Despite sitting near the bottom of their respective divisions, the Calgary Flames and New York Islanders will enter their game Thursday at Nassau Coliseum playing solid hockey recently.
The Flames had a five-game win streak snapped Tuesday in a 2-0 loss to the Montreal Canadiens. The Islanders have won two of their past three, including a 1-0 shutout of the Washington Capitals on Tuesday.
It will be the first time the teams have played since Dec. 29, 2011. Islanders coach Jack Capuano said he's been impressed with what he’s seen of the Flames on video.
"They obviously have a back end that transitions real well with [Dennis] Wideman, [TJ] Brodie, [Kris] Russell and [Mark] Giordano," Capuano told the Islanders website. "They get up in the play and we will see that [Thursday]. … So I wouldn't particularly say it’s just one guy they've got. Like every other system they want that fourth man attacking and they'll have that [Thursday]."
Here are the projected lineups:
FLAMES
Jiri Hudler - Mikael Backlund - Lee Stempniak
Michael Cammalleri - Sean Monahan - Joe Colborne
Lance Bouma - Matt Stajan - David Jones
Kevin Westgarth - TJ Galiardi - Brian McGrattan
Ladislav Smid - Dennis Wideman
Scratched: Paul Byron, Christopher Breen
Injured: Karri Ramo (knee), Curtis Glencross (lower body)
ISLANDERS
Thomas Vanek - John Tavares - Kyle Okposo
Michael Grabner - Frans Nielsen - Cal Clutterbuck
Josh Bailey - Brock Nelson - Colin McDonald
Matt Martin - Casey Cizikas - Eric Boulton
Brian Strait - Andrew MacDonald
Thomas Hickey - Lubomir Visnovsky
Scratched: Matt Carkner, Radek Martinek
Injured: Travis Hamonic (concussion)