Minnesota Wild at New York Islanders [Game 61]

			-AT-
			1:00 PM EST
Radio	Network		Arena		Network	Radio
100.3 FM KFAN	FS-N		Barclays Center		MSG+	88.7 FM WRHU
League	Value		Metric		Value	League
12th	59.5%		Points Percentage		53.3%	20th
9th	18.18%		Net Power Play Percentage		17.11%	15th
18th	83.01%		Net Penalty Kill Percentage		76.70%	28th
13th	101.19%		Combined Special Teams Percentage		93.82%	27th
15th	2.97		Goals for per Game (All Situations)		3.33	4th
12th	2.86		Goals against per Game (All Situations)		3.57	31st
28th	-.52		Penalty +/- per Game (All Situations)		.18	11th
26th	46.87%		Shot Attempt Percentage (5V5 Score Adjusted)		46.66%	28th
16th	49.80%		Scoring Chance Percentage (5V5 Score Adjusted)		45.42%	30th
13th	100.64%		P.D.O. (5V5)		101.18%	6th
13th	7.80%		Shooting Percentage (5V5)		9.21%	3rd
8th	92.83%		Save Percentage (5V5)		91.97%	21st
Data from Hockey-Reference.com and Natural Stat Trick
The Enemies' Lair
Hockey Wilderness

The New York Islanders square off in a non-conference afternoon game with an awkward start time against the Minnesota Wild. This one is an odd choice by the N.H.L. schedule makers, but hey, fans get to enjoy some daytime hockey! Four players will get the chance to stick it to the teams that discarded them, Nick Leddy and Cal Clutterbuck for the Islanders and Nino Niederreiter and Jared Spurgeon for the Wild.

The only lineup change for the Islanders comes in net. Thomas Greiss is entirely after the best performance of his career thanks to a lower body injury. He's on I.R., Jaroslav Halak is in net, and Christopher Gibson will serve as the backup. They'll be up against Devan Dubnyk for the Wild presumably, but it has yet to be announced.

The Wild are a team that pretty much scream mediocrity across the board. Their power play is in the top ten along with their even strength save percentage, but the save percentage is bolstered by the fact that they do an exceptional job limiting shots from high-danger situations and give up a lot of low and medium danger ones instead. After adjustments, they're middle of the pack there.

With that being said, they have quite the advantage in scoring chance ratio compared to the Islanders even though they fall below 50 percent. The Islanders have had three to nothing shutouts in back to back performances, but their scoring chance ratio on the season fell in those games. The Wild are far superior to the New York Rangers and Carolina Hurricanes teams that they just beat and they'll likely need a better team effort to win this game.

Game time is at 1:00 P.M. E.S.T. The game can be seen on MSG+ in the New York metropolitan area and Fox Sports North in Minnesota.

Minnesota Wild Projected Lineup

New York Islanders Projected Lineup