GDT: #15| New York Islanders @ Tampa Bay Lightning | November 8th | 7:30 PM | F/L 4-2

[MattMartin]

Game Preview: Islanders at Lightning

Two division leaders meet as the Isles take on the Bolts (7:30 p.m., MSG+)

NEW YORK ISLANDERS (8-4-2) AT TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING (11-3-1)
7:30 PM | AMALIE ARENA
WATCH: MSG+ | MSG GO | NHL.TV
LISTEN: 88.7FM WRHU | 103.9 FM LI NEWS | RADIO.COM


GAME NOTES

Two division leaders meet on Thursday night, as the Metropolitan Division-leading New York Islanders take on the Atlantic Divison-leading Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena (7:30 p.m.).

The Islanders bring a seven-game point streak (5-0-2) into Thursday's action, but Monday's 4-3 shootout loss to the Montreal Canadiens served as a wakeup call. After arriving in Tampa a day early, the Isles look to refocus for a formidable challenge against a lethal Lightning squad that sits atop the Eastern Conference.

"We just have to get back to our fundamentals," Nick Leddy said after Wednesday's practice. "Monday wasn't our best game, but there are a lot of games in the season. We were lucky to get a point out of it and we're ready to get back to our game plan."

"We've seen that our fundamentals work," Leddy added. "Our foundation and when we're playing the right way we're a successful team."

Thursday's game kicks off a two-game Florida swing for the Islanders, who play the Panthers on Saturday night in Sunrise.

The Lightning won two of the three meetings between the teams last season and five of the past six overall.

ISLANDERS NOTES:

-- Jordan Eberle is expected to play against the Lightning after taking a maintenance day on Wednesday. Tom Kuhnhackl skated alongside Mathew Barzal and Anthony Beauvillier during the practice.

-- Matt Martin (upper body) did not join the Islanders on their Florida road trip and as a result will miss his third straight game on Thursday. Ross Johnston continued to skate in Martin's place.

-- Robin Lehner could return to action on Thursday night for the first time since Oct. 30. Lehner has been eased back into the Isles lineup, getting a week's worth of practices in while backing up Thomas Greiss in the previous two games.

-- The Islanders are riding a seven-game point streak (5-0-2) and lead the Metropolitan Division with 18 points.

--The Islanders are winning games with a commitment to defense under new coach Barry Trotz. New York has allowed two or fewer goals seven times in 14 games. But New York wants to find more offense, particularly with a power play that sits in the middle of the pack in the league standings but is on a 1-of-10 stretch.


LIGHTNING NOTES:

-- After a 7-1 loss to the Arizona Coyotes on Oct. 27, the Lightning have been rolling. Tampa has won three straight and four of their last five games.

-- The Lightning lead the Eastern Conference with 23 points.

-- Victor Hedman (upper body) will not play for the Islanders. Hedman will miss his seventh straight game.

-- While Brayden Point paces Tampa Bay in scoring with a team-high nine goals and 19 points, Nikita Kucherov and Steven Stamkos have started to find the scoresheet with more consistency lately. The pair combined for three goals and six points in a victory over Edmonton on Tuesday. Stamkos has four goals in his past six games and Kucherov has three multi-point games in his past six since the two were reunited on a line.

-- Andrei Vailevskiy is tied for the NHL lead with eight wins this season.

-- Not surprisingly, the Lightning boast good team numbers across the board, with the third-highest goals-for per game (3.60), fifth-lowest goals-against per game (2.67) and second-ranked penalty kill (89.3%).

--The Lightning remain without defenseman Victor Hedman, who returned to practice for the first time on Wednesday in nearly two weeks, and Ondrej Palat, who is expected to miss more time with a lower body injury.

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Full Team Stats:

