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At the Rink blog

At the Rink: Red Wings at Islanders

Sunday, 03.29.2015 / 3:40 PM

By David Satriano - NHL.com Staff Writer / 2014-2015 At the Rink blog

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2014-2015 At the Rink blog
At the Rink: Red Wings at Islanders

UNIONDALE, N.Y. -- The New York Islanders led the Metropolitan Division for a majority of the season. Now they're not even assured of a berth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The Islanders will try to end a three-game losing streak and a seven-game home losing streak (0-6-1) when they face the Detroit Red Wings (5 p.m. ET; FS-D+, MSG+).

New York can temporarily move ahead of the Pittsburgh Penguins for second place in the division with a win. The Penguins play Sunday night against the San Jose Sharks.

Neither team skated; each played Saturday. Islanders coach Jack Capuano said there wouldn't be changes to the lineup from Saturday, although there may be some line changes.

"I think any time you go through a stretch like this, the guys want to get right back at it," Capuano said. "We are playing another good hockey team coming off a big win last night. If you want to get to where you want to go, you have to beat good teams, so this is another good test for us."

New York has scored 12 goals in its past eight games (1-6-1).

The Red Wings defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-0 on Saturday to finish a four-game homestand 2-1-1. They trail the second-place Lightning by seven points in the Atlantic Division but have two games in hand.

"They need a win and we need a win," coach Mike Babcock said. "We haven't had a whole lot of success in this building either so it's important we get off to a good start."

Detroit is 19-14-4 on the road and despite the Islanders' recent struggles at Nassau Coliseum, Babcock is expecting a close game.

"They are a real good team. High-end forwards play fast. Their 'D' is real active so I think they have a real nice team," Babcock said. "We've had real good games against them. They have world-class players and we expect a tight contest."

Here are the projected lineups:

RED WINGS

Justin Abdelkader - Henrik Zetterberg - Gustav Nyquist

Darren Helm - Pavel Datsyuk - Tomas Tatar

Drew Miller - Luke Glendening - Tomas Jurco

Stephen Weiss - Joakim Andersson - Teemu Pulkkinen

Niklas Kronwall - Jonathan Ericsson

Danny DeKeyser - Kyle Quincey

Brendan Smith - Marek Zidlicky

Petr Mrazek

Jimmy Howard

Scratched: Daniel Cleary, Jakub Kindl

Injured: Erik Cole (upper body), Jonas Gustavsson (head), Johan Franzen (concussion), Riley Sheahan (upper body)

ISLANDERS

Anders Lee - John TavaresJosh Bailey

Tyler Kennedy - Brock Nelson - Ryan Strome

Nikolay Kulemin - Frans NielsenKyle Okposo

Matt Martin - Casey Cizikas - Cal Clutterbuck

Brian Strait - Travis Hamonic

Nick Leddy - Johnny Boychuk

Lubomir Visnovsky - Thomas Hickey

Jaroslav Halak

Michal Neuvirth

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

Injured: Mikhail Grabovski (upper body)

Status report: Halak will start for the Islanders after Neuvirth played Saturday. The Red Wings likely will have the same lineup.

Who's hot: Abdelkader has a goal in four straight games. … Quincey has four assists in four games. … Strome has four points in four games. Halak has allowed eight goals in five games and has a .945 save percentage.

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