The New York Islanders kick off their season tonight at home against the Washington Capitals. Here’s the first pre-game report of the 2019-20 regular season.
It’s a divisional game at home, so naturally this is a pretty important one for the Islanders, let alone that it’s Game 1.
Here are New York’s projected lines tonight, according to NHL.com’s Brian Compton.
Lee - Barzal - Eberle Dal Colle - Nelson - Bailey Beauvillier - Brassard - Komarov Martin - Cizikas - Clutterbuck
Pelech - Pulock Toews - Mayfield Leddy - Boychuk
Varlamov Greiss
We’ll get to see whether Mathew Barzal and Jordan Eberle are able to keep their spark going that we saw a lot of in the preseason. It also looks like Noah Dobson is a scratch tonight. As long as it’s just a one-game thing, no problem. But a 19-year-old star prospect isn’t meant to be in the press box for long. Barry Trotz still has yet to name a starter for tonight’s game (though you have to expect it would be Varlamov).
Here are Washington’s projected lines, according to Compton.
Ovechkin - Backstrom - Wilson Vrana - Eller - Oshie Hagelin - Stephenson - Panik Leipsic - Dowd - Hathaway
Siegenthaler - Carlson Orlov - Jensen Fehervary - Gudas
Samsonov Holtby
Washington is coming into the game fresh off a win over the defending Stanley Cup Champions, the St. Louis Blues, on Wednesday night. The big storyline for the Capitals: Ilya Samsonov’s NHL debut. Drafted by Washington in the first round four years ago, Samsonov remains one of the league’s top goaltending prospects and tonight is the beginning of what could be a very successful NHL career for him. Evgeny Kuznetsov is still suspended, while Michal Kempny is out with an injury.
Puck drop is at 7 p.m.
For more, follow @BenShelley_20 on Twitter.
OTHER ISLANDERS ARTICLES FROM OCTOBER