Stars at Islanders preview
Dallas trying to sweep three-game road trip; Bellows to make NHL debut for New York
by Brian Compton @BComptonNHL / NHL.com Deputy Managing Editor
STARS (30-18-4) at ISLANDERS (29-15-6)
7 p.m. ET; MSG+, FS-SW, NHL.TV
The Game
Kieffer Bellows will make his NHL debut with the New York Islanders when they play the Dallas Stars at Barclays Center on Tuesday.
A first-round pick (No. 19) by the Islanders at the 2016 NHL Draft, the 21-year-old forward had 15 goals in his past 26 games for Bridgeport of the American Hockey League before being recalled Monday.
The Islanders are 4-5-3 in their past 12 games and have fallen from second in the Metropolitan Division to the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference, one point ahead of the Carolina Hurricanes and Toronto Maple Leafs.
Dallas, which is second in the Central Division, will play its second game in as many nights after a 5-3 win at the New York Rangers on Monday. The Stars are seeking a sweep of their three-game road trip.
Players to watch
Stars center Joe Pavelski has three goals in the past two games.
Islanders center Brock Nelson has nine points (six goals, three assists) in his past seven games.
They said it
"I can't speak for other guys, but I check on the standings and see how other teams are doing. We've got to take care of business. We know that if we play well and we take care of what we need to take care of, we'll be all right. That being said, there's a lot of teams that are tight in the standings so we've got to make sure we're scratching and clawing for every point we can. We've won two to start this road trip and another big one [Tuesday]." -- Stars forward Blake Comeau
"You dream of playing in your first NHL game, but I'm just going to go out there and work hard, learn from my linemates, listen to the coaches and just play reliable in all three zones." -- Islanders forward Kieffer Bellows
Stars projected lineup
Jamie Benn -- Roope Hintz -- Tyler Seguin
Mattias Janmark -- Joe Pavelski -- Alexander Radulov
Andrew Cogliano -- Radek Faksa -- Blake Comeau
Denis Gurianov -- Jason Dickinson -- Corey Perry
Esa Lindell -- John Klingberg
Jamie Oleksiak -- Miro Heiskanen
Andrej Sekera -- Stephen Johns
Ben Bishop
Anton Khudobin
Scratched: Joel Kiviranta, Taylor Fedun, Roman Polak
Injured: Justin Dowling (lower body)
Islanders projected lineup
Anders Lee -- Mathew Barzal -- Jordan Eberle
Anthony Beauvillier -- Brock Nelson -- Josh Bailey
Kieffer Bellows -- Derick Brassard -- Michael Dal Colle
Matt Martin -- Casey Cizikas -- Leo Komarov
Nick Leddy -- Ryan Pulock
Devon Toews -- Scott Mayfield
Noah Dobson -- Johnny Boychuk
Semyon Varlamov
Thomas Greiss
Scratched: Ross Johnston, Tom Kuhnhackl, Sebastian Aho
Injured: Cal Clutterbuck (wrist), Adam Pelech (Achilles)
Status report
The Stars did not have a morning skate. … Bellows will replace Kuhnhackl, who was benched for the third period of a 4-3 overtime loss to the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday.
Stat pack
Seguin has gone 13 games without a goal. He has seven goals in 20 games against the Islanders. … New York is 4-0-3 at Barclays Center and 9-0-3 in its past 12 regular-season games there since Jan. 12, 2019. … Eberle has eight points (five goals, three assists) in his past nine games.