Game Day: Islanders vs Canadiens – Preview, Lines, Goalies, TV, Fantasy
Jordan Lambe
Pre-game Notes and Quotes
Jack Capuano on the Casey Cizikas, Matt Martin and Cal Clutterbuck line in their game versus the Devils (in which they helped the Islanders pile up more hits in one game than any other team this season): “They give us great energy, and they know their role, they’re not going to make the sexy play all the time; they’re going to chip pucks in and grind it out. They’re also going to give us big goals, timely goals. Our other lines need to feed off that”
Dale Weise when asked about his offensive production so far this season: “Early on in my career, I would have been mostly working on my conditioning, getting in the best shape possible, not doing the little things like working on my skills. I started doing that in the last couple of years and it’s started to pay off.”
Alexander Semin was not a part of the top 4 forward lines at practice on Wednesday and it seems as if he may remain in the pressbox for the fifth consecutive game, here’s what Michel Therrien had to say on the manner: “I have no reason to take anyone out of the lineup, so it goes by your performance, it goes by how responsible a player is when he’s on the ice. That’s how we make our decisions, and right now we find that the lineup we are using is very responsible”
John Tavares, the Islanders leading scorer, has missed the last three games with flu-like symptoms and his status for tonight’s game remains unknown. He did participate in a full practice Wednesday.
Carey Price remains out with a lower-body injury.
While the Canadiens remain the best in the league in goal production with 51, the Islanders have also done very so far this season, placing 4th in the league with 38 goals.
The Canadiens are in a tie for sixth best, league wide in goals against, with 26. The Islanders, on the other hand, are in a tie for 12th with 31 goals scored against them this season.
The Canadiens won all three games versus the Islanders in the 2014-15 season.
Matchup
Bell Centre, Montreal, QC. | November 5, 7:30 PM ET | TV: MSG+, RDS, CITYM
2015-16 statistics
ISLANDERS
CANADIENS
17 (3rd)
Points (Eastern Con. rank)
23 (1st)
7-3-3
Record
11-2-1
5-2-2
Home
5-0-1
2-1-1
Road
6-2-0
6-2-2
Last 10
7-2-1
2.92
G/G
3.64
2.31
GA/G
1.86
276
PP%
24.0
90.9
PK%
89.1
49.2
CF%*
53.1
44.6
CF60*
57.1
45.9
CA60*
50.5
*Advanced statistics: Score adjusted, even strength. CF%: Corsi for percentage of total CF60: Corsi For/60 minutes CA60: Corsi Against/60 minutes (via War on Ice)
Projected forward lines, defense pairings and goaltenders
Forwards
Bailey – Tavares – Strome
Lee – Nielsen – Okposo
Nelson – Grabovski – Kulemin
Martin – Cizikas – Clutterbuck
Many fans (including myself, see my previous article here) thought that this was the year for Ryan Strome to finally show his potential at the NHL level and become a key offensive threat for the Islanders. Once a very prolific scorer at the junior and AHL level, Strome has yet to show this same offensive prowess consistently at the NHL level. He put up 50 points in 81 games in his sophomore season last year, but he has struggled mightily so far in the 2015-16 season. So far Strome has only 5 points in 11 games and has only managed a meager 18 shots on goal, a respectable 21 hits and 3 PPP; not nearly the production many had hoped for. The last 6 games for the Islanders have been the worst for him, as Strome has been a healthy scratch for one game, out sick for another and remained pointless in the other 4, while only playing more than 15 minutes only once (with 15:07). Obviously Strome still has value in keeper leagues and deep fantasy hockey leagues, but I would recommend keeping Strome on the bench if you have a full roster and need someone to sit out.
As mentioned above, it seems like Dale Weise has found a new offensive gear this season. Currently he ranks 6th in the NHL with 7 goals and is tied with Max Pacioretty for the team lead. Add to the fact that Weise has already fired 34 shots on net in his first 14 games (he had 91 in 79 games last season) and it is looking like a career year is in shape for the 27 year old. The scoring pace will not continue at it’s current rate but Weise does provide value in deep leagues that count hits and +/- (as he is a +7 and has 20 hits).
Max Pacioretty has gone 5 games without a point and is a combined minus-4 over that span. He has fired 12 shots on net over that span though, so things should return to normal soon.
Top scorers for the Islanders on the road this season are:
Frans Nielsen (3 points in 4 games)
Six players tied for second with 2 points
Top scorers for the Canadiens at home this season are:
David Desharnais (with 7 points in 6 games)
Tomas Fleischmann (with 6 points in 6 games)
Alex Galchenyuk, Brendan Gallagher, Tomas Plekanec, P. K. Subban and Dale Weise (all with 4 points in 6 games)
