Islanders vs. Devils [preseason game thread]

Hello fellow New York Islanders fan and/or Fanboy of Lighthouse Vampire Fiction.

This here is what we call a game thread. It’s a fresh post for chatting or previewing or GIF-ing the game of the evening. We do them for every game during the regular season and playoffs (don’t laugh, we’ve made a few), as well as for the periodic preseason game where we remember they are actually happening and the preseason is a Thing to be Taken Seriously.

Like tonight in Brooklyn, for example, where the Islanders host the Devils and their top defensive pairing with Brian Strait.

It’s customary for the home team in preseason to dress a halfway real lineup while the road team goes, “eh...let’s save our real players for a home date.” But this is particularly so when the Devils have a split-squad date with the other half of their camp in Prince Edward Island to face the Senators.

So take all of this and what happens from it as you will:

Islanders Lineup, Maybe*

Lee-Tavares-Eberle
Gionta-Nelson-Ho-Sang
Chimera-Barzal-Bernier
Kulemin-Cizikas-Clutterbuck

Leddy-Boychuk
Hickey-Mayfield
de Haan-Pelech

*Those are according to Newsday’s Arthur Staple, so believe it, man.

Devils Lineup, Probably

From Andrew Gross at The Record, who is not the Unabomber:

Brian Gibbons-Joseph Blandisi-Jimmy Hayes
Blake Pietila-Michael McLeod-Stefan Noesen
Miles Wood-Bracken Kearns-Nick Lappin
Ben Thomson-Kevin Rooney-Blake Speers

Strait-Severson
Kapla-Jacobs
White/Dyblenko-Lovejoy

In goal, Thomas Greiss and Keith Kinkaid are expected to get the full 60 minutes.

Keys to the Game

• Don’t get hurt.
• Is the ice good?
• But how did the players handle the arduous commute that a few million people make each day?

What to Watch

• Who is best at not getting hurt?
• Why is Stephen Gionta?
• Where is the best place to lodge my sixth-through-eighth defensemen complaints?

Enjoy your night, and be merry.