Thursday March 8

I think Thursday night was a lesson for players around the league. 9 games were played but no moment was more scary than Chris Simon's whack at Ryan Hollweg. The moral: Don't board Chris Simon and expect to walk away with your face in one piece. Seemingly Simon's actions will be met with disciplinary measures, and yes, his clothesline of Hollweg helped the Isles drop one of the most important games of the season, but don't mess with him. In other action Former Islanders accounted for 1 goal, 7 assists and 8 points on the night. Here is the news:

• I am starting to wonder if Alexei Zhitnik reads FIW because his name keeps coming up an awful lot. Zhitnik tallied 2 assists Thursday to improve his season best streak to 6 points in his first 5 games with Atlanta. Atlanta won 6-2 at home over Montreal and are now on fire after suffering a potentially season damaging cold streak before the trade deadline. He, more than any other player traded around the deadline, seems to be the biggest pickup in the league.
• Mike York tallied an assist on Philadelphia's only goal of the night in their 2-1 home loss to Florida. This was his 20th point of the year but only his 7th in 26 games since being traded to the Flyers.
• Eric Brewer keeps his play high on Thursday with the opening goal and an assist in St. Louis' 5-3 home win over Dallas. With 6 points in his last 5 games Brewer has hit his stride. At his current pace he would tie his career best season with 29 points.
• Vancouver is the hotbed for Former Islanders. No team currently has more FIs playing on a regular basis than the Canucks and for them it seems to work. Last night they beat the Coyotes 4-2 in Phoenix. Their two newest FIs, Brent Sopel and Bryan Smolinski, are at it again. Sopel had an assist on the second goal of the game, Smoke had one on the game winner and Trevor Linden added an assist on Vancouver's final goal of the night. The assist for Sopel was his 2nd in 5 games since being trade from LA to the Pacific Northwest at the deadline. The assist also helped him notch his 5th straight 25+ point season. Smolinski now has 4 points in 5 games with the Canucks. Linden improves to 9 goals and 9 assists on the year and is looking for his first 20 point season since before the lockout.

It is a kind of slow night on Friday for Hockeyland. 6 games are on tap but as always there is plenty of FI action to watch out for. Until tomorrow keep your eyes aware and as always, don't mess with Chris Simon.