The New York Islanders host the Edmonton Oilers tonight in their third home game in a row to kick off the year. He’s the pre-game report.
OILERS
Leon Draisaitl - Connor McDavid - Zack Kassian Joakim Nygard - Ryan Nugent-Hopkins - James Neal Jujhar Khaira - Riley Sheahan - Patrick Russell Markus Granlund - Gaetan Haas - Tomas Jurco Oscar Klefbom- Joel Persson Darnell Nurse - Ethan Bear Kris Russell - Matt Benning Mikko Koskinen Mike Smith
ISLANDERS
Anders Lee - Mathew Barzal - Jordan Eberle Josh Bailey - Brock Nelson - Michael Dal Colle Anthony Beauvillier - Derick Brassard - Leo Komarov Matt Martin - Casey Cizikas - Cal Clutterbuck Adam Pelech - Ryan Pulock Devon Toews - Scott Mayfield Nick Leddy - Noah Dobson Semyon Varlamov Thomas Greiss
Do you see it!? A debut! Let me take the words right out of your mouth….. Riley Sheahan is making his Oilers debut tonight!
What? Not what you were thinking? Well then, in other news, Noah Dobson is expected to make his NHL debut tonight. Jokes aside, this is really exciting and can be seen as the beginning of the Islanders making room for the youth that’s going to help this team transition. He’ll be paired with Nick Leddy and will be playing in place of Johnny Boychuk.
Semyon Varlamov is expected to start after dropping his first game to Washington, despite a solid effort. Hopefully the first line starts to click a bit more. Considering how electric they looked in the preseason, the first two games were a bit disappointing on their end.
In the Oilers lineup, I’ve realized I don’t recognize three players. Legitimately never heard of them. I don’t think I’ve ever not recognized three players in one of these game-day previews, so this is a first. Preseason sure but not regular season. That being said, the Oilers do have arguably the most recognizable player in the game and are off to a 2-0 start, so they’re not a team to take for granted.
Unfortunately, I won’t have time to add in the overperformers and underperformers for this one.
Puck drop is at 7 p.m.
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