mid-way through the stanza.

"For him (Bentivoglio) to be effective, he has to use his skating ability," Gordon said. "He's had a history of not shooting the puck but tonight he did and got some great chances. He shot the puck and didn't worry about setting up the perfect play."

In the third, the Bruins were shutout by goaltender Kevin Poulin after he also entered the game during the second period. Max Gratchev and Justin DiBenedetto would close out the scoring for the Islanders with two goals within the last 30 seconds of the contest.

Both Islanders goalies surrendered two goals while Mannino had 18 saves to go along with Poulin's 16. For the Bruins, Regan had 15 saves, giving up two tallies and Hutchinson turned aside 13 while giving up five goals. The Islanders were 1-for-5 on the power-play and were a perfect 8-for-8 on the penalty-kill. "

Stats:

Bentivogolio- 3g 0a 3pts
Marcinko- 1g 2a 3pts
Bailey- 1g 1a 2pts
Smith- 1g 1a 2pts
Gratchev- 1g 1a 2pts
DiBenedetto- 1g 1a 2pts
Henniger- 0g 2a 2pts
Nikiforov- 0g 1a 1pt
Katic- 0g 1a 1pt

BRANDON SUGDEN INVITED TO CAMP

Enforcer Brandon Sugden has come out of retirement to attend the Isles' training camp. Keep a close eye on him to see if he makes the team.

TRAINING CAMP STARTS TODAY!

It's what we've all been waiting for since the start of the summer. The beginning of training camp! The players arrived in Moncton last night, and started practicing this morning. Here at Islander Zone, there will be day-by-day coverage of training camp, leading up to the season opener on October 10th. Plus, Game Previews and Reviews for all pre-Season games, starting with the first game on Tuesday against the Bruins.

There will be a new game review feature this year; Video Highlights! You may see them in the pre-season games, you may not, but it's something that will certainly be added to all the reviews this season.