Los Angeles Kings at New York Islanders [Game 51]

The New York Islanders are back on Nassau Veteran Memorial Coliseum for the second time in two nights as they take on the the last place Los Angeles Kings. This is a schedule loss for the Islanders, but the Kings are an extremely bad hockey team. The Islanders are coming off of a shutout one to nothing loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The Islanders are playing their second game in two nights after the bye week while the Kings have not played since the January 21st. The Islanders are bizarrely good in back-to-back games however and once again the Kings do not present the same challenge as the Lightning did. Jonathan Quick will be in net, but he’s been relatively mortal this year even when he is healthy.

Meanwhile the Islanders will turn to Robin Lehner for tonight’s contest. Greiss was stellar once again last night as he didn’t give up any goals until the shootout and has allowed one goal in his last 99 shots. Lehner has been stellar in his own right and the Islanders are incredibly fortunate to have two goalies that are well above replacement level on their roster going back and forth.

No lineup changes are projected for tonight’s game, but that could always change given the nature of these back-to-back contests. Assuming the lineups stay the same, that would leave Tom Kuhnhackl, Ross Johnston, and Luca Sbisa as the healthy scratches tonight. While the Islanders have done quite well and support that first place ranking, the power play has been a concern and they may need to make a change if they truly wish to be contenders.

Puck drop is at 7:00 P.M. E.S.T.