NEW YORK ISLANDERS (10-6-2) AT TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING (15-2-2)
7 P.M. AMALIE ARENA
TV: MSG+ MSG GO
RADIO: 88.7FM, 101.9FM, 660AM
The Islanders and the Lightning are playing their first of three meetings this season and first of two at AMALIE Arena. The two teams will play again in 17 days (Dec. 5) in Tampa.
A win tonight will not be easy, and the Isles know it.
"The key tonight's isn't going to be who scores the most goals, it's going to be who plays well defensively," said Isles forward Jordan Eberle. "We have to be ready to do that."
The Islanders are 2-1-0 in their last three games.
LINEUP NOTES
Greiss in goal: Isles coach Doug Weight said on Saturday morning that Thomas Greiss will start in goal for the team on Saturday In nine appearances in 2017-17, Greiss is 5-2-2 with a 3.37 GAA, and a .902 SV%.
Forwards and D: Weight also said that the Isles defensive pairings for Saturday will stay the same as from the team's last outing, but that the Isles' forwars pairings are to be decided later.
Tampa's Starter: Andrei Vasilevsky is expected to start in goal for the Lightning. He leads the NHL this season with 14 wins and has won 4-straight starts and is 13-0-1 over last 14.
ISLANDERS PROJECTED LINEUP
(Subject to Change)
FORWARDS
LW-C-RW
Les-Tavares-Bailey
Ladd-Barzal-Eberle
Beauvillier-Nelson-HoSang
Chimera-Cizikas-Clutterbuck
DEFENSE
Leddy-Boychuk
DeHaan-Pelech
Hickey-Pulock
LIGHTNING PROJECTED LINEUP
(Subject To Change)
FORWARDS
LW-C-RW
Namestnikov-Stamkos-Kucherov
Palat-Point-Gourde
Kunitz-Brown-Callahan
Killorn-Johnson
DEFENSE
Hedman-Dotchin
Sergachev-Stralman
Coburn-Girardi
Sustr
BRAVO, JOHNNY
John Tavares' 13 goal mark is good for second in the NHL. Two weeks ago, Islanders captain Tavares earned the NHL's top honors as First Star of the Week for the week ending on Oct. 29 after recording two hat tricks in three games. Tavares joined Mike Bossy and Ziggy Palffy as the only Islanders to score two hat tricks in a span of three games or fewer. Tavares is now tied for third in Islanders franchise history with eight career hat tricks.
JOSH'IN AROUND
Isles' veteran forward, Josh Bailey is off to a hot start in the 2017-18 campaign. On Nov. 6, Bailey was named the No. 2 Star of the week for the week ending on Nov. 5. Bailey, the Islanders longest active tenured player, saw his career-long nine game point streak come to an end on Tuesday vs. EDM. Bailey's three helpers on Oct. 30 vs. VGK made him the first Islander to post at least 11 assists in the month of October since 1997 (Robert Reichel, 12).
HOW THE WEST WAS WON
The Islanders are 25-4-5 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 4-0-2 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 34-18-6 as the Islanders head coach.
THREES COMPANY
The Islanders are 10-2-0 when scoring at least three goals (including SO winners). They are 0-4-2 when they do not hit the three-goal mark.
IRONMEN
Jason Chimera is the Islanders reigning ironman with 206 consecutive games played (106 w/ WSH, 100 with NYI). Jordan Eberle is second with 169 straight games (151 with EDM). Josh Bailey holds the longest ironman streak in an Isles uniform (167).
MOVING ON UP
John Tavares continues to move up the Islanders record books this season. So far this season, Tavares (605 GP, 248 G, 308A, 556P) has passes both Garry Howatt (596) and John Tonelli (594) in games played for the franchise. He also passed Bob Nystrom (235) and Bob Bourne (238) in goals, Boune in assists (304) and Bourne (542) and Tonelli (544) in points.
THE OPPOSITION
Tampa Bay continues to pace the NHL for wins (15), points (32), points percentage (.842) and goal differential (+30). The Lightning areoff to their best start in franchise history with 32 points and a 15-2-2 record through 19 games, four points better than the 28 put up bythe 2013-14 (14-5-0) and 2014-15 (13-4-2) teams through 19 games. Tampa Bay's 15-2-2 record and .842 points percentage is thebest in the NHL through 19 games since Chicago started the 2012-13 season with a 16-0-3 record and .921 points percentage.
The Bolts lead the NHL for goals per game 4.00 and are tied for second in the Leauge for goals allowed per game at 2.42 (no other NHLteam ranks in the top 8 in both categories). Tampa Bay is on a season-long five-game winning streak and has outscored opponents22-9 over that stretch.
Tampa Bay has nine players currently with 10 or more points, tied with CHI, PIT and TOR for most in the NHL. The Lightning have scored five or more goals eight times this year, tied with the Islanders for most in the League...The Bolts have netted a power-play goal in 16 of 19 games this season and pace the NHL for power-play markers (21).
The Lightning have three players -- Anton Stralman (+15), Steven Stamkos (+13) and Nikita Kucherov (+12) -- in the top 10 in the NHL for plus/minus.
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