Mike and Dan recap a week of bizarre Islanders games and bring forth an epic Master Leaf Theatre/Ranger Piece Theater double feature with special guest Dominik Jansky.

The Western Canada portion of their road trip has seen one exhilarating and miraculous win and two disappointing losses full of missed opportunities. By playing in fits and starts, the Islanders kept themselves alive but haven’t yet fully crossed over the line and made themselves safe in the playoff hunt. After a strange near blowout/comeback/deflating loss in Winnipeg, they took a 1-0 win in Edmonton thanks to a tremendous Ilya Sorokin performance and a timely powerplay goal (!). They followed that up with a sloppy loss in Calgary where they looked almost guilty for stealing one elsewhere in the province. It all leads to the final two games of the trip – in Vancouver tonight and Wednesday in Seattle (on TNT) – to determine how the pre-Olympics schedule shakes out. Two wins and they’re in good shape. Two losses and it’s time to worry. Throw in a home return game against the Sabres and it’s a lot of weight to put on three winnable-on-paper contests. So players who’ve been quiet on the scoresheet will need to step up, even if they get Bo Horvat back.

In the second half, we welcome back friend and Lighthouse Hockey founder Dominik Jansky to read an amazing edition of Master Leaf Theatre, in which “The Charles Dickens of Master Leaf Theatre” goes on a stalking trip to find out what life is like in Las Vegas for Mitch Marner before his first game against the Leafs. What we find is a normal guy working in a new city, which, of course, is impossible to comprehend when you only think about living in Toronto. We also get some audio clips of a pissy pre-game Auston Matthews and a mysterious “Mikey from Long Island” who called into Sportsnet’s Real Kyper & Bourne Show.

But, wait! There’s more! (after a second commercial break). We also have Dom read pieces for a brand new Ranger Piece Theater about that team’s latest white flag letter that no one is buying as the start of a new retool. Owner James Dolan is repeating himself and GM Chris Drury inches closer to Mike Milbury territory. And only one man has the guts to call this latest gambit what it truly is: APPLESAUCE.

Master Leaf Theatre material:

Ranger Piece Theater material:

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