Injuries happen all the time in sports, sometimes they can be attributed to conditioning, others times the playing surface conditions (football is turf, for hockey ice naturally) and still other injuries are just bad luck, accidental or the result of deliberate acts.

For the New York Islanders injury “situation”, I would venture to say that it is the result of bad luck. I know that one of my fellow blogger brethren B.D. Gallof blames it on ice conditions – but I disagree. The ice is bad league wide (as it is early in the season every year), I don’t really beleive that the injuries we have seen this season can be attributed to ice quality and here is why; maybe two out of all the current and recent injuries can POSSIBLY be blamed on the ice. Let’s break down player injuries CSI style -up to this point:

• Rick DiPietro: Knee surgery following off season knee and hip surgery (and returning too soon).
• Mike Sillinger: Just returning from hip surgery).
• Mike Comrie: Out after returning too soon from hip surgery.
• Andy Sutton: Missed time due to a hand injury requiring surgery.
• Josh Bailey: Missed time due to a “lower body injury”. It was speculated groin – but could have been anything below the waist.
• Kyle Okposo: Out with an arm injury – wrist sprain.
• Nate Thompson: Day to day “banged up”, the latest is “leg-ish”.
• Radek Martinek: “Glass Man” missed time with a shoulder injury, returned only to go down again.
• Bruno Gervais: Out with a leg injury.
• Chris Campoli: Missed the start if the season due to a separated shoulder.
• Freddy Meyer: Missed time with a sports hernia that required surgery.
• Brendan Witt: Missed time due to a knee injury.
• Frans Nielsen: Out with multiple leg injuries.

Now, let’s discuss these injuries in detail.

Brendan Witt suffered his knee injury the result of a knee-on-knee collision October 23rd against the Dallas Stars. Hard to attribute that to ice conditions, no? Not really sure it was a dirty deliberate attack though, we will chalk it up to a normal hockey injury.

Kyle Okposo injured his wrist. Now this could be blamed on the ice if he fell on it – but I clearly remember the play in which Okie was injured. He collided with a player during the Islanders 2-1 win over the Canucks and grimmaced in pain. This is another injury that “just happens” and has even happened to myself. It’s unfortunate, but I say it’s bad luck – “Thems the breaks!”.

Andy Sutton injured his hand during a preseason game September 25th against Philadelphia. This injury could have happened in a scuffle or blocking a shot. This isn’t something that happens often and injuries to the phalanges don’t really happen because of bad ice. Sorry, to say – this is another bad luck injury.

Josh Bailey injured his “lower body” during the preseason. We don’t really know specifics, but we have speculated it was his groin based on what we knew from news reports. This is a possible candidate for ice conditions, but without more information it could also be the result of a young player not prepared for the rigors of the NHL. To me, this is the something more related to conditioning.

Freddy Meyer has “Sean Bates” style bad “groins”. This is an injury that could have started at any point in his career and gotten worse over time. Meyer could also just have a different physical makeup that leaves his susceptible to this type of injury. Could it be aggravated by bad ice – yes, but this is something that could be hurt anywhere anytime.

Chris Campoli is another player felled to injury during the preseason. His shoulder was separated by a massive hit that some found questionable during a preseason game against the Bruins on September 23rd. It is another one of those situations that always seems to happen to the Islanders.

Frans Nielsen was injured in a game against New Jersey that was the result of a high hit by Mike Mottau. As Nielsen went down his skate caught a rut in the ice and rotated awkwardly. Mottau was suspended because of the play, but the injury would not have happened if he was not hit. Sure, the ice was the main culprit – but it was a perfect storm. No hit and you don’t see that leg injury.

Nate Thompson has been a solid pick up since the Islanders claimed him off waivers from the Bruins. Nate has been banged up as of late, it’s hard not to understand why – he can fight, skate, and play the body. He also spends a ton of time on the penalty kill and blocks shots all over the place. Thompson missed some time with a lower body injury and now it appears he has some sort of leg injury. With his style of play, it is hard to blame whatever his ailments are on anything other than that.

Mike Sillinger hurt his hip sometime during the 2007/2008 season and it required season ending surgery the tail end of 2008. Sillinger rehabilitated his hip and worked on it all summer long, although unfortunately he had a tough time with the recovery and needed injections to help the process. Sillinger returns tonight against the Capitals after a conditioning stint in Bridgeport. At 36 years old, he has had a long career and it is likely that his age caught up with him. Because this injury goes back to last season – there is not enough evidence to really blame this on any other specific cause.

