Game Preview: NY Islanders (7-6-5) at Ottawa Senators (8-7-0)

LAST GAME

The New York Islanders (7-6-5) are coming off a 3-2 win over the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday night at UBS Arena. The win the the team's second straight after a seven-game winless streak. Brock Nelson scored twice and Ilya Sorokin made 32 saves Cal Clutterbuck skated in his 1,000th game; the team will honor him during a pre-game ceremony on Saturday night.

As for Ottawa, the Senators (8-7-0) are winners of three straight, having picked up a 2-1 shootout win against the Minnesota Wild in Stockholm, SWE on Saturday. Erik Brannstrom had the lone goal of the game for the Sens while Josh Norris scored the game-deciding goal in the shootout. Anton Forsberg made 24 saves in the win for Ottawa, who has played just once since Nov. 16.

HISTORICAL MATCHUP

The Isles beat the Senators 3-2 back on Oct. 26 at UBS in the team's first matchup of the season, in a game that saw Ilya Sorokin make a season-high 45 saves. Noah Dobson had the game-winning goal in the third period. The Islanders have won six of their last eight games in Ottawa and 13-3-1 in the last 17 matchups with the Sens.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Anders Lee has goals in two of his last three games. After an awful stretch of the season, the perennial 20+ goal scorer will try to keep things going.

Projected Lineups

ISLANDERS

Mat Barzal - Bo Horvat - Simon Holmstrom
Pierre Engvall - Brock Nelson - Kyle Palmieri
Anders Lee - JG Pageau - Oliver Wahlstrom
Hudson Fasching - Casey Cizikas - Cal Clutterbuck

Adam Pelech - Noah Dobson
Alexander Romanov - Ryan Pulock
Sebastian Aho - Scott Mayfield

Semyon Varlamov
Ilya Sorokin

SENATORS

Brady Tkachuk - Josh Norris - Vladimir Tarasenko
Mathieu Joseph- Tim Stutzle - Claude Girioux
Dominik Kubalik - Roby Jarventie - Drake Batherson
Matthew Highmore - Rourke Chartier - Parker Kennedy

Jake Sanderson- Artem Zub
Jakob Chychrun - Jacob Bernard-Docker
Erik Brannstrom - Travis Hamonic

Anton Forsberg
Mads Soogard