At the Rink: Red Wings at Islanders

NEW YORK -- The workload hasn't exactly been heavy for the New York Islanders in January.

When the puck drops against the Detroit Red Wings at Barclays Center on Monday (7 p.m. ET; SNO, SNP, FS-D, MSG+), it will be the Islanders' third game in the past 11 days and their finale before the All-Star break.

New York (25-15-6) was supposed to play for the second time in as many nights Saturday, but its game against the Philadelphia Flyers at Barclays Center was postponed because of a blizzard. The Islanders are 3-0-1 in their past four games following a 5-2 win at the Ottawa Senators on Friday.

"We had a little bit of time off before our last game in Ottawa and certainly we want to hit the break running, have an opportunity to get a bit of rest and heal your body," defenseman Travis Hamonic said. "It's certainly a really tough stretch and a grinding stretch to finish off the season. It goes by quick and it seems like you're playing every second day. It makes your break a lot easier when you go in having a good game."

Hamonic returned Friday after missing the previous four games because of a foot injury. He scored the go-ahead goal in the third period and led the Islanders in ice time (22:29). Hamonic was one of two defensemen to score for New York; Nick Leddy had a power-play goal in the first period.

Islanders coach Jack Capuano is hopeful his defensemen will continue to contribute on the score sheet.

"Whether they score or not, it's where we need to be offensively," Capuano said. "It tells me that we're getting up in the play and we're getting chances. It hasn't changed in five years (since I've been coach), or whatever it's been. It's part of our game plan. Hopefully it'll be contagious with some other guys.

"I know it's a defense-first mentality, but just the way that we want to play is when the opportunity presents itself, we want them up on the rush, involved in the cycles, just to create a little bit more offensive zone time for us. I thought we did a real good job really the last couple of weeks with our D being involved."

Detroit (24-16-8), which dropped a 4-3 decision to the Anaheim Ducks at Joe Louis Arena on Saturday, is also playing its final game before the All-Star break. This will be the Red Wings' first visit to Barclays Center. They have won six of seven road games this month.

"I think the biggest thing we want to get across this morning was we have to have a singular focus to come on here and win the hockey game tonight and knowing that it's going to be extremely tough, knowing that the Islanders are real good," Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. "I don't think we played nearly our best in the last game. We've got to come in here real determined to do it right for 60 minutes and that gives you, really, your only chance to win. Certainly it doesn't guarantee success."

Here are the projected lineups:

RED WINGS

Dylan Larkin - Henrik Zetterberg - Justin Abdelkader

Brad Richards - Pavel Datsyuk - Darren Helm

Gustav Nyquist - Riley Sheahan - Tomas Tatar

Tomas Jurco - Luke Glendening - Teemu Pulkkinen

Kyle Quincey - Danny DeKeyser

Brendan Smith - Mike Green

Jonathan Ericsson - Alexey Marchenko

Petr Mrazek

Jimmy Howard

Injured: Niklas Kronwall (knee), Drew Miller (knee), Johan Franzen (concussion)

Scratched: Eric Tangradi, Nick Jensen

ISLANDERS

Mikhail Grabovski - John Tavares - Ryan Strome

Nikolay Kulemin - Frans Nielsen - Kyle Okposo

Anders Lee - Brock Nelson - Josh Bailey

Matt Martin - Casey Cizikas - Cal Clutterbuck

Nick Leddy - Brian Strait

Calvin de Haan - Travis Hamonic

Thomas Hickey - Marek Zidlicky

Injured: Johnny Boychuk (upper body)

Scratched: Steve Bernier, Scott Mayfield, Jean-Francois Berube

Jaroslav Halak

Thomas Greiss

Status report: The Red Wings recalled Tangradi and Jensen and sent center Joakim Andersson to Grand Rapids of the American Hockey League on Sunday. Tangradi and Jensen could play with several players being game-time decisions. "We had a number of guys that had a little – what I would call bumps and bruises – that might withhold them from the game, but we won't know for sure probably until tonight," Blashill said. … Boychuk skated Monday morning but will miss his ninth straight game. He's expected to return shortly after the All-Star break. "Just to see him out there, for me it's just a breath of fresh air I'm sure for him to be around the guys," Capuano said. "For us, knowing that his time is not too far away … now you just want to make sure that you condition yourself and that you get healthy, and then we'll re-evaluate him after the break. We've got an additional week here and there's a good chance after the break at some point, hopefully sooner than later, that he'll be back in our lineup."

Who's hot: Mrazek is 6-1-1 with a 1.24 goals-against average and a .955 save percentage this month. DeKeyser has two goals and an assist in his past five games; Green has two assists in his past three. … Tavares has a goal and three assists in the past four games. Leddy has a three-game point streak (two goals, one assist).