Islanders at Hurricanes
Less than 24 hours after squandering an opportunity to better their playoff position, the New York Islanders look to maintain their hold on the first wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference when they visit the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday. New York suffered a 7-4 loss at Tampa Bay on Friday, wasting its game in hand and remaining one point behind Pittsburgh for third place in the Metropolitan Division -- two ahead of Philadelphia in the wild-card standings.
The Islanders, who not long ago were in a battle for second in the division and home ice in the first round of the postseason, have lost seven of their last nine contests (2-5-2) and are looking over their shoulder as Philadelphia and Detroit breath down their neck. Carolina scored three goals in 98 seconds en route to a 3-2 triumph at Columbus on Thursday and seeks its second straight victory after having its playoff hopes all but dashed by a five-game slide (0-2-3). Jeff Skinner leads the Hurricanes with 25 goals but has gone seven games without a tally after netting four in as many contests. Carolina, which trails the Flyers by seven points for the second wild-card spot in the East with eight games remaining, won the first two contests of the four-game season series with the Islanders - posting an overtime victory in New York on Oct. 29 and a 6-3 triumph at home on Feb. 13.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, MSG Plus (New York), FSN Carolinas
ABOUT THE ISLANDERS (39-25-9): Brock Nelson continues to challenge for the team lead in goals, scoring his 25th of the season on Friday to pull within two of John Tavares. The captain has tallied just once in his last seven contests and will need 11 over his final nine games to match his career-high total of 38 from last season. J-F Berube likely will be in net Saturday after Thomas Greiss allowed six goals versus the Lightning en route to his fourth consecutive loss.
ABOUT THE HURRICANES (32-28-14): Patrick Brown hopes to make his season debut against the Islanders after being recalled from Charlotte of the American Hockey League on Friday. The 23-year-old center, who was signed out of Boston College as an undrafted free agent in April 2014, failed to register a point in seven games with Carolina last season. Justin Faulk, whose 12 power-play goals tie him for the league lead among defensemen with Arizona's Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Nashville captain Shea Weber, missed 12 straight games and 18 of the previous 19 with a lower-body injury before returning to the lineup on Thursday.
OVERTIME
1. Hurricanes C Jordan Staal is one tally away from joining Skinner as the only 20-goal scorers on the team.
2. New York C Frans Nielsen also needs one goal to reach 20 but is mired in a 10-game drought.
3. Skinner, Staal and C Elias Lindholm are the only members of the Hurricanes to have appeared in all 74 games this season.