Devils at Islanders
THE STORY: The New York Islanders have hit a bit of a rough patch lately. The club has dropped three straight and 13 of its last 15 to fall into last place in the Atlantic Division. New York owns the lowest point total in the Eastern Conference but stayed a point ahead of the Columbus Blue Jackets in the race to avoid the worst record in the NHL when it earned a point Wednesday with a 4-3 overtime loss to the Philadelphia Flyers. After being shutout by a combined 11-0 in the previous two games, the Islanders scored all three of their goals in the first period on Wednesday. The New Jersey Devils will try to take advantage of struggling New York when they visit Long Island on Friday. The Devils did the Islanders a favor on Wednesday when they topped Columbus, 2-1, in a shootout.
TV: 3 p.m. ET, MSG+2, MSG+
ABOUT THE DEVILS (11-8-1): New Jersey has been on a tear recently, winning seven of its last 10 games as the offense rounds into form and goaltender Martin Brodeur gets healthy. The Devils have averaged 3.1 goals in their last 10 games after posting an average of 2.3 through their first 10. Dainius Zubrus scored the lone regulation tally on Wednesday while Ilya Kovalchuk and Zach Parise each scored in the shootout. Zubrus has recorded at least one point in eight of the last nine games.
ABOUT THE ISLANDERS (5-10-4): New York had nothing but misfortune in its two games prior to the Philadelphia tilt, running into the hottest team in the NHL in the Boston Bruins before heading to Pittsburgh just in time for Sidney Crosby’s season debut. Things did not go so well in that stretch but the Islanders showed some fight on Wednesday, jumping out to a 3-1 lead in the first period. They went on to allow unanswered goals in the second and third before falling in overtime.
OVERTIME:
1. Kyle Okposo scored his first two goals of the season for the Islanders on Wednesday.
2. Martin Brodeur is 48-25-4-2 with a 2.23 goals-against average in 81 career games against New York.
3. New Jersey has taken the last four meetings in the series.