NYI-CAR

ISLANDERS (28-25-6) at HURRICANES (27-22-9)
7:30 p.m. ET; FS-CR, MSG+, NHL.TV

The Islanders trail the Hurricanes by one point for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference and are coming off a 3-0 home win against the New York Rangers on Thursday. Jaroslav Halak made 50 saves for the Islanders' first shutout of the season. Mathew Barzal assisted on all three goals for New York, which is 3-5-1 in its past nine games.
The Hurricanes' three-game winning streak ended with a 5-2 loss at the New Jersey Devils on Thursday. Scott Darling made 17 saves.
The Islanders defeated the Hurricanes 6-4 at Barclays Center on Nov. 16; the Hurricanes won 4-2 at PNC Arena three days later. The Hurricanes are 5-5-2 in the second of back-to-back games; the Islanders are 4-7-0.

Players to watch

Barzal leads all NHL rookies in points (62) and assists (46).
Hurricanes forward Sebastian Aho has 23 points (14 goals, nine assists) in his past 20 games.

They said it

"We'll talk about it. It's probably a warranted question. We're going to go in there and get a game plan, whether it's (Thomas Greiss or Halak), and try to win a game. It's another big one." -- Islanders coach Doug Weight on whether goaltender Jaroslav Halak will play against the Hurricanes
"We didn't manage certain situations very well. There were some things we did that made the game harder than it needed to be. That's the stuff we've got to clean up for (Friday). That's the most important one." - Hurricanes coach Bill Peters on his team's play against New Jersey

Islanders projected lineup

Anders Lee -- John Tavares -- Josh Bailey
Anthony Beauvillier -- Mathew Barzal -- Jordan Eberle
Andrew Ladd -- Brock Nelson -- Tanner Fritz
Ross Johnston -- Casey Cizikas -- Cal Clutterbuck
Nick Leddy -- Johnny Boychuk
Adam Pelech -- Dennis Seidenberg
Thomas Hickey -- Ryan Pulock
Thomas Greiss
Jaroslav Halak
Scratched:Alan Quine, Jason Chimera, Sebastian Aho
Injured:Nikolay Kulemin (upper body), Calvin de Haan (upper body), Scott Mayfield (lower body), Shane Prince (lower body)

Hurricanes projected lineup
Status report

Fritz, who took Chimera's spot on Thursday, played 11:39 against the Rangers. ... Brown was recalled from Charlotte of the American Hockey League on Tuesday but was a healthy scratch against the Devils.

Stat pack

Leddy has seven points (three goals, four assists) in his past seven games. … Skinner has four goals in his past three games. Williams has four assists in his past two games.