PREVIEW: Boston Bruins at NY Islanders

Just the Facts:

Time: 7:00pm EST

Place: Barclays Center, Brooklyn, NYC

Place to Watch: NESN, SN360

Place to Listen: 98.5 The Sports Hub

Opposing SBNation Blog: Lighthouse Hockey

The Opposing Team:

Offensive Leaders: John Tavares, 24G-30A-54P; Josh Bailey 12-38-50

Goaltending: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Standings: 23-19-4, 50pts, 6th in Metropolitan Division

Game Notes:

• Drubbing the Habs last night was special. Always goes down smooth.
• The Bruins are still cruisin’, going 10-0-4 in their last fourteen games, their longest points streak since 2014. Tuukka Rask is 13-0-2 in his last 15 games.
• Ryan Spooner’s centering backhands in close are finding the mark as of late - as are his more intentional shots. He’s got 6 points in his last 7 games. Recent point-per-game players: David Pastrnak, David Krejci, David Backes. Pacing over a point per game with 11 points each are Brad Marchand (last 6 games) and Patrice Bergeron (last 7).
• Great to see Adam McQuaid back on the ice, finally. He’s a solid 7th D-man, and will give Cassidy some more penalty kill experience to relieve some of Zdeno Chara’s heavy lifting. Matt Grzelcyk has earned the right to stick in Boston, and I’d guess that he plays more than McQuaid going forward, but it’ll be interesting to see how the third-pairing platoon is balanced for the rest of the season.
• Islanders rookie forward Matt Barzal had a five-point game against their local competition, the New York Rangers, over the weekend. He’s nearly at 50 points on the season. Kid’s for real... real scary.
• The Isles can certainly score - 159 goals (including shootout winners) in their first 46 games for the first time since the early ‘90s. However, they’re allowing far too many as well, allowing 168 (also with SO-winners) for the first time since the mid-’90s.
• The Isles’ play has been up-and-down all season. Despite throttling the Rangers on Barzal’s heroic effort, they barely stole a win against Montreal and handed New Jersey their first win in seven games. Ouch.

NEVER FORGET:

Aww. Nobody wants to play with us.

Disgruntled Islanders fans.