Bruno Gervais has been one of those up and down players. It seems no matter how many times his game begins to turn around, he suffers a setback and it takes him a while to get back in the groove. Somewhere along the last week, Gervais suffered what is described as a “leg injury”. Knowing Gervais has a history with ankle injuries – I would venture to say this is in that area. Not really seeing a play, this is one of those injuries that could be blamed on the ice – but without proof, could be anything.

Mike Comrie is another one of the Islanders who went down with a hip injury last season. Comrie had his surgery at the same “hip specialist” as DiPietro and Sillinger, yet he is also having issues with recovery. It is my belief that Comrie returned entirely too soon and reinjured himself in the process. This injury falls on the responsibility of the training staff, who may have been persuaded by Comrie to let him jump into action too soon.

Rick DiPietro is another player I feel rushed back into action way too soon. Undergoing hip surgery towards the end of last season and then knee surgery during the offseason – coming back into action cold without much time for rehabilitation was just plain stupid. Once again, DiPietro likely talked his way back into action instead of doing the right thing and taking as much time as he needed. When you are the “franchise player” who is also signed to a mega deal, you really need to think about your health and well being a bit more. Unfortunately for us Islanders fans – DiPietro is forever known now as being “injury prone”. As if the people mocking the ridiculous contract needed any more reason to mock the team.

So what is the root cause of all of these injuries? BAD LUCK, very very bad luck specifically. Injuries happen all the time in sports, like I mentioned earlier – even moving into tonight’s match up against the Washington Capitals – they are without several players. I don’t think the blame can be placed on any one specific area after looking at the injuries in depth. Could it be the strength and conditioning coach Chris Schwarz, or head trainer Garret Timms? Surely both of these guys have a large stake and responsibility in the health of their players – why do these things (especially hip injuries…) keep happening?

The answers are out there, it’s up to the Islanders to find out what is causing the amount of injuries the last two seasons. I am not gullible enough to chalk it up to coincidence at this point.

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Every now and then one or two (or in the Islanders case SEVEN) of your players will go down to injury. Luckily, the Islanders are fortunate enough to have their minor league affiliate an hours drive away. With rookie Kyle Okposo down and out with an arm/hand injury for about a week – enforcer Mitch Fritz has been recalled from the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. With one call up, two call ups comes one activation from the injured reserve, (defenseman Brendan Witt will make his return Friday against the Devils) a conditioning stint (center Mike Sillinger has been cleared to play and has agreed to a three game conditioning stint with Bridgeport) and one goaltender exchange (Yann Danis was returned to Bridgeport for backup of the backup to the backup – Peter Mannino).

A quick listen to the fans around Islanders Nation will tell you they think Fritz is the wrong choice. A player who certainly needs another look is 07/08 standout Blake Comeau, who is playing very well down in B’port (2 goals 9 assists in 13 games). If the schedule were any different the next few days I would completely agree – but obviously I do not.

The Islanders will face several tough opponents in the next three games – New Jersey, Buffalo and Montreal. The key to having Fritz up now is clear, at least to me – New Jersey is still hurting with Brodeur injured and having scoring trouble to boot. Going into a game against them right now is going to be tough without a physical element. Sure, we have players such as Sim, Jackman and Witt (said to be playing limited minutes) – but it’s always great to have a guy you can send out to win key battles. If the past is any indication of the tone the games will have – look no further than the 7-1 pummeling the Sabres handed to the Islanders earlier this year, or the tough physical game the Devils brought to them a few weeks ago. The Islanders will look to exact revenge, no doubt – but they need to continue their stretch of solid hockey. The team has greatly improved their all around game since the first time the team faced these opponents – it is a big weekend for them in a number of ways.

To me the smartest of all these moves is sending Danis down to Bridgeport. Sometimes maybe it takes a former goaltender as the head coach to fully understand what it’s like to go too many games without being tested – much as we saw for long stretches the previous two seasons under Nolan. Gordon is taking a proactive approach to handling this precarious goaltending situation while DiPietro is out – he recognized that one of his backups has been sitting idle too long and wants him fresh – thus the swap. Mannino has been tearing it up down in Bridgeport (6-1-2 record, 2.46 GAA .912 save%) – so it is rewarding for him to get the nod to backup MacDonald.

