Tampa Bay Lightning at New York Islanders: GAME #13
Time: 7:00 pm Eastern Time
Location: Long Island… Brooklyn? New York, New York? This location no meaning. New York.
Broadcast/Streaming: Fox Sports SUN
Opponent SBNation Site: Lighthouse Hockey
There aren’t many teams with bad fancy stats but a good record to start the season, but the Tampa Bay Lightning and New York Islanders are both examples of it. Both the Bolts and Isles have struggled to create shots for themselves and stop their opponents from getting them at the other end. Both are in the bottom third of the league in shot attempts, with the Isles below everyone but the New York Rangers.
The Lightning have relied mostly on their ability to create better chances with their skill and finish with a strong shooting percentage, but there are obvious holes that need to be filled on offense and defense.
For the Islanders, they have the fourth best team save percentage of the season so far. Last year, they were the improbable success story that rode a high save percentage and decent shot against results to getting swept in the second round. At least they made it that far. This season, it’s much of the same, with the team struggling massively in generating shots, but maintaining a strong record on the back of their goalie tandem and special teams. So far, so good, but the question as to whether this is a sustainable method of winning remains.
Injuries
Just to catch everyone up, Brayden Point is good to go, phew, after being a game-time decision ahead of the game against the Rangers. Anthony Cirelli is good for his second game of the week. He missed the Rangers game but played against the New Jersey Devils. Victor Hedman and Pat Maroon have been out since the first period against the Rangers and remain that way. Erik Cernak is hopeful to play according to Jon Cooper.
With Brayden Point and Anthony Cirelli both healthy, Conacher returns to #SyrCrunch https://t.co/W1tux8z2cG
— Bryan Burns (@BBurnsNHL) October 31, 2019
Matt Martin and Tom Kuhnhackl are both on the Injured Reserve right now for the Islanders, while Anthony Beauvillier, Noah Dobson, and Leo Komarov are all unlikely to play as a result of sicknesses. Something going around?
#Isles say Anthony Beauvillier is sick. Sick list grows to three, along with Dobson and Komarov.
— Andrew Gross (@AGrossNewsday) October 31, 2019
Tampa Bay Lightning
Forward Lines
Alexander Volkov – Steven Stamkos – Nikita Kucherov
Ondrej Palat – Brayden Point – Tyler Johnson
Alex Killorn – Anthony Cirelli – Mathieu Joseph
Yanni Gourde – Cedric Paquette – Carter Verhaeghe
Defense Pairings
Ryan McDonagh – Luke Schenn
Mikhail Sergachev – Kevin Shattenkirk
Braydon Coburn – Jan Rutta
Goaltenders
Andrei Vasilevskiy
Curtis McElhinney
New York Islanders
Forward Lines
Anders Lee – Mathew Barzal – Josh Bailey
Anthony Beauvillier* – Brock Nelson – Derick Brassard
Ross Johnston – Otto Koivula – Oliver Wahlstrom
Michael Dal Colle – Casey Cizikas – Cal Clutterbuck
Cole Bardreau – Andrew (not Hardev) Ladd
Defense Pairings
Nick Leddy – Johnny Boychuk
Adam Pelech – Ryan Pulock
Devon Toews – Scott Mayfield
Goalies
Thomas Greiss
Semyon Varlamov
