Islanders at Bruins: MLK Day in Boston

The New York Islanders finish a good-and-bad three-game road trip today in Boston with a matinee against the Bruins. Will it offer more of the good, like Friday’s 5-2 (EN) win over the Panthers, or the bad ugly, like Saturday’s 4-7 implosion against the Hurricanes?

I know where you’re placing your bets.

The Islanders blueline was without both Travis Hamonic and Johnny Boychuk for the loss in Carolina, and it showed. Not that the defensive meltdown over the final two periods was on rookies Adam Pelech or Scott Mayfield, but the entire game had the look of a team overwhelmed by the Hurricanes offense and counterattack.

The Bruins expect to be without defenseman Kevan Miller, who was concussed Saturday in their big win over the Flyers. Brad Marchand had five points in that game.

Trivia

As Eric Hornick noted in The Skinny, Saturday was Josh Bailey’s 598th game, passing Kenny Jonsson for 13th on the Isles’ all-time games played list.

Bits

Afternoon start, so some reading you may have missed:

• Andrew Ladd on liking the Island and adjusting to the Isles. [NY Times]
• The Baby Isles beat the Baby Bruins after a rare video review after time had expired in the second period. Also, Josh Ho-Sang was back in the lineup after one-game punishment. [CT Post]
• Stephon Williams talked about the win, and Ho-Sang elaborated on how his tardy happened (snow, traffic) and conceded it doesn’t really matter why. [Soundin’ Off]
• Showing no hangover from the WJC gold medal loss, Mathew Barzal picked up where he left off with WHL Seattle. [MyNorthwest]

Details

For those of you outside the U.S., today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a federal holiday, as the civil rights leader was kind of a big deal in American history.

Leave your First Islanders Goal picks here by game time, which is 1 p.m.

This one’s on MSG+, NESN, Sportsnet and the Isles radio network.