The New York Islanders and Tampa Bay Lightning are each making an attempt to cement themselves as contenders regardless of the absence of a number of key gamers.
They are going to proceed their struggle for the highest spot within the Jap Convention on Saturday afternoon when the Islanders host the Lightning in Elmont, N.Y.
Each groups have been off Friday after incomes lopsided victories Thursday night time, when the Islanders beat the Anaheim Geese 5-2 and the visiting Lightning defeated the New Jersey Devils 8-4.
The Islanders’ fifth win of their final six video games was marred by the lack of main scorer Bo Horvat, who did not return after he acquired a lower-body harm whereas tousled with Geese defenseman Drew Helleson within the second interval.
Head coach Patrick Roy mentioned following apply Friday that Horvat, who has 19 objectives and 31 factors, is day-to-day.
The Islanders misplaced defenseman Alexander Romanov (shoulder) and proper winger Kyle Palmieri (torn ACL) to season-ending accidents final month. However New York is 7-4-1 since Romanov was injured and is 5-2-0 with out Palmieri. The latter stretch consists of two wins over the Lightning.
The Islanders, who completed twelfth within the Jap Convention final yr, have 39 factors — one fewer than the East co-leading Carolina Hurricanes and Washington Capitals, every of whom additionally play Saturday.
“We have misplaced some extraordinarily key gamers and we proceed to only push by,” mentioned Islanders captain Anders Lee, who had two objectives and two assists Thursday. “There is a purpose why it is so robust to get in (the playoffs). Issues like this occur and adversity occurs. It is virtually somewhat little bit of a struggle of attrition in approach proper now. We’re plugging the holes.”
Determining a option to win at lower than full power is nothing new for the Lightning, who rolled to victory Thursday hours after putting defenseman and captain Victor Hedman on injured reserve. Hedman went down with an undisclosed harm in Tuesday’s 6-1 win over the Montreal Canadiens. He additionally missed 12 video games from Nov. 12-Dec. 4 with an undisclosed harm.
Hedman is joined on injured reserve by defensemen Erik Cernak and Ryan McDonagh in addition to goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy. All 4 have been a part of the Lightning’s back-to-back Stanley Cup winners in 2020 and 2021, when Tampa Bay survived six- and seven-game collection, respectively, towards the Islanders to succeed in the Stanley Cup Ultimate.
The Lightning are 10-6-0 with out McDonagh, who final performed Nov. 8, and 6-4-0 with out Cernak, who hasn’t suited up since Nov. 22. Tampa Bay is 2-3-0 with out Vasilevskiy in web, however has gained its final two video games.
This week’s highway wins over the Canadiens and Devils adopted a four-game dropping streak for the Lightning, who’re tied with the Boston Bruins atop the Atlantic Division with 38 factors.
“Simply completely happy that we have been capable of cease that skid,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper mentioned. “As a result of it is robust — you lose 4 in a row, no matter small little lead you had is gone. So to leap on the highway right here and decide a pair up is nice.”
–Area Degree Media