This is certainly the closest the Islanders have been to being completely healthy in almost a full season – hopefully now that we got through the injury bug early, the team can focus on sticking to their game plan and creeping closer to .500.

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I figured, since the Islanders do not want to disclose any injuries – it would be fitting to get an “Undisclosed Injury Report” out there.

If you haven’t already heard, the Islanders would not confirm last night that DiPietro suffered any specific injury during the first period against Carolina. Lies, deceit, fibs – whatever you want to call it, the only bits of information trickling down from upper management through head coach Scott Gordon, captain Bill Guerin and Rick DiPietro himself were clearly part of a mass conspiracy. What we were able to figure out is that there was “something” ailing DP.

Greg Logan was furious during the interviews, absolutely furious. You can see for yourself in his latest blog entry – it was almost a full five-hours after the final buzzer of the game when Logan posted in his blog. Normally, you just don’t see an opinion as critical and harsh come from any beat writer – but as a blogger (part of the non-mainstream) it’s good Greg has a place he can go to air his concerns and frustrations. For me – you already know how I feel about this foolish injury policy the Islanders are practicing.

It just shouldn’t come down to being fed false information about injuries – especially when the Islanders are likely near the top of the list regarding man-games lost to injury, much like they were last season.

The Walking Wounded

Here is a current list of the “injured” players currently out, recovering or “scratches” for the New York Islanders.

Josh Bailey

Perhaps one of the most curious injuries – 2008 1st round draft pick Josh Bailey has been missing in action since the pre-season. Having only played in two exhibition games – the young center was supposed to play in nine NHL contests before being sent back down to juniors. A monkey wrench got thrown into the mix however, as somewhere along the line Josh was injured. It was never really disclosed what exactly was ailing him – but he was just about to be cleared to return when the “injury” was tweaked during practice. Josh has been a scratch for all of the Islanders games to this point.

Best guess, Bailey has some sort of groin, abdominal or hamstring injury.

Estimated time of return: Per news reports – 2-4 weeks

Rick DiPietro

Rick DiPietro is the bionic man, he has had two hip surgeries and one knee surgery in two seasons. We call it the 1-2-2 deal. DiPietro missed almost all of the preseason matches and only played in one exhibition game before riding the pine as back-up for Joey MacDonald. DiPietro was finally allowed to play – came in and got shellacked in his first start. He claimed he felt great and that the wait was well worth it. In every game since, DiPietro looked ok – but not anything like his pre-all star performance last season. DiPietro has let in weak goal after weak goal, and when he has been sharp the defense let him down. In the loss to Carolina on Saturday – DiPietro threw the puck up the middle – a basic fundamental mistake, which lead to a turnover and ultimately a goal against. Gordon made everyone’s head spin by bringing out Joey Macdonald in the second period – leading to speculation that DiPietro was re-injured.

The rumors and personal thoughts among the media were rampant and questions began to fly from every direction during Gordon’s press conference. Gordon laughed about the precarious situation he found himself in and claimed DiPietro was day-to-day, right in the line of fire. Bill Guerin played dumb, giving a sarcastic answer and claiming he knew nothing of an injury, then with a laugh saying “You know how it goes”. When it came to DiPietro facing the media, he said the questions were becoming a bit of a distraction and that he couldn’t talk about any specifics. It was like a soap opera, a badly written soap opera.

Chris Botta claimed this morning on his blog that Yann Dennis was recalled on an emergency basis to back up MacDonald – but then Greg Logan couldn’t get clear cut confirmation that Dennis would even dress on Monday. In the same blog entry, Logan claims that DiPietro is going to the doctor tomorrow – interesting development for one of those mild “undisclosed injuries” – eh?

Best guess: DiPietro tweaked his knee, it was red and it looked like there was some swelling. He came into the room sans ice-pack however – further deepening the mystery.

Estimated time of return: listed as day to day

Andy Sutton

Andy Sutton was all set to return from season ending hamstring surgery and played in a few exhibition games – that was until he suffered a “hand injury”. Sutton underwent hand surgery, at the time the injury was announced – his return was around 6 weeks. Sutton was just cleared to take part in full contact practices and has been practicing with the team daily.

Once Sutton returns, he will replace the size that Witt presented back there – but what about his intensity? Reports from some of the other players are that Sutton is dying to get back out the ice. His conditioning hasn’t been better and his skating ability has improved since last season. It remains to be seen being we have not seen much of him since last season – but a guy like him returning from injury when other key guys are down is certainly a plus.

