The Islanders have put a busy trade deadline day behind them and are in Dallas to take on the Stars tonight at 8:30p. When the puck drops tonight the Islanders will have two new faces in the lineup. Yesterday the team acquired forward Tyler Kennedy from the San Jose Sharks and goalie Michael Neuvirth from the Buffalo Sabres. A conditional pick was sent to San Jose for Kennedy and Chad Johnson and a pick were sent to Buffalo for Neuvirth.
These were two subtle and savvy moves by Islanders General Manager Garth Snow. With concussed forward Mikhail Grabovski nowhere close to returning, Kennedy will provide another veteran forward with championship experience that can be placed in the lineup. He is gritty, a little spark plug and can score timely goals.
While Chad Johnson was showing signs of breaking out of his slump, he still was not getting results on a consistent basis. Michael Neuvirth is a considerable upgrade to the goalie tandem in Long Island as he played fantastic at times in front of a very porous Buffalo defense. Neuvirth’s play was so solid that it was costing the Sabres a chance to finish in command of the Connor McDavid, Jack Eichel sweepstakes. This will provide the Isles with constant stability between the pipes and should goalie Jaroslav Halak get injured, Neuvirth has shown this season that he’s is more than capable of starting.
With Kennedy in the lineup, Kael Mouillierat will sit. The first line remains the same, as John Tavares will center Anders Lee and Josh Bailey. Frans Nielsen will center Michael Grabner and Tyler Kennedy. Brock Nelson will center Matt Martin and Cal Clutterbuck. Finally, Ryan Strome will center Nikolay Kulemin and Colin McDonald. Lubomir Visnovsky will return to the lineup and play in place of Brian Strait and Jaro Halak will be in goal for the Islanders.
Islanders and Stars games have been shootouts in recent years and the first meeting this season was no exception as the Isles won by a score of 7 to 5. We all know Dallas can find the back of the net so the Isles must be better in their own end. Their spacing has to be more consistent and they need a better overall commitment to defense than they displayed Saturday night in a dreadful loss to the Carolina Hurricanes. They need to eliminate the turnovers and have to get the puck out of their zone more efficiently. As always for more on all things hockey please follow me on Twitter at @DanDanNoodles78.