The New York Islanders and the Vegas Golden Knights face off for the first time ever tonight at 7pm ET at Barclay's Center.
The Islanders, who are 2-1-0 in their last three games, will try to dethrone a Golden Knights team that is shattering records in their debut season.
"They work hard, they are well coached and they have done a good job," said Isles coach Doug Weight. "[GM] George [McPhee] has built a team of guys that have a lot to prove and guys that have skill, a solid D corps... They had a pretty good pool of players to pick from. They have a good team and are up in the top of the league for a reason - their work ethic and they're scoring some big goals."
Weight also added that Jaroslav Halak will start in net tonight, and that the Isles will use the same lineup from their most recent contest, a win over the Nashvile Predators over the weekend.
"[Vegas has] a good squad. A lot of teams maybe underestimate them and I don't think they will now," said Isles forward Jordan Eberle, who scored his first goal as an Islander in the win over the Preds. "They are off to a great start. We have to be ready and we have to be at our best and match the effort that we gave in Nashville."
ISLANDERS PROJECTED LINES
Forwards:
Lee-Tavares-Bailey
Nelson-Barzal-Everle
Ladd-Cizikas-Chimera
Kulemin-Beauvillier-Clutterbuck
Defense:
Leddy-Boychuk
De Haan-Seidenberg
Pelech-Pulock
Goaltender:
Halak
GOLDEN KNIGHTS PROJECTED LINES
Forwards:
Perron-Eakin-Neal
Marchessault-Karlsson-Smith
Haula-Lindberg-Tuch
Carrier-Edouard-Nosek
Defensemen:
Schmidt-Sbisa
McNabb-Engelland
Miller-Theodore
Goaltender:
Dansk
RAISING THE BAR(ZAL)
20 year-old rookie Mathew Barzal scored his first NHL point on Oct. 15 at LAK and followed it up with his first NHL goal on Thursday night at Madison Square Garden. Barzal became the fifth Islander to score his first NHL goal at MSG vs the Rangers. Barzal posted a three-game point streak (1G,2A) from Oct. 15-21 and has posted six points in his last six games (2G, 4A). Barzal recorded his first multi-point game on Oct. 26 at MIN.
HOW THE WEST WAS WON
The Islanders are 23-4-4 all-time vs. Western Conference opponents at Barclay Center. Starting on Oct. 21 vs SJS, the Islanders will play 9 of their next 10 games against Western Conference teams (five at home). This season the Islanders are 2-0-1 against the West at home.
WEIGHING-IN
In Saturday night's win over the Predators in Nashville, Head coach, Doug Weight became the fastest Islanders coach to 30 wins (51 games) beating Peter Laviolette (60 games) and Ted Nolan (61 games). Weight is 30-16-5 as the Islanders head coach.
THREES COMPANY
The Islanders are 6-1-0 when scoring at least three goals (including SO winners). They are 0-3-1 when they do not hit the three-goal mark.
BACK-TO-BACKS
The Islanders will play 16 sets of back-to-backs this season. The Islanders are 1-1-0 in front ends of back-tobacks and 1-1-0 in back ends. Their next back-to-back set will be Nov. 10-11 at Dallas and San Jose.
SHOOT-OUT HEROES
The Islanders improved to 72-57 all-time in the shootout with their SO win Thursday vs. the Rangers. Their 72 SO wins are second in the league only behind Pittsburgh (73).
IRONMEN
Jason Chimera is the Islanders reigning ironman with 199 consecutive games played (106 w/ WSH, 93 with NYI). Jordan Eberle is second with 162 straight games (151 with EDM w/ NYI). Josh Bailey holds the longest ironman streak in an Isles uniform (160).
BENCH BOSSES
Doug Weight was named interim head coach of the New York Islanders on January 17, 2017, and became the 19th Head Coach in Islanders history. The Islanders went 24-12-4 in 40 games under Weight. On April 12 the ‘interim’ tag was removed. Weight promoted Greg Cronin to associate coach and named Kelly Buchberger, Luke Richardson, Scott Gomez and Fred Brathwaite to his coaching staff over the summer. Weight, Cronin, Buchberger and Richardson will coach from the benches in-game.
THE OPPOSITION
With Friday’s victory over the Colorado Avalanche, the Golden Knights became the first club in the 100-year history of the NHL to win eight of its first nine games in its inaugural season. The win gave Vegas its fifth straight victory which matched the longest winning streak by a team at any point in its inaugural NHL season, joining the 1926-27 Rangers and 1979-80 Oilers.
The Golden Knights also became the first expansion team in NHL history to start with a 3-0-0 record, besting the Oakland Seals and Los Angeles Kings who both started the 1967-68 season with a 2-0-1 record.
Goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, defenseman Clayton Stoner and goaltender Malcolm Subban are on the injured reserve list.
Since being forced into action after injuries to Fleury and Subban, Dansk has played phenomenally and was named the NHL's second star for the week after going 2-0-0 with a 1.00 goals-against average, .968 save percentage and one shutout. He has a 3-0-0 record on the year and he leads the league with a 1.34 goals-against-average and .959 save percentage. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, no other goaltender in the NHL's expansion era (since 1967) has won his first three games playing for a first-year team.
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