Islanders
Player	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	PPP	SHG	SHP	GWG	OTG	S	S%	FO%
Josh Bailey	14	3	12	15	7	6	2	7	1	1	1	1	25	12	36.36
Anders Lee	14	5	8	13	7	21	4	6	0	0	1	0	40	12.5	36.67
Mathew Barzal	14	1	11	12	-7	12	0	7	0	0	0	0	18	5.6	40.67
Brock Nelson	14	7	2	9	6	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	29	24.1	44.74
Casey Cizikas	13	5	4	9	8	10	0	0	1	2	0	0	19	26.3	56.56
Valtteri Filppula	14	5	3	8	5	0	0	0	1	1	1	0	12	41.7	49.5
Jordan Eberle	14	4	3	7	-4	4	3	4	0	0	2	0	32	12.5	37.5
Andrew Ladd	11	3	3	6	3	8	0	0	0	1	0	0	18	16.7	66.67
Scott Mayfield	12	2	4	6	7	20	0	0	1	1	0	0	10	20	0
Leo Komarov	14	2	3	5	3	8	0	0	0	0	0	0	13	15.4	38.89
Ryan Pulock	14	1	4	5	0	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	26	3.8	0
Matt Martin	11	3	1	4	4	18	0	0	0	0	0	0	13	23.1	25
Adam Pelech	13	1	3	4	3	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	21	4.8	0
Nick Leddy	14	0	3	3	-2	2	0	2	0	0	0	0	10	0	0
Thomas Hickey	14	0	2	2	10	8	0	0	0	0	0	0	15	0	0
Cal Clutterbuck	12	0	2	2	1	16	0	0	0	0	0	0	11	0	28.57
Ross Johnston	3	0	2	2	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0
Anthony Beauvillier	13	1	0	1	-6	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	24	4.2	35.71
Tom Kuhnhackl	4	1	0	1	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	50	0
Johnny Boychuk	14	0	1	1	4	2	0	0	0	1	0	0	23	0	0
Luca Sbisa	3	0	1	1	-1	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

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Goalies
Player	GP	GS	W	L	T	OT	SA	GA	GAA	S	Sv%	SO	MIN
Thomas Greiss	9	7	4	2	0	1	251	15	1.98	236	.940	1	455
Robin Lehner	7	7	4	2	0	1	223	16	2.45	207	.928	1	392

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Lightning:
PLAYER	GP	G	A	PTS	+/-	PIM	ATOI	PPG	PPA	SHG	SHA	SOG	SPCT
Brayden Point, C	15	9	10	19	12	12	17:10	2	3	0	0	34	26.5
Nikita Kucherov, RW	15	7	10	17	2	8	17:44	3	2	0	0	40	17.5
Yanni Gourde, LW	15	7	9	16	8	9	17:33	3	1	0	0	37	18.9
Steven Stamkos, C	15	5	8	13	-1	2	17:15	1	4	0	0	47	10.6
J.T. Miller, C	15	4	8	12	-5	10	15:16	3	3	0	0	22	18.2
Tyler Johnson, C	14	5	6	11	9	4	17:11	0	3	1	0	32	15.6
Ryan McDonagh, D	15	1	10	11	8	6	23:13	0	2	0	1	36	2.8
Anton Stralman, D	15	1	6	7	5	4	22:18	0	1	0	0	14	7.1
Braydon Coburn, D	15	2	3	5	4	14	16:23	0	0	0	0	30	6.7
Ondrej Palat, LW	9	0	5	5	3	4	14:47	0	2	0	0	10	0.0
Adam Erne, LW	10	1	3	4	-2	6	11:25	1	0	0	0	12	8.3
Alex Killorn, C	15	2	2	4	-3	8	16:07	1	1	0	0	35	5.7
Victor Hedman, D	9	2	2	4	-3	6	20:56	0	1	0	0	23	8.7
Anthony Cirelli, C	15	2	2	4	-3	6	13:50	0	0	1	0	27	7.4
Mikhail Sergachev, D	15	0	4	4	0	4	17:22	0	3	0	0	25	0.0
Dan Girardi, D	15	0	3	3	-1	2	16:32	0	0	0	1	13	0.0
Cedric Paquette, C	15	2	1	3	-3	17	11:25	0	0	0	0	21	9.5
Ryan Callahan, RW	11	2	0	2	-2	0	11:36	0	0	0	0	18	11.1
Mathieu Joseph, RW	15	1	1	2	-3	4	12:30	0	0	0	1	29	3.4
Slater Koekkoek, D	6	1	0	1	0	2	14:53	0	0	0	0	13	7.7
Cory Conacher, LW	1	0	0	0	0	2	8:35	0	0	0	0	1	0.0

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GOALIE STATISTICS
PLAYER	GP	W	L	OTL	GAA	TOI	SV	SV%	SHO	TGA	TSA	PIM
Andrei Vasilevskiy	11	8	2	1	1.98	665:46	319	.935	1	22	341	0
Louis Domingue	4	3	1	0	3.77	238:54	116	.885	0	15	131	2

