The Islanders fell to the New Jersey Devils last night in a shootout by a score of 2-1. The team is back on the ice tonight as they square off with the Boston Bruins in Bridgeport Connecticut. While line combinations and pairings are not out yet, the team announced tonight’s roster on their website. The Isles suiting up tonight will become very familiar with the Webster Bank Arena as tonight’s lineup will be filled with mostly Sound Tigers. There are a few exceptions and fans will also get a chance to see 2014 first round picks Michael Dal Colle and Josh Ho-Sang.

It is expected that Chad Johnson will get the start between the pipes and will probably play the entire game. It will be great to get a look at both Dal Colle and Ho-Sang tonight but with the logjam at forward it is expected that they will both be returned to juniors in the near future. Here is the roster for tonight’s game against the Bruins.

Forwards
Ryan Strome
Kyle Okposo
Johan Sundstrom
Brock Nelson
Kael Mouillerat
Sebastian Collberg
John Persson
Brett Gallant
Josh Ho-Sang
Michael Dal Colle
Ross Johnston
John Tavares

Defense
T.J. Brennan
Kevin Czuczman
Andrey Pedan
Scott Mayfield
Matt Donovan
Aaron Ness

Goalies
Chad Johnson
Kevin Poulin

This will be the final preseason game for the Islanders and it will be the last chance for some of these players to standout and lock down a roster spot. Ryan Strome appears to be on the upswing after another solid performance in last night’s shootout loss to the Devils. Strome met with head coach Jack Capuano who wanted more from Strome and the Isles prospect has responded. Momentum is a funny thing and another solid performance tonight, some strong practices, and Strome could very well make the opening night roster.

As we await the final roster next week, we will have plenty of time to dissect and project the possible line combinations for opening night. I am actually going to take a stab at guessing the opening night roster. I will post it on Monday and we can all have a good laugh at it when I am horribly wrong. As we look at the Islanders’ preseason it has been one of promise. There is still plenty of work to be done and plenty of questions still unanswered but as we reach one week until opening night, I think we can at least have some hope that this season has some promise. As always, for more on all things hockey please follow me on twitter at @DanDanNoodles78.

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