At the Rink: Ducks at Islanders

UNIONDALE, N.Y. -- The New York Islanders will have a different look when they host the Anaheim Ducks at Nassau Coliseum on Saturday (1 p.m. ET; PRIME, MSG+).

Coach Jack Capuano hinted after a 3-2 home loss to the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday that he might shake up his line combinations. The first line of John Tavares, Kyle Okposo and Josh Bailey has slumped badly since Okposo returned March 10 after missing 22 games because of surgery to repair a detached retina. In the seven games since Okposo's return, the Islanders are 1-5-1 and Tavares has two points, one of which came a week ago when he assisted on an empty-net goal by Okposo.

Tavares' line was on the ice for all three of the Kings' goals, and Okposo's errant one-handled clearing attempt led to the game-winning goal by Los Angeles center Anze Kopitar with less than five minutes remaining.

Rookie forward Anders Lee had success playing with Tavares and Bailey during Okposo's absence, and Capuano said two hours before game time that Lee will return to that line, with Tavares in the middle and Bailey switching to the right side. Okposo will play on the right side of center Frans Nielsen and left wing Nikolay Kulemin, and Tyler Kennedy will move to the open spot on a line with Brock Nelson and Ryan Strome.

The fourth line of Casey Cizikas between Matt Martin and Cal Clutterbuck will remain intact.

There will also be a change on defense, with Lubomir Visnovsky returning after missing four games with a lower-body injury. He will skate with Thomas Hickey, his regular partner, Brian Strait will play with Travis Hamonic and Calvin de Haan will be a healthy scratch.

"It's good to get these guys back," Capuano said. "As you move forward, you want to get them in condition and get their timing back."

Capuano said scratching de Haan doesn't mean he's lost confidence in him.

"His strength is his skating, and when he utilizes his strength and he moves the puck and moves his feet, he's a real good defenseman for us," Capuano said. "Right now, just the way the pairings are, a couple of guys have to sit. It's unfortunate, but we're going to need these guys as we move through the next week to 10 days.

"He may feel that way, but I haven't lost confidence in him at all."

The Ducks returned to the New York area for the final two games of a five-game trip that began with a 7-2 loss to the New York Rangers on Sunday and was followed by a 5-3 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets. The Ducks appeared to be in line for a third straight loss when they entered the final minute of their game against the Boston Bruins on Thursday trailing by a goal. But with goaltender Frederik Andersen on the bench for an extra attacker, Corey Perry scored to force overtime and Ryan Getzlaf scored the OT winner in a 3-2 victory.

The Pacific Division-leading Ducks (47-22-7) enter Saturday needing one point to become the second team to clinch a berth in the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs. They have an 11-point lead on the second-place Vancouver Canucks in the division and a one-point lead on the Nashville Predators for the best record in the Western Conference. The Ducks finish their trip Sunday against the New Jersey Devils.

There was no morning state, and coach Bruce Boudreau did not meet with the media. The Ducks did not say whether Andersen or John Gibson, who took the losses in New York and Columbus, would start in goal.

The Islanders and Ducks haven't seen each other since New York won 3-2 in overtime at Honda Center on Nov. 5.

Capuano said the key to success against a big, talented team such as Anaheim is "trying to play as little time in your end as possible. They're a 100-point team, and people have picked them to go quite a ways, and they're on pace to do that. They've got a lot of offensive firepower on the back end, and the [guys up] front are so big that you've got to spend as little time in your own end as possible.

"That means execution on your breakouts and moving the puck and playing a transition game. We've got to be ready to skate."

Here are the projected lineups:

DUCKS

Jiri Sekac - Ryan Getzlaf - Corey Perry

Matt Beleskey - Ryan Kesler - Kyle Palmieri

Patrick Maroon - Rickard Rakell - Jakob Silfverberg

Andrew Cogliano - Nate Thompson - Chris Wagner

Hampus Lindholm - Francois Beauchemin

Cam Fowler - Simon Despres

Clayton Stoner - Sami Vatanen

Frederik Andersen

John Gibson

Scratched: Tomas Fleischmann, James Wisniewski, Emerson Etem, Korbinian Holzer

Injured: Tim Jackman (lower body)

ISLANDERS

Anders Lee - John Tavares – Josh Bailey

Tyler Kennedy - Brock Nelson - Ryan Strome

Nikolay Kulemin - Frans Nielsen – Kyle Okposo

Matt Martin - Casey Cizikas - Cal Clutterbuck

Brian Strait - Travis Hamonic

Nick Leddy - Johnny Boychuk

Lubomir Visnovsky - Thomas Hickey

Michal Neuvirth

Jaroslav Halak

Scratched: Michael Grabner, Eric Boulton, Colin McDonald, Matt Donovan, Calvin de Haan

Injured: Mikhail Grabovski (upper body)

Status report: With back-to-back games Saturday and Sunday, Capuano opted to play Neuvirth, who is 1-2-1 since being acquired from the Buffalo Sabres at the NHL Trade Deadline. Neuvirth hasn't played since March 17 and has a save percentage below .900 in three of four games with the Islanders.

Who's hot: Perry has four goals in his past four games and leads the Ducks with 32. … Strome has three points in New York's past three games and is tied for second on the team with Okposo (46).