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EASTERN CONFERENCE	W	L	OTL	PTS	GP	ROW	SOW	SOL	GF	GA	GD	HOME	AWAY	L10	STRK
Lightning	11	3	1	23	15	10	1	0	55	40	15	6-2-0	5-1-1	7-2-1	W3
Maple Leafs	10	5	0	20	15	10	0	0	51	40	11	4-5-0	6-0-0	6-4-0	W2
Bruins	8	4	2	18	14	8	0	0	39	31	8	5-1-0	3-3-2	5-3-2	W1
Islanders	8	4	2	18	14	7	1	1	45	34	11	3-1-2	5-3-0	6-2-2	L1
Canadiens	8	5	2	18	15	6	2	0	48	45	3	5-3-0	3-2-2	5-4-1	L1
Blue Jackets	8	6	1	17	15	8	0	0	50	52	-2	4-4-0	4-2-1	5-4-1	W1
Sabres	7	6	2	16	15	7	0	0	43	44	-1	4-2-1	3-4-1	4-4-2	L1
Penguins	6	4	3	15	13	6	0	2	46	45	1	2-4-1	4-0-2	4-3-3	L4
Capitals	6	4	3	15	13	5	1	1	50	49	1	4-1-2	2-3-1	4-4-2	W1
Flyers	7	7	1	15	15	6	1	0	48	56	-8	2-4-0	5-3-1	5-4-1	W1
Rangers	7	7	1	15	15	4	3	0	43	47	-4	5-3-0	2-4-1	6-3-1	W4
Senators	6	6	3	15	15	6	0	0	52	62	-10	5-2-2	1-4-1	4-4-2	W1
Hurricanes	6	7	2	14	15	5	1	0	40	45	-5	3-3-1	3-4-1	2-7-1	L5
Devils	6	6	1	13	13	6	0	0	42	43	-1	5-1-1	1-5-0	3-6-1	L1
Red Wings	5	8	2	12	15	4	1	1	40	55	-15	3-4-1	2-4-1	5-5-0	W1
Panthers	3	5	3	9	11	2	1	2	34	41	-7	0-3-1	3-2-2	3-5-2	W1

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Last Game Highlights:

Click to read more...

 

[MattMartin]

Last Game Line Combos:

Islanders
LW	C	RW
Goals: 5 Assists: 8	Goals: 7 Assists: 2	Goals: 3 Assists: 12
Goals: 1 Assists: 0	Goals: 1 Assists: 11	Goals: 4 Assists: 3
Goals: 3 Assists: 3	Goals: 5 Assists: 3	Goals: 2 Assists: 3
Goals: 0 Assists: 2	Goals: 5 Assists: 4	Goals: 0 Assists: 2

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DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS	Defense
Goals: 0 Assists: 3	Goals: 1 Assists: 4
Goals: 0 Assists: 1	Goals: 2 Assists: 4
Goals: 1 Assists: 3	Goals: 0 Assists: 1

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Lightning
LW	C	RW
Goals: 4 Assists: 8	Goals: 5 Assists: 8	Goals: 7 Assists: 10
Goals: 7 Assists: 9	Goals: 9 Assists: 10	Goals: 5 Assists: 6
Goals: 2 Assists: 2	Goals: 2 Assists: 2	Goals: 1 Assists: 1
Goals: 1 Assists: 3	Goals: 2 Assists: 1	Goals: 2 Assists: 0

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DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS	Defense
Goals: 1 Assists: 10	Goals: 1 Assists: 6
Goals: 1 Assists: 0	Goals: 0 Assists: 3
Goals: 2 Assists: 5	98​ MIKHAIL SERGACHEV Goals: 0 Assists: 4​

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[Axel574]

This game will be very telling... most people expect the islanders to get steamrolled. I think they will come out pumped but they have to play smart in the first, get settled, play physical and keep the puck deep. I’d love to see them hang with the lighting and steal a game in the third.

LGI

 

[Islanders4Cups]

Play a defensive, counterattacking road game.. keep it close and hopefully get to OT

 

[Satan'sIsland81]

The Islanders should put up the "article" (I use this word loosely) from HockeyBuzz today in their locker room and read it before every game the rest of the season. If you have not seen it, I suggest you go read it just to laugh. That clown James Tanner and another writer both listed the Islanders as the team most likely to regress from a fast start. However, Tanner in particular had to go entirely overboard, going so far as to say the Islanders are "impossible to watch," that they "really suck," are "by far the WORST team in the NHL," and my personal favorite, insulting Barry Trotz and calling him the most overrated coach in the league.
It is honestly an embarrassing piece of writing, one of the most pathetic, poorly written things I have ever read, but I should expect nothing less from a clown like that.

