Islanders vs. Maple Leafs: Welcome back, Matty Marts

Two teams with similar records (3-5-0 vs. 2-3-3) but with different outlooks (“this isn’t nearly good enough” vs. “hey, we don’t stink!”) faceoff for this month’s third and final Sunday night hockey event in Brooklyn.

This one is special if for no other reason than longtime Islander Matt Martin returns for the first time in another uniform, with nothing but great things to say.

Oh, it’s also the Isles’ first look at that Auston Matthews fella, who’s pretty good.

As bodies return to health the lines, with extras, from Saturday’s practice were:

Beauvillier-Tavares-Bailey
Chimera-Cizikas-Clutterbuck-(Kulemin)
Prince-Nelson-Ladd
Lee-Strome-Quine-(Barzal)

As for who’s in goal...well that’s always the question, isn’t it? Jaroslav Halak’s agent, Allan Walsh, he of the tweet-when-you-want-it fame, poked that nest again over the weekend, leading to reports (again) that the Islanders were (again) open to trading Halak.

Walsh is Jean-Francois Berube’s agent too, so he’s probably carefully acting for both of them in this regard. Honestly, nothing’s changed here; the Isles for whatever reason love Berube and fear losing him through waivers, yet with good reason are giving the starts to Halak and Thomas Greiss.

How to Watch

Catch this one on MSG+ and for TV, AM970, 88.7FM or 103.9FM for radio.

Follow Leafs coverage through Pension Plan Puppets.

Leave your First Islanders Goal picks over here by game time, which is 6 p.m. EDT.