The Islanders return home after a 3-game road trip to face the New Jersey Devils at the Barclays Center at 5pm. New York has a short turnaround coming off their 3-2 overtime win in Columbus last night. Kyle Okposo scored the game winner on one of the most bizarre 2 on 0 that you will see with Josh Bailey dropping the puck for Okposo who was a little off balance. Okposo was yelling at Bailey to take it himself but he did not hear. Okposo was able to tuck it past Curtis McElhinney. It was their 5thconsecutive overtime game, a new team record. The Isles extended their point streak to 9 games (7-0-2). The Isles have owner the Metro division this season. They are 6-0-2. They are the only team in the NHL to earn a point in all of their division games. The Isles are now one point behind the Rangers in the division. They were 11 points behind the Blueshirts on Thanksgiving Eve. Ryan Strome did not return for the third period after suffering an upper body injury and is day-to-day. Steve Bernier is back in the lineup. Bernier has not played since November 25th. The third line struggled when Bernier was with Mikhail Grabovski and Nikolay Kulemin. Let's hope Strome is out just for tonight. Marek Zidlicky replaces Brian Strait on the third defensive pairing. Cal Clutterbuck, who missed last night's game is back in the lineup replacing Eric Boulton.
Going back to Okposo, he scores his points in bunches. This was his third 3-point game of the season. This will not change. He is as inconsistent as a player can get.
The team is enjoying this success without their top line playing well. John Tavares looked better than Tuesday's win in Philadelphia. He has been held scoreless in his last four games.
Thomas Greiss will be in goal tonight. This will be his 12th start of the season. Greiss has not started this many games in any season up to this point. His career high is 25 games. I know Greiss has been a revelation for the Isles and I'm sure they are keeping an eye on his workload. The Devils will be without forwards Travis Zajac and Adam Henrique. Both are out with injuries. Cory Schneider will make his 5th straight start.
The Isles have won four straight from New Jersey at home and are 7-0-1 in the last eight games against the Devils. Five of the eight games have been decided in either overtime or shootouts. It's the first time since 1985-1988 (12 straight wins) that the Isles have won four straight home games from New Jersey.