The Isles return to action tonight as they are set to take on the Blue Jackets in Columbus at 7PM. Their are a few roster changes tonight starting with the forwards. Eric Boulton will play in place of a banged up Cal Clutterbuck. I don't expect Cal's injury to be long term as he was back at practice yesterday.
Now before everyone gets into a social media tizzy about Boulton playing, I will make this defense. I have said for the past couple of seasons that the dirtiest teams in the league are the Winnipeg Jets and the Columbus Blue Jackets. If Boulton is going to see limited ice time, I have no issue with it being against a team that has a history of running around and taking liberties with the Islanders' best players.
Marek Zidlicky will be out of the lineup tonight as well and he will be replaced by everyone's favorite extra defenseman, Brian Strait. Remember, the team has said that it doesn't want any defenseman playing on their off wing, this is why Brain Strait is once again playing on his off side tonight. At this point stop lying to us, just tell everyone that you want Ryan Pulock to play in the minors the entire season. This garbage of a narrative just doesn't fly and it is only used as an excuse of simplicity. Heavens for bid we get a little tranparency.
Jaroslav Halak will be in the net again after he stole two points against the Flyers early in the week. Despite their performance in Philly, the Isles continue to rack up points going 6-0-2 in their last 8 games. While past performances in Ohio have been awful at times, the Islanders are set to take on a Blue Jacket team that has been down right terrible at home. There are two precious points available tonight and with the rest of the Metro division having some issues, this is a chance for New York to creep closer to first place.