Islanders at Devils
The New Jersey Devils host the New York Islanders on Friday in a battle of Metropolitan Division rivals fighting for their playoff lives. New York plays 12 of its next 14 games on the road after a 3-2 overtime loss to Washington on Thursday and is third in the Metropolitan - two points ahead of fifth-place New Jersey, which trails Pittsburgh and Tampa Bay by one point for a wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.
"At least we got a point out of it (Thursday) so we could take something away from this game because we definitely didn't play our best game," the Islanders' Frans Nielsen told reporters after scoring his 16th goal of the season. Special teams and goaltending have kept New Jersey relevant in the postseason picture as it is one of six teams ranked in the top 10 in penalty killing and on the power play, joining Washington, St. Louis, Los Angeles, Anaheim and Boston. Corey Schneider's .928 save percentage and 2.04 goals-against average have him among the league leaders despite allowing five goals in a 6-3 loss to Philadelphia on Tuesday, snapping a string of seven games yielding two or fewer. New York has won eight of the last nine meetings, including a 4-0 triumph on Dec. 13 behind a pair of goals by former Devils defenseman Marek Zidlicky that improved it to 2-0-1 in the five-game season series.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, MSG Plus2 (New York), MSG Plus (New Jersey)
ABOUT THE ISLANDERS (30-19-7): Captain John Tavares also scored Thursday - his team-leading 22nd - and has five goals and six assists during a seven-game point streak. Defenseman Nick Leddy has a four-game point streak after recording an assist Thursday while Nielsen scored for only the second time in his last 18 contests. Kyle Okposo recorded his team-high 30th assist Thursday and has three goals and seven assists in 10 February contests, raising his point total to 45 - second-best on the team and two behind Tavares.
ABOUT THE DEVILS (29-22-7): Many believe New Jersey is overachieving and two examples can be found among its scoring leaders. Kyle Palmieri increased his career-high goal total with his team-best 21st on Tuesday - his first in 10 games - while Lee Stempniak (15 goals, club-high 40 points) is on pace for a career-best point total while already recording his most since totaling 52 in 2006-07 with St. Louis. Joseph Blandisi felt shame for his embellishment penalty after a slash by Philadelphia defenseman Andrew MacDonald on Tuesday, writing on Twitter: "Apologizing for my actions tonight, the game should never be taken advantage of like that."
OVERTIME
1. The Devils have recorded a power-play goal in four consecutive games (6-for-17).
2. New York went 0-for-2 with the man advantage Thursday, snapping a string of six straight contests with at least one power-play goal (7-for-22).
3. The Islanders are 10-5-3 versus the Metropolitan Division while the Devils are 8-9-2.