Estimated time of return: within a week.

Mike Sillinger

Mike Sillinger is another player who underwent surgery during the off season. Sillinger did not take well to the surgery and needed some injections to jump start the healing process. He has been skating since the summer, but did not take part in camp from what I could gather. He has been skating and working with the Islanders coaches and could return sometime within the next month. Out of all the injuries – the Islanders have been most upfront about this one.

Estimated time of return: 2-4 weeks or about a month

Freddy Meyer

Chalk another up on the undisclosed injury list. Defenseman Freddy Meyer IV was injured at some point during Saturday’s game against Carolina. Meyer had a fair game, scoring and assisting on Bergenheim’s short handed tally – although he also had a bad give away that lead to Staal scoring effortlessly.

Defenseman Brett Skinner has been called up on an emergency basis to fill in for Meyer should the need arise. Greg Logan said that Meyer is also going to see the Doctor on Monday.

Estimated time of return: listed as day to day

Radek Martinek

AKA “Glass Man” – Radek Martinek went down in only the second game of this season. I had joked at the time he got hurt we should have started a Martinek injury pool amongst the Blog Box – but I really hate when Marty goes down with injury. Martinek is a solid d-man when healthy, it’s just a shame the poor guy can’t ever play a complete season. Hopefully now that he got an injury out of the way early – he can come back healthy and remain that way for the rest of the season.

Martinek suffered what is believed to be a separated shoulder, but the team wouldn’t say much other than “an upper body injury”. To those of us who saw the play – it did not look good and he was clearly in pain. A positive however, I saw him in the locker room on Thursday and he wasn’t in a sling that was visible to me – so maybe he isn’t as bad as speculated.

Estimated time of return: Per news reports – 4 to 6 weeks

Brendan Witt

Brendan Witt is the guy you associate with playing through pain, he is a man’s man and is THE shutdown guy for the Islanders. Witt injured one of his knees last season and seemed to be fully recovered – that was until he took a knee-on-knee collision against the Dallas Stars on Thursday night. Witt limped off the ice and appeared to be in agony and could not put much weight on the knee. He was listed as questionable for the game yesterday against Carolina and the same for the game against the Rangers tomorrow.

If Witt loses any length of time it will be detrimental to the Islanders defense – especially with Martinek already injured and now a potential injury to Meyer. The Islanders were also mum on this injury – claiming Witt sustained “a lower body injury”.

I happened to see Brendan walking around yesterday in the locker room – he looked to be favoring one leg over the other, so not really sure what is going on with him.

Estimated time of return: listed as day-to-day

Seven

Seven players currently down because of injuries. Here we are 7 games into the 2008/2009 NHL season and the Islanders already have enough injuries to last them an entire season. Thankfully Chris Campoli made his return, otherwise it would be eight.

When this many injuries happen, you have to start looking into why. Last season – it seemed freaky that all the injuries happened, especially to hips. This year, it cannot be chalked up to coincidence – it has to point to conditioning. Maybe that’s why the Islanders are deflecting so much away from their injured players, they are hiding something much more serious.

Simply amazing though, looking through all the “injuries” and how they are explained though – isn’t it?

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Tom Liodice over at The Tiger Track posted tonight that Bridgeport Sound Tiger enforcer Kip Brennan will be recalled now that his suspension is over. What makes this move interesting? Well, with two games slated to end the season against the rival New York Rangers – there is bound to be some enforcing needed.

Per Tom’s post:

Word out from the locker room is that Kip Brennan is going up to the big club…just in time for the Rangers series. Oh boy…

It appears as if the Islanders are relishing the role of spoiler – if anything, maybe they plan on beating the ever living snot our of the Rangers just in case they manage to hold on an make the playoffs.

Good show! Kip, Kip HOOOOORAY!!!

Photo Credit: Getty Images

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DING DING DING

No, that’s not the ending bell for the Islanders season – although admittedly it is rather close with 9 games remaining and the Islanders needing nothing short of an absolute miracle to claim the 8th playoff spot. I am talking about the KO punch named none other than Kyle Okposo making his New York Islanders debut. Clever play on words there, eh? Boxing, KO – never mind.

That’s right, maybe you haven’t been paying too much attention – but news of Okposo’s callup to the big club has been abuzz all over the internet the past several days. However, looking back at the trade deadline – I let everyone in on what I was told by Garth Snow in our interview, so this wasn’t a complete surprise or anything.

