After dropping a disappointing 3-2 shootout decision to the New Jersey Devils last night, the Tampa Bay Lightning will get right back to work this evening. They’re in New York, on Long Island, for a tilt with the New York Islanders. This is the third and final meeting between the two clubs this regular season.

The good news for Tampa Bay is that the Islanders are also tired heading into tonight’s game. They played in Detroit last night and had to travel back home. The difference is that they were victorious in their Friday battle, whereas the Bolts were not.

Despite their recent struggles, the Lightning still sit atop the Atlantic Division. That might seem a little bit hard to believe when you consider that they have compiled a rather mediocre 4-4-2 record in their last ten games, but it’s important to note that both the Red Wings and Canadiens have cooled off as well. No damage has been done, but it’s time to get back into the business of winning hockey games with regularity.

The Islanders, for their part, are not struggling right now. They’ve won three straight games and are keeping pace with the Pittsburgh Penguins for first in the Metropolitan Division. Garth Snow’s offseason moves and his patience are certainly paying off for the Islanders right now.

Because they played last night, and because Evgeni Nabokov a little bit shaky, Jon Cooper will turn to Andrei Vasilevskiy in net tonight. Vasilevskiy will be suiting up in only his second NHL game after playing incredibly well earlier this week in his first. Should he come out with another strong performance, the situation in net might become very interesting.

To counter the young Russian, the Islanders will send out Jaroslav Halak. He was the team’s goaltender last night, so it might seem odd that they’d use him again on the second half of a back-to-back. But, considering Chad Johnson has been bad and that Halak’s workload was small last night, the move does make a little bit of sense.

Also of note is news that Tyler Johnson might play this evening after missing last night’s game with the stomach flu. He is being described as a game time decision.

That’s all for me right now. Hopefully the Lightning go out and put up a solid performance against one of the East’s best teams. This is a measuring stick game.

As always, thanks for reading.

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