Islanders come to the nations capital to face Washington
11-2 Islanders (7-4-1) at Capitals (5-6-1)
TV Coverage: NBC Sports Washington
Last game for New York: 6-3 win vs Vegas
- John Tavares- 2 goals
- Josh Bailey- 3 assists
- Nikolay Kulemin- Goal, assist
- Jaroslav Halak- 31 saves
Last game for Washington: 2-1 lost vs Calgary
- Jakub Vrana- goal
- T.J. Oshie- assist
- Braden Holtby- 36 saves
Islanders preview-New York’s early season rise has been due to them winning 5 of its last 6 games, and the bulk of the credit goes to the top line of Anders Lee, Josh Bailey and John Tavares. In the past four games, the line has combined for 23 points (Tavares 8G-1A, Bailey 8A and Lee 1G-5A) and are a combined +10. Tavares, who is a free agent after this season, is the heart and soul of this team, and currently has 11 goals on the year, which ranks him 2nd in the league, including two hat tricks in the past four games. Bailey, ranks sixth overall in the league with 11 assists, and is 2nd on the team with 14 points and is tops on the team with a +9. Lee, has picked up 9 points in the previous five games and although he is not scoring points on the power play, as long as he is on Tavares’ line, the points could continue to add up. On defense, it is led by Nick Leddy, who quarterbacks the power play and leads all Islanders defenseman in points with 7 (1G-6A) and is a +4. In goal, I wouldn’t be surprised if New York went with Halak, who has won his last four starts, and overall is 5-2 with a 2.66 GAA. If he doesn’t start, the backup, Thomas Greiss, is 2-2-1, but with a high GAA of 3.69.
Capitals preview-Washington has been in a tailspin lately, as the team lost 2 of 3 on its western Canadian road trip, and has only scored 4 or more goals twice in their last 7 games. One big problem for the Capitals is the power play, which during the past 7 games, they are 2-19, including not scoring a goal in the last 4 games. Also, the Capitals penalty kill has hurt the club, as they currently rank 27th out of 30 teams with a 76.5% success rate.