Ken over at Okposo Net has been doing a great job keeping everyone abreast on the latest KO developments down the stretch – he has even made a banner featuring the “retired” sweater of KO (one could only hope) and he even heard from Kyle himself on his reaction to the image.

With so many bodies bruised and banged up, it’s not really surprising that the Islanders would bring Kyle up to see what he can do in the NHL. The team has been struggling mightily as of late and a little bit of excitement for the team and the fans couldn’t hurt anything. Says Garth Snow on Kyle’s Islanders debut:

“It’s the right time to give Kyle the chance to show what he can do at the NHL level,” said Islanders general manager Garth Snow. “From the beginning we said that when it came to Kyle we would do what was best long-term for both him and our franchise. He has played well in Bridgeport and deserves a look. Our organization is very excited to see Kyle in an Islanders unifom, and I’m sure so are our fans.

And Kyle’s Reaction:

“My focus had been on playing well in the AHL and helping the Sound Tigers, so I didn’t know when the call would come,” said Okposo. “But now that it has, the excitement is off the charts. I just want to have a good practice on Monday and then I’ll start thinking about playing a big game against the Maple Leafs in front of our fans on Tuesday. It’s up to me to make the most of the opportunity.”

For those wondering WHY it took this long to bring Kyle up to the big club – if he were to play any more than nine games with the Islanders this season, the first year of his contract would count towards the season – bringing him that much closer to restricted free agency. This; obviously being something the Islanders want to avoid – so it’s a no-brainer on waiting it out.

Today, Kyle practiced with the team at Iceworks and there is extensive coverage on the Islanders Website and iTV so check that out. We are told that he practiced on a line with Richard Park and Blake Comeau and fit in very well, impressing the coaching staff as the morning progressed. Here are some quotes from the day:

Kyle on what it felt like to take part in an NHL practice:

“It feels pretty good being out there in my first NHL practice,” said Okposo, following today’s practice. “Knowing a few guys (from Bridgeport) I felt a little more comfortable today. The guys have been awesome and have taken me under their wing. The guys have been great.

Ted Nolan on Kyle’s play and why he will start with the linemates he practiced with:

“He’s an exceptional player that we’re looking forward to see play at the NHL level,” said head coach Ted Nolan. “There are certain players who have that instinct. He doesn’t just skate and shoot the puck well, he also has that great hockey sense. Kyle has all of the ingredients good players have. We wanted to start him on a line with one of our most reliable guys in Richard Park. And considering Blake Comeau has good hockey sense, the three of them should form a pretty good line out there.”

Kyle on the hype surrounding his debut:

“Anytime you play your first game at any level, especially the NHL it’s an exciting time,” said Okposo. I just want to go out there, play my game and help my team win. I look at this as a challenge and try to ignore all the hype. I’m just going to do the best I can to help the team win. I don’t have any tricks up my sleeve.”

Has anyone else been really impressed in the manner that Okposo handles himself with the media? To me he doesn’t sound like a 19 (soon to be 20) year old making his NHL debut, but more of a seasoned veteran! There is a lot of opinion going on out there on the potential negative effects of coming up to the team at this stage of the season, but I don’t feel it will “ruin” Okposo as a player. I don’t really feel this is entirely a gimmick either, or a ploy by the Islanders to salvage whatever ticket revenue they can out of what’s left of the season. I am really excited to see KO make his debut and see what he can bring to the team, at a time they need a spark more than anything. I also don’t expect Kyle to come in and be the savior of the Islanders, light up the lamp at a torrid pace or be the second coming of Crosby – I just want to see him get his feet wet in the NHL and use the experience as a stepping stone and building block towards a long prosperous career on Long Island.

I am going to do my best to sneak out of work a bit early tomorrow so I can get down to the glass and take some pictures of Kyle out there with the rest of the team. I know I haven’t posted pictures from the past several (15ish?) games – but I promise everything will be updated in the very, very near future!

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What, is that smell?

Clearly, it is the smell of scorched jockstraps – after what was a very devastating loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning last night 8-4. Ted Nolan had what could only be described as “a night”, last night. I say it like that because despite his normal demeanor in the post game press conference, his answering was completely un-Ted like. I’m lucky – I really am, as I get to see the players and coaches after every game. I hear and see them first hand when the cameras are and are not rolling, so this was really the first time anyone outside of the room(s) (Room Six as we have come to know it, and the locker room) has seen or heard what what pure frustration sounds like. I want to emphasize, that the showing of frustration is a positive thing – not a negative as many of the message board posters have been saying. Wouldn’t you be more concerned with a player or coach who shows no emotion after a bad loss? I know I would.

