ISLANDERS (20-16-11) at CANADIENS (19-21-7)
7 p.m. ET; RDS, TSN2, MSGSN
Islanders projected lineup
Anders Lee -- Bo Horvat -- Mathew Barzal
Hudson Fasching -- Brock Nelson – Kyle Palmieri
Simon Holmstrom -- Jean-Gabriel Pageau -- Julien Gauthier
Matt Martin -- Pierre Engvall -- Cal Clutterbuck
Alexander Romanov -- Noah Dobson
Adam Pelech -- Sebastian Aho
Samuel Bolduc – Scott Mayfield
Semyon Varlamov
Ilya Sorokin
Scratched: Mike Reilly, Oliver Wahlstrom, Kyle MacLean
Injured: Ryan Pulock (lower body), Robert Bortuzzo (lower body), Casey Cizikas (lower body)
Canadiens projected lineup
Cole Caufield -- Nick Suzuki -- Josh Anderson
Juraj Slafkovsky -- Sean Monahan -- Joel Armia
Rafael Harvey-Pinard -- Jake Evans -- Brendan Gallagher
Tanner Pearson -- Lucas Condotta -- Michael Pezzetta
Mike Matheson -- David Savard
Jayden Struble -- Kaiden Guhle
Arber Xhekaj -- Jonathan Kovacevic
Sam Montembeault
Cayden Primeau
Scratched: Jordan Harris, Jesse Ylonen, Jake Allen
Injured: Alex Newhook (ankle)
Status report
The Islanders did not hold a morning skate Thursday. … Varlamov is expected to make his first start since Jan. 2; he backed up Sorokin in a 3-2 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday after missing the previous nine games with a lower-body injury. … Engvall returns after missing four games because of an upper-body injury. … Montembeault will make his fifth start in eight games in the Canadiens’ season-long rotation of three goalies. … Condotta will make his season debut after being recalled from Laval of the American Hockey League on Wednesday.
