The Islanders look to extend their winning streak to three as they host the Carolina Hurricanes tonight. Carolina is 3-3-0 on their 7-game road trip.
Thomas Greiss will get the start as Jaroslav Halak is under the weather. Jean-Francois Berube will backup Greiss. This would have been a problem in previous seasons but Greiss has been tremendous for the Isles. He has posted a 3-0-1 record with a 2.44 GAA and .932 save pct. I would expect Greiss to start one of the weekend games so that would already bring his total of games played to six. The 29-year-old has never played more than 25 games in a season. He did that with the 2013-14 Phoenix Coyotes.
The Isles first line du jour will probably be John Tavares centering Josh Bailey and Anders Lee. Bailey has play solid hockey this season. He already has 3 goals and 3 assists in 9 games this season. I predicted 20 goals for Bailey prior to the season. Even though Lee has struggled a bit, he has 5 points in 9 games this season. His -5 rating is the worst on the team.
Who owns the Carolina Hurricanes? John Tavares does. His 16 goals and 30 points in 22 games is the most against any team. He was held scoreless for just the second time in 9 games this season against the Calgary Flames on Monday.
The special teams have been day and night from a season ago. They have scored a power play goal in each of the last three games and is at 25 percent. They have also killed 21 consecutive penalties and led the league with a 91.2 percentage.
Eddie Lack will get the start in goal for Carolina. Lack was pulled in his last start after allowing 4 goals on 13 shots Saturday vs the San Jose Sharks. He is 0-2-0 with a 4.77 GAA and .833 save pct. Lack is 1-1-0 vs the Isles in three career appearances with a 3.05 GAA and .896 save pct. His loss was when the Isles scored 7 third period goals in Vancouver back in the 2013-14 season. Lack allowed 6 of the 7.
Hurricanes 2015 first round pick Noah Hanifin will be back in the lineup tonight. He was a healthy scratch in Tuesday's 3-1 win vs the Detroit Red Wings. The Canes have decided to keep the rookie defenseman on the roster this season following the 9-game tryout.
The Islanders have won six of their last seven games and are in 5-game stretch of all winnable games.
Projected forward lines Lee-Tavares-Bailey Nikolay Kulemin-Frans Nielsen-Kyle Okposo Ryan Strome-Mikhail Grabovski-Brock Nelson Matt Martin-Casey Cizikas-Cal Clutterbuck
Projected defensive pairings Johnny Boychuk-Nick Leddy Calvin de Haan-Travis Hamonic Brian Strait-Marek Zidlicky