MORNING SKATE: Isles at Caps

Here are some notes from the morning skate…

- Probable goaltending match-up is Rick DiPietro versus Olie Kolzig.

- It looks like former Islander Tom Poti will be back in the lineup for the Capitals after missing the last two games.

- Newest Islanders defenseman Drew Fata will be in his usual No. 49 sweater tonight. He is the tenth defensemen the team has used this season, but it’s the first time the Islanders had to call a blueliner up from Bridgeport after carrying eight or nine defensemen on the active roster for the entire season.

- Without Brendan Witt in the lineup to try to shutdown Caps’ ace Alex Ovechkin, the task will fall on Radek Martinek and the Jo Vasicek shutdown line. Of course, Ted Nolan pointed out to the media this morning that Rick DiPietro is the team’s ultimate stopper.

- Visiting teams in the nation’s capital have been using Rainbow Busses and a particular bus driver named Joe for a long time. How long? Butch Goring remembers having Joe as a driver all the way back in the 1970s.

MORNING SKATE: Pens at Isles

The Islanders faceoff against Atlantic Division rival Pittsburgh tonight at the Coliseum. The last time the Pens were in town the Islanders won 3-2 on Al Arbour night.

Here are some notes from the morning skate…

- The entire team skated this morning after receiving a day off yesterday.

- The probable match-up in goal tonight is Rick DiPietro for the Islanders and Dany Sabourin for the Penguins. Sabourin was once a highly thought of prospect a few years ago and according to Penguins beat writer Dave Molinari of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, he outplayed Roberto Luongo in Vancouver a few games ago.

- At the end of practice, Marc-Andre Bergeron was showing off his strong slap shot to the fans in attendance for the second-half tickets open house event. After the cracking a first pane of glass behind the net by accident, Bergeron had some fun with the fans and broke three more. His teammates broke two more to send the Coliseum staff scrambling to replace them.

- I don’t know if Josef Vasicek is an environmentalist or not, but trees be warned. JoVa got in a shipment of sticks this morning. That’s nearly 50 wooden sticks. Jo is the only Islander currently using wood sticks.

- Penguins' defenseman Sergei Gonchar is rumored to be out tonight and the Pens will make a roster move to get an extra skater up for the game. Forward Erik Christensen is also out for them.

NEWS: Berard to Wear #4

The Bryan Berard comeback story makes him #1 in our hearts and #4 on our line-up cards.

Wade Dubielewicz will keep his #34 and Berard will wear #4 in training camp. In case you forgot or didn't look at the old picture below, Berard wore #34 in his first stint with the Islanders.

In case you're wondering, Andy Sutton will wear #25, Josef Vasicek will wear #63 and Sean Bergenheim will wear #20.

#21 is still available as of today, so Mariusz Czerkawski... If you're around... Just kidding, folks.