Great news Islanders fans, Sparky will be in the building today as the Islanders look to extend their winning streak to three games as they face the Vancouver Canucks. New York has owned the Western Conference this season with a 12-4-1 record.
The Islanders will look to ride Brock Nelson. The 24-year-old has 5 goals and 2 assists in his last five games. Nelson recorded his first career hat trick last Tuesday vs the Columbus Blue Jackets. Nelson leads the team with 18 goals, two shy of his career high of 20 set last season. Nelson struggled to reach 20 goals after scoring 15 in his first 44 last season. The 30th overall selection in the 2010 draft has been scoring more off his wrist shot this season. 11 of his 18 goals have been from outside the hash marks compared to 5 of 20 last season.
John Tavares played one of stronger games recently Thursday night vs the Rangers. He set up Nick Leddy, who pinched from the point and scored his second of the season. Let's hope Tavares stays true to form and heats up in the second half.
Rookie Adam Pelech had an eventful first game vs the Blueshirts. He registered his first two points of his career. The second coming well after the game. He also sacrificed his face taking a Derek Stepan skate while breaking up the play. Like a true hockey player, he got stitched up and assisted on Nelson's goal. The emergence of Pelech will certainly soften the blow when Hamonic does get traded. One player who has flown the under radar is defense Calvin de Haan, who is having his best season so far. You wouldn't know it from the stats though. The 12th overall pick in the 2009 draft has helped shoulder the load with Johnny Boychuk and Hamonic being out.
The Canucks come in have won 7 of their last 12. Bo Horvat, like Brock Nelson has been on fire of late. The 9th overall pick in the 2013 draft has 6 goals and 3 assists in his last 6 games. Daniel Sedin already has 19 goals, one short of last season's total. The recent hot streak has the Canucks (18-17-10) just two points out of the second wild card and third place in the Pacific.
The Canucks had have the Isles number recently. Vancouver has won five of the last six meetings including a season sweep a year ago. Let's hope Barclays plays to the Isles advantage as the Canucks have won three straight on the road vs the Isles. The last Isles win vs the Canucks was the memorable 7-goal third period on March 10, 2014.