Islanders vs Panthers Game Four: Odds, Lineups, TV and more

The New York Islanders have another chance to close out their Qualifier series against the Florida Panthers. Here’s everything to know about the matchup.

On Wednesday, the New York Islanders had a glorious chance to sweep their Stanley Cup Qualifier series against the Panthers, but their own miscues and mistakes costed them.

The blue and orange dropped game three by a score of 3-2.

But today, the Islanders have another chance to win the series and advance to the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Puck drop is scheduled for 12:00p.m. This is the third time this series that the Isles and Panthers will drop the puck at noon.

The Islanders will be the away team again in game four. This will allow Joel Quennville to play the line matchups he favors to try and shut down the Islanders offense. His strategy worked well in game three. The Islanders first line was shut down and could not get anything going.

Tale of the Tape

Betting Odds

The Islanders come into game four as the slight favorites, courtesy of the Action network.

I expect game four to be the closest game yet. The Islanders will look to correct their blunders from Wednesday, while the Panthers will try and keep their foot on the gas and shut down the Isles.

I see this game going to down to the wire, but I expect the Islanders will close out the series today.

Projected Lineups

The Islanders did not practice yesterday and Barry Trotz did not give much information about any changes to the Islanders lineup.

It is projected that Johnny Boychuk will be out of the lineup for a second straight game. Andy Greene has done well in the two games he has played in relief for Boychuk and is expected to get the start today.

One lineup change that the Isles are expected to make is Ross Johnston will come in for Tom Kuhnhackl. Kunhackl’s ice time has gone down each game and in game three he only had 7:56 of ice time, which was the least time on ice for both teams in Wednesday’s game. Johnston offers more of a physical presence to the Islanders lineup.

Barry Trotz is expected to give Semyon Varlamov another chance in net, after his third period blunder in game three.

The Islanders are projected to lineup like this:

Lee-Barzal-Eberle
Beauvillier-Nelson-Bailey
Johnston-Pageau-Brassard
Martin-Cizikas-Clutterbuck

Pelech-Pulock
Toews-Mayfield
Leddy-Greene

Varlamov (Greiss)

In Wednesday’s due or die game for the Panthers, they made a couple of major lineup changes and they paid off.

The panthers switched around their line combinations and scratched a couple of big names including Mike Matheson, Frank Vatrano and Colton Sceviour.

There is one thing that has remained the same in all of the Panther’s starting lineups this series and is expected to be the same today: That is the Panters will dress 11 forwards and 7 defensemen.

It is projected that the Panthers will keep the same lineup as Wednesday, but there is one key player that is questionable for today’s game. That player is Jonathan Huberdeau.

Huberdeau picked up an apparent injury in Wednesday’s encounter, but seems to be good to go for today’s game.

Sergei Bobrovsky is projected to be in net again for game four. He made some fantastic saves and stopped 20 of 22 shots on Wednesday.

The Panthers are expected to line up like this:

Huberdeau-Barkov-Acciari
Hoffman-Wallmark-Dadonov
Hunt-Haula-Connolly
Toninato-Boyle

Weegar-Ekblad
Stillman-Stralman
Yandle-Brown
Pysyk

Bobrovsky (Driedger)

Where to Catch the Game

TV: MSG+, MSG GO, NBCSN, SN, TVAS, FS-F, NHL.TV

RADIO: 88.7FM 103.9FM 98.7FM

*All Stats Provided by the NHL*