Fri, 12:40 pm: Kevin Poulin will be in net facing Khabibulin tonight in Chicago. Cal Clutterbuck will probably make his appearance, and Matt Moulson will be a game time decision as he flies into Chicago today after the birth of his son.


Matt Donovan has been a bit of an oddity since he was drafted in 2008. Yes, 2008. The same year as Josh Bailey and Travis Hamonic. To be fair, it’s also the same year as Jyri Niemi and Jared Spurgeon. But good defensemen take time to develop. Not all of them will turn out to be a Drew Doughty. (They also make for good reading with your morning coffee if you had Newsday today.)

So while Travis Hamonic seems to have been a NY Islander for ever, after Matt Donovan left college, he began making a name for himself in Bridgeport racking up points as well as PIMs. The clean-cut kid from Oklahoma starting making a name for himself on Tuesday in the NHL.

John Tavares was asked Tuesday night in the locker room what it was like to “live vicariously” through these young guys. It was one of the first times I have ever seen John Tavares chuckle at a reporter, “Yeah, I’m getting old.” Tavares is the same age as Matt Donovan, but his NHL experience just makes him seem older.

“It’s great to see Donno and Brock chip in offensively. They played really well for us in pre-season. Honestly, it’s an exciting time for them to make the team and show themselves early in the season. It’s nice to see them contribute. So Donno has a heavy shot and it made it’s way through. It’s nice for his first one.”

Donovan didn’t know the puck slipped behind Smith until he heard the celebration. He thinks Josh Bailey retrieved the puck for him as a keepsake. Of course, he said he’d tell his grand kids his first goal went top shelf and not trickling between the pads.

“These guys are key guys,” Tavares continued, “they have a lot of skill and they’ve been knocking on the of our system for a while now so it’s good to see them come up and make a difference.”

Donovan felt the team played solid for the full 60 minutes. “Unlike our last games, we didn’t let up. We stayed on our toes and kept them on their heels and just kept pushing. We got some good goals and got offensive chances from it.

Christian Arnold, blogger of many by-lines, asked Matt if there was anything that surprised him about the last three games. Matt thought for a moment, “Not too much. I knew that the guys were going to be bigger and stronger and I worked on that this summer. I knew what to expect coming in and I think I’ve done a pretty good job of handling myself so far. I just want to keep getting better every game.”

Donovan has some big skates to fill as he was tagged to be Mark Streit’s replacement. That shows a lot of confidence in the kid from Oklahoma on the part of the coaching staff. He intends on living up to their expectations.

Here’s my favorite part of this little exchange: John Tavares called Matt Donovan “DONNO.” For years the (as Mike Milbury would call it) the pansification of nicknames in the locker room would bug me. No more adding “ie” or “y” to a name please.

Isles are in Chicago tomorrow and Cal Clutterbuck is expected to make his first appearance in a regular season game as an Islander. The question will be who sits. Only Art Staple of Newsday will have that information tomorrow after practice.

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