The Islanders will square off tonight with new Eastern Conference foe; the Detroit Red Wings. This will be the first game of the year between the pair and the Red Wings’ first visit to the Coliseum. Detroit is coming off a shootout loss to the Capitals Friday nights and the Islanders will have a chance to make a tired team work. The Islanders hope to get back in the win column after a disappointing loss at the hands of the Kings on Thursday night.
The Isles are in desperate need for Josh Bailey and Michael Grabner to break the huge scoring droughts that they are in. Amazingly Grabner has not scored since opening night and until Thursday night Bailey had gone six games without a shot on goal. You read that correctly; six games without a even a shot on net. A return to form by either player would desperately give the Isles some much needed secondary scoring.
The Islanders blue line has been solid this week with the exception of the third period Thursday night where they were man handled and bullied by the much larger Kings. Detroit will be a much different challenge tonight as they feature much more in the way of team speed.
Regardless of who is in goal tonight they will have their hands full with the likes of Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg however the Red Wings has struggled looking for more scoring besides their dynamic duo. If the Islanders want to get out of the rut of averageness that they are stuck in, they will have to start stringing some wins together soon.
If any news breaks today regarding the team I will keep you updated and as always for more on all things hockey please follow me on twitter at @DanDanNoodles78.