New York Islanders at Columbus Blue Jackets [Game 32]

			-AT-
			7:00 PM EST
Radio	Network		Arena		Network	Radio
88.7 FM WRHU	MSG+		Nationwide Arena		FSOH	97.1 FM WBNS
League	Value		Metric		Value	League
13th	59.7%		Points Percentage		62.9%	9th
27th	12.38%		Net Power Play Percentage		5.75%	30th
30th	77.89%		Net Penalty Kill Percentage		85.19%	11th
31st	90.28%		Combined Special Teams Percentage		90.93%	28th
2nd	3.55		Goals for per Game (All Situations)		2.84	22nd
28th	3.39		Goals against per Game (All Situations)		2.58	5th
7th	.32		Penalty +/- per Game (All Situations)		.19	10th
17th	49.87%		Shot Attempt Percentage (5V5 Score Adjusted)		52.58%	7th
19th	48.55%		Scoring Chance Percentage (5V5 Score Adjusted)		52.85%	7th
8th	101.38%		P.D.O. (5V5)		100.15%	15th
2nd	9.59%		Shooting Percentage (5V5)		7.46%	20th
22nd	91.79%		Save Percentage (5V5)		92.69%	10th
Data from Hockey-Reference.com and Natural Stat Trick
The Enemies' Lair
The Cannon

The New York Islanders are set to face off against a team that beat them five to nothing in their previous matchup for the second night in a row. Their attempts at retribution against the Dallas Stars went abhorrently last night as Dallas took a five to nothing lead, eventually downing the Islanders by a score of five to two. They'll have to be much better tonight if they hope to beat the Columbus Blue Jackets who sit atop the crazy Metropolitan division.

A key component to watch in this one will be a battle of futility - the Islanders penalty kill has been atrocious for the first three eights of the season while the Blue Jackets are just +5 in 87 power play opportunities. Something has to give there and it that could look really ugly. Beyond that, the Blue Jackets have had the better possession play on the year and have the benefit of a night's rest while the Islanders had to travel this morning instead of last night since their plane broke down which basically describes how things have been going for the Islanders as of late. They have gotten by so far this season by their terrific P.D.O. and as that regressed over the past few weeks, so has their record.

For the second night in a row the Islanders have a player returning from an injury; last night Johnny Boychuk returned and displaced Dennis Seidenberg while tonight Alan Quine comes in to displace Anthony Beauvillier. While going from Seidenberg to Boychuk is quite the upgrade, the move from Beauvillier to Quine is anything but as Quine brings his -10.58% relative Corsi percentage in five-on-five score adjusted situations with him - that's third worst out of all forwards with at least 100 minutes played and that comes with a 409 player sample size. Hopefully Doug Weight mixes the defensive pairings up as the decision to play the two righties in Ryan Pulock and Scott Mayfield together proved to be disastrous and could have easily been avoided by splitting up the two lefties in Calvin de Haan and Adam Pelech.

Thomas Greiss gets the call in net tonight since it's the second of a back to back. He'll square off against Sergei Bobrovsky for Columbus. The puck drops at 7:05 P.M. E.S.T. and can be seen on MSG+.

Columbus Blue Jackets Lineup

New York Islanders Lineup