Game Preview: NY Islanders vs Detroit Red Wings

Last Game:

The NY Islanders took down the Dallas Stars in overtime courtesy of a Bo Horvat game-winning goal for the second straight time this season on Monday night. The game may be most remembered for a spectacular shift in overtime by Mat Barzal, where he took matters into his own hands by stealing the puck, deking past all three Stars' players on the ice, and eventually feeding Horvat for a one-timer. Ryan Pulock and Kyle MacLean scored the other two goals for New York, and Ilya Sorokin made 30 saves on 32 shots.

The Detroit Red Wings have been surging as of late, winning their last six games, the last of which being an 8-3 stomping over the Washington Capitals. Shayne Gostisbehere scored two goals and Lucas Raymond put up one goal and two assists to lead the way. Five other Red Wings' players had at least two points, and all players except for four (three of which are defensemen) registered at least one point in the win. This win came off an emotional night in Chicago that started with Chris Chelios' jersey being retired by the Blackhawks and ended with Patrick Kane scoring the overtime-winning goal in his return to the Windy City.

Historical Matchup:

The Isles and Wings have only met once so far this season, with New York taking a 4-3 loss in overtime (shocker) at home on the day before Halloween. The Islanders blew a 2-0 lead (also, a shocker) in the third period causing the Wings to go up 3-2, but Horvat tied the game up late on the power play to force overtime. Raymond put the overtime winner past Sorokin who made 32 saves on 36 shots. The Isles won two out of three matchups last season against the Red Wings, with the home team coming out victorious each time. This will be the first time the Islanders travel to Detroit since 2022 when they got shut out 3-0 by Ville Husso and company.

Players to Watch

It's hard not to say Barzal is the player to watch for the Isles. After a monstrous effort to win the game for the Blue and Orange, it's been made clear to everyone watching him that he wants to win games the right way. He has 13 points in his last 11 games and continues to be Mr. Consistent for the Isles this season, having only one stretch where he went multiple games without a point. Amazingly, Barzal has 20 career points in 14 games against Detroit, but none of those points are goals. Let's see if Barzy can kill two birds with one stone by adding to his point-per-game pace while notching his first against the Red Wings tonight.

Kane has been a player to watch for his entire career, let alone his current stint with the Red Wings. He has 14 points in his last nine games and has put up a multi-point game in his past three outings. In a season where the eventual Hall-of-Famer is coming off of major hip surgery, he has 30 points in 28 games. The former first-overall pick by the Hawks has 24 career points against the Isles in just 21 games. He is a hard player to stop when he gets going, as every team the Wings have faced has learned recently.

Projected Lines

ISLANDERS

Brock Nelson - Bo Horvat - Mathew Barzal
Anders Lee - J.G. Pageau - Kyle Palmieri
Pierre Engvall - Casey Cizikas - Simon Holmstrom
Matt Martin - Kyle MacLean - Cal Clutterbuck

Adam Pelech - Noah Dobson
Alexander Romanov - Ryan Pulock
Mike Reilly - Sebastian Aho

Ilya Sorokin
Semyon Varlamov

Red Wings

Alex DeBrincat - Dylan Larkin - Patrick Kane
Michael Rasmussen - JT Compher - Lucas Raymond
Joe Veleno - Andrew Copp - David Perron
Robby Fabri - Christian Fischer - Daniel Sprong

Jake Wallman - Moritz Seider
Ben Charot - Jeff Petry
Olli Maatta - Shayne Gostisbehere

Alex Lyon
James Reimer