Hurricanes at Islanders: Preview

Carolina Hurricanes at New York Islanders
March 29, 2016 - 7:00 pm ET
Barclays Center - Brooklyn, NY
Fox Sports Carolinas - 99.9 FM - WRALSportsFan app
SB Nation Rival Blog - Lighthouse Hockey

Vital Statistics

*Stats from NHL.com and War on Ice

Game Notes

• The Canes and Islanders close out their four-game season series tonight in Brooklyn. The Canes are 2-0-1 against their Metro division opponents including a win in their first visit to Barclays Center debut on Oct. 29, but under the category of "what have you done for me lately", they fell to the Islanders in a 4-3 overtime loss Saturday night thanks to two goals from Cal Clutterbuck.
• The Isles have been idle since Saturday's game, but the Canes wedged in a 3-2 win Sunday against the New Jersey Devils as Victor Rask reached the 20-goal plateau for the first time in his NHL career. Rask has four goals in his last three games, including one in Saturday's loss, and also tallied two goals when the Canes defeated the Islanders in Raleigh on Feb. 13.
• Just like they did Saturday night, expect the Islanders to come into tonight's game with jump, as they are in a tight battle for Eastern Conference playoff position. For now, the Islanders are three points behind the Penguins for third place in the Metro division, and hold the first wild card spot with 89 points and a game in hand over the Flyers and two games in hand over the Red Wings. Both the Red Wings and Flyers won last night and are tied with 87 points in contention for the last wild card spot. As for the Canes, with 81 points and a maximum of 93 points available to them with six games remaining, their tragic number is down to seven, though since the Flyers and Red Wings still have a head-to-head matchup, that technically pushes the tragic number down to five since one of them will be guaranteed at least two more points. By the way, nine teams have been eliminated from playoff contention including all seven teams in Canada.
• The Canes may require a forward call-up today if both Riley Nash (injured Saturday after crashing into the post in a collision with Brock Nelson) and Phil Di Giuseppe (injured from a hit he took on Thursday) are unable to return to the lineup. The Canes played Sunday's game down a forward and with defenseman Ryan Murphy taking a few shifts on a makeshift fourth line. The Checkers played in Manitoba last night (lost 2-1 to the Moose) and don't play again until the weekend. The Canes didn't practice yesterday and no news has come out with regard to any lineup changes from Sunday. In addition to Victor Rask's goal streak, Jeff Skinner and Jaccob Slavin have points in their last three games, and Ron Hainsey has points in his last two games. Elias Lindholm is two points shy of 100 NHL career points.
• Injured forward Mikhail Grabovski and injured defenseman Adam Pelech skated at the Islanders practice yesterday, but neither are ready to make a return to the lineup. There were no reported lineup changes for the Isles coming out of yesterday's skate and they have not announced a starting goaltender for tonight's game. Frans Nielsen is playing in his 600th career NHL game tonight (all with the Islanders) and is one goal shy of his second 20-goal season.
• Congratulations to Canes forward Nathan Gerbe, nominated by the Carolinas chapter of the Professional Hockey Writers Association for the Masterton Trophy. This is his second nomination for the award.

Projected Lineups

Hurricanes (3/29 morning skate)

Joakim Nordstrom - Jordan Staal - Elias Lindholm
Jeff Skinner - Victor Rask - Chris Terry
Nathan Gerbe - Derek Ryan - Patrick Brown
Brody Sutter - Jay McClement - Brad Malone

Jaccob Slavin - Ron Hainsey
Noah Hanifin - Brett Pesce
Michal Jordan - Justin Faulk

Cam Ward
Eddie Lack

Injuries and scratches: James Wisniewski (IR ACL), Andrej Nestrasil (fractured vertebra), Phillip Di Giuseppe (upper body), Riley Nash (upper body), Ryan Murphy (healthy)

Islanders (3/26 vs Canes)

Josh Bailey - John Tavares - Ryan Strome
Nikolay Kulemin - Frans Nielsen - Kyle Okposo
Shane Prince - Brock Nelson - Anders Lee
Matt Martin - Casey Cizikas - Cal Clutterbuck
Steve Bernier

Nick Leddy - Johnny Boychuk
Calvin de Haan - Travis Hamonic
Thomas Hickey - Brian Strait
Ryan Pulock

Thomas Greiss
Jean-Francois Berube

Injuries and scratches: Adam Pelech (upper body), Marek Zidlicky (upper body), Jaroslav Halak (groin), Mikhail Grabovski (upper body)

Storm Debris

• Canes Gameday Hub [CH.com].
• Gerbe nominated for Masterton Trophy [N&O].
• Don Waddell spoke with Adam and Joe last week regarding the Canes lineup, season ticket renewals, and Kids 'N Community Foundation grants [WRALSportsFan].
• The Hurricanes are kicking off Fan Appreciation Week Thursday night, check out the Promotions page for all the details regarding fan events scheduled for the next three games [CH.com].