Elmont!
Just the facts
When: Tonight, 7:30 PM
Where: UBS Arena – Elmont, NY
How to follow: NESN, 98.5 The Sports Hub
Know your enemy
- 25-20-14, 64PTS, 5th in the Atlantic Division
- Mathew Barzal: 18G-45A-63PTS; Noah Dobson: 7G-54A-61PTS; Bo Horvat: 27G-23A-50PTS
- Ilya Sorokin: 19-13-11, 3.11 GAA, .909 save percentage
Game notes
- After a brief stop at home, the Bruins are back on the road to visit the New York Metropolitan Area and play Patrick Roy (?!) and the New York Islanders.
- This will be the first of back-to-back road games for the B’s, who will visit Toronto on Monday night. They’ll then host Edmonton on Tuesday and the Leafs on Thursday, so…buckle up!
- These two teams have played twice already this season, both Bruins wins. The B’s won 5-2 on home ice back in November, then beat the Isles in Elmont back in mid-December. That game ended 5-4 in a shootout, featuring a shootout goal by David Pastrnak on that exact same move that many of you hate so much.
- The Islanders have won two games in a row, beating the Dallas Stars and the surging Detroit Red Wings (both on the road) last week. Those wins have kept the Islanders in the mix for a playoff spot. The Isles are six points behind Tampa for the second wild card spot, but Tampa has played three more games.
- Seeing Mathew Barzal atop the Isles’ scoring chart is no surprise, but defenseman Noah Dobson is having a career year to slot in at number two. Dobson’s 54 assists alone best his previous career high in points (51 in 80 games two seasons ago). He’s been a better-than-PPG player for the Islanders.
- Former Bruin Mike Reilly has played 38 games for the Islanders this season, putting up a 4G-10A-14PTS stat line.
- Ilya Sorokin remains a very good goalie, in spite of some less-than-stellar top-level numbers on the season. We should get a pretty decent goaltending match-up.
- The Bruins recalled forward Marc McLaughlin from Providence on Friday. It was an emergency recall, meaning McLaughlin will only slot in if an injured player is unable to go.
See ya tonight!