NEW YORK ISLANDERS (42-23-7) VS BOSTON BRUINS (43-20-9) @7PM
Sorry there was no thread on Sunday but had to head to the Barclays with my daughter to watch my college play in the finals of the A-10. Like a punch to the gut we missed a game winning 3 that would have sent us to the dance. Have to admit Sunday night and yesterday were tough days to focus. Just horrible feeling.
That said, Welcome back to 1st place Islander fans. We also currently hold the tie breaker over the Caps. How long we stay there depends on the effort out of our boys tonight. We need a solid effort. This is a playoff game basically, against one of the top teams in the division. We have played them well so far this year win no wins to show for it. This would be a huge confidence boost for this team with a regulation win tonight. We have to re-establish our home ice advantage especially against the Bruins. Tuukka Rask has had our number he does not give up many goals to us. I would love to see us net 4 or 5 against him to build our confidence. Casey is a game time decision but we better play a better game than we played Sunday or we will be run out of The Barn. We scored our 1st PP goal in 12 games against the Wild and we also gave up 2 PP goals the 1st ones in 8 games. We had 6 penalties and 11 in the 8 games before that. We need to stay out of the box tonight as Boston's PP is lethal.
After missing two games with a lower-body injury, Casey Cizikas will a game-time decision on Tuesday night. Johnny Boychuk is healthy, but will likely not play, as Barry Trotz opts to stick with his current defensive arrangement. Robin Lehner was the first goalie off the ice, but there is no official word on the Islanders starter.
CIZIKAS A GAME-TIME DECISION:
Casey Cizikas was a late scratch on Saturday afternoon, leaving warmups with a lower-body strain in Detroit. The ailment kept him out of Sunday's game as well, but he could return on Tuesday, as he's a game-time decision according to Barry Trotz.
"I felt good out there today," Cizikas said. "Today was the first day where I actually pushed it on the ice a little bit and I felt good. I felt a lot better than I thought I would."
Cizikas was given a maintenance day by Trotz last Friday, after the coach said his energetic center's tank was running low. That combined with the strain kept Cizikas out for the two games, with Leo Komarov taking his place between Matt Martin and Cal Clutterbuck.
If Cizikas returns, the Islanders will get their third-leading goal scorer back, as Cizikas has 19 tallies this season, doubling his previous career high. The Islanders will also get one of their top penalty killers back if Cizikas plays.
GREISS GETS LEAGUE RECOGNITION:
Robin Lehner's turnaround has garnered a lot of attention around the NHL this season - and rightfully so. Thomas Greiss' spectacular season has flown a little more under the radar, but on Monday, Greiss was in the NHL spotlight, earning first star of the week honors.
"I'm happy about it, but it's more of a team thing," Greiss said. "The guys have played really well in the last couple of weeks, so it's a great team honor and I'm happy I got it."
The Islanders goaltender posted a 3-1-0 record with a .959SV%, a 1.25 GAA and a shutout throughout those four games. During that stretch, the German netminder led the NHL in wins (3), shots faced (121) and saves (116).
After posting a 3.82 GAA and .892 SV% last season, Greiss is fourth in the NHL with a 2.21 GAA and a .928 SV%, along with a career-high five shutouts.
"It's well deserved," captain Anders Lee said of Greiss' star honor. "Both of our goalies have gotten some well-deserved recognition and now it's Greisser's turn. He's the reason we had a great week. Those two guys have done a great job carrying us."
PASTRNAK LIKELY TO RETURN FOR BRUINS:
David Pastrnak is likely to return to the Bruins lineup after missing 16 games with a thumb injury, but is officially listed as a game-time decision. Pastrnak has 66 points (31G, 35A) in 56 games this season and is still tied for the Bruins goal scoring lead despite missing the last 16 contests.
Thomas Griess career, has gone 2-3 with a 1.63 GAA against the Bruins. New York has gone 22-15 here at home for the year and they have averaged 2.89 gpg and have allowed 2.30 gpg in those games. The Islanders check in ranked 26th in power play conversions at 15.3% and 12th in penalty kill at 81.0%. Tuukka Rask career record vs. the Islanders is 14-5 and a GAA of 2.08. the Bruins PP is 3rd best in the league and they have the 11th best PK. Bruins have lost 3 of their last 4 on the road.
We have some trends going against us in this game, maybe we can get a little extra puck luck.
We are 2-5 in our last 7 games following a win and the Bruins are 23-6 in their last 29 games after 2 days rest. Tonight is the night to change some of these trends.
GO ISLES!!!!!!