 

[Axel574]

The Islanders should put up the "article" (I use this word loosely) from HockeyBuzz today in their locker room and read it before every game the rest of the season. If you have not seen it, I suggest you go read it just to laugh. That clown James Tanner and another writer both listed the Islanders as the team most likely to regress from a fast start. However, Tanner in particular had to go entirely overboard, going so far as to say the Islanders are "impossible to watch," that they "really suck," are "by far the WORST team in the NHL," and my personal favorite, insulting Barry Trotz and calling him the most overrated coach in the league.
It is honestly an embarrassing piece of writing, one of the most pathetic, poorly written things I have ever read, but I should expect nothing less from a clown like that.

Wow... I just read the article. There is zero professionalism there, it's similar to a post youd see on the main board.

The Islanders are certainly not world beater but they've made some damn pretty plays this season. I would not call them hard to watch... And the rant on Lou and Trotz is just wow, Wow... I haven't got the words.

 

[Satan'sIsland81]

Wow... I just read the article. There is zero professionalism there, it's similar to a post youd see on the main board.

The Islanders are certainly not world beater but they've made some damn pretty plays this season. I would not call them hard to watch... And the rant on Lou and Trotz is just wow, Wow... I haven't got the words.

Exactly. Will they win the division? Probably not. But to go on and on about how much they suck and are by far the worst team in the NHL -- a team with an 8-4-2 record -- seems like a personal agenda to me. That is not journalism. And it is not even one of the unaffiliated bloggers that they just allow to post on their site occasionally. These are regular "writers" on the site. Just pathetic and biased writing at its worst.

 

[Lights911]

The Islanders should put up the "article" (I use this word loosely) from HockeyBuzz today in their locker room and read it before every game the rest of the season. If you have not seen it, I suggest you go read it just to laugh. That clown James Tanner and another writer both listed the Islanders as the team most likely to regress from a fast start. However, Tanner in particular had to go entirely overboard, going so far as to say the Islanders are "impossible to watch," that they "really suck," are "by far the WORST team in the NHL," and my personal favorite, insulting Barry Trotz and calling him the most overrated coach in the league.
It is honestly an embarrassing piece of writing, one of the most pathetic, poorly written things I have ever read, but I should expect nothing less from a clown like that.

I’d love to know what those two have against the Isles because that article is just atrocious

 

[Seph]

I’d love to know what those two have against the Isles because that article is just atrocious

Cordell's take is reasonable, given the prompt he has to select one of the teams that has a good record right now, and he provides fair reasons for why they'll have the hardest time sustaining it. Tanner's take though reeks of bias. Based on this alone, I'm guessing he's a Rangers or Leafs fan.

But also, I'm annoyed you guys got me to give hockeybuzz a click. Not worth it.

 

[BelovedIsles]

No way they get points without a full, 60 min effort.

 

[SI90]

Point is a beast. f***ing 3rd round pick. Yzerman just finds them.

 

[Skip To My Lou]

The Islanders should put up the "article" (I use this word loosely) from HockeyBuzz today in their locker room and read it before every game the rest of the season. If you have not seen it, I suggest you go read it just to laugh. That clown James Tanner and another writer both listed the Islanders as the team most likely to regress from a fast start. However, Tanner in particular had to go entirely overboard, going so far as to say the Islanders are "impossible to watch," that they "really suck," are "by far the WORST team in the NHL," and my personal favorite, insulting Barry Trotz and calling him the most overrated coach in the league.
It is honestly an embarrassing piece of writing, one of the most pathetic, poorly written things I have ever read, but I should expect nothing less from a clown like that.

My god. I want the Islanders to make the playoffs even more after reading that shit.

 

[BrockLobster]

Cordell's take is reasonable, given the prompt he has to select one of the teams that has a good record right now, and he provides fair reasons for why they'll have the hardest time sustaining it. Tanner's take though reeks of bias. Based on this alone, I'm guessing he's a Rangers or Leafs fan.

But also, I'm annoyed you guys got me to give hockeybuzz a click. Not worth it.

From the looks of his twitter he is another leafs shill. Amazing how everyone related to the leafs hates the islanders. So strange

 

[pursuit81]

The Islanders should put up the "article" (I use this word loosely) from HockeyBuzz today in their locker room and read it before every game the rest of the season. If you have not seen it, I suggest you go read it just to laugh. That clown James Tanner and another writer both listed the Islanders as the team most likely to regress from a fast start. However, Tanner in particular had to go entirely overboard, going so far as to say the Islanders are "impossible to watch," that they "really suck," are "by far the WORST team in the NHL," and my personal favorite, insulting Barry Trotz and calling him the most overrated coach in the league.
It is honestly an embarrassing piece of writing, one of the most pathetic, poorly written things I have ever read, but I should expect nothing less from a clown like that.