Notes and Quotes

Just in case you all haven’t read the latest from last night’s loss, I have gathered some of the juiciest quotes in one location for you all to enjoy.

Nolan on DiPietro:

“The only thing you can do is keep going through it over and over again. You can’t do that. You’ve got to let our defense handle it a little bit more. He just wants to play it. What can you do?”

Greg Logan asking DiPietro of Nolan’s comments and if he had a response:

“No. Whatever.”

Guerin on DiPietro (Per Greg Logan’s latest blog entry):

“Ricky is a competitor,” Islanders captain Bill Guerin said. “He just tries to do whatever he can to make the team better. Nobody can really tell him…I mean, what are you going to do? He’s one of the best puckhandlers in the league for goaltenders. You don’t want to take his competitiveness away from him. You’ve got to be patient.

Nolan on the injuries and callups:

“I don’t know if we’re the New York Islanders or the Bridgeport Sound Tigers right now. There’s so many guys out, so many new guys.”

If you look at all these quotes, it is easy to see why so many people could twist and turn words into making stories where there are none. The team, as a whole – is completely frustrated and has no idea how to get past the endless injuries suffered this season. From the opening night roster, I would say about half are currently playing – which includes 4 original defensemen. I know, I know – injuries aren’t to blame for this teams woes, but it has a very big part to do with their situation.

Onto the game from last night – DiPietro, had he stayed in net would have faired a lot better. When the score was 3-2 in favor of Tampa, the score should have really read 2-1 Islanders as two of Tampa’s goals came when DiPietro was barely in his crease. This knocked him off of his game and the Lightning began to attack. Shot, after shot, after shot appeared to give DiPietro trouble and what resulted was an 8-4 loss. The Islanders power play scored a rare goal, I think they are now 1 for their last 97 chances. Their power play continues to struggle, giving up the first two goals surrendered on either a man advantage and a two man advantage. They were out hustled, out hit, out just about everythinged.

So, what little bit of hope the team had to make the playoffs has faded into the slightest glimmer, ever. It is after this realization that the team moves into Sunrise, Florida tonight to take on a team that shut them out despite a 53 shot barrage on their netminder. Should prove to be an interesting game, considering the team will now be without Fedotenko (knee), Hilbert (ankle) and Witt (knee).

And now, your New York Bridgelanders!

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Well for everyone who wanted to see some of the kids get more icetime, this is definately your chance.

With Fedotenko and Hilbert being felled to injury last night, the Islanders had no choice but to bring in even MORE help from Bridgeport in the form of Steve Reiger, Tim Jackman and Matthew Spiller. This is in addition to: Tambellini, Colliton, Comeau, and Walter. One can only assume that Kyle Okposo will get his proverbial “cup of coffee” here in the next few games with this insane lack of scoring and rash of injuries.

Another intersting day in Islanders Country – I think this “Were all Islanders” motto has been taken a little too far.

Update!

Just some updates per Greg Logan’s latest blog entry!

Seems as if Spiller will be replacing Witt who has decided he can no longer work with his bum knee. I think this is a good choice as it appears the Islanders hopes of reaching the playoffs has faded. I would prefer Witt concentrates on getting healthy for next year.

Vasicek will be returning from the flu for tonight’s game, so Jeremy Colliton was sent back to Bridgeport. Reiger and Jackman will indeed fill in for Hilbert and Fedotenko.

Maybe Nolan really is coaching the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. Three reinforcements arrived from the Islanders’ AHL affiliate to fill out the lineup tonight. Defenseman Matthew Spiller has the biggest shoes to fill. He’s in for Brendan Witt, who no longer can play effectively on his sprained knee. Forwards Steve Regier and Tim Jackman also will play in place of injured Ruslan Fedotenko and Andy Hilbert. Josef Vasicek, who missed the Tampa Bay game because of the flu, returns to the lineup, replacing Jeremy Colliton, who was returned to Bridgeport. Jackman and Spiller should add a physical element that has been missing since Chris Simon was traded. Certainly, Spiller’s callup might be a reaction to the way defenseman Rob Davison was handled last night in his second fight as an Islander.

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