Game Preview: Islanders vs Oilers

NEW YORK ISLANDERS (8-5-1) VS EDMONTON OILERS (4-8-1)
7 P.M. - BARCLAYS CENTER
TV: MSG+, MSG GO
RADIO: 88.7FM - WRHU, AM970 - The Answer, 103.9FM - LI News
GAME NOTES MORNING SKATE UPDATES
The goals are piling up for the New York Islanders as of late.
The Isles scored six goals for a third time in four games in Sunday's win over the Colorado and have scored at least three goals in eight straight games. As of Monday, the Islanders are averaging 3.79 goals-per-game, third most in the NHL.

They've lit the lamp in 17 straight periods and according to Eric Hornick, that's the longest streak since scoring 18 straight periods from December 15-29, 1992.
Head Coach Doug Weight is happy to see pucks in the back of the net, but wasn't overly thrilled with his team's 6-4 win over Colorado on Sunday night. He felt the Islanders were fortunate to get as many bounces as they did - four goals were scored off Avalanche players - and wants to correct some habits before Tuesday.
"I don't like sweeping things under the rug and ignoring them because you're getting points because I feel like they are going to come back and get you, so we just keep teaching," Weight said. "We've seemed to get away from our structure in certain zones."

EBERLE PLAYS OILERS, STROME RETURNS TO FACE ISLES:

Tuesday's game marks the first meeting between the Islanders and Oilers since the Jordan Eberle-Ryan Strome swap this summer. It'll conjure up feelings for both players, both of whom were traded for the first time in their NHL careers in June.
"There's a lot of excitement. There's a little more incentive to win," Eberle said. "You're going to play a team that you played for for a long time, so it'll be a good game and I'm looking forward to it."

READ MORE ON EBERLE

Eberle spent seven seasons in Edmonton, scoring 382 points (165G, 217A) in 507 games with the Oilers. He has 11 points (4G, 7A) in 14 games with the Islanders, but has come on of late with four goals in his past four games.
Strome had 126 points (45G, 81A) in 258 games with the Islanders over four seasons. Strome, who was drafted by the Islanders 5th overall in 2011, has five points (2G, 3A) for the Oilers this season.
"There were a lot of ups and downs but I loved my time in New York,"
Strome told Gene Principe, writing for EdmontonOilers.com
. "I have a lot of good memories."

READ MORE ON STROME/MORNING SKATE UDPATES

Josh Bailey said it'll be strange to see Strome suiting up for the other team on Tuesday.
"He was definitely a guy that was well liked in this locker room," Bailey said of Strome. "Really good guy and we all wish him success. It'll be a little weird, but when the puck drops it'll be back to work like usual. It'll be good to see him and catch up with him."

LINEUP NOTES:

Thomas Greiss will start in goal. Thomas Hickey is in for Dennis Seidenberg. Adam Pelech will miss his third straight game with an upper-body injury.
ISLANDERS PROJECTED LINES:
| FORWARDS | | --- | | LEFT WING | CENTER | RIGHT WING | | ANDERS LEE | JOHN TAVARES | JOSH BAILEY | | ANDREW LADD | MATHEW BARZAL | JORDAN EBERLE | | ANTHONY BEAUVILLIER | BROCK NELSON | JASON CHIMERA | | NIKOLAY KULEMIN | CASEY CIZIKAS | CAL CLUTTERBUCK |

| DEFENSE | | --- | | NICK LEDDY | JOHNNY BOYCHUK | | CALVIN DE HAAN | SCOTT MAYFIELD | | THOMAS HICKEY | RYAN PULOCK |

BY THE NUMBERS:

9 - game point streak for Josh Bailey. Bailey extended his career-long point streak to nine games with two assists in the Islanders 6-4 win over Colorado. Bailey owns the NHL's longest active point streak and has 16 points (2G, 14A) over that span.
Bailey is also on an eight-game assist streak and is one game shy of matching the Islanders club record.
13 - points in nine games for Mathew Barzal. Barzal's five-assist night juices those numbers, but the Islanders rookie is asserting himself more with every game. Barzal is on a five-game point streak, with 10 points (2G, 8A) over that span.
25-4-4 - home record against Western Conference teams.The Islanders have owned Western Conference teams in Brooklyn and are 5-0-1 overall at home this season. The Oilers are one of the few blemishes on the home record, as Edmonton won in a shootout at Barclays Center last season.

THE OPPOSITION:

Lofty expectations were placed on the Edmonton Oilers after reaching the second round of the playoffs last season and so far it's been a disappointing start.
The Oilers are 4-8-1 to start the season, second-last in the Western Conference and are coming off a 4-0 loss to the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday.
Scoring has been an issue for Edmonton, who have the fewest goals in the league (30 total, 2.31 per-game) to start the season. It's a far cry from the high-octane team that scored the eighth-most in the league (2.96) last season.
It's a bit of a surprise for the team with the reigning Art Ross Trophy winner Connor McDavid, but bad shooting luck could have something to do with it. Edmonton is second in the NHL in 5v5 Corsi For at 56% and have the NHL's highest shot-attempt differential at +164.
McDavid leads the Oilers with 16 points (5G, 11A) in 13 games this season as he looks to defend his NHL scoring title. Nugent-Hopkins leads Edmonton with six goals.
The Oilers assigned Kailer Yamamoto to WHL Spokane on Monday and recalled Brad Malone from AHL Bakersfield. Yamamoto was the Oilers 2017 first-round pick (22nd overall) and played nine games this season. If he played a 10th game, he would have activated the first year of his entry-level contract.
OILERS PROJECTED LINES:
| FORWARDS | | --- | | LEFT WING | CENTER | RIGHT WING | | PATRICK MAROON | CONNOR MCDAVID | LEON DRAISAITL | | MILAN LUCIC | RYAN NUGENT-HOPKINS | ANTON SLEPYSHEV | | JUSSI JOKINEN | RYAN STROME | DRAKE CAGGIULA | | IIRO PAKARINEN | MARK LETESTU | ZACK KASSIAN |

| DEFENSE | | --- | | DARNELL NURSE | ADAM LARSSON | | OSCAR KLEFBOM | MATT BENNING | | KRIS RUSSELL | ERIC GRYBA |