Game Preview: NY Islanders vs San Jose Sharks

The NY Islanders look for their second straight win as they host the San Jose Sharks at UBS Arena.

Last Game

The Islanders’ offense came alive in Saturday night’s 7-1 win over the Anaheim Ducks. The Isles were led in large part by the offensive production from their defense (two goals from both Scott Mayfield and Robin Salo). New York also got excellent goaltending from Ilya Sorokin, as he stopped 22 of the 23 Ducks shots on goal. The Islanders struggled on the power play, but again were perfect on the penalty kill, going 4/4. 

The Sharks have gotten off to a real slow start this season. Their 5-2 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday, has them sitting at 0-4-0 to begin their 2022-23 campaign. San Jose jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals from Nico Sturm and Erik Karlsson but things fell apart after that, as Chicago scored three in the second and two in the third, all against Kaapo Kahkonen, to claim the victory. 

Historical Matchup

The Islanders and Sharks met twice in the 2021-22 season. The Sharks got the win in both games but the Isles never left empty handed, securing a point in each. On December 2nd, at UBS Arena, the game was tied 1-1 in OT, until Erik Karlsson netted the game winner, just 39 seconds into the extra session. Then on February 24th, at the SAP Center in San Jose, the game went beyond 65 minutes as the Sharks picked up the win in the shootout, 4-3. 

In 45 all-time meetings, the Islanders lead the series, holding a 20-17-3-5 record, with an 11-7-2-2 home record against the Sharks. 

Players to Watch

Noah Dobson has picked up from where he left off a season ago. Through two games, six of the eight Islanders’ goals have been scored by defensemen and two of them, one in each game, have come off the stick of the 22 year old blue liner. It seems as though Lane Lambert likes to get his defensemen involved in the offense as much as possible and Dobson seems to be the biggest beneficiary so far. 

Timo Meier is set to become a restricted free agent at the end of this season. In 2021-22, Meier was nearly a point per game player, scoring 76 points in 77 games. After just one point in the first four games, look for the 26 year old left winger from Switzerland to have his first breakout game. As for the Islanders, they hope it doesn’t happen until the Sharks’ 6th game of the year. 

Projected Lines

Islanders 

Anders Lee-Brock Nelson-Anthony Beauvillier
Zach Parise-Mathew Barzal-Kyle Palmieri
Josh Bailey-JG Pageau-Oliver Wahlstrom
Matt Martin-Casey Cizikas-Cal Clutterbuck

Adam Pelech-Ryan Pulock
Alexander Romanov-Noah Dobson
Robin Salo-Scott Mayfield

Ilya Sorokin
Semyon Varlamov

Sharks

Timo Meier-Tomas Hertl-Luke Kunin
Steven Lorentz-Logan Couture-Kevin Lebanc
Oskar Lindblom-Nick Bonino-Matthew Nieto
Jonah Gadjovich-Nico Sturm-Evgeny Svechnikov

Jaycob Megna-Erik Karlsson
Marc-Eduardo Vlasic-Matt Benning
Mario Ferraro-Radim Simek

Kaapo Kahkonen
James Reimer

*Lineup projections via Daily Faceoff