Game Preview: NY Islanders vs Seattle Kraken

On the second half of a back-to-back, the NY Islanders host the Seattle Kraken at UBS Arena.

Last Game

The Islanders visited the Philadelphia Flyers at the Wells Fargo Center on Monday night. Bo Horvat made his Islander debut centering Mathew Barzal and Josh Bailey. The Islanders were seemingly shot out of a cannon riding the wave of momentum off acquiring their new No.1 center over the All-Star break, outshooting the Flyers 15-7 in the opening frame. Kyle Palmieri scored the game's first goal on the power play. Barzal scored at 8:18 of the second period giving the Islanders a 2-0 lead with the eventual game-winning goal. Nicolas Deslauriers scored the lone goal for the Flyers at 10:39 of the second period. Semyon Varlamov made 25 saves on 26 shots and recorded his 10th win of the season.

Historical Matchup

The Islanders and the Kraken have met just once so far this season on New Years Day. The Kraken routed the Islanders to a 4-1 loss. The Kraken had four different goal scorers between Eeli Tolvanen, Oliver Bjorkstrand, Adam Larsson, and Brandon Tanev. Vince Dunn and Yanni Gourde also registered two points each.

The Islanders struggled to accumulate any offense in their last meeting with the Kraken, registering just 19 shots on net. Martin Jones made 18 of 19 saves, allowing just one goal on a goal scored by Barzal. In three total games since the Kraken entered the NHL in the 2021-22 season, the Islanders a 1-2-0 against Seattle.

Players to Watch

For the Islanders, Palmieri has really turned it on ever since returning from injury. Coming into tonight's contest, the 32-year-old winger is riding a five-game point streak on a goal and five assists. He's played well on the Islanders' second line with Brock Nelson and Anders Lee.

The Kraken didn't have any players at the All-Star weekend after Matty Beniers was held out with an injury. Jared McCann might have been the next best player to replace Beniers at the All-Star game as he's on a 41-goal pace and has collected a goal and four assists in his last five games.

Projected Lines

Islanders

Josh Bailey-Bo Horvat-Mat Barzal
Anders Lee-Brock Nelson-Kyle Palmieri
Zach Parise-JG Pageau-Simon Holmstrom
Matt Martin-Casey Cizikas-Ross Johnston

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

Ilya Sorokin
Semyon Varlamov

Lines via DailyFaceoff

Kraken

Jared McCann-Alexander Wennberg-Jordan Eberle
Jaden Schwartz-Matty Beniers-Andre Burakovsky
Eeli Tolvanen-Yanni Gourde-Oliver Bjorkstrand
Brandon Tanev-Ryan Donato-Daniel Sprong

Vince Dunn-Adam Larsson
Jamie Oleksiak-William Borgen
Jacob Megna-Carson Soucy

Martin Jones
Philip Grubauer

Lines via Mike Benton