The wheel of forwards is spinning again as Jack Capuano runs a new set of lines against the Boston Bruins in Beantown today.
Josh Bailey-John Tavares-Kyle Okposo Nikolay Kulemin-Frans Nielsen-Ryan Strome Shane Prince-Brock Nelson-Anders Lee Matt Martin-Casey Cizikas-Cal Clutterbuck
I'm intrigued about the third line. The way Lee has been playing in front of the net lately could benefit Nelson's wrist shot. You throw in Prince's speed and you have an interesting line. These lines are subject to change about ten minutes into the game.
Calvin de Haan practiced Friday. He has miss the past two games with a lower-body injury. He has missed seven of the last nine games. There is no timetable for his return.
Thomas Greiss will get the start. He is 7-0-2 in his last nine starts. Greiss played a decent game in Wednesday's shootout loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Islanders have 17 games left in the regular season. Greiss will not play all of them. Jean-Francois Berube will have to get in there soon. New York has four back-to-backs left. I would expect we will Berube Monday night against the Florida Panthers.
Following Monday these are the games I see him playing in
3/21 vs Flyers 3/26 at Hurricanes (2nd of back-to-back) 3/31 vs Blue Jackets 4/4 vs Lightning (1st of back-to-back) 4/9 vs Sabres (1st of back-to-back)
That would mean Greiss would play 11 of the final 17 games, bringing his season total to 41. His prior career high was 25.
Nick Leddy has been on a tear since the start of 2016. Leddy had 5 goals and 19 assists in 27 games. Here's a great stat from Islanders statistician Eric Hornick, Leddy has recorded three consecutive multi-point games. That's the fourth time in Islanders history and the first time since Alexei Zhitnik in October 2005 that a defenseman has done this. Leddy has a chance to tie Tom Kurvers who did it in four straight in 1992.
John Tavares is one goal shy of 200. He would be the 11th Islander to record 200 goals.