The Fifth Liners

After looking like they had finally reached a break through, last season was nothing short of a disaster for the New York Islanders franchise. Mid season it looked as if GM Garth Snow had lost his mind after surprisingly trading star winger Matt Moulson to Buffalo in exchange for Thomas Vanek . Soon after Vanek became disgruntled and was then traded to Montreal! After limping across the finish line in 8th place in the Metropolitan Division, Islanders fans had only a move to the Barclays Centre to look forward to! But in the off season, a couple of moves have seen this team being pushed back into spotlight. Problem last season was that the Islanders were not a rounded team and aside from the star power of captain John Tavares and Kyle Okposo , the lower lines were not stocked with quality. In this off season alone they have in an amazing move acquired Boston D-Man Johnny Boychuk and Chicago Centre Nick Leddy who will aid both their scoring ability and will assist in adding qualit...

The Vancouver Canucks won a closely fought battle against the Washington Capitals last night win a 3-2 win at the Rogers Arena to make it four wins straight under John Tortorella! The home side were given a lucky break after Alex Ovechkin was given a penalty shot for the Capitals after less an a minute played, but Roberto Luongo was on hand to save it and save Vancouver from going behind! Zack Kassian then put the home side in front after 11.31 played but the Canucks were quickly pegged back when Jason Chimera made things a tie game after 14.36. In the second period there were no more goals, but both Luongo and Capitals goalie, Michal Neuvrith were kept busy making several excellent stops- Ovechkins bad luck in front of goal in this game continued when he hit a post! After only 1.52 of the third period played, Mikhail Grabovski scored to edge Washington in front, but Vancouver had no desire to the fans going home disappointed and Ryan Kesler hit home a rebound to make things a ...

Mikhail Grabovski' s future has finally been decided after his release from the Toronto Maple Leafs in July as today he has signed a year one year deal with the Washington Capitals worth $3 Million. The Belarusian centre will most likely fill the gap left by Mike Ribeiro (who joined Phoenix recently) on the teams second line and could provide some important numbers to the Caps offense. For the last three seasons, Grabovski has scored at least 20 gals for Toronto, including a career high 29 goals and 58 points in 2010/11 and so far has racked up a career total of 94 goals and 217 points. Also his puck possession stats have proven key in seasons gone by and were partly responsible for the Maple Leafs first playoff appearence in nine years last season!  With Grabovski on board, the Caps already impressive attacking force could have another shot in the arm!