Preview: Bruins back home to face Islanders

Just the facts

When: Tonight, 7 PM

Where: TD Garden – Boston, MA

How to follow: NESN, 98.5 The Sports Hub

SB Nation opposing site: Lighthouse Hockey

Know your enemy

• 5-5-5, 13 points, 4th in Metropolitan Division
• Noah Dobson: 4G-7A-11PTS; Bo Horvat:4G-5A-9PTS
• Ilya Sorokin: 3-1-3, 3.12 GAA, .911 save percentage; Semyon Varlamov: 2-2-0, 1.77, .950 save percentage

Game notes

• The Boston Bruins are set to face the New York Islanders tonight at the TD Garden for the first of three games this season.
• The Bruins will see the Islanders again in December and March after this.
• The B’s bounced back against Dallas after dropping their first regulation game of the season against Detroit on Saturday. The Islanders are coming off a loss.
• The Islanders are 1-1-2 in their last four games. They last played on Nov. 7, losing to the Minnesota Wild, 4-2. It was their second game in a row that their third period play cost them a W.
• The Bruins have the best PK in the NHL right now. The penalty kill is at a whopping 94%. Their power play though – well it can still use some work at 17.5%. The Islanders are in a similar position with their man advantage at only 15.2%.
• David Pastrnak continues to lead the B’s with points. He has four goals and four assists in the last six games. Charlie Coyle has six points in his last eight games while Brad Marchand has four points in his last five games.
• Head Coach Jim Montgomery said Morgan Geekie is still week-to-week while Derek Forbort is getting closer to returning to the lineup. His status against the Islanders is still undetermined.
• Jakub Lauko was also back practicing with the team yesterday, but is still ruled out to play tonight. Lauko has been out since Oct. 24 after sustaining a face injury with a skate blade to the face. He told media the injury was a close call to his eye and he’ll likely be sporting a neck guard to prevent other blade injuries in the wake of Adam Johnson’s untimely death after the on-ice accident only days later.
• As Montgomery said the plan remains to keep rotating goaltenders, so we will likely see Linus Ullmark in net.
• The NHL announced yesterday that Gary Bettman was upholding Charlie McAvoy’s four-game suspension so the Bruins will still be without him as he finishes the suspension.
• See ya tonight!