Milan Jurcina

With the New York Islanders heading into another off-season without a playoff berth, the team will look to solidify its young core through the NHL draft, trades, and signings of free agents. (Robert Kowal/Flickr)

While the Isles might not be fortunate enough to land Nail Yakupov in this year's NHL Entry Draft, the team should focus on trying to scout the best defenseman out of this year's draft. Names like Trouba, Dumba, Rielly, Murray, and Reinhart are headlining the list of premier d-men that will be available to the Islanders come draft day in June.
Drafting a young defenseman will probably be the right choice for the Isles, but one can't simply ignore that New York has holes to fill for the 2012-2013 NHL Season. Mike Mottau, Milan Jurcina, Mark Eaton, and Steve Staios tried to do their jobs as veteran rearguards, but it was painfully obvious on certain nights that the Islanders' d-men were simply outmatched. If the Islanders want to stay in contention in a highly competitive Atlantic Division, then General Manager Garth Snow must exhaust all of his resources toward signing or acquiring a top 4 defenseman.

Blocking shots has not been kind to the Flyers this season. And unfortunately for them, James van Riemsdyk found that out the hard way.

The 22-year-old forward, who has not had the best of luck this season injury-wise, went down to block a shot, breaking his foot in the Flyers 6-3 win over the New York Islanders on Thursday.

The Flyers Twitter account tweeted a statement from general manager Paul Holmgren during the game. "van Riemsdyk has a broken bone in his left foot and will not return. He will see Dr. Raikin tomorrow for further evaluation."

On the play, van Riemsdyk went down to block a shot from Islanders defenseman Milan Jurcina, which hit him on the foot. While still on the ice, van Riemsdyk was able to coral the puck and clear it from the zone before struggling to get up and staggering to the bench and down the tunnel.

The stage was set for an emotional carry over into Saturday morning regardless of the outcome of Friday night's Islanders/Rangers game; a win for the Isles against their biggest rival and top team in the Eastern Conference would keep their playoff hopes alive, but a loss to their number one foe would have been a crushing blow to their confidence and chances.

Fortunately, the orange and blue would come on top with a 4-3 shootout victory with Matt Moulson netting the finally tally in the fourth round.

Tensions were high at the start of the game and Matt Martin decided to ease things up a bit by fighting Stu Bickel just over two minutes into the game. Both got their licks in before Martin swung and missed, falling to the ice to end the fight early. A fair draw would set the tone for how evenly the game would be played.

(Photo Credit: Robert Kowal/Flickr)

The Islanders look to rebound from a defeat at home Saturday against Buffalo as they travel to Philadelphia Tuesday night. The Islanders normally don’t have a good track record playing in Philly but with a 4-1 win in their last visit they have to be feeling confident heading into this one.

The Islanders are still holding onto some slim playoff hopes and would need a win tonight to keep them alive. Being 10 points out of a playoff spot with 30 games to play isn’t an impossible task but points need to be coming in on a consistent pace in order to have a chance. Getting a win tonight against a conference and division opponent would mean a lot.