Ilya Sorokin will start again tonight as the Islanders host Barry’s Predators.
After starting what looked like another lost, tankable season, Nashville has rebounded a bit and is in shouting distance of the Western playoff wild card slots. But the odds are still slim and the question persists of whether they should dump assets like Ryan O’Reilly (still very useful) and Steven Stamkos (streaky, big-contract-laden) if they can.
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Tonight is the return match of the opener from that big ol’ Western road trip, where the Isles fell annoyingly in a shootout.
First Islanders Goal picks go here.
Islanders News
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Preview before the preview: Mostly stats from the past week plus Predators notes. [Isles]
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Morning preview: Casey Cizikas will return from illness, likely pushing Max Shabanov back out and they hope adding energy that was missing in the second half of the sweep of the Rangers. Also: Calum Ritchie will not return before the Olympic break. [Isles]
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(Yester)day in Isles history: Bo Horvat acquired. [Isles]
The most striking thing to me right now is Schaefer is so damn lovable that he adds fun to the rivalry but also takes some of the bite out of it, at this point. Like, the way he approaches it in a familial way makes it feel a little less vicious and kind of turns a mirror to the absurdity of us getting overly worked up about it. (This feeling will change with the first dirty hit or important meeting, if the latter ever happens again.)
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Elsewhere
Just one game in the league last night, for some reason (after 15 Thursday and before 14 today). Columbus doubled the Blackhawks.
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Nikita Tolopilo was denied a shutout due to the weird rule for that and a concussion spotter. [TSN]
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Kris Letang will be out four weeks for the Penguins, good timing with the Olympics. [NHL]
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And Jack Hughes is still being evaluated after his latest malady. [NHL]
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But Linus Ullmark is set to return for the Senators. [Sportsnet]
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Bourne: Could the Leafs plummet so well that they keep the top-five-protected pick they sent to the Bruins last year? [Sportsnet]
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