Islanders vs. Sharks: Betting odds, lineups, Bellows back in the NHL

Players to Watch

Kieffer Bellows

He’s back! Although he never truly went anywhere. After being sent down to the AHL on Friday, Bellow was actually watching the game from the press box rather than on his way back to Bridgeport. And now he’s been called back by the Islanders with Ladd going back down.

As Trotz said a few days ago when Bellows was sent down, he’s dried up a bit. And that’s certainly fair. He doesn’t have a point in his last five games and only recorded a single shot over his last three.

But to be fair, his last two games were in Arizona and Colorado where no Islanders player was playing particularly well. Against the Coyotes, Bellows played 3:40 of his 5on5 time with Matt Martin and Leo Komarov while against the Avalanche the rook bounced around the lineup.

Hopefully, tonight he can get some consistent offensive-minded line-mates where Bellow’s talents can be more adequately used.

I know every player has to learn the defensive side of the game in a Trotz system, but playing fourth-line minutes isn’t a recipe for success.

Jordan Eberle

Typically, I talk about one player per team, but I want to watch two players today. With a hat trick against the Red Wings, Eberle is bouncing back to life in the final stretch of the season.

With that hat-trick, Eberle now has four points in his last two games. The Islanders have been desperately waiting for Eberle to turn it on since he missed ten games at the start of the season due to injury. We’ve caught glimpses of him heating up, hopefully, this is the real deal, we’ll see tonight against the Sharks.