Boston Bruins at New York Islanders [Game 40]

			-AT-
			7:00 PM EST
Radio	Network		Arena		Network	Radio
98.5 FM WBZ	NESN		Barclays Center		MSG+	88.7 FM WRHU
League	Value		Metric		Value	League
7th	64.9%		Points Percentage		56.4%	16th
11th	17.07%		Net Power Play Percentage		15.15%	18th
8th	85.71%		Net Penalty Kill Percentage		77.31%	31st
10th	102.79%		Combined Special Teams Percentage		92.46%	27th
10th	3.08		Goals for per Game (All Situations)		3.49	3rd
4th	2.54		Goals against per Game (All Situations)		3.56	31st
11th	.30		Penalty +/- per Game (All Situations)		.33	8th
3rd	53.61%		Shot Attempt Percentage (5V5 Score Adjusted)		48.71%	20th
3rd	54.05%		Scoring Chance Percentage (5V5 Score Adjusted)		47.16%	26th
7th	101.02%		P.D.O. (5V5)		100.93%	10th
13th	8.00%		Shooting Percentage (5V5)		9.34%	2nd
4th	93.02%		Save Percentage (5V5)		91.60%	28th
Data from Hockey-Reference.com and Natural Stat Trick
The Enemies' Lair
Stanley Cup of Chowder

The New York Islanders take to the ice for the first time in 2018 and look to leave their December woes behind them. The Islanders played some awful hockey in the month of December, none of it worse than their last game against the Colorado Avalanche, a lottery team that wound up getting the shot attempt advantage by 16 percent after score adjustments who ultimately downed the Islanders by a score of six to one. Their Opponents tonight - the Boston Bruins - are a much better team and they'll need to be much better if they hope to win.

The Islanders will see some new blood in the lineup for the second game in a row. Tanner Fritz will make his NHL debut as they try to sure up the third line. It is an interesting choice to say the least - the undrafted free agent performed well in Bridgeport, but not better than Joshua Ho-Sang who continues to produce at nearly a point-per-game pace despite getting put on the third line at times. With that being said, there's still an open roster spot since Anthony Beauvillier and Steve Bernier were sent down, so that may be a sign of things to come.

Sebastian Aho is back in the lineup, but the pairings have been shuffled a bit. He'll play on the left side of Thomas Hickey while Adam Pelech will be moved back to the right side. Pelech had been playing considerably better on the left hand side, so hopefully his performance doesn't take too much of a hit.

Jaroslav Halak will be back in net for tonight's contest after getting pulled at the end of the second period on New Years Eve. Tuukka Rask gets the nod for Boston. Halak has had the better five-on-five numbers this year, but Rask was incredibly good in the month of December - as a matter of fact he had the best five-on-five save percentage out of all starting goalies.

One thing to watch for will be how the Islanders treat Brad Marchand. Marchand took some liberties with John Tavares in their last contest and suffered no consequences as Tavares wasn't injured. Many feel that the Department of Player Safety dropped the ball on that one including an obviously-frustrated Doug Weight and there could be some shenanigans because of it.

Tonight's game will be found on MSG+. Puck drop is at its standard 7:05 P.M. E.S.T. time.

Boston Bruins Lineup

New York Islanders Lineup