Islanders at Wild preview

ISLANDERS (41-23-7) at WILD (34-30-8)
6 p.m. ET; ESPN+, FS-N, MSG, NHL.TV

Minnesota trails the Arizona Coyotes by two points for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference. The Wild ended a three-game losing streak with a 5-2 win against the New York Rangers on Saturday.
The Islanders, who suffered a 2-1 loss at the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday, have won four of their past six games (4-2-0). They are two points behind the Washington Capitals for first place in the Metropolitan Division and two points ahead of the third-place Pittsburgh Penguins.
Goalie Robin Lehner, who backed up Thomas Greiss the past two games after missing three games with an upper body injury, is expected to start for the Islanders.
Goalie Alex Stalock likely will start for the Wild. It would be his second start in the past 14 games.

Players to watch

Islanders forward Anders Lee scored the lone goal on Saturday and has goals in three straight games. Lee leads the Islanders with 26 goals.
Wild forward Jason Zucker has 10 points (seven goals, three assists) in his past 11 games.

They said it

"I don't see (the loss Saturday) as a setback. We played a really good game, and if we keep playing that way, we are going to win a lot more games than we lose. We just happened to run into a hot goalie and didn't get some bounces. I'd be happy if we play the same way (Sunday)." -- Islanders defenseman Thomas Hickey
"We're playing a really good team (in the New York Islanders). I think they're one or two defensively in the League right now, so it's going to be a little bit tougher than it was (Saturday). …I'll be intense…I'm hoping the players are, too." -- Wild coach Bruce Boudreau

Islanders projected lineup

Anders Lee -- Mathew Barzal -- Jordan Eberle
Andrew Ladd -- Brock Nelson -- Anthony Beauvillier
Tom Kuhnhackl -- Valtteri Filppula -- Josh Bailey
Matt Martin -- Leo Komarov -- Cal Clutterbuck
Nick Leddy -- Scott Mayfield
Adam Pelech -- Ryan Pulock
Thomas Hickey -- Devon Toews
Robin Lehner
Thomas Greiss
Scratched: Michael Dal Colle, Ross Johnston, Luca Sbisa, Dennis Seidenberg
Injured: Casey Cizikas (lower body), Johnny Boychuk (upper body)

Wild projected lineup

Zach Parise -- Eric Staal -- Jason Zucker
Jordan Greenway -- Luke Kunin -- Kevin Fiala
Ryan Donato -- Victor Rask -- Pontus Aberg
Marcus Foligno -- Eric Fehr -- JT Brown
Ryan Suter -- Jared Spurgeon
Jonas Brodin -- Greg Pateryn
Nick Seeler -- Brad Hunt
Alex Stalock
Devan Dubnyk
Scratched: Anthony Bitetto
Injured: Mikko Koivu (knee), Mathew Dumba (ruptured right pectoral muscle), Joel Eriksson Ek (lower body)

Status report

Neither team held a morning skate. ... Cizikas is day to day and Boychuk is on the road trip.

Stat pack

Barzal has four assists in his past five games. …The Islanders are 9-1-1 in the second half of back-to-backs this season. …Suter is one point away from 300 with the Wild. …With a goal on Saturday, Spurgeon reached 40 points (13 goals, 27 assists) for the first time in the NHL.