Tuesday, November 7, 2017

GAMEDAY: Eberle, Strome face former teams when Isles host Oilers

NEW YORK ISLANDERS (8-5-1) VS EDMONTON OILERS (4-8-1)

7 P.M. - BARCLAYS CENTER

TV: MSG+, MSG GO

RADIO: 88.7FM - WRHU, AM970 - The Answer, 103.9FM - LI News

Islanders forward Jordan Eberle and Oilers forward Ryan Strome are expected to face their former team for the first time since being traded for each other on June 22 when the Isles take on the Edmonton Oilers at Barclays Center on Tuesday night.

"There's a lot of excitement. There's a little more incentive to win," Eberle said. "You're going to play a team that you played for for a long time, so it'll be a good game and I'm looking forward to it."

Eberle – who recorded 165-217—382 in 507 games across seven seasons with Edmonton – ranks fifth among Islanders skaters with 4-7—11 in 14 games this season.

"I enjoyed my time there. They gave me a chance to start and gave me an opportunity and I went from there," Eberle said.


Strome – who registered 45-81—126 in 258 games with the Islanders across four seasons – has five points (2-3—5 in 13 GP) for the Oilers in 2017-18.

"Obviously a lot of mixed feelings, especially seeing some friends last night brings back a lot of good memories," Strome said. "All in all it's been good. Great staff here, great teammates and everyone has made the transition pretty easy."

LINEUP NOTES

Greiss in goal: Thomas Greiss gets his second straight start for the Islanders. Greiss made 31 saves in his last outing, a 6-4 win over the Colorado Avalanche. Greiss is 4-0-2 with a 1.21 goals-against average and a .952 save percentage in six games against the Oilers. 

Hickey in, Seidenbreg out: Doug Weight is only making one change to his lineup, inserting Thomas Hickey and extracting Dennis Seidenberg. Hickey gets back into the lineup after sitting out Sunday's game. 

ISLANDERS PROJECTED LINES

FORWARDS

LW-C-RW

Lee-Tavares-Bailey
Ladd-Barzel-Eberle
Beauvillier-Nelson-Chimera
Kulemin-Cizikas-Clutterbuck

DEFENSE

Leddy-Boychuck
de Haan-Mayfield
Hickey-Pulock

OILERS PROJECTED LINES

FORWARDS

LW-C-RW

Maroon-McDavid-Draisaitl
Lucic-Nugent Hopkins-Slepyshev
Caggiula-Strome-Jokinee
Pakarinen-Letestu-Kassian

DEFENSE

Nurse-Larsson
Klefbom-Benning
Russell-Gryba

BRAVO, JOHNNY

Last Monday, Islanders captain John Tavares earned the NHL's top honors as First Star of the Week for the week ending on Oct. 29. On Tuesday, Tavares recorded his first hat trick of the season against the Arizona Coyotes then followed it up on Saturday in Nashville when Tavares recorded the second natural hat trick of his career, scoring three goals in the third period and once again being named the game's No. 1 Star in the club’s 6-2 win over the Predators. 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.

RAISING THE BAR(ZAL)

20 year-old rookie Mathew Barzal stayed hot on Sunday when he set an Islanders franchise rookie record with five assists in the game. Barzal is currently riding a five-game point streak and has posted 10 points over that five-game stretch.

JOSH'IN AROUND

Isles' veteran forward, Josh Bailey is off to a hot start in the 2017-18 campaign. On Monday, Bailey was named the No. 2 Star of the week for the week ending on Nov. 5. Bailey, the Islanders longest active tenured player, is currently riding a nine-game point streak, good for current longest in the NHL and of Bailey's career. Bailey's 15 assists ranks first on the Islanders and top 3 in the League. 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 25-4-4 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 4-0-1 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 32-17-5 as the Islanders head coach.

THREES COMPANY

The Islanders are 8-2-0 when scoring at least three goals (including SO winners). They are 0-3-1 when they do not hit the three-goal mark.

IRONMEN

Jason Chimera is the Islanders reigning ironman with 202 consecutive games played (106 w/ WSH, 96 with NYI). Jordan Eberle is second with 165 straight games (151 with EDM). Josh Bailey holds the longest ironman streak in an Isles uniform (163).

MOVING ON UP

John Tavares continues to move up the Islanders record books this season. So far this season, Tavares (601 GP, 247 G, 308A, 555P) 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

• Zack Kassian is one point from reaching 100 career NHL points.

• Talbot is two games from reaching 200 career NHL games.

• The Oilers rank second in the NHL with an average of 37.8 shots per game.

• The Oilers have had a lead or been tied after two periods in eight of their first 13 games.

• The 2-0 loss on Nov. 5 to Detroit marked the first time the Oilers had been shut out at home since Ottawa defeated the Oilers 2-0 on Oct. 30, 2016.

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