Jets at Islanders
THE STORY: A four-day break came at a much-needed time for the New York Islanders, who saw a promising start to the season dulled after closing out October with five consecutive losses. The Islanders hope to avert a sixth straight defeat when they host the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday night. The Islanders were particularly rankled by their latest loss, when a blown officiating call led to a delay-of-game penalty and subsequent winning goal in overtime to give the visiting San Jose Sharks a 3-2 victory on Saturday night. Winnipeg will be playing the fourth of a season-long seven-game road trip to the East Coast that kicked off with a wild 9-8 victory at Philadelphia. The Jets squandered a four-goal lead before battling back for the victory. Winnipeg has won four of the last five meetings between the teams, including a pair of one-goal victories in both visits to Long Island last season.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, MSG+2, TSN
ABOUT THE JETS (4-6-1): The Jets dropped five of their first six games after relocating from Atlanta to Winnipeg, but have gone 2-1 on the current road trip and pulled out a 4-3 shootout win at Florida on Monday. Evander Kane scored the tying goal with 50 seconds left in regulation. The No. 4 overall pick in 2009, Kane had his fifth career two-goal game and Kyle Wellwood scored his team-high fifth goal and notched the game-winner in a shootout.
ABOUT THE ISLANDERS (3-4-2): New York has scored seven goals during its five-game skid. The Islanders have been far too reliant on its No. 1 line. John Tavares has seven of the team's league-low 18 goals. Michael Grabner is the only other player with three goals. Both scored on the power play against San Jose. Rick DiPietro made 27 saves in his first start since April 4. It was only his 40th start in four seasons.
OVERTIME:
1. Isles D Mark Streit, who missed all of last season due to injury, has seven points in his last six games.
2. Wellwood, who has already matched his goal total in 35 games with San Jose last season, has 12 points in 10 career games against the Islanders.