Preview: New York Islanders Visit Boston Bruins

The New York Islanders will look to avenge their poor effort in a 5-2 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs Tuesday night when they head to TD Garden for a showdown against the Boston Bruins. The Islanders who currently sit at 4-2 on the season have lost their last two games after winning their first four. The Bruins who stand at 4-4 have won their last two games beating the Buffalo Sabres and the San Jose Sharks.

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The storyline in this one will certainly be the return of Johnny Boychuk and Chad Johnson who played with the Bruins last season. Johnson, in his lone season with the Bruins, served as the team’s back-up goaltender and played extremely well going 17-4-3 with a 2.10 goals-against average and a save percentage of .925. On the other hand, Johnny Boychuk’s return to B Town will be very emotional for the defenseman who spent six seasons with the Bruins and was loved by the fans and media. Boychuk will almost certainly get a nice video on the scoreboard and a warm ovation from the fan base he helped bring a Stanley Cup to in 2011.

Oct 18, 2014; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Pittsburgh Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury (29) defends the net on a shot by New York Islanders defenseman Johnny Boychuk (55) during the second period at the CONSOL Energy Center. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

We will most likely see Johnson get his second start of the season in goal in the wake of Jaroslav Halak’s poor performance Tuesday in which he let up five goals before being benched for the 3^rd period. We will also most likely be seeing the season debut of Anders Lee who was called up after Colin McDonald was waived by the team today. Lee who was reminds some of a young Matt Moulson, had 9 goals and 5 assists in his 22 games on Long Island last season. Islanders beat writer Arthur Staple of Newsday predicts that we will see Lee alongside Brock Nelson and Ryan Strome tonight.

For the Bruins, Niklas Svedberg will be in net, spelling 2014 Vezina Trophy winner Tuukka Rask.  The Islanders defense will also have a tough task with a Bruins team that is stacked with offense talent including Milan Lucic, Brad Marchand, and Patrice Bergeron. The Islanders will need to be mistake-free on defense tonight in order to win this game.

Hopefully the Islanders can snap their losing streak against a Boston Bruins team that is starting to heat up. We should be in for a good one.