Quite the hack job and some obvious irrational Lou hate going on there.

Having said that, and definitely not defending the guy, there was a hell of a lot of eye-rolling and WTFs going on on this board when LL was signing the likes of VF and LK back in July, which is in large part the basis for this jokers analysis. Just sayin'.

 

[Satan'sIsland81]

My god. I want the Islanders to make the playoffs even more after reading that ****.

It is just an embarrassing troll job by a wannabe writer. But that aside I am so sick and tired of hearing this coined term of a "lucky team" now newly based on this PDO analytics. Barry Trotz himself has said that he prioritizes quality scoring chances over quantity. So someone please explain to me how a team scoring on all of its quality chances and getting a high save percentage as being lucky. How is that lucky? It makes no sense. I am so tired of this stupid analytics talks, it is just ruining sports.

 

[Big L]

Ugh. The Florida road trip. Isles never win both games.

 

[Keyserfrans]

TBH, we can't hang with TBL, unless Trotz and the guys go 100% unlike last game.

I expect a 3-1 loss, Beau scores...

 

[CREW99AW]

Trotz called the isles last game the worst of the season, said they played hard for 15 mins.

I expect a much stronger effort tonight.

Let's go Isles.

 

[norwegianislander]

This will be the toughest test so far this season. This goes a long way in telling what this team is made of. The speed of Tampa Bay killed us in the playoffs a few years ago. If we can't contain them and slow this game down, this will get ugly.

Hope Trotz gave the guys a good earful after Montreal. Going the optimistic route and say we win in OT, 3-2 good guys .

 

[pursuit81]

One of the things that might on our side tonight is that TB almost always plays to the level of their competition, which is not meant as a knock on us, but, I mean, c'mon, let's be realistic, on paper this is no contest. Still, I can see us stealing a point, maybe 2, if form holds.

 

[Kevin27NYI]

Need Barzal to step up this game. He did well last year vs them.

Also, their PK is fantastic

 

[pursuit81]

It is just an embarrassing troll job by a wannabe writer. But that aside I am so sick and tired of hearing this coined term of a "lucky team" now newly based on this PDO analytics. Barry Trotz himself has said that he prioritizes quality scoring chances over quantity. So someone please explain to me how a team scoring on all of its quality chances and getting a high save percentage as being lucky. How is that lucky? It makes no sense. I am so tired of this stupid analytics talks, it is just ruining sports.

Well, fortunately, there are no analytics in the standings, just Ws and Ls baby - oh, and OTLs, ROWs, SOWs and SOLs - well, anyway, you get my point. I think. What was it again?

 

[ScaredStreit]

One of the things that might on our side tonight is that TB almost always plays to the level of their competition, which is not meant as a knock on us, but, I mean, c'mon, let's be realistic, on paper this is no contest. Still, I can see us stealing a point, maybe 2, if form holds.

That's not true. They have the best goal differential in the East. I've seen almost every game this year and after the first few when they were clearly rusty after the summer they've been on fire.

 

[pursuit81]

That's not true. They have the best goal differential in the East. I've seen almost every game this year and after the first few when they were clearly rusty after the summer, they've been destroying teams.

I was talking historically. I watch a lot of their games too. But you are right, this year that does not seem to be the case so far. I am hoping for a reversion to form. Got to have something to hang on to.

 

[pursuit81]

Cordell's take is reasonable, given the prompt he has to select one of the teams that has a good record right now, and he provides fair reasons for why they'll have the hardest time sustaining it. Tanner's take though reeks of bias. Based on this alone, I'm guessing he's a Rangers or Leafs fan.

But also, I'm annoyed you guys got me to give hockeybuzz a click. Not worth it.

And more piling on from Jared Clinton in THN. I won't link it. The writing is terrible and he can't even get his syntax straight while taking his shots, as evidenced by this brilliant paragraph:

"One can’t help but wonder exactly how sustainable this success is, though. Are the Islanders are a team that’s for real, a competitive bunch that is going to be this season’s Vegas Golden Knights and flip the pre-season predictions on their ear in laughable fashion? Or has New York has had the kind of good fortune through the early campaign that vanishes as the season plays out? And, unfortunately for Islanders faithful, it would appear the former is much more likely that the latter."

That is a direct copy and paste. Do they not have editors at THN? In any event, the dope can't even follow his own line of reasoning.