Two teams that are headed in the different directions face off tonight as the New York Islanders head to the Nationwide Arena to play the Columbus Blue Jackets. My good friend Admiral Ackbar might say that this game "It's a trap!"
The Islanders (3-1-1) have won their last three games while the Blue Jackets start the season losing their first six. This is the Islanders first game against an Eastern Conference opponent. New York went 21-6-3 vs the Metropolitan division last season.
Jaroslav Halak made his season debut in Saturday's 6-3 win over the San Jose Sharks. Halak looked a little rusty but stopped 22 of 25 shots. He is between the pipes tonight. Thomas Hickey also made his season debut and played just over 15 minutes.
All four of the Islanders line are gelling right now. The second line consisting of Josh Bailey, Kyle Okposo and Frans Nielsen got off to a slow start but have played well over the last three games. The line has combined for 12 points this season and Okposo has 6 points (2 goals, 4 assists) in his last 3 games.
The force is strong with John Tavares right now as he has 8 points (3 goals, 5 assists) in five games this season while his line mates, Anders Lee and Ryan Strome both have points in three straight games.
The Blue Jackets, heading into the regular season, had the same excitement as one about to see The Phantom Menace for the first time. Columbus has allowed 30 goals in their six losses. This is their worst start in franchise history and are trying to avoid being the first team since the 1997-98 Chicago Blackhawks to start the season losing their first seven games.
Curtis McElhinney will get the start for the Blue Jackets tonight. Sergei Bobrovsky (0-5-0, 5.07 GAA, .835 save pct) has been Jar-Jar Binks bad. If the Isles can strike first, something they haven't done in their past two games, the Jackets will pretty much retreat like the Rebels on Hoth.
Projected forward lines Anders Lee-John Tavares-Ryan Strome Josh Bailey-Frans Nielsen-Kyle Okposo Nikolay Kulemin-Mikhail Grabovski-Brock Nelson Matt Martin-Casey Cizikas-Cal Clutterbuck
Projected defensive pairings Johnny Boychuk-Nick Leddy Travis Hamonic-Calvin de Haan Thomas Hickey-Marek Zidlicky