Who Are These Isles?

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The Blues resume a six-game road trip tonight in Uniondale, New York against the Islanders. The Note has won two-of-the-first-three games on the trek following wins in Phoenix and Dallas before a loss in Colorado on Saturday night. Davis Payne's team hasn't played since in an unusual quirk in the schedule.

The Blues are currently six points behind Calgary for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference. Saturday's loss snapped a five-game win streak for St. Louis.

The Islanders, meanwhile, have dropped three-in-a-row following back-to-back one-goal losses. Most recently New York fell, 3-2, at Philadelphia on Tuesday night. New York trails Boston (whom they've also lost a one-goal game to this month) by 10 points for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

Last year the Isles finished with the league's worst record, won the draft lottery and selected forward John Tavarez first overall. Tavarez is third in team scoring and second in the NHL's rookie scoring race behind center Matt Duchesne of the Avalanche. Tavarez netted his 18th goal in his team's most recent outing.

Scott Gordon is in his second year as head coach of the Islanders after receiving Coach of the Year honors in the American Hockey League in 2008. That season he led the Providence Bruins to the AHL's top regular season record. Since his hiring, several other teams, including the Blues, have found various degrees of success importing AHL head coaches to serve as NHL bench bosses.

Dan Bylsma won a Stanley Cup with Pittsburgh last season. Colorodo and Ottawa are in playoff positions with Joe Sacco and Cory Clouston, respectively. Davis Payne is receiving high marks from the Blues brass, most notably President John Davidson in comments made on this afternoon's edition of "The Bernie Miklasz Show".

Two former Blues, netminder Dwayne Roloson and forward Doug Weight, are both elder statesman with the Isles. Weight has been credited with mentoring Tavarez in the current campaign. Roloson was rumored to be heading out via trade before the March 3rd deadline but was never dealt. He's in a mix with Martin Biron and another former first-overall pick Rick DiPietro.

The Isles don't overly impress on the blueline but do boast Olympian and Swiss native Mark Streit as their top offensive d-man. Streit has nine goals and 26 assists in 66 games while owning a minus-three rating.

Other notable forwards in the Islander lineup include a pair of additional first round picks. Kyle Okposo was New York's top choice, seventh overall, in 2006. Okposo leads the team in scoring with 14 goals and 28 assists in 65 games. Center Josh Bailey, the ninth player picked in the 2008 draft, is fifth in team scoring with 14 goals and 16 assists in 59 games this season. He's also a plus-seven.

These Isles have parts to build on for the long haul and may be pretty good in a couple years, if not sooner. How many of us saw youthful Los Angeles making the playoffs this season? New York should be a hungry, tough test for the Blues tonight.

TPC