Match-up - New Jersey Devils (15-16-8) @ New York Islanders (11-20-7)
Road/Home records - 7-9-2 -------------- 5-7-7
TV - MSG Plus, MSG Plus 2
Puck drop - 7:00 PM ET
Season series - Islanders lead 1-0
Last 10: Devils 4-4-2 / Islanders 3-5-2
Projected starting goalies - Cory Schneider vs Evgeni Nabokov



Projected lines for the Islanders:

Thomas Vanek - Brock Nelson - Kyle Okposo
Michael Grabner - Frans Nielsen - Josh Bailey
Peter Regin - Ryan Strome - Cal Clutterbuck
Colin McDonald - Casey Cizikas - Matt Martin

Thomas Hickey - Andrew MacDonald
Calvin de Haan - Travis Hamonic
Aaron Ness - Brian Strait

Injuries: Lubomir Visnovsky, Radek Martinek.

Projected lines for the Devils:

Dainius Zubrus - Travis Zajac - Jaromir Jagr
Ryane Clowe - Patrik Elias - Steve Bernier
Reid Boucher - Adam Henrique - Michael Ryder
* - Stephen Gionta - Cam Janssen

Andy Greene - Mark Fayne
Eric Gelinas - Marek Zidlicky
Anton Volchenkov - Jon Merrill
Bryce Salvador - *

Injuries: Adam Larsson, Pete Harrold, Damien Brunner, Ryan Carter.

Game notes:

- For lack of a better term, the Islanders have been flat out bad during 5 vs 5 play this year. They've scored at a slightly higher rate than the Devils, but have allowed over 2.50 goals against per 60 minutes of full strength hockey. That isn't, well, very good and their possession numbers indicate they are as bad as those totals suggest. Both teams have struggled to score at full strength this season, but the Devils have much better possession numbers and have done well in terms of keeping the puck out. 5 vs 5 edge goes to New Jersey.

- The Islanders' special teams have been a bit of a crap shoot this season on both the power play and penalty kill, so the Devils need to take advantage of that tonight.

- As the season goes on the Devils' offense continues to be pretty near non-existent. If that's the case again tonight, Cory Schneider better be on his game.

- Zajac played poorly against Chicago while shadowing Jonathan Toews and was mediocre against the Blue Jackets on Friday. He'll have a good opportunity to get back on track tonight as John Tavares will not play tonight. That's a big break for Zajac and the rest of the team.

- Gelinas is in the midst of the biggest offensive dry spell of his NHL career. He's now gone four straight games without a point and only has four shots in that span. Shots = goals and he's a shooter, so put the puck on net. It works.

- I know Henrique has bounced around the lineup a ton and has points in three of his lats five games, but he really needs to pick it up and get going offensively. He's on pace for a hair over 30 points, which is a total you'd expect from him by the time he reaches 40 games played or so. He's not a very creative player offensively, so it's best if he keeps things simple and just throws pucks